"You insolent -"
Irene's eyes filled with rage and she darted in the direction of the princess and her godmother, ignoring Bickslow and Erza running to stop her. She let out an almost primal scream when she found herself pinned to the ground by Bickslow, though it did not take long for her to pry him off of her. He cursed violently upon her kicking him harshly several times in the stomach, and his 'babies' moved immediately to start to attack her themselves, making horrible noises that pervaded everyone's senses. All but suffocated the volatility of the situation, Erza immediately cut in front of her mother's path, flurrying punches around her, most of which missed and the few that did hit only barely got her in the shoulders. Incensed, Irene moved just quickly enough to snatch her daughter's wrists, catching the two of them in a harsh struggle for power.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my way?" Irene tightened her hands around her daughter's wrists, her sharp nails digging in deep. "I have absolutely no desire to kill you or your family, Erza, so step aside!"
"If you think you have any good will from me, you're wrong," Erza gritted her teeth, pushing back against her mother's strength. "Keeping me out of danger as an adult means nothing. You gave me up to a cult. I don't know who you used to be, but I don't care anymore. You've chosen your path, and I've chosen mine."
"And they never were meant to cross!" Irene snapped, her chest falling and rising rapidly as she felt her daughter start to slip out of her grasp. "Yet at every turn you keep interjecting yourself! I'm your mother, Erza, and even if I've done you wrong I hope you know that I have no desire to hurt you and never have! I'm sure you know that's true. If you saw any good in Jellal...then I'm sure you know when a person is lying. Tell me: have I ever lied to you?"
"No," Erza agreed, a clear bitterness to her voice as she finally managed to wrench one arm out of her mother's grasp. "But that….that doesn't mean I have any respect for you after everything you've done."
"Damn you -" Irene slapped Erza the second she broke her other arm free as well. "You would never kill me, now would you, you -"
Erza cursed when her mother kicked her down to the ground. "I think you seriously overestimate my character," She growled as she stood up, her fists clenched. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to put an end to this...and if it means killing my own mother, then so fucking -"
Without warning, Freed bolted in front of Erza, his sword drawn. It met Irene's blade in a split second, well before it could have done any damage to her. She stared in horror for just a moment, utterly stunned, though well aware of her mother's intent. Injure her to keep her from fighting, from being a nuisance in her plans. Seconds after, a tempest of swords began in earnest. Irene, herself having taken one of her daughter's from where she had knocked it on the ground, grew quite intense, taking every opportunity she could to attempt to stab him, though Freed parried her attacks each time. As she took upward slashes, he met them from below. Utterly unafraid and feeling nothing short of righteous anger towards what this woman had done to his sister, to Laxus, to his nieces and nephew, Freed focused intently on her movements, taking every advantage he could see. With every clash, however, he knew he was growing closer and closer to his breaking point.
All around him, he could hear and see the signs of the damage done. One of his nieces was unconscious, the other in excruciating pain, and his nephew under his curse. His sister, too, was cursed; a small, pale green mouse curled up and shaking in her husband's hand. Laxus was struggling to regain his magic, Siegrain and Arcadios beside him were his only defense besides himself. Then there was Evergreen, his close friend, who was still in stone, cursed by her own magic and protected by her husband. There were Caity and Mira, too; the former completely shell shocked and struggling to help Annetta stop her bleeding. Mira, his wife, on the other hand, was in complete disarray, and a dark spot from where Irene had stabbed her pooling against her pants. Her movements, too, seemed unsure, though she had nothing short of angered determination in her eyes. Lisanna was by her side, helping her sister while Elfman, Bickslow, Jellal, and Erza all were trying themselves to get another good hit against Irene.
Yet Freed was the only one who, in this moment, seemed to be capable of parrying her, of keeping her at bay. He was beginning to doubt he could defeat her himself, but his goal, ultimately, was to drain her enough so that someone - any of them - could finally get her and put an end to everything. The flurry of attacks continued; after a few near misses, he finally managed to cut Irene, albeit on the cheek. Shocked, her eyes briefly widened and, with her free hand, she reached up to brush her cheek in disbelief. In this time, Freed managed to get another slash on her, this time on the side though not nearly as deep. Irene shrieked in rage and activated her magic, forcing her power behind her sword attacks. Struggling to keep up, Freed began to duck out of the way, though his legs were beginning to feel almost as if they'd give out if he pushed himself over the edge.
And, then, she went for the kill.
Freed barely realised how close it was, though he just barely rolled out of the way. Her attack missed him, but it hit Elfman, who began convulsing horribly and fell to the floor before going unconscious. Lisanna shrieked, never having seen her brother lose to anyone. Knowing Freed had been meant to be killed, however, was the last straw for Mirajane, who, despite starting to feel a little dizzy from blood loss, took on her demon form again and ran to protect her husband as Irene turned back on her true target. Having assumed Mira had been done for, Irene was woefully unprepared for the, now, equally unhinged demon that bore down on her, creating a swarm that encapsulated her and made it impossible for her to see. In this time, she could only feel; she could feel harsh kicks against her back, she could feel the magic energy around her, but, crucially, she could feel the two knives she still had on her ankles.
After a long moment of intense struggle, Irene managed to grab hold of one of her knives and, though she had no sense of direction, thrust it outwards until it hit something tangible, something she could cut through. It was a force unlike anything she was used to encountering, and she was well aware that it must be tied to the power that resided within the demonic woman she was fighting. Irene was no fool, a fact of which she reminded herself, and she was well aware that this was quite the disadvantage for her. Nevertheless, she focused a bit more of her magic energy into the knife, finally, after intense struggle, cutting through it and bursting forth, an act which dispelled the swarm. However, unlike with the shield she had dispelled earlier, this did not affect, so much, the caster. If anything, when she caught their eye amidst her own protective summons, the contempt this demonic woman had was only growing because of it, something Irene had not expected in the slightest.
Still, with her summons protecting her and giving her time, Irene took in her surroundings. She still had the youngest princess to deal with, although there was a great deal she meant to do to the eldest and the girl's godmother for what the insolent princess had done to and cost her. There were her daughter and son and law, both of whom were now attacking the summons so that they could get to her. This was very much the same of the demonic woman, Freed, and Bickslow. The Wizard Saint and the White Knight were still in defense of the king and queen; he who was, by Irene's reckoning, dangerously close to regaining his magic energy in defense of his wife, whom he was still holding desperately close. Irene was almost in a state of disbelief at it all. This had been meant to be easy, a quick assertion of her dominance that would leave the kingdom with no heirs.
Your so-called 'greatest general' gave it away, to his own father and then myself and Laxus, no less.
Why those words infuriated her so, Irene could not quite say. But Ivan….of all people, she had never expected him to betray her. Yet, it appeared, he had. Rage fuelling her, Irene brought down more summons, raining down a fervent storm against them. It certainly was effective; she could see just in the way they were struggling to fight past them more and more that she was draining them intensely. She did not feel much motivation to kill any of them but the queen and the prince and princesses, but she did fully intend to outlast them all, to bring them to their knees so that she could expend the full extent of her power on her victory. With every summon she set out as they broke one down, it became clearer just from her eyes and the way her hair was undone and her silks now slashed in multiple places that she was well beyond reason. This was bloody personal, and she didn't much care anymore who or what she had to sacrifice in order to emerge victorious.
Then, everything snapped. A few seconds later, the central chandelier fell and shattered, with everyone, Irene included, jumping out of the way. Smoke began to rise up from where her summons had been and all of them who had been fighting were now on the floor. On the other side of the ballroom, as she got back up, Irene could see that Laxus was suddenly even more protective, a massive shield of lightning dissipating around him and Hisui still held as close to his chest as he could with his other hand. He was the only one who was not on the ground, and he looked absolutely terrified, something no one had expected to see. Breathing heavily, he looked at his wife, who was still uninjured, and then at the scene. Irene still winded on the ground, he started to approach her, lightning sparking around him and upset clear in his eyes
"It's over, Irene," He snapped, using his magic to knock the sword she attempted to throw into him aside. "Enough damage has been done, and -"
"My God!"
Everyone, Irene included, turned in shock upon hearing a new voice enter the ballroom. She laughed a little, albeit coughing up a bit of blood and grinned when she saw the man who had entered and was growing closer to her.
"Fancy seeing you, Toma!" Irene smirked and gestured to Laxus before laughing maniacally. "I do hope you like your daughter this way! Her poor husband -"
Laxus attempted to bring down a lightning strike on her but she managed to absorb it at the last second, using a summon to do so.
"If you want your dear wife to ever return to the way she was, you know you're going to have to kill me," Irene grinned, creating another mass of summons around herself for protection. "And I, for one, don't think any of you are quite capable of doing so."
