Chapter 48

Control

Zeke walked through the shadows using his senses to figure out where to go next. He decided to walk the building to see how many people there were and to find all the exits, just in case he needed to make a quick escape… not that he really wanted to. He thought back to when he went on his first job with his parents and had to kill that monster and how he was reluctant to do so at first. Once he realized he was able to use his abilities with ease, he wasn't as opposed to it as before. Now, he was in a real situation where he had to put those abilities and training to the test.

Upon finding the exits, he noticed that these people were now searching for him, and they were scattered across the building. There were a few times when he had a close call and was almost seen, and the only thing that did was slow him down. Thinking of what his dad would do, he had no intentions of leaving that place without standing his ground. These people took him from his home, his parents, and they were trying to harm him. Running away was not on the agenda.

He noticed that the place he was in had three floors, including the basement he was in. The majority of the people were on the second floor, not thinking he would have made it past them and get to the third floor, and smart enough to know he wouldn't stay in the basement, though, there were a few stragglers left still searching the room in which he escaped. He got a feel for the magic power of each mage and he felt he'd be able to take them all. Of course, there were a few he wondered about, but he figured he'd save them for last and worry about them later.

He could easily tell who the superior of the group was considering the jump in power level between him and the others. Whoever he was, he was situated on the top floor, along with another smaller amount of power. 'Ok. It's time,' he thought to himself as he made his way to the first mage he saw on the bottom floor, taking position right above him. 'Good. He's alone now.'

He was perched on a steel beam on the ceiling, about to crush the mage beneath him, but hesitated. He didn't want to hurt anyone, let alone kill someone but he was put in a situation where he had no other choice. He looked at his hands, seeing they were still covered in his scales and were now leaving dents in the beam he was holding on to. He had to keep asking himself what his dad would do in this situation.

"Where are you, little boy?"

Zeke froze in his spot when he heard the mage beneath him speak.

"I know you're around. I can feel ya!" The man slowly stepped forward, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for the boy. "I just wanna talk to ya for a sec."

Zeke could sense the evil intent coming from this guy and wanted to get rid of him quickly and quietly. The last thing he wanted was to cause a ruckus and have them all in one spot, making it difficult for him to pick them off one by one. He jumped from the beam and landed on his feet, the impact sending a thin iron rod up from the ground and into the second floor, impaling the mage.

The boy looked at the dead mage that was now hanging from the iron rod that pierced through his stomach. It was almost unbelievable how easy it was to kill him. In that moment, Zeke realized why his dad enjoyed his slayer abilities. He had fun using them in his own sadistic way. It was an unfortunate trait that he'd picked up from his father, and since he was so young, he didn't really understand empathy, which meant he was able to kill without feeling too bad. After a few seconds, he walked back into the shadows and headed toward the next mage he targeted, but before he could get back upstairs, he felt the power of the leader approaching.

'This kid is a fuckin' script mage, too?!" Eli thought to himself as he picked up the keys and left the room. He wasn't betting on the boy wielding two types of magic power and was getting more frustrated by the minute. 'This is why I didn't want any distractions.' He pinched the bridge of his nose and made his way back to his office, finding Ryn sitting in her usual spot in front of his desk, waiting for him.

"I sealed all the exits and alerted everyone that he was missing," she said, trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

"Thank you, Ryn," he said, walking over to his window.

"Is there anything you'd like for me to do?"

"Yes, actually," the man said as his eyes combed through the trees just outside his window. "I need you to stand guard on the roof and let me know when trouble arrives."

"Yes, sir."

"I will conduct a thorough walkthrough of the building and see if I can get him myself. His father is sure to have realized by now that his son is missing and will be here at any moment. You did do a good job of covering our tracks, correct?"

"Yes, to the best of my ability, but the perfume only holds for so long. The cover may have dissipated by now."

"That's fine. To be completely honest with you, I fully expect your friend, Jade, to alert the slayer and bring him here. I don't trust her."

"What reason would she have to act against you?" Ryn asked, curiously.

"In my experience, work and friendships don't mesh well. When you told me that she knew the Redfox family personally, I was skeptical. I am unsure of her relationship to them…" He trailed off, pausing for a minute as he faced Ryn, his arms crossed over his chest. "Meaning she could easily choose sides and turn on either party."

Ryn had nothing to say; she knew Eli was headstrong and it was hard to change his mind once he'd made a decision about something.

"Please, Ryn. Go to the roof."

She nodded as she stood and left the room.

After he was sure she'd made it to the roof, he left his office and started his walkthrough. To his knowledge, the boy hadn't made it to the third floor yet, so he scoped out the second floor. He'd almost walked the whole floor when something caught his eye at the end of the hall. As he neared it, he realized it was an iron rod that pierced through the floor and it was covered in blood. 'Shit…' He quickly made his way downstairs and locked the door behind him so the kid wouldn't get out.

He walked over to the iron rod and saw the dead mage hanging from it. 'This fuckin' kid is something else. Looks like I'll have to take drastic measures.' He felt the energy of the room and confirmed the boy was still down there with him, he just didn't know where.

"Alright, kid. Time to stop playing games!" Eli shouted. "I know you're down here, just come out and we can handle this like grown-ups."

Silence.

"Fucking hell," Eli sighed.

Zeke perched back on top of his original steel beam, reading this guy's energy. His power level was a lot higher than the others; he may have an issue trying to kill him the same way he did the other mage. He was going to have to be smart about this. He gripped the steel he was on, bending it to his will and sent it flying toward Eli, forming into shackles that pinned him against the wall.

'Heh, not bad for a kid,' the brown-haired man thought to himself.

The corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. "You caught me, now you can come out. There's no use in hiding from me anymore, it's not like I can get to you."

At that moment, Zeke landed on the ground in front of Eli, maybe two meters away, his arm in his dad's signature iron sword.

"You know, you're quite strong for a kid. I don't know many people who use two types of magic."

Zeke looked a little confused.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Eli laughed uproariously. "You mean to tell me, you got out of the tank without even knowing how you did it?"

"What do you mean?" Zeke asked, trying to stay firm. He had a bad habit of getting distracted and letting his guard down, and his dad would always get on him about it.

"Tch. Not very bright, are you?" Eli rolled his eyes. "You're a script mage."

Zeke's eyes widened. It now made sense as to how he got out of the tank and how he was able to silence the glass. He was a script mage like his mom! The only problem with that was that she'd never done any training with him involving it, so he wasn't sure how to use it. The only thing he could do was imagine how his mom used it and go from there.

Eli saw his opportunity. The kid had a great sense of humor if he thought those shackles were going to hold him. He just needed to get him within arm's reach and get him to let his guard down. Looks like his plan worked. He broke free from the shackles and lunged at the distracted boy, pinning him down to the ground.

"Get… off!" Zeke struggled under the large man who had him pinned by the shoulders.

"Now, why would I do that?" Eli sneered. "You are very dangerous. We can't have you running amok, can we?"

Zeke slammed his fists into the ground, sending two more thin iron rods up toward Eli. Unfortunately, he was a bit faster than average and swiftly dodged the rods, but he had to let go of Zeke to do so. The slayer took his opportunity to slip back into the shadows and slither away from the man.

"Come on, kid. Don't make me hurt you," Eli said, clearly frustrated.

"You can't hurt me! I'm stronger than you!" Zeke said, materializing when he was far enough away from him.

"That may be, but not for long," he chuckled as he walked toward the boy.

Zeke turned his arm into an iron lance, extending it until he trapped Eli between it and a wall.

"Fine. But you can't hold me here forever." He grinned evilly.

"Yes, I can," the boy said, but before he could do or say anything else, there was a cacophony of loud noises coming from upstairs and he immediately knew who it was.

"Looks like he finally showed," Eli laughed. "Took him long enough."

"Dad!" Zeke released Eli and darted toward the door in an attempt to get to his dad until he stopped abruptly, his mind in a haze.

"Now, why did you have to go and make me use my magic?" The man walked over to the boy and ruffled his hair. "I couldn't have you running off to your dad. That wouldn't end well for me, now would it?"

Jade sped through the forest with an unbelievably angry dragon slayer following close behind. He'd changed his arms into swords, slicing through anything he could reach, not caring about the path of destruction he left.

"You might want to save that energy for the actual fight," she suggested.

Gajeel was so out of it, he didn't even register her comment. He could only focus on one thing, and that was getting to his son and destroying anyone who stood in his way.

"We're close," Jade said after a few more minutes.

"Where?" Gajeel snarled.

"About a mile west."

He didn't even wait for Jade to continue pushing through before he sped past her, headed in the direction of the Tribe.

"Wait! You probably shouldn't just barge in there! They must be expecting you!"

"Even better."

Ryn had been on the roof for maybe ten minutes before she saw trees falling in the distance. Pulling out her binoculars, she scanned the distant forest. 'Ugh, I can't see him,' she thought to herself as she pulled her binoculars away, immediately being caught off guard by a tree that was being hurled directly at her. She narrowly escaped the tree, jumping down to the ground close to the entrance of the building, only having to dodge and roll as soon as she landed to avoid the tree a second time. She covered herself, her efforts in vain as she still got nicked by some debris from the building. She pulled herself off the ground and scanned the tree line for the slayer but was having difficulty seeing clearly because of the settling dust.

Pulling out her poison perfume, she laced the air with it, knowing he would soon cross its path. 'Let's see him get past this with ease,' she thought to herself before she noticed he was nowhere to be found. She could feel his magic power all around her, making it difficult for her to pinpoint him exactly.

As a bounty hunter, she was used to hiding and hunting. She knew the only other option was for him to be somewhere in the trees. Scanning the canopy, she suddenly felt Jade's power closely approaching, but it was too late for her to act. The dragon slayer was coming down fast with his iron dragon sword equipped, her eyes locked with the tip of his blade.

"Oh sh-" she exclaimed as she deftly leapt out of the way of the sword.

Gajeel came down with his sword, ready to turn this bitch into a kabob. Unfortunately, she saw him and moved out of the way just before he could get to her. It didn't matter to him, though. She was the least of his worries. The impact of his sword piercing the earth caused a ripple strong enough to knock her down along with a few more trees.

Ryn was halfway pinned under a fallen tree when she saw the slayer completely ignore her and head toward the severely damaged building. 'That's fine, I'll let Eli and the underlings handle you. I need to deal with Jade.' She used some of her power perfume, increasing her speed and strength which helped her break free from the tree.

"Alright," she said, brushing the dirt and wood chips off her clothing. "I know you're still out there, Jade. I can't just let you live, now. You've compromised our mission." She was kind of bummed that Eli was right about Jade turning on them, but she figured it was a possibility, so she wasn't too distraught.

Jade appeared from behind Ryn, hoping she would be willing to reason.

"Come, now. Can't we just talk this out like civilized adults?" She asked the brown-haired woman.

"Sorry, no can do," Ryn said, her hand on her pack of assorted perfumes. She sensed something off about Jade's power and felt as if she could take her on.

The green-eyed woman sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I was always cordial with you." She lifted her hand to create her death ball, but for some reason, she couldn't summon her miasma. Her eyes widened at the realization that she could no longer use her black magic.

"Having some trouble there?"