Chapter 47
Battle of the S-Class
Mystogan
I was getting a little frustrated. I lucked out with my first encounter, finding Bickslow, but now I couldn't seem to locate any of the other Thunder God Tribe members. Some time had passed since I sent Wendy back to the guild hall with the others. I had a fear in the back of my mind that Wendy might have run into one of them. I knew she could handle herself in a battle, but I couldn't help but worry.
It wasn't Wendy I had to worry about though. As I was running in front of Kardia Cathedral, I was ambushed by a bolt of lightning. The lightning struck me hard and launched me through the large doors of Kardia Cathedral. I picked myself up from the rubble and dusted myself off. I looked in the direction and located my assailant, Laxus.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Laxus seemed angry.
I decided to answer his question with a question of my own, "Just what do you think you're doing, Laxus?"
"Changing the guild, for the better."
"And you think starting in-fighting is the way to go?"
Laxus smirked at me, "You know what kind of a reputation Fairy Tail has now?"
"I have heard rumors." I replied, "Mainly about how heroic Fairy Tail was during the Tower of Heaven Incident."
Laxus frowned. I knew what he was referring to. The controversy surrounding Erza and the fact that Master Makarov was supporting her during the hearings.
"How about the rumors that Gramps supported Erza during the trials? Someone who willingly committed a high crime as trying to raise the dead? She should be locked up for her crimes, yet he supports her!" Laxus was getting agitated towards the end there.
"So, is that what this is about?" I asked, reaching for my staves, "Master supporting one person but not another?"
That hit a chord with Laxus, and he charged at me. He was quick as lighting, and I only had a moment to jump out of the way. Laxus raised a hand at me and fired a bolt of electricity at me at point blank range. The area around us exploded in dust and rubble.
"Shut the hell up!"
I was fortunately able to activate my Mist Body spell to avoid the attack. I reformed myself once I was a safe distance away.
"So, then you agree? This isn't about Master supporting Erza, but!" I was cut off by Laxus using his own Lightning body to close the distance between us in an instant. His fist connected with my face mask and launched me back. A moment later, I activated Mist Body again and got away again.
"Two Layered Magic Circle: Vortex!" Two massive magic circles appeared above and below Laxus. A wall of wind kicked up around Laxus, keeping him captive in the technique, "You aren't angry about the Tower of Heaven, you're angry that Master let Erza stay but forced your father to leave!"
Laxus broke out of his prison and charged at me. I could see the fury in his eyes as he threw a flurry of blows at me. It took a second for me to activate my Mist Body and get to safety. He managed to get three good shots on me before I was able to get away.
"Enough chitchat! Just fight already!" Laxus screamed at me.
He pulled back his right hand and summoned lightning into his palm. The buildup of magic was enormous and broke the tile floor beneath us. Finally, he fired the spell at me. Thankfully, I had enough time with his preparations to prepare a counter spell of my own. As the large beam of lightning fired off in front of him, I activated my own spell.
"Three Layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water!"
Three magic circles formed in front of me and formed a mirror of water. When the lighting struck it, it was reflected at Laxus. He was greeted with a massive explosion when the lightning struck him.
The attack didn't seem to do much to Laxus, who proceed to rush at me with another flurry of blows. He wasn't using his lightning body to enhance his speed, so I was able to dodge him, but I still found myself needing to use my stave's magic beams to fend him off. There was no doubt that Laxus earned the title of S-Class. He was without a doubt one of the toughest opponents I had ever faced. Even if I had Wendy's assistance, I doubted that it would be an easy battle.
"What's wrong Mystogan, aren't you going to fight back?"
As much as I wanted to fight back, I was between a rock and a hard place. With the current charge on my magic staves, I had enough to cast either a Four Layered or Five Layered Magic Circle. Four Layered was preferred due to requiring less magic, but there was also a chance that the illusion wouldn't stick and Laxus would break out of it just fine. I would have to cast the Five Layered spell, but the prep time on that meant that I would have to get my timing perfectly.
As I bounced around, evading Laxus's attacks, I planted one of my staves into the ground and dodged away from it. I continued to do this until all five were planted in a circle. The spell was almost complete, I only had to finish charging it and keep Laxus inside the circle.
I focused on dodging Laxus's attacks and keeping him away the charging staves. Once the spell had finished charging, I used my Mist Body to force him to relocate himself. I reformed on the other end of the circle and as I planned, Laxus moved inside my trap.
"This is it, Laxus," I announced, "Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song!"
Laxus looked up in horror as yellow, light blue, red, light purple, and dark purple magic circles stacked one on top of the other. Lightning began to charge above the staves themselves, and finally, the spell went off. A massive beam of magic shot down on Laxus. The resulting impact blew heavily against me, forcing me to bring my hand up to my mask to keep it from coming off. The glass windows in the Cathedral were blown up as the tiles on the floor shattered to my spells might. For all the destruction this spell did, I was careful not to charge it to lethal levels.
When the dust had settled, I got a good look at Laxus. His shirt had been blown off by the impact and his pants were badly torn. He was also bleeding in multiple places and panting profusely.
"Surrender now, Laxus." I told him, "This battle is over."
Laxus smiled at me, "You know, I was questioning whether to let you stay in the guild after I become Guild Master. I know virtually nothing about you and don't even have a good gauge of your strength either. I still have no idea who you are, but I can see now that you are worthy of the title of S-Class."
I had a bad feeling about this. The charge on my staves were woefully low. If Laxus had a trump card, like I was afraid he did, I wouldn't be able to counter him with my staves. I would have to use THAT, and I wasn't nearly as skilled with it as I was with my staves.
"I'm far from done!" Laxus yelled, much to my chagrin.
Laxus began to roar as his magic power rose exponentially. Lightning began to surround him as yellow scales began to grow on his arms and torso. The magic felt different from before, it was clear he was using the dragon slayer magic granted by the dragon lacrima implanted into him by his father.
Laxus charged at me faster than I could react and with one punch, knocked me through a pillar.
"What's wrong Mystogan?" Laxus yelled, "Done already!?"
Laxus slammed his fists together and a magic circle appeared in front of him, "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Laxus fired lightning from his mouth at me. Like before, I was unable to dodge it, and took the hit head on. Fortunately, my mask was specially crafted to withstand a rough beating like that.
I tried to lift myself up, but Laxus closed the distance between us and brought his scaley arm down on me. I screamed in pain and was forced back onto the floor. There was no magic associated with that hit, that was just his raw strength.
"Like it?" Laxus taunted me, "They call it Dragon Force. Apparently, this is equal to the strength of a dragon. Not even Natsu can do this."
This was something I had never seen Wendy do either. I could only assume it's a form available to him thanks to the lacrima.
Laxus proceeded to stomp on my back, hurting me further, "Ooh, hope I didn't break something there!"
I screamed in pain as Laxus laughed above me. I would have to pull out my trump card too, but first I need to heal up. I activated my Mist Body to get away from Laxus.
"You know I can smell you!"
I reformed and reached into a pocket and pulled out a pill organizer. I took out two different pills and took them one after another. After taking the first one, I immediately felt the effects. The feeling felt like Wendy's healing. Thanks to Porlyusica, Wendy was able to enchant her Sky Dragon Slayer Healing Spell onto the pill. I felt my injuries fade away as my strength was restored.
With the second pill taking effect, I was confident I would at least be able to hold him off until my staves were recharged, or help arrived.
"Vernier." I whispered as Laxus charged at me for another blow. This time though, my speed was far greater than before, and I was able to dodge out of the way. I followed up with an attack of my own, "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
Laxus was too shocked at my seemingly new abilities to dodge. Wind gathered around my hand as I swiped at Laxus. My spell hit Laxus, and with a gust of wind, cut through his scales and blew him away from me.
"How? Since when could you use Dragon Slayer magic?"
I wasn't going to bother explaining to him that Wendy managed to enchant her magic itself onto a pill. It was significantly weaker than her natural version of it. What I was using was really a weakened, artificial version of her magic. I could access most of her spells, but I could eat her element or use the signature roar either. All this medicine really afforded me was a form of magic I could use. It was a good way to buy myself time while my staves recharged, but it was also something I didn't want to reveal to just anyone.
Laxus dashed at me once more and gathered lightning in his fist. He swung at me, but I was just fast enough for the attack to only make a glancing blow against me. He followed up with another punch, and this one I couldn't dodge.
"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!"
I braced myself as his fist connected with my stomach and knocked me back. I landed on the ground away from Laxus, clutching my stomach. I wasn't going to be able to last long with my current level of durability. I was hoping I could get away with just a speed enchantment, but that was foolish of me. Laxus was the kind of opponent you can't hold back against.
"Armor!" This enchantment did a little to relieve the pain.
Laxus charged at me with lightning surrounding his body. I was just able to dodge out of the way of his first strike, but his follow up hit its mark. Fortunately, my armor enchantment worked, and I was able to tank his hit. It still hurt, but it was less painful as before.
I debated counter attacking but decided it would be in my best interest to conserve my magic. I only had a limited amount of Wendy's magic available to me, and if I ran out of that, all my enchantments would wear off. With that in mind, I worked to keep myself a safe distance from Laxus.
"Come on, Mystogan!" Laxus taunted, "Aren't you going to fight back?"
Laxus went for another flurry of blows. I was able to block a few at the start, but then his punches and kicks started hitting their mark. He finished his attack with a strong hit to the face, knocking me to the ground.
"Alright, I think I've had my fun." Laxus lifted his leg and laced it in lightning.
Just as I was about to roll over away from Laxus, a white-haired demon came bursting through the doors and knocked Laxus back through the altar. The demon landed next to me. An aura of darkness radiated off her as she stared daggers at Laxus.
"Laxus!" Mirajane shouted in an absolute rage.
Thank you for reading!
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