City of Razmas, Planet Estheia, Oppek System, United Galactic Empire, Imperial Outer Provinces
"What about this one? It looks cute!"
Wendy looked away from the sweet treats she had been inspecting, to where Mirin was. The dark haired woman was holding up a metal plaque that was projecting a hologram of a dancing cat-like creature with the phrase "Party On!" displayed in bright cheerful colors below it. Wendy knew it was a childish decoration, but she felt the corners of her mouth tug up into a smile anyways.
"It is kind of cute," Wendy admitted, "But I think we should pass on it. It's not really my style, but I appreciate the thought Mirin!"
Mirin sighed as she put it back on the stall she had found it at, looking at the young mage with a sad expression.
"Well we need to find you something to remember this place by. Remember me by," Mirin said as she walked over to Wendy, "Are you sure you want to do this? We can look for your friends from here! You don't have to leave!"
Wendy frowned, putting her hand to her head. They had had this conversation enough that she was honestly starting to get sick of discussing it.
"Mirin, you know I can't. I don't want to leave but-"
"But this planet's resources and infrastructure just won't cut it I'm afraid!" Wendy looked over to see Carla had returned from her own shopping trip, a small bag of travel supplies around her wrist, "We are eternally grateful to you Mirin, but we'll never find our friends being stuck here. We simply must leave!"
"I know, I know Carla," Mirin's dark, narrow eyes looked like they were starting to get watery, "I'm just worried about sending you two out. I should come with you!"
"No, Mirin, we cannot ask you to uproot your whole life just for us!" Carla put her hands on her hips, "We know how to take care of ourselves and we'll be fine until we can locate one of the others. You still have a whole life here on Estheia, we can't ask you to abandon that. Especially since we won't be coming back."
Mirin looked crestfallen, only to look down at her waist when she felt a pair of slender arms grab her into a hug.
"It's okay, Mirin," Wendy gave her the brightest smile she could, "We're going to be okay! And we don't need any gifts, we'll always remember you! Especially your cinnamon pancakes!"
Mirin sniffled, before rustling Wendy's azure locks, "I'll have to make you some before you leave. And I have to get you something! Even if, admittedly, it is more for me than you."
"Well come on!" Wendy grabbed the older woman's hand, "Let's go find something then!" With that the Sky Dragon Slayer took off, pulling Mirin with her as Carla shook her head before running to catch up.
Wendy navigated them through Razma's Grand Market, a massive series of open-air plaza filled with street vendors and traditional stores, selling fresh produce and snack foods, home decorations and clothes, video games and electronics. Anything you could imagine you needed to purchase could probably be found here. Wendy knew the area well, having been here often with both Mirin and Carla and the odd solo venture. It was a crowded and loud place, humans and aliens mingling together, friends laughing and children playing in the many fountains or play-areas that had been set up in the plazas.
Estheia. That was the name of the world they were on, the one they had found themselves dropped on when they had been pulled through Xavier's portal. Fortunately for Wendy, she had plopped out in Midthas Park, along with Carla and had only suffered a few minor bruises that had been quickly healed by her magic. Or at least healed the next day. Wendy still vividly remembered trying to access her healing mana, only for her whole body to burn and the hot vomit that had come up everywhere.
That was when Mirin had found them, doing an early morning jog in the park. After some confusion and worrying, Mirin had taken both of them in and after seeing Wendy's magic first-hand had wholeheartedly believed both of the Fairy Tail members.
She had also been nice enough to not report Wendy and Carla to the authorities. From the few interactions Wendy had had with the representatives of the Imperial government on Estheia, she judged that to be an extremely good thing.
That was almost a month and a half ago, Wendy thought to herself, Us helping Mirin out around the house while she was at work, learning about this place and its people. Looking for signs of our friends. It feels like it's been so much longer.
The whole situation was almost surreal to Wendy. Being dumped from Fiore to a whole other universe, one where aliens walked with humans and ships sailed the stars. It was strange. What was even stranger was how fast she had gotten used to it. How she had gottem used to the floating speeders and skyscrapers of Razmas, the StellarNet that put the magical libraries back home to shame with the amount of information on it, the simple ease of living even compared to the peacefulness of Magnolia.
If she was being totally honest with herself, she was going to miss living on Estheia and with Mirin like crazy. It may not have been as exciting as Fairy Tail, but Wendy had grown to love the mundane serenity of her life here. It was almost cozy.
Uh oh, can't think like that, Wendy thought as she led Mirin into a store selling handmade gifts and decorations, If I do, I'll never want to leave! And we have no way of finding Natsu, Erza, or any of the others here! Which is why we need to leave.
That had been the plan anyways. They had saved up enough money to buy two tickets for passage off-world and enough left over to help them start the search. Problem was, Wendy didn't know where to start looking. She had quickly learned from her searches on the Net that the galaxy was a big place. Almost indescribably big and vast. Trying to find a few people in it almost seemed impossible.
"Have you two figured out where you're going at least?" Mirin seemed to read her mind, "That way I can at least ping a call or message out to you so I know you're okay."
"Uhh, we aren't super sure yet. Carla wants us to go to the Imperial Heartland and go to the throne-world. Or Mekarta or maybe Ghemera. She said it's safer for us to start there, but I don't know if they're going to be any better than just staying in the Outer Provinces. The Heartland is expensive to live in."
"Yeah, that's definitely true. The Heartland is a whole different place compared to Estheia," Mirin conceded as she flipped some of her long black hair out of her eyes, "Do you have any leads at all?"
"A few. Well. Just two actually," Wendy said, not sounding all that confident as the two looked for a suitable souvenir, "We heard about this bounty hunter called Red Steel who sounds an awful lot like our friend Erza and she was last seen in the Heartland."
"A bounty hunter?! Wendy those people are dangerous!" Mirin rounded on her, causing a few of the patrons and staff in the store to stare as Wendy shook her head and arms, trying to defuse her self-appointed guardian.
"Mirin, it's okay! We'll be careful I promise! And if it is Erza we're going to be more than okay!" Mirin looked unconvinced by her words as Wendy sighed, wishing Carla had followed them inside instead of hanging out by the snack stalls, "Look if it makes you feel better, the other lead we have is that Carla found some sort of theory online that Duchess Asmodia Cariella is sheltering someone important in her estate. Some people tried to investigate it, but were turned away by her guards. Someone managed to sneak a drone into the estate though and though the footage is kind of blurry, we did see a girl there who looked an awful lot like our friend Lucy."
Mirin raised a brow at that, "If you think you going out and messing with one of the most powerful nobles in the Empire makes me feel better, you have another thing coming there missy!"
Wendy gave her a nervous smile as she held her hands up. "We'll be fine Mirin, I promise! We've faced worse before, this is nothing! Now come on-" The rest of her sentence was drowned out by a painfully loud boom, deafening the conversations inside the store. Mirin had quickly pulled Wendy into a protective embrace, the older woman trembling as Wendy winced at the loud whine in her sensitive ears.
"What was that?! What happened?!" one of the customers, a blonde Sindari woman yelled out.
"I don't know! It sounded like an explosion!" another customer, a dark skinned human man shouted back.
Explosion? But if it was close enough to be this loud that means… Wendy wrenched out of Mirin's grasp, heading out of the store, shouting for Carla as she did so. She ignored Mirin's pleas to stay put, but she couldn't. There was smoke rising into the air, close enough that she could taste it on the breeze, that noxious taste of explosive chemicals.
People in the square we're staggering around, many holding their heads or bleeding ears. Parents either held their crying children tightly or were screaming as they frantically tried to find their own children. Wendy kept calling as she ran to the source of the smoke, back in the plaza they had come from.
She stopped in her tracks when she maneuvered around the crowd that was coming to investigate the square and saw what had happened. It was obvious a bomb had gone off, right in the middle of the food stalls. Charred wood and seared metal were everywhere next to a blackened crater that had to be almost six feet in diameter. Any glass nearby had been shattered, glistening shards lying everywhere.
What stopped Wendy was the bodies. She was no stranger to a fight or to blood. She had fought dark mages, wild animals, demons and dragons. The people lying dead or dying on the ground were none of those things. Many had been blown into pieces, chunks of human and alien lying around the square. Others were lying on the ground, pincushioned with shrapnel, blood of all colors leaking out from them, forming a gruesome rainbow on the pavement.
She felt the urge to vomit as she saw quite a few of the victims were younger than her, but then Wendy took a deep breath as cries for help started to ring out and the ringing in her ears started to subside.
She ran over to the nearest casualty, an olive-skinned human woman who had to be in her early twenties, who had a nasty piece of what used to be a food stall grill stuck in her thigh, hot red liquid oozing out from the wound. Running on auto-pilot, Wendy checked the rest of her, noting she only had a few scrapes and bruises aside from the shrapnel and looked at the woman, whose dark eyes were unfocused.
"Hey can you hear me?" Wendy snapped her fingers in front of the woman's face a few times until the woman seemed to notice she was there, "My name is Wendy. I'm here to help. What's your name?"
"Rayna. It hurts. I can't stand," the woman stuttered out and Wendy gave her a reassuring smile.
"Okay Rayna, I'm a healing mage. I'm going to get this metal out of you and heal your leg, but this is going to hurt. Here," Wendy reached into her bag and pulled out a few tissues that she crumpled into a ball, "Bite down on this. I'm going to pull on three okay?"
Rayna took the tissues, stuffing them into her mouth before nodding. Wendy nodded as she put her hands around the metal, causing Rayna to wince.
"Alright, on three. One, two!" Wendy pulled as hard as she could and the shrapnel came out, coated a dark red as Rayna howled in agony, only slightly muffled as she bit down hard on the tissues. Wendy tossed the shrapnel behind her, before quickly putting her hands on the wound that was now gushing out blood and focusing her mana as she did.
"Heal!" Wendy exclaimed as a white and warm light emitted from her hands and flowed into Rayna's wound, closing it shut as it repaired muscle and started to rapidly clot. Wendy focused on it, tuning out the world around her as she did so. After a minute or two, she stopped, sighing as she could feel the familiar tiredness in her muscles. She looked up to Rayna, whose dark eyes were wide as they stared at her.
"I closed your wound. You should be okay, but take it easy for a bit, it's still going to be sore," Wendy said as she started to get up, only for the woman to reach out and grab her arm.
"Thank you!" Rayna's voice came out in a choked sob and Wendy just tried to give her best impression of Natsu's 'don't worry' grin.
"Don't worry about it! I have to go and help the other people now though! Just wait here!" Wendy said as she started moving to the next victim. She was already healing him when she heard both Mirin and Carla's voices calling out for her, barely audible over the emergency sirens ringing throughout Estheia's capital.
"I'm over here!" Wendy called out as she finished healing a Kultozian man, the gray skinned alien groaning from the concussion he undoubtedly had. She looked over to see Carla flying through the air, Mirin following closely behind as the two ran over to her.
"Thank goodness, you're alright!" Carla's voice was filled with concern as she landed down next to Wendy, "We need to leave now Wendy! There's been other bombs going off throughout the city and I even heard some ruffians are having gunfights with the police right now! We need to get you to safety!"
"Carla is right Wendy, they'll have shut the starport down. Let's go back home until it's safe again!" Mirin said as Wendy shook her head, looking over to the hurt and wounded people.
"I can't leave, not without helping these people," Wendy said with resolve, "I'm going to help and heal until I physically can't. You can either go home or you can help me. Either way, I'm staying here for now."
Carla sighed, knowing that prying Wendy away from people who needed help was a lost cause, but Mirin looked ready to argue.
"Wendy, I know you want to help, but leave this to the paramedics! It's not safe out here right now!"
Wendy opened her mouth to retort, only for the square to erupt into panicked shouts and screams as red hooded figures emerged onto the street and started opening fire on the crowd. Carla tackled Wendy to the ground as Mirin hit the pavement herself, as any other bystanders or previous victims still standing were gunned down in a hail of lead and depleted uranium, the bark of gunfire drowing out the screams.
"Down with tyranny! Down with the Empire! Long live liberty and freedom!" one of the gunmen started yelling with proud fervor as sirens continued to blare across the city and Wendy gathered her mana to her, fear and anger mixing together into a red hot draconic rage.
The early days of the rebellion on Estheia were confusing and violent, but the survivors of the Market Square Massacre would never forget the sight of Resistance fighters raining down to the earth like ragdolls after being launched into the air by a twelve year old girl.
Natsu tapped his foot, really wishing Aleena had had another secure comm-bead to give them. He had been waiting at their meeting place for a few minutes, but Juvia and Happy had yet to return. Normally it wouldn't make him as anxious, Juvia was more than capable of taking care of herself, but he knew there was a powerful Void Priestess somewhere in this hellhole. The last thing he wanted was for Juvia and Happy to run into her and not be able to call for help.
He stiffened when he heard footsteps echoing outwards, the sound of boots hitting the steel of the catwalks. He dropped into a fighting stance, his mana swirling in his chest. He relaxed as he saw blue hair and fur turn the corner and his mouth tugged into a smile.
"About time you two showed up," he gave them a cheeky grin, "Any luck on your end?"
Juvia shook her head, "We searched everywhere in the commandant's office. No keycards. We had to leave in a hurry, somebody was coming into the office. Someone with the tainted mana on them."
"Yeah good call on that. I have a feeling we both need to be there to face whoever that is," Natsu said darkly as Juvia nodded.
"Did Natsu have any luck on his end?" Juvia asked, hoping they hadn't hit a dead end. Natsu gave her a devilish grin as he pulled out a yellow card from his pocket,
"Hell yeah I did! Ya think I'd let you down?" he said as Juvia's face lit up with hope, "Now I think we have an Ice Princess to rescue!"
"His name is Gray!" Juvia said back, but it lacked malice. They had done it, there were only a few more steps away from springing her beloved.
Sirens started to blare throughout the prison, a deafening whine as the lights turned from blue to red and a voice came over Belsenkov's PA system.
"This is Commandant Yuri Duskin! We are under attack! Seal all the exits and initiate Protocol 13B!"
No! No no no! Juvia panicked in her mind as more orders came over the speakers, urging guards to report to their posts to repel the attackers. She and Happy looked over to Natsu and Juvia felt her temper flare when she saw he had a guilty look on his face.
"What did you do?" Juvia said each word slowly as below them a squad of guards ran by, rifles at the ready. Natsu scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"I, uh, I may have beat up a guy to get this keycard," he winced when he saw the murderous look on Juvia's face. Just when he thought he may have made some progress in repairing their relationship, he had just as quickly fucked it up again.
"Juvia cannot believe how irresponsible and reckless you are!" she seethed at him as Happy did his best to pry himself off the woman without being noticed, "How did you get caught?!"
"Hey easy!" Natsu held up his hands, "It was that Death Corps asshole from before who had the keycard. I snuck into his office and beat him into a coma. His guards were right outside the door, but they never once came in to help him. I thought I was in the clear!"
Juvia went to tell him how very much not in the clear he was when her comm-bead buzzed.
"Juvia, are you there? The prison is on full alert! Are you okay?" Aleena's voice was filled with worry as Juvia held up her hand to her ear.
"We're fine Aleena. Natsu beat up a guard and they know we're here now," Juvia gave a side glare at Natsu.
"It's not Natsu's fault!" That got Juvia's attention and Natsu leaned as he picked up on the conversation.
"If it's not Natsu's fault, what triggered the alarm?" Juvia asked as calls for reinforcements to Cell Block One ran out across the PA system.
"There's another group in the prison, people in masks and bandannas, they're busting prisoners out and shooting the guards!" Aleena's voice was panicked, "You need to hurry! They're executing prisoners as we speak! Get to my family and Gray now!"
"Understood Aleena!" Juvia looked to Natsu and Happy, who had retaken his usual perch on top of his friend, "We need to move! Someone else is attacking the prison, but we need to get to Gray and the others now!"
"Time to go loud then," Natsu cracked his knuckles, "Let's go!"
He took off down the catwalks, Juvia right beside him. No more careful steps, they ran as fast as they could, back towards Cell Block Two. Juvia could feel cold sweat running down her back. They had been so careful, only for someone else to come and botch their job while they were in the middle of it. She'd apologize to Natsu later, when they had everyone safe and sound.
"Wait! Up on the catwalks! Intruders!" A shout came from below and the next thing Juvia knew, bits of scorching metal started flying up as a passing squad down below started firing plasma rifles at them.
She hissed in pain as flecks of molten metal fell onto her skin, as Natsu turned on one foot and let loose a Fire Dragon's Roar, the flames shooting through the numerous holes in the catwalks and bathing the squad below in an inferno. Cries of horror and anguish went up, but enough had been out of range and stayed focused, more blue bolts starting to impact around them, punching molten holes in the catwalk.
"Keep moving Juvia, fight only when we have to!" Natsu shouted and Juvia obeyed, running towards the door. She hit the manual unlock, the automated systems having been shut down thanks to the alarm and when the door opened she froze for the briefest second.
Cell Block Two was a warzone. Bullets and plasma flew through the air as Belsenkov guards traded fire with masked militants, the cell block echoing with the deafening cacophony of shouted orders, gunfire, explosions, and the roar of flames as the purge squads cleaned cell after cell even amidst the firefight.
She took a step forward on the catwalk only to pause as a red beam scythed across the middle, cutting the walkway in two, parts of it falling below with a crash. Her eyes followed where the beam had come from, only to spot one of the masked militants hefting a shoulder mounted laser cannon getting gunned down, unable to take cover fast enough.
Only one way down now, she thought before leaping downwards. As she fell she conjured a Water Nebula and then activated her Water Body, flowing into her own spell as it fell downwards, before rematerializing into solid human form right before the water hit the ground. Beside her, Natsu landed as Happy swept him down to the pavement, his wings disappearing as he resumed his shoulder perch..
"Let's go!" Natsu yelled as he ignited his fists and charged headfirst past her, storming through an active firefight and slamming into two Dominion guards, pummeling them to the ground as he swept by like a fiery breeze. Juvia, deciding to be practical and speedy over diplomatic and careful, started throwing Water Slicers at everyone who wasn't Natsu. Most of them impacted on pillars or cell doors, but more than a few were cut in two, be they Dominion guard, escaped prisoner, or masked gunmen.
Juvia's magical onslaught lessened the volume of fire enough for Natsu to leap forward, smashing a trio of guards to the floor, only to be looking down the barrel of a purge guard's flamethrower.
"Burn heretic!" the man shouted through his armored helmet as a jet of flame shot out towards Natsu, who looked absolutely giddy at the sight. The guard lowered his weapon in horror as the pink haired man before him opened his mouth and swallowed the entire jet of flame, letting off a smoky belch as he finished it.
"Gods, I haven't done that in forever. I almost forgot how good fire tastes!" Natsu narrowed his eyes and gave the man a feral grin, "Well I'm all fired up now! FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Enhanced by his recently consumed flame, Natsu's signature spell shot forward, hot enough to melt steel. The man in front of him exploded as the temperature exceeded the safeties on his weapon and the explosion of heat and flame washed over a good portion of the cell block, incinerating anyone too close to it.
Anyone except for Juvia and Happy, who were coated in a shield of water. Blazing through the smoke, Juvia made her way towards the tunnel to Seg Pop, Water Caning a disoriented guard into the wall with a bone snapping crack.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Another explosion of heat welled up behind her and Juvia went towards the door as Natsu joined her, being chased by bullets as he did.
"Keycard! Now!" Juvia shouted as Natsu fished out the yellow card and swiped it through the door's console. A red error message flashed and Natsu looked dumbfounded at it, before trying it again. The message flashing a second time made him hit the door hard enough for his fist to bleed.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! Is this the wrong card?" Natsu growled in frustration as Juvia took the card, scanning it.
"No, this is the Subcommandant's, it should work!" Juvia bit her lip as she commed Aleena, "Aleena, we're at the door, but the card isn't working!"
"Run it again! I need to see what code its throwing!" Aleena sounded as jittery as Juvia did, but the Water Mage complied with the request, once again getting an error message, "Shit, the alarm has triggered an absolute lockdown of general pop. Only the Commandant can access this door, unless… There! The Void Priests always have access, there's a door through the chapel you can take! It's not locked down either, your card should work!"
"Thanks Aleena," Juvia turned to Natsu, "Chapel to the north, through the corridor at the other end of this cell block. There's an open door there."
"Just gotta get through that in one piece," he pointed as the volume of fire had only increased, "Sounds like the Dominion is winning the fight here. Can Aleena open the cells in here or better yet prison wide? We need to keep these guys distracted while we get our people out."
"Aleena, can you open the cells in the Gen Pop cell blocks?" Juvia asked and in the next few seconds an alarm sounded out in the cell block as every door swung open. A rush of desperate men and women in orange jumpsuits came running out, most in a blind animal panic and running on adrenaline and hope at the first taste of freedom. Freedom that was cut short for many of them, as surviving Dominion guards started opening fire on the prisoners.
The Fairy Tail mages didn't waste any time, storming out of the tunnel back into the cell block. Juvia threw Water Slicers at anything that even vaguely looked in their direction. Above them, the prisoners were quick to grab any firearms they could get ahold of and the surviving militants rallied them to their cause, focusing their fire on the Dominion with renewed vigor.
"Almost there!" Juvia yelled as Natsu punted a stray grenade back to its original thrower, the Dominion guard letting out a surprised curse before it blew her into crimson chunks. Juvia was already at the door, hitting the open button before turning and focusing her mana, her azure eyes scanning for anyone with a bead on them.
There, on the bottom floor, a Dominion guard pointing his rifle at them, another one priming a grenade on the second story catwalk, and on the first story, a bald human man in an orange jumpsuit aiming a stolen pistol at the trio.
"WATER SLICER!" With a sweeping flourish three blades of water shot forth, bisecting the guard on the ground and decapitating the former prisoner, though the other guard had the reflexes and sense to drop into cover.
"Juvia! Let's go!" Natsu shouted as he grabbed her hand and pulled her though, shutting the door behind them as they did. They didn't slow down or take a breath, heading straight for the prison's Void Chapel.
It took only a few minutes for them to reach the door to the chapel. Juvia leaned against the wall, panting, trying to catch a breath. She noticed Natsu was covered in sweat as he looked back behind them, nodding to himself when he saw they hadn't been followed.
"Alright, one minute breather. Nobody bothered to follow us," he said as he too leaned against the wall. Happy stretched on his shoulder as Juvia took a deep breath, exhaling out, feeling the adrenaline starting to dissipate.
"Juvia hopes both groups will be too busy killing each other to come after us. Who are the people in the masks? Juvia is rather upset that they ruined our infiltration!" Juvia seethed at the thought. Had this not happened, they would have been in Seg Pop already, possibly with Gray and Aleena's family in tow.
"Not sure who they are, but they seem to have an axe to grind with the Dominion," Natsu shrugged, "Might be a local rebel group, mercenaries here to break someone out like us. Doesn't matter, as long as they keep the guards busy, I'm not going to complain." He looked over at the door that led to the Void Chapel, a solid black steel door emblazoned with Void symbols, before looking over to Juvia.
"Alright, breaks over. Let's go get our people," he gave her a thumbs up and she smiled weakly back at him as she got up and went to hit the door's open button, only to stop as she felt that sick stench in the air again. She looked over to Natsu.
"Does Natsu feel that?"
"Yeah, but I figured the chapel would be heavy with it. Let's just go through as quick as we can. Hopefully the Priestess and her flunkies are out fighting right now," Natsu said, a wary tone to his voice, as Juvia nodded and opened the door, the black steel sliding upwards slowly and the three Fairy Tail mages stepped in.
The first thing Juvia noticed about the room was that it was both dimly lit and almost unnaturally cold, the kind of bitter cold she only got from Gray or Lyon when they were angry. The chapel was large, more like an actual temple than a simple prayer room for Belsenkov's staff. Rows of black wooden pews were on either side of the room, with a central walkway lined with those floating ebony spheres that led to a blank, featureless altar of black steel and silver filigree.
Tapestries of white with the black sphere in the middle hung from the walls, alongside scenes of people being forced from a large castle or palace, chased out by demonic looking humanoids. The dim blue lights built into the walls cast an rather eerie cerulean hue to the room. But what caught Juvia's attention, was the pillar next to the altar, eight feet high with numerous odd protrusions coming from it.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Happy mumbled as Natsu cautiously strode forth, his enhanced draconic vision trying to pierce the darker shadows in the room. Juvia walked to the pillar, getting a better look at it, before recoiling from it with a gasp. This drew Natsu's attention immediately.
"Shit, Juvia, you alright?!" he was by her side in a second. Her eyes were wide and she was trembling, pointing at the pillar. Natsu looked over and even he took a step back, grabbing Juvia by the hand as he did so.
The pillar was not made of stone or steel, but flesh. Bodies, human bodies, their skin gray and wrinkled, fused together into one mass. Torsos, abdomens, and heads flowed together, eye sockets empty and faces contorted in the purest anguish. Limbs jutted out from the central mass, arms and legs locked, looking like they were trying to grab for any purchase to free themselves. Above all, the aura of evil, tainted mana emanated from the pillar like heat from a campfire and Natsu could feel his stomach growing heavy the longer he looked at this abomination.
"Natsu what...what is this?" Juvia felt hot bile in her throat. They had faced twisted dark wizards before, but this was a level of depravity she hadn't dealt with, even during her time in Phantom Lord. The aura of tainted mana was strong and only seemed to be growing stronger.
"I don't know Juvia, but we need to get moving," Natsu went to turn around and that was when hell broke loose.
It was only his enhanced hearing that saved them. It was as quiet as a mouse, but Natsu could feel the changing pressure in the air and his instincts kicked in. He shoved Juvia out of the way before leaping back himself. It was barely in the air when the two tendrils of bladed shadow struck the spots he and Juvia had been a moment before, digging deep into the concrete of the floor, before retreating back towards a spot of pure inky blackness in the corner.
"Well well, color me surprised. Not many could have detected that attack," a haughty and playful female voice echoed out from the darkness as Natsu and Juvia got into a fighting stance. Natsu went to retort, only for another one of the tendrils to erupt forth with blinding speed. He dodged to the side, the shadow tendril gouging the floor as it slithered its way along the floor. Beside him Juvia had leapt into the air, throwing a Water Slicer at the tendril that had attacked her, cutting it neatly in half, only for it to reform and reattach itself in an instant.
"Ah so you were the little roach rummaging around in my office," the voice returned as the shadow rolled up, before the blackness dispersed, revealing a corpse-white woman in elegant black dress that matched her hair, "You're strong, for being one of the Empire's heretics. But alas, at the end of the day you're still a roach. A dirty, disgusting thing to be squashed underfoot."
"Natsu is that her?" Juvia asked as she drew her mana to her. Natsu nodded, his hairs on end as he tensed up.
"Yeah, no mistaking that stench. That's the HIgh Priestess and the source of our tainted mana," Natsu said darkly, "Which means she needs to go before we get Gray."
The woman gave them an amused look, tilting her head at Natsu.
"Why, I am not going anywhere, little Magister. Neither are you. That Pillar of Conviction is my sacrifice to the Void, but it is not enough. Not yet," she gave an unsettling smile at the two as shadowy orbs formed in her hands, "This is my holy temple, my sanctuary, my sacred place to the Void. And now, this place is your tomb. To the Void with both of you!"
Lightning quick, she launched both of her spheres at the two, before cloaking herself back in shadow, disappearing from view. Natsu lept out of the way as the sphere impacted behind him, exploding with a sickening cloud of tainted mana. Juvia had dodged hers as well, leaping up on one of the pews as she scanned for the High Priestess.
"Where did she go?!" Juvia called out as Natsu watched every shadowy corner in the room, only for Happy to yell out in alarm as the woman burst forth from Natsu's own shadow. She laughed as she formed shadowy claws around her hands and slashed across Natsu's side, the Fire Dragon Slayer unable to turn fast enough to face his assailant. He let out a scream of pain as the conjured claws tore open skin, splattering crimson onto the ground.
"Natsu!" Juvia cried out as she leapt into the air to get a clear shot at the woman, only for the priestess to vanish back into Natsu's shadow. Juvia didn't even have time to blink as the woman emerged from Juvia's own shadow, launching a shadowy orb directly into Juvia's stomach. It hit her with the force of a truck, sending her sailing into one of the pews, the wood splintering into pieces from the impact. Juvia groaned as she tried to get up, the orb's tainted mana clinging to her, making her muscles feel like they were made of tissue and her bones as heavy as steel.
My mind feels cloudy, Juvia thought weakly as she struggled to get up, her body bruised and she was fairly certain she had cracked a rib or three. She coughed and sputtered, before vomiting up a black shadowy mass that dissipated into the aether as it hit the floor. Instantly, the cloudiness and heaviness went away.
Her orbs must have a sickening effect! Juvia thought to herself as she heard and felt the blast of Natsu's fire magic, as he shot out several Brilliant Flames at every shadow he could see, the woman's laughter echoing out from everywhere in the room.
"Quit hiding and come face us!" Natsu shouted, breathing heavy as he ignited his fists once more. Juvia steadied herself, preparing her own magic as the laughter returned.
"As you wish heretic!"
The woman reappeared, forming out of a pool of shadow and rising upwards, rising almost to the ceiling, her lower body coated in the penumbra. She held out her arms, her veins turning black as the tainted mana coursed through them, focusing her dark and hateful eyes on the Fairy Tail mages below her.
"I am Zeffia Ostmich, High Priestess of the Void and your doom! UMBRAL BLADESTORM!"
Her arms went forward and from the great serpentine body of shadow she half hid within, dozens of bladed shadowy tendrils shot forth. Natsu and Juvia both jumped and rolled, the tendrils smashing through pews or gouging deep rents into the floor.
"Natsu watch out!" Happy shouted out as a tendril shot forth, grazing Natsu's arm and slicing the skin open effortlessly. He grimaced but then had to leap back again as Zeffia started to throw more of her shadow orbs at him. He rolled and ducked and dived, barely avoiding the onslaught. All the while the woman slithered closer and her tendrils just kept coming.
He spared quick glances over to Juvia when he could. His blue haired companion wasn't faring any better than him, too busy trying to avoid the barrage to retaliate or even get her bearings. She had a gash on her ankle where a tendril had come too close and she was covered in sweat. He had to avert his eyes as the priestess drew the room's shadows to her, the darkness flowing into her body, a euphoric smile on the pale woman's face.
"VOIDWAVE!" the woman shouted as she detached herself from the shadowy body and hit the floor and when she did so, a opaque, matte black wave emitted from her. Whatever it hit disappeared inside of it, pews, stone, and concrete chunks alike becoming swallowed up. It grew with every item it took inside of it, growing taller and wider and Natsu grimaced.
She's been driving us back the whole time so we wouldn't have anywhere to run from this! He growled in his mind as the black wave came closer. He looked to Juvia, who looked increasingly worried as the attack drew forth. Several more shadow orbs hit the ground next to him and without a further thought, Natsu ran towards Juvia.
"Happy! When I grab her, lift her up with all your strength!" He started gathering his mana into his fists as he ran. Happy's face was a mixture between terror and confusion, but he nodded anyways.
"Aye sir, I'll try my best!"
With more attacks landing near them and the shockwave almost upon them, Natsu grabbed Juvia by her waist with one arm, pulling her in tight as he jumped into the air.
"Now Happy!" he yelled as the Exceed summoned his wings, grunting from the strain as he tried his best to lift the two mages upwards, "FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW!"
The explosion of flame magic from his feet lifted the trio in the air just enough to clear the wave. Happy flapped his wings fiercely as they landed back down the wave having annihilated most of the chapel and disitingerated a seven foot tall portion of the walls before it disappeared, collapsing back into normal shadow.
"You okay Juvia?!" Natsu asked before his ears twitched and he instead threw the Water Mage out of the way as he stepped back, barely avoiding another tendril. In front of him Zeffia laughed, the tendril returning to her.
"Juvia is okay thanks to Natsu!" Juvia replied as she got back into a fighting stance, "She's strong Natsu. She's going to push us back to the cell blocks at this rate."
"Yeah I know, but if we can get one solid hit in, I bet we can win this!" Natsu yelled out as Zeffia laughed once more.
"What a complex strategy, so full of twists and turns. Hit me hard once. Ha! I suppose suspecting anything with any intelligence behind it is a lost cause from Imperial heretics!" Zeffia gave a wicked grin and Natsu grit his teeth as two figures came out of the doorway behind Zeffia, now visible thanks to her wave having destroyed the door that led to the final corridor to Seg Pop.
They were human or at least had been. They were more machine than human from the looks of it, gunmetal-gray cybernetics having replaced arms, legs, and other parts of the body. Their eyes glowed an unnatural shade of green, faces emotionless and hollow. They were also coated in the holy symbols of the Void and they moved with a skittering, insect-like quickness to take their place on either side of Zeffia.
"The hell are those supposed to be?! Your personal goons?" Natsu yelled at the Void Priestess, who merely smiled wickedly.
"These are heretics and sinners like yourself, who have Redeemed themselves in service to the Void and myself," she conjured shadow claws around her hands again and pointed at the two mages, "The Void demands their blood. Kill them!"
With that command, the two Redeemed sprung into action, skittering forward, blades erupting from their arms as they did so. They were lightning quick and were on top of Natsu and Juvia before they could react.
Natsu quickly summoned his flames and felt his skin harden into scales as he blocked one of the blades with his arm, hissing in anger and pain as it still bit through his scales. He kicked the cybernetic horror away from him, only for Zeffia to erupt from the thing's shadow as it flew back, launching into a spiralling attack at him. More prepared this time, Natsu blocked it, but the sheer ferocity of the attack pushed him back, away from Juvia.
Juvia meanwhile had to revert to using her Water Body, allowing the cyborg's bladed arms to pass through her. She flowed around it, before unleashing a high pressure Water Nebula at the bio-mechanical abomination. She growled in frustration when the Void runes on the Redeemed lit up and projected a shield that absorbed her attack.
Of course they would have magic shields, why would it be easy for Juvia?! She bared her teeth and resorted to throwing half a dozen Water Slicers in rapid succession at it, hoping the barrage would crumble its defenses. She had to leap back as it swung out its blades again, aiming for her neck and waist.
The Redeemed turned to her, its unnatural green eyes looking blankly at her, unfazed by her assault. She jumped back again, trying to put some distance between them, only to become alarmed when the machine-human hybrid started to emit sparks, electricity arcing from several points on its body.
It launched itself at her, swiping its arms at her so fast she struggled to keep sight of where she needed to move to. It was a relentless attack and Juvia realized she couldn't even focus long enough to get her attack in. Not for the first time, she wished she had developed more close combat spells.
"Tell me heretic. Why are you here? Who here does the Empire want?" Zeffia asked as she danced around Natsu's swings, lashing out with her claws when gaps in his guard became apparent. Her other Redeemed was dancing around, keeping the pink haired man boxed in.
"None of your damned business!" Natsu screamed as he swept his leg out, letting the flames fan out. Zeffia had to give him a bit of ground at that and he managed to knock her Redeemed off balance long enough for him to give it a solid hit to the head, knocking it completely over. Natsu let his flames flare up all over his body as he eyed Zeffia.
"You're pretty tough. But I'm all fired up now and getting really sick of these delays! Get out of my way or get stomped into the concrete! Your choice!" he yelled as Happy gripped his shoulders, ready to launch him into the air at a moment's notice. Zeffia for her part, gave a side glance over to where Juvia was getting pushed back even further from the fight and smirked.
"Worms don't give demands to their betters!" she retorted back before her veins turned black once more and shadowy vines shot forth from them. One arm's worth flew towards Natsu who blasted them away, getting more annoyed by the second with his opponent, but a high pitched feminine scream pulled his attention away from the priestess.
Zeffia's other shadow vines had gone to the ground and slinked their way over to Juvia, grabbing her by the ankles and yanking her hard to the ground. Above her, the electrically charged Redeemed was already about to bring its blades down on Juvia.
Natsu acted before his mind even had time to process the situation. He used his flames as a boost, exploding them behind him as he tackled the cybernetic monstrosity just before its electrified blades hit his companion. He howled in pain from the shocks his body was receiving, but Natsu had fought Laxus Dreyar and lived to tell the tale.
Fighting through the pain, he picked up the Redeemed and slammed it hard into the concrete, grabbing the thing's head and with a grunt, crushed it into the floor, blood, sparks, and orange cybernetic lubricant spraying out everywhere as the cyborg thrashed briefly before being given the final embrace of death. Natsu didn't have time to check on Juvia as several shadow tendrils came at him and what he couldn't blast away he had to dodge.
"Natsu!" Juvia cried out as she got to her feet, launching a Water Slicer that cut one of the tendrils in half, only for Natsu to grab Happy off of his shoulders and toss him at Juvia.
"Hey! What the hell Natsu?!" Happy yelled as Juvia caught him, only for the Dragon Slayer to charge forth after Zeffia, yelling back at them as he did so.
"We can't waste anymore time out here! Juvia, take Happy and go get Gray and Aleena's family! I'll keep her busy and catch up when I'm done here!" Natsu had already started evading more tendrils and the remaining Redeemed was back up in the fight again. Juvia looked uncertain, taking a hesitant step forward to join her friend in battle, before he yelled back again.
"Juves! Go! Now, while I still have her attention!" At that, Juvia nodded, running towards the doors the Redeemed had come through, Happy taking his perch on her shoulder.
"We're just leaving him?!" Happy said incredulously, "That woman is a monster! He can't fight her by himself!"
"Juvia knows that!" she said back, "Juvia is going to free Gray and then Aleena's family and then she is coming back out to finish this!"
Happy said nothing else as they swiped the keycard at the door, ducking in, Juvia sparing one last glance behind her, as Natsu kicked off the Redeemed, throwing fire blasts at the priestess, blood and sweat dripping down off of him. She stepped into Seg Pop and the door closed behind her.
Hold on Natsu, Juvia will be right back! Juvia promises!
….So I'm not dead. Nor have I abandoned this story. I know I promised weekly updates but life has a way of fucking up the best laid plans. August has been a rollercoaster of a month for me. I bought a house, had my job try to fire me over flimsy pretenses, had my union step in, which resulted in a gridlock that might have had me laid off and ineligible for my home loan, so I made a deal that I stayed employed until I got my house on September 3rd.
In that time period, I've had to find a new job, pack up all my belongings and cram them into moving boxes in my tiny ass apartment and submit every form and document you can think of to my loan company. It's been a stressful month that is thankfully over. This let me have precious little time or energy to write and though I did manage to complete this chapter, I really hope the writing quality for it didn't suffer. I'm still in the process of moving and starting a new job, so I can't promise what my posting schedule is going to be like for the next couple of months.
During my unplanned hiatus, we broke 50 reviews though. The fact that I even had more than ten on this story is still surreal to me, so thank you once again readers!
Moshiyari: I'm glad that I managed to convey tension in the chapter. I wasn't sure I had succeeded on that or not. Hope you like this one too!
Romicchi: In the distant future when Under Foreign Stars is complete, I do have another couple NaVia story ideas, though I'll probably branch out into a few other fandoms first.
Janeto13: Sorry about the lack of updates. Hopefully this chapter sort of makes up for the month long hiatus.
AethesticBluebells: I am so glad you liked the story! Stick around, I still have plenty more to cover!
Reddevil47: I have never read or heard of Eden's Zero, though I might have to check it out! There are a few sci-fi stories on the Fairy Tail section, including one that's technically a NaVia (its a harem one) but I didn't particularly like any of them myself. Sci-fi is a near and dear genre to my heart, ever since my dad sat me down at six and made me watch Star Wars (I was always more fascinated by the ships and aliens than the Jedi). I do acknowledge that this still unnamed universe (really need to give it a name) isn't particularly original, but I have put some work into building it up and making it feel like an alien and dangerous place for the Fairy Tail characters. Also we need more NaVia fics, its a criminally underrated pairing.
I am very glad you're enjoying the story. The dark tone will be staying for most of the story and we'll be exploring the Empire more after Umbral Hearts is finished up.
Cherry Blossom Clouds: Sci-fi definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad you're enjoying the story!