Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail
A/N: So I may have gotten a PM or two, about how the fight between Natsu and Kasai went down in the last chapter. Here is one of the main reasons why Kasai defeated Natsu. There are more but I feel this is most relevant.
Kasai, the FIRE Elemental Spirit, is naturally immune to fire, not resistant, immune. He doesn't take a lesser percent of damage from purely fire spells and such, he takes NO DAMAGE.
He said in the beginning that he is the embodiment of fire given physical form. Up until his Fire Lighting Dragon Mode, Natsu had nothing that could hurt Kasai, who was also dodging his punches and kicks, so constantly hitting him was out of the question. Plus he only took half damage from the roar, the lightning half.
Plus, in the manga (Chapter 259) when Natsu does this spell against Max, he has completely drained afterward and actually falls down due to exhaustion, so that wasn't an overreaction I wrote.
Kasai was just the wrong type of opponent for Natsu to face. You already read that Kasai was more worried about Juvia, so he is not invincible.
I want to thank Tenryu no hoko for helping me with this chapter. You should check out their stories when you have the chance.
Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want, and check out my other stories as well if you have the time.
Cunning Like A Fox
Earlier in the Day
"Mira, how do you feel about Kasai?", Makarov asks the She-Devil as the two of them had just concluded their business with the mayor of Magnolia and were now walking back to the guild hall. They were in talks to see if they could gain entry inside of the old guild hall in order to attain some items that may have had been left in there since the building was foreclosed, though Makarov himself had some other reasons as well for wanting to get inside.
The oldest Strauss sibling puts a finger on her chin and tilts her head.
"Well, something is definitely off about him", she answers, "Almost as if he is not what he seems to be. It feels like he is hiding something behind that smile of his."
The elderly Wizard Saint crosses his arms and nods his head, "I got that same impression too; especially after the other day when he appeared behind Macao and myself without making a sound."
"He manages to sneak up on you?", Mira says, clearly surprised by this revelation. While the old man's hearing wasn't on Natsu or the other dragon-slayers' level, it was still far above most people. Though this wasn't the first time Kasai has shown that he can quiet when he wants to be seeing how he caught the entire guild off-guard with him burning the tavern, having snuck past everyone else to do so; something that should have been nearly impossible given his size.
"He did and that is what worries me", Makarov confesses before looking up at the S-Class mage, "Now, tell me how you feel about Romeo and his newfound magic?"
Mira takes a little longer to answer and Makarov notes a bit of hesitation in her eyes.
"Mirajane?", he says.
"I feel….", she started before taking a breath, "I feel that Romeo is in over his head with this new magic despite him having no say in getting it. Spirits are powerful beings, just look at the Celestial Spirit. Plus, just going off of Virgo's reaction to Kasai's anger, the Elemental Spirits may be on a whole another level of power."
"Hmm, you feel that it might go to the boy's head?", Makarov asks.
"Wouldn't be the first time at this guild when a powerful mage let their ego get the best of them", Mira points out, her thoughts going back to Laxus and his attempt to take over the guild.
"Indeed", Makarov agreed though his thoughts were about both Laxus and his son, Ivan, "But I feel Romeo is better than that."
"I guess we will have to wait and see", Mira says before a loud explosion echoes out from the forest.
"It seems that something is going on at the guild hall", Makarov says, "We best make our way over there."
Back to the Present
"Gajeel, now!", Erza barks.
"Here we go! Iron Dragon's Club!", as the dragon-slayer's arm transforms and he aims it at Kasai, propelling it forward at the spirit's head. Kasai casually sidesteps the attack and charges headlong at a vulnerable Gajeel.
"Oh no, you don't!", Gray shouts as he brings his hands together, "Ice-Make: Arrow!", he casts as he brings them apart, a frozen bow forming in the space between them. He then unleashes a barrage of ice shaped arrows at Kasai's side.
"Nice try, Frosty!", the Fire Spirit laughs as he quickly turns his back to the incoming projectile, revving his tail up. So fierce were the flames coming off of it that the arrows completely melted when they got within a couple of yards of him, forming small puddles on the ground, "But I am one of the last opponents you want to go up against!"
Gajeel, seeing that Kasai was now distracted, takes the chance to change his arm back and reforms it.
"Iron Dragon's Sword!", as his arm became a jagged iron blade, equipped with spikes along its edges.
Kasai casts a side-eye at the dragon-slayer, "Oh? What's this now? You're going to cooking something for me?"
"I'll slice you and dice you!", Gajeel replies as the spikes on the sword began revving up like a chainsaw and the former ace of Phantom Lord launches himself into the air at the spirit, the blade now arcs over his head. He brought it down with a powerful swing, once more aiming directly at Kasai's head.
And once more, Kasai dodges it by leaping out of the way, Gajeel's sword crushing the ground he was standing on only moments before. But the dragon-slayer didn't simply stop there as he quickly rotates himself to face his fiery foe and launches at him, this time preparing to deal a slash with his sword arm. As he swung, Kasai crouches low to the ground, the blade sailing harmlessly over his head and only hitting his tail in the process.
"Damn it!", Gajeel curses as he brings his arm back and notices that the part of the blade that ran through the flames was now glowing red, "Just how hot are those flames?"
But he has no time to dwell on such thoughts as Kasai lunges at him from his crouch position, his open jaws aiming at his left leg. It was only thanks to the dragon-slayer jumping away at the last second that he avoided losing his lower limb as he flips in the air and lands with his arm turning back to normal.
"Ice-Make: Saucer!", Gajeel hears and he turns to see Gray creating a giant spinning disk out of ice, its edges resembling that of a buzzsaw, and launching it at Kasai's left side.
"You just don't learn, do you?", Kasai screams as he changes the direction of his tail from pointing backward to covering the left side of his body, instantly melting Gray's attack before it even got close to him.
"What the hell?!", Gray shouts, astonishing by what he just witness.
"The flames are attached to my body, so I can easily control them to a certain degree!", Kasai brags, "So by all means, keep using your pathetic magic against me!"
Gray grits his teeth as he brings his hands together, "Oh yeah, try this! Ice-Make: Crescent Blades!", as he fires off a barrage of crescent-shaped ice spells at the Fire Spirit.
"And here I thought Pinky was the only idiot!", Kasai laughs, as once more the attacks harmlessly melt away before they could reach him but then a bright light from his other side catches his attention.
"Adamantine Armor!", he then hears from a voice emitting from the light, and when it faded Erza was standing there clad in a bulky bluish-white armor with shields attach to its side.
"Well, well, well, that's a set of armor I thought I never see again. It's a miracle that it has lasted this long in the hands of humans.", Kasai states as he turns to face the Queen of the Fairies.
"This is the ultimate item in terms of defense! Not even you could crack it!", Erza declares as boldly stands her ground.
The Fire Spirit eyes her armor for a moment, taking in every detail of the obstacle that was in front of him as if he was forming a strategy in how to deal with it.
"I hate to admit it but you may be right", Kasai surprisingly conceded, "In my current form, trying to crack your armor would be a waste of energy and time-consuming, the latter a bigger problem for me than the former."
Erza could help but let her confidence rise at the spirit's statement.
But then Kasai turns his head to his right at where Levy, Droy, and Laki were, noticing the slight distance between them and the main body of Fairy Tail mages and Erza's heart rate skyrocketing when she saw the glee in his eye.
"Thankfully, such near-invulnerability does not extend to the rest of your friends", he chuckles darkly before taking off at the three mages.
"Look out!", Erza screams, but luckily Levy quickly responds to the charging Elemental Spirit as she brings her hand up and quickly writes out a word, an orb of light appearing as she did so.
"Solid Script: Water!", she shouts as she propels the light toward Kasai, the orb itself transforming into said word, though it was covered entirely in water.
Kasai leaps over the spell and continues barreling toward Levy.
"Solid Script: Water! Solid Script: Water! Solid Script: Water! Solid Script: Water!", Levy lets off rapidly at the oncoming spirit, but his superior mobility proves too much as he nimbly dodges the first three spells and leaps high in the air over the fourth one. Once he was at the climax of his jump, he dives down, specifically aiming at Laki.
The Wood-Make mage took action and create a magic circle in front of her, aimed high at the fire entity.
"Wood-Make: Violent Approach!", she casts and a massive spiked ball made from wood shoots out of the circle at tremendous speed.
"Pathetic!", Kasai screams as began spinning forward as he fell, rotating so fast that his fiery tail seems to cover his entire body in flames as he was on a collision course with the spell.
CRASH!
Effortlessly, Kasai went straight through the wooden ball, his flames encroaching upon it and turning it into cinders before he even hit the ground right in front of Laki.
Caught off guard by the ineffectiveness of her magic, Laki barely has time to react before Kasai slashes her with one of his paws, leaving four bloody streaks across her upper body in its wake. She collapses on the ground, screaming in pain but no one has time to come to her aid before the kitsune turns his sights on Droy.
"You're next, Tubby!"
Droy, for all he's worth, only show the slightest signs of being intimidated by the close proximity he was to Kasai and his verbal threat before reaching into his Live-Coal Containers and pulling out a whole handful of Secret Seeds in both hands.
"Plant: Chain Plant!", he shouts as he focuses his magic onto the seeds in his left hand and throws him at the ground in front of Kasai. Instantly, miniature magic circles appeared under every seed and large vines grew out of them, bind themselves all over the kitsune's body, except for his tail, and severely limiting his movement.
"You dare use my kin's creation against me? You have some balls!", Kasai shouts as though it seemed he was more enraged by the seeds themselves being used against him than the vines coming out of them that were strangling him.
"I'm not done yet!", Droy declares as he puts his magic into his second handful of Secret Seeds and throws them around Kasai.
Along with more vines send to reinforce the ones already around Kasai, due to the heat from his tail beginning to take effect on them, came vines with the ends shaped like fists.
"My, my my, aren't you creative?", Kasai said right before the vines fists started pummeling hit in an endless barrage of punches.
"That's the same technique he used against me while I was still a part of Phantom Lord!", Gajeel states, "Even back then those fists packed a punch!"
"Then there truly is a wide gap between you and I!", Kasai laughs as he seems unbothered by the constant strikes beginning dealt against him. If anything, from Levy's point of view, he seemed more annoyed than anything though the vines were holding him in place.
But then that's when she noticed it.
A few seconds ago, Kasai's tail was a roaring inferno but now it was completely gone.
But then that's when Levy notices something else.
The Fire Spirit's body was now glowing and she could feel the heat coming off of him even from a distance along with sensing that it was rising in temperature and accumulating inside of the spirit.
It was at that moment when she remembered what Romeo told her and Lucy on the train that day to Oak Town.
"He loves to turn up the heat in a room in an effort to get people's attention. The first fire started because I ignore him for so long that one of our kitchen chairs burst into flames."
"Everyone, get back, now!", Levy shouts, prompting the rest of the guild to jump away from the kitsune.
All except for herself and Droy who unfortunately were not fast enough.
"Heat Wave!"
Before either of those two could move, an aura of extreme temperature emits off of Kasai. The sheer heat of it causing the vines wrapped around him to wither away along with the grass closest to him as well. The wave passes over Droy, Levy, and an unconscious Laki, and the two members of Shadow Gear instantly fell to the ground, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads.
"Shrimp!", Gajeel screams out as takes off toward the Solid Script Mage.
"Oh?", Kasai says as he returns to normal and his tail reignites. He then quickly moves to hover over the unconscious Levy, causing Gajeel to stop in his tracks "It would seem like this particular human means a great deal to you. How intriguing."
The Iron Dragon-Slayer grits his teeth and moves to attack but stops once more upon seeing Kasai place one of his large paws directly above Levy's head. This gesture prompts the others as well to tense up and hold their position.
"One quick press. That's all it would take and her life would be forfeited.", Kasai says, "She wouldn't even feel a thing, I can promise you that."
The kitsune's head moves back and forth, his eyes locking with each and every mage in attendance, even causing a few like Nab and Warren to take a step back.
Then without warning, Kasai pulls back his paw.
"I should just kill her now but I did make a promise that I wouldn't do that, at least not deliberately.", he recalls before raising his paw, his claws now retracted, "Here, take your trash somewhere else out of my sight."
And with a powerful swing, he swats Levy in her side and sends her flying, her body flailing around like a ragdoll as she soars through the air into Gajeel's waiting arms, who was at least thirty feet away.
"Oi Shrimp, speak to me!", he says, shaking the girl in an effort to wake her up, "Come on, wake up!"
"And let's not forget about these two", Kasai says as he does the same thing to both Droy and Laki, and both of the mages' unconscious forms are flung several yards through the air. Luckily both Elfman and Max were in the direction they were sent and manages to catch them before they hit the ground, though just like Levy, the two mages looked worse for wear, especially Laki.
"Her bleeding has stopped", Max notices upon taking a closer inspection at the wounds inflicted upon her by Kasai's claws.
"The sheer temperature of my Heat Wave has no doubt cauterizes her wounds", Kasai points out, "You should be grateful."
"You did this to her in the first place!", Max snaps, his anger rising.
"And I could have done much worse if I did not promise myself not to kill all of you guys outright", Kasai laughs as he turns around to fully face the Sand Mage, "But if you feel the need to avenge her then, by all means, come do so!"
The look on Max's face easily convene that he was about to take Kasai up on his offer, but before he could do so a figure appears in front of him, hovering off of the ground thanks to a pair of wings sprouting out of their back.
"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!", Evergreen casts and a torrent of energy needles shoot out from her at the Fire Spirit.
Reacting quickly, Kasai evades the spell, dashing left to right while putting some distance between him and the Fairy Mage. But just as he readies himself to launch his own attack…
"Line Formation!"
Kasai quickly spins around just in time to roll out of the way large, green, vertical crescent-shaped beam that slices the ground open as it travels along.
"You're pretty fast for a big guy!", Bickslow laughs as his "dolls" disconnected from their totem pole formation and hovered around him in a circle formation.
"Big guy! Big guy!", they repeated in sync.
"And you're pretty talkative for someone who will only likely make it out of this alive because I deem it so!", Kasai replies.
"We'll see about that!", Bickslow proclaims as his dolls began spinning rapidly in a circular pattern above him, getting faster and faster until they became a blur and taking on a green glow.
"Baryon Formation!", as a massive green magical beam came shooting out directly at Kasai who subsequently jumps far to the right to evade it, bracing himself for the large explosion that came afterward that rocked the area, sending debris everywhere.
"Fairy Magic Gun: Leprechaun!", the Fire Spirit then hears and began sprinting forward, a storm of energy needles now fast on his tail as Evergreen kept up the pressure on him.
"Yeah, get him! Send him over this way so I can get a piece of him!", Natsu screams from his position, while being attended to by Lisanna.
"Be quiet, Flame Princess!", Gray shouts at him, "We got this!"
"What was that, Ice Boy?!",
It was in the midst of all this that Kasai, while still evading Evergreen's spell, briefly glance to his left, a motion that was near unnoticeable and sees spots that catches his keen eye.
Or more so he found himself looking at Freed's right eye which was a much darker color than his left.
"Now that's something new", Kasai muses but then he catches something else that the Runes Mage was doing….
He seems to be writing something in the air with his sword.
"Is that what I think it is?", Kasai wonders as he veers left to avoid a barrage of beams set forth by Bickslow's dolls.
Between the two members of the Thunder God Tribe, Kasai seems to have his hands full just dodging their long-range attacks.
"It's almost like they have realized that fighting me at close range is a bad idea", Kasai tells himself, "It would seem that some of these mortals have a brain between their ears."
He then makes a sharp right turn, narrowly avoiding Bickslow's beam barrage as he made a beeline in Evergreen's general direction who was hovering only a few yards off the ground near Freed.
"What is he doing?", she wondered as the Fire Spirit barreled toward her, but nevertheless kept up her attack.
Kasai bob and weaves, seemingly dancing around the two spells and at one point even had the Thunder God Tribe members nearly firing upon their comrades.
"Hey, watch it!", Gray shouts as he ducks down, narrowly avoiding a doll beam, "You almost hit me!"
"You're welcome to join in and help at any time!", Bickslow counters while still keeping his eyes on Kasai who was getting closer and closer to….
"Freed, look out!", he screams to the mage who was still in the midst of writing.
Evergreen moves to intercept Kasai, getting dangerously close to him to fire her spell in hopes of diverting his attention.
It was in that solitary moment of Evergreen once more gathering her magic to unleash the energy needles that she spotted something odd about Kasai. Not only was he slowing down but it seems like he was slightly changing his course…
And as he got nearer she could clearly see his sinister smile.
It was also in that moment that the gears in her head started to turn and she realizes that Freed was not the Fire Spirit's target, there was a good chance he never was.
He was going after someone much closer.
Evergreen ceases her spell mid-casting and moves to shoot herself higher into the sky but it was too late. The minute she moves to take off, Kasai leaps into the air above her, directly in her path. Upon colliding with her, he wraps around her and his sheer weight brought both of them to the ground with a heavy thump, kicking up a large dust cloud not far from where Freed was, and instantly runes began to appear on the ground in a box formation surrounding him before rising up to the sky and forming a barrier.
"My, my, my, you must think you're so clever, don't you? The old trap-me-in-a-rune-barrier trick has been tried so many times on me before that I actually stop counting, Kasai chuckles as the dust clears and reveals that he had his front right paw push down onto Evergreen's back, pressing her into the ground as the Fairy Mage struggles to get up but to no avail, "But answer me this; did honestly think I forgot about you and your special eyes?"
Freed quickly draws his sword and rapidly approaches the barrier.
"Release her!", he demanded.
"Or you're going to what?", Kasai laughs as he presses down even harder on Evergreen.
A pained grunt escapes from her mouth through clenched teeth, though she stops herself from outright shouting.
"Tough one, aren't you?", Kasai begrudgingly admires, "I can't even get a little scream from you?"
"I...won't give you the satisfaction!", Evergreen hisses back at him.
"I see. Such defiance is an admirable quality to possess", Kasai comments before looking around at the runes, "Now my Runic is a little rusty but I believe the condition of this barrier is that anyone over the age of one thousand years is unable to leave it", the spirit say before laughing at Freed, "Funny, you could have times that limit by ten thousand more and I would still be stuck in here."
Kasai hears footsteps coming from behind and slightly turns his head to see a majority of the remaining Fairy Tail members still standing on the outside of his barrier, all looking ready for another round of fighting.
"Oh? Is there something you need from me?", he laughs, his foot never leaving Evergreen's back.
"Get away from her!", Erza declares.
"Who? Her?", Kasai says as he motions down to Evergreen, "Hmm, I might consider it after my little history lesson to your rune buddy here", he replies as he turns back toward an agitated Freed who was now accompanied by Bickslow, "Tell me, do you know much about your lineage?"
No words came forth out of Freed's mouth.
"Quiet now, are we?" Kasai said before plopping down on his hindlegs and bringing up his left paw. Without warning, a single long, sharp, and glistening claw pops out, and Kasai puts the tip down into Evergreen's right shoulder and slowly pushes it, easily piercing her skin and going through her bones.
"ARRRGGGHHHH!", Evergreen screams as the claw sunk into her.
This causes a few of the lesser battle-harden Fairy Tail members to look away in horror.
Freed moves to dispel the barrier but is stopped when Kasai quickly withdraws the claw, earning another scream from the female Thunder God Tribe member, along with blood coming out of the hole he left.
"When I ask you a question, I expect an answer", Kasai states, "Now if you will."
"Fine!", Freed finally answers, "I hail from House Justine of Midi and my family lineage goes back over six centuries. Satisfied?"
"Anything else you wish to tell me? Any family secrets that you were told to keep?"
"None that I can think of", Freed hisses at him.
"Really? Huh, that's something, oh well", Kasai shrugs as he presses down a little more on Evergreen, who now had a small pool of blood forming due to her shoulder wound, "Anyway, let me just tell you about that darky eye of yours. It means that somewhere in the past, a woman sharing your bloodline fornicate with a demon. Whether this was by her choice or not is hard to tell, it's a coin flip with you humans when it comes to these sorts of things. Such events, in turn, gave birth to a half-demon who somehow was not killed outright but even manages to survive long enough to start the family line from which you came from."
Freed actually found himself raising an eyebrow at this statement but that was the only reaction it got out of him.
Kasai then looks down at Evergreen and gives a mock surprise, "Oh mine, I seem to have forgotten about you for a moment! Here I am giving a lesson while you are bleeding from such a terrible wound!", he says as he looks back up at Freed, "I guess the responsible thing to do is to let her go so she can get it treated, but that would mean you would have to dispel the barrier now, wouldn't it?"
Freed gives Kasai a cold glare, an action mimic by his fellow guild members.
"Oh drop the act, you're not scaring anyone. The longer you plays these games the more pool your friend is going to lose", Kasai said before tapping his chin with a claw, "Although there is a chance it won't be enough to be fatal in the time before I'm gone….hmmmm," the physical embodiment of fire thought before an idea came to him, 'Oh wait, this will work!"
Without warning, Kasai's tail started to rev up again, its flames spewing out behind him.
"Now I'm guessing that you didn't add air holes to this thing seeing how you only thought I was going to be trap in here. So that means I am burning away the oxygen in here, aren't I?", Kasai says before looking down, "Oh nevermind, no need for you to answer that question, your friend is already doing that."
Sure enough, Evergreen had one hand around her throat as she was desperately gasping for air which was quickly becoming more and more depleted within the barrier. Freed and Bickslow also notice the beads of sweat pooling down her face.
"Blood loss, asphyxiation, or succumbing to the heat of my flames", Kasai says, "You get to decide her fate; which one shall it be?"
"If I recall correctly", Freed spoke once more through clenched teeth, the sight of seeing his friend in such pain being too much for him, "You said that you would not fatally harm any of us in this fight", he points out, trying everything he could to save Evergreen.
"You're correct, I did make such a promise", Kasai remembers, "By that, I meant I wouldn't personally tear your head from your shoulders with my teeth, cleave you in two with my claws, or whatnot; you know, instant death. If you just so happen to bleed out from the wounds I inflict on you and such, that's not my doing; you were just simply too weak to survive."
Bickslow grits his teeth before quickly lifting his visor up and his eyes instantly begin to glow while staring directly at Kasai's glowing eyes to which the Fire Spirit laughs.
"Oh no, your spooky eyes are trying to take me over; whatever shall I do?", He chuckles as Bickslow started to realize that his Figure Eyes weren't working, "That's not going to work on me, so you best try something else."
With that, his flames died down and Evergreen found herself taking deep breaths of air as a result.
"Careful now, I must have easily burned up at least half of the oxygen in this barrier already", Kasai points out as he looks down at her, "Though I'm sure your friend could simply add air holes to it, that doesn't solve your problem of dying of blood loss or perishing at the heat of my flames."
He then looked back up at Freed, "So the only way to save you would be him dispelling the barrier."
He then looks at the rest of the guild behind him, "But that would mean that I get to have more fun with you lot."
Gray grits his teeth, "You bastard!"
"Come now, do better; I have been called worse things than that", Kasai smiles.
"The depths of your dishonor knows no bounds!", Erza seethes.
"We have already had this conversation, Pointy, and I don't like repeating myself", Kasai tells her, "Now are you going to dispel this barrier or not? I advise you don't take too long to make a decision though."
Everyone exchanges looks with each other for a moment before looking back at Kasai.
"How do I know you will even let Evergreen go once the barrier is down?", Freed questions.
"Hmmm", Kasai ponders, "I guess you really don't. I could give you my word that I will, but I doubt you would take it at this point", he points out before suddenly smiling, "Oh wait, how about a trade?"
"We're not giving you Natsu", Erza coldly states.
"I'm getting him regardless of what you do, but no", the Fire Spirit laughs before looking back at Freed, "In exchange for me letting your friend go, I want one thing from him."
"And what would that be?", Freed wonders
"I want your hands flat on the barrier when you dispel it", Kasai told him, drawing a look of confusion from the Rune Mage.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you deaf now? I want your hands on the barrier when you dispel it. Do this and I will not harm your friend here any further", Kasai explains.
Freed had a strong feeling about what Kasai was going to do after he got rid of the barrier, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. As he sheathes his sword he turns his attention to Evergreen, who was still bleeding out underneath Kasai's paw.
"Don't you do it, Freed!", she screams at him, "Just keep him in here until Macao's boy wakes up!"
"Freed! Do not listen to Kasai! We will find a way to get Evergreen out of there but for the safety of the guild I need you to keep up that barrier!", Erza shouts at him.
"Tick tock, tick tock, every second counts", Kasai said as he moves one of his claws back and forth.
The Rune Mage then looks at Bickslow, "What do you think I should do?"
Bickslow lets out a breath, "Damn if you do, damn if you don't."
Freed looks at Evergreen once again, the pool of blood around getting larger and larger. He then looks directly at the rune wall in front of him, "Indeed."
Without any hesitation, he quickly places his hands flat on the barrier, "Everyone, prepare yourself!"
"FREED, DON'T!", both Evergreen and Erza shout but to no avail.
"Dissiper!", the Rune Mage screams, and in the blink of an eye, the entire spell disappears.
Kasai instantly lunges forward at Freed who moves his hand to go for his sword but he wasn't fast enough as the Fire Spirit spun around and the very tips of his inferno tail pass through the mage's hands.
"ARGHH!", escapes his lips and he collapses to his knees, his hands now a swollen red with patches of white and black sprinkled about.
Freed then looks up to see Kasai staring directly down at him.
"I suppose this is the part where you go back on your word and end my life", he grits through his teeth.
Kasai shakes his head, "You humans and your inferior beliefs. Just because your kind is universally known to go back on their word doesn't mean that those above you will. I said that I said I would not harm your friend anymore if you dispel the barrier and I won't nor shall I directly end your life as I promised earlier.", he explains before swiftly turning his head toward Bickslow who was preparing to launch an attack, "I suggest you worry less about me and more about your comrade. Her wound is pretty bad."
This stops Bickslow in his tracks who then turns his gaze to Freed.
"See to Evergreen, I'll be fine", Freed tells him.
After a moment of reluctance, Bickslow slowly moves toward Evergreen, his eyes constantly watching Kasai.
"Now then", Kasai says as he turns around to face Erza and the others, "I believe we were in the middle of something."
"Elfman, take care of Laki!", Max suddenly declares and he hands her off to the middle Strauss sibling.
"What are you going to do?", Elfman asks as he takes the Wood-Make mage.
"I have no idea. Probably something stupid", Max answers as he unleashes his magic and large amounts of sand start to fill the air. Elfman took this as his cue to move away from the Sand Mage with his comrades in hand.
"Sand Magic, huh?", Kasai smiles as he turns his attention to Max, "Though your attacks will no doubt be utterly pitiful compare to the likes of those of desert properties I have faced in the past, I will humor you if only for a moment."
"Sand Slash!", Max casts as he unleashes a crescent-shaped blast made of sand at the fire spirit.
"Pathetic!", Kasai repeats as he easily leaps over the attack and begins charging at Max, "You'll have to do better than that!"
"Watch this then!", Max says as strings of sand began to swirl around his hands.
"You're mine, Sandy Boy!", Kasai shouts as he lunges forward.
"Sand Wall!", and out from Max's hands came forth a giant moving wall of sand which place itself directly in front of its caster.
Kasai slides to a halt and quickly assesses the spell in front of him.
"Hmm, I would have to say that this might be considered somewhat impressive to your fellow human mages but to being such as myself, it is pitiful!", Kasai spoke.
"I ain't done yet!", Max claims, "Sand Rebellion!"
The sands then began to form a circle around Kasai until it completely surrounded him, the very air around the spirit becoming hazy in the process.
"Take this!", Max screams as he swipes his hand and the sand around Kasai explode with a force so powerful that the ground itself shook a little and cover the area around the kitsune in a blanket of sand.
"Alright, Max!", Jet shouts as he gets ready to move toward him only to be stopped by Max holding up a hand.
"Not yet!", the Sand Mage states as the dust starts to settle, "This guy took a direct hit from Natsu's lightning roar and got right back up so I doubt he's done!"
"And you would be right about that, Sandy", Kasai's voice pierces through the dust and sand cloud, "Your attack has done little to hurt me but I will give you points for effort", he said as he steps out into the full view of Max, "The last Sand Mage I fought barely tickle me with his attacks before I decapitated him while your spells, on the other hand, have stung a bit, you should take pride in that."
"Argh!", Max lets out before bringing his hands together in a type of prayer form, "Sand Tempest!"
Erupting from a magic circle that appears underneath him, a sandstorm of extreme magnitude form around Kasai and Max, enveloping a large area around them. There were swirling torrents of sands everywhere one was to look, blanketing and reducing visibility to near-zero.
While shielding her eyes Erza notices that the sands were light in the area that her comrades were in as she could make out their figures and the as well as the guild hall itself.
"Everyone head inside the guild hall! Help anyone who can't make it on their own!", she screams over the storm. Luckily, her voice was as strong as the rest of her body, and everywhere heard it clearly and began to gather up their comrades.
Soon Erza, Gray, and the others were heading toward the guild hall, grabbing those unable to move on their own while doing so.
Once everyone was sheltered within the hall, Erza turns her attention to Freed who was getting his hands seen by Kinana as he sat down in a chair.
"Freed! I told you to keep the barrier up!", she shouts at him as she moves toward him. Within moments, the S-Class mage found herself looking down at the Thunder Tribe leader, her hands trembling with anger.
"I am well aware of what you said. I was there if you recall", Freed replies calmly before winching as Kinana put ointment on his hands.
"Then why didn't you listen?! You put everyone's life in danger by refusing to keep Kasai contain!", Erza tells him.
"There are two reasons why I did not heed your command", Freed starts, "The first was that a fellow member of the Thunder God Tribe was in danger and in need of medical attention. As the leader, I have a responsibility for the safety of my team."
Kinana could feel the tension rising between the two swordsmen and tries her best to remain calm and steady her rapidly beating heart.
"The second reason and this should be the most obvious, is that despite what you believe, the Thunder God Tribe does not take orders from you", Freed concluded, "Only Laxus and the guild masters hold such power and you would do well to remember that S-Class is a title, not a leadership position. It gives you no authority over anyone."
"It is quite ironic you saying that when you so dutifully follow Laxus in the past!", Erza counters.
"I and the rest of my team did that of our own free will", Freed points out.
Erza's heated glare drills into the Rune Mage who seems unfazed by it.
"Do not misunderstand me though. If I feel that your orders are justified then I will follow them, but if I also feel that they would endanger the lives of my team, then I will refuse them", Freed added.
"More of our friends could have been hurt due to your recklessness!" Erza screams.
"Well, thank the gods they were not but if they were I would have been prepared to face the consequences of my actions", Freed replies, "Which is saying something is this guild."
The Requip Mage says nothing for a moment as she regards the Rune Mage. During said time, Kinana finishes bandaging up his hands and quickly makes herself scarce. It is only after she leaves that Erza quickly leans into Freed, stopping just a few inches short of his face.
"We are not through here. Once this is all said and done, you and I are going to continue this conversation", she growls.
"I am looking forward to it, but first we should deal with Kasai", Freed says right before Erza turns around and walks away and he turns his attention to Bickslow who was currently applying pressure to Evergreen's shoulder wound.
"You have quite the way with the ladies", he states.
"So I have been told", Freed replies as he turns to watch the woman known as Titania walk away.
"Warren, I need a mental link set up, now!", Erza shouts and the Telepathic Mage gives her a nod before bringing two fingers up to his forehead.
"Done!"
"Max!", Erza mentally asks the Sand Mage, "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine but I have to focus in order to maintain this spell! It was hard enough to keep the sands around the guild hall a little weaker than the rest of the storm so you guys could get to it!", he answers, "Anyway, the storm stretches out to a hundred yards in every direction and even into the sky. With his sight and smell no doubt affected by it, not even Kasai can find his way in it!"
"What about his hearing though?", Erza says
"As long as everyone keeps quiet and uses the mental link to talk, I doubt he could find us with his ears. Plus I can track him through the sand", Max answers before concentrating again, "Right now, he is at the edge of the dome and he is...", he trails off.
"He's doing what?", Cana asks.
"He's just standing there. He isn't moving from his spot", Max answers.
"Hmm, he may just be waiting for the spell to wear out. He must realize that a spell of this magnitude no doubt drains the caster's magic pretty quickly,", Erza summarizes, "Though I'm surprised that he is letting something like a sandstorm stop him from attempting an attack. I figure that he would at least try to make his way through it to locate us."
"I guess even the oh so powerful Fire Spirit hates getting sand in his eye", Gajeel scowls as he looks down at Levy who was lying unconscious in the bed he places her on in the backroom.
"Whatever the reason it means that we have time to come up with a plan", Erza states.
"We have two options", Freed chimes in as he hovers over Evergreen, "Either we can attack him once more and hope to overwhelm him on our own, or we resort to waiting him out and hoping that Lucy or Juvia will wake up in time to aid us."
"Your best bet would be Romeo!", a voice suddenly chimed in.
"Loke?", Erza questions.
"Do you forget that I was a part of Fairy Tail for quite a long time? I have been a part of Warren's Telepathic Link network before", the Lion Spirit explains.
"What's this about Romeo?", Gray asks.
"When someone comes out of Piercing Fear, their body is not in the proper state to be up and moving around so quickly, let alone fighting and casting spells", Loke began to explain, "If anything, they would need another half an hour to fully recover in order to do that."
"So what makes Romeo so different?", Erza asks.
"It takes very little to dispel a spirit if you're its summoner. Romeo could do it as soon as he wakes up!"
"Never thought the day would come where we would have to depend on Fanboy!", Gajeel shouts, his blood boiling, "Damn it, we need to stop hiding and go out there, and kick that spirit's ass!"
"We are not hiding!", Erza declares, "We are regrouping our forces, making sure the wounded are taken care of, and reassessing the situation! In case you have not noticed, Kasai took out Natsu, Juvia, Levy, Laki, Droy, Romeo, Evergreen, Freed, and Lucy all in the span of less than five minutes. That is nine mages; eleven if you count Loke and Capricorn being unable to fight Kasai unless Lucy orders them otherwise!"
"Twelve as soon as this spell wears off!", Max adds, "I'm going to be down for a whole day after this!"
"Which is another reason why we need to come up with a plan that could effectively defeat or at least stall Kasai until Romeo wakes up!", Erza states.
"How much time you think Romeo has before he wakes up?", Bickslow wonders.
"I say fifteen minutes, give or take a few", Loke answers.
"I can probably only maintain this for three more minutes at best so you better think of something fast!", Max says.
Cana takes the time to look around for a moment before her eyes widen in surprise as realization dawn on her.
"Um, guys? Where is Romeo by the way?", she asks.
This prompts everyone to look around the area, searching for the youngest active member of the guild.
"Please tell me someone grabbed him on the way in", Gray says as he looks at the rest of the group.
"Well, he wasn't over there by Lucy and Juvia when I got over there, so I thought someone else might have grabbed him", Nab confesses.
"Someone else did grab him", Loke says, "And I bet you that someone else is Kasai himself."
"WHAT?!", most of the guild mentally shouts.
"Don't worry, Romeo is perfectly safe with Kasai despite what it looks like", Loke assures everyone, "By divine law, he has no choice but to protect his summoner, even if he doesn't like him. Once Max cast his spell, Kasai more than likely made a beeline directly toward him and took him out of the sandstorm since it technically counts as a spell that's affecting him."
"Okay then, we will improvise that part; now we just have to deal with Kasai", Gray says, "Any ideas?"
"Let me at him again! I'll show him!", Natsu screams from his place on the floor near the tavern.
"Shut it, Salamander! You had your chance and blew it!", Gajeel shushes him, "Just sit there and be quiet and let the rest of us handle this!"
"Silence! Both of you!", Erza mentally shouts, "We are facing an opponent who is ruthless, experienced, and cunning! We do not have the time for you two to be bickering!", as she moves to the center of the room to get everyone's attention, "Now we have limited time so everyone listens up! I have an idea!"
...
...
"Time...a concept created by mortals to help them have a better understanding of their world. To help them believe that they could comprehend everything going on around them. Time is and always will be irrelevant to immortals, for it means nothing to them. What mortals consider to be countless eons is merely a day, if that, for the gods and other beings who inhabited the higher planes of existence", Kasai thought to himself as he looks up into the clear blue sky.
"But it didn't take long for the mortals to realize the consequences of their design as it soon dawned on them that they basically created their own limitations. This was especially true for the races that had shorter lifespans. Next came the concept of legacies for if a certain individual couldn't live forever then they would accomplish something that would make their name live on for eternity in the minds of the future generations. So they created empires, built enormous monuments dedicated to themselves, develop world-changing technology, and even push the bounds of the magic that was bestowed upon them. Then there were those who were willing to risk it all, so they foolishly made deals with creatures who dwell in the shadows and flames and even those who came forth from the abyss."
He then lowered his focus to the town of Magnolia, taking it the many houses that lined its streets.
"As a result of all this, mortals became….overconfident. They forgot their place in the hierarchy of existence. They would challenge those who were around long before the very ground they stood on, the very water they drank, and the very air they breathed was even created. They sought to rebel against those who reign above them, hoping to replace them. As expected, they would fail. It was after this failure they decided that if they couldn't be a ruler among the gods in heaven then they would be a god among the mortals on earth and they turn on each other. The strong conquer the weak. The strong then became weak. Then they were conquered by the strong. This pattern would repeat itself over and over again. But if it was one thing mortals were it was stubborn. They never learned from the mistakes of their past, they only outdid them."
Finally, Kasai turns his attention to the cathedral in the center of town and had to stop himself from laughing though he did crack a smile, "Through all this from atop of their thrones on high in the heavens the gods would watch this cycle occur with interest in their eyes and smiles on their lips. For it was all nothing more than play to them and all things beneath them are mere puppets being pulled by their strings."
Kasai shook his head, snapping him out of his musing. He looks at the giant sandstorm behind him for a moment before looking down toward the ground at the pathetic small human underneath him, his so-called summoner.
"But what would you humans today know about that; for you still worship them as if they care about you. If only you knew.", he tells Romeo as if he could hear him.
It sickens him how his body acted on its own, against his will, to save the boy; to get him out of the sandstorm despite Kasai knowing full well that such a spell is only a delaying action at best and wouldn't harm the human whatsoever.
But his creator felt that it was necessary to bestow, more like force, upon Kasai and his kin a certain divine law.
That they must be forced to protect their summoner no matter what, from whatever or whomever, no exceptions.
Whether they like them or not.
"Perhaps I have been holding back too much", he muses as he stretches, the pain from Pinky's attack finally fully subsiding. The kitsune was still berating himself for not knowing that that creature had a secondary magic mode that allows him to use lightning along with his fire. If he had known that he would have defeated far quicker instead of just playing around with him. But Pinky was still alive and that was a mistake that had to be corrected sooner rather than later.
His death would be the most gratifying the Fire Spirit has gotten out of anyone in over a millennium, that he swore. The fact that that pile of filth was allowed to walk around as freely as he did was nothing less than an insult to the kitsune and that's not even counting the Fire Dragon's Roar he attempted to use against him.
But first, he no doubt had to get through the others first and he had to do it before Kit woke up. If that happened it would all be over and he would never get an opportunity like this again. By his own calculations, he had little under fifteen minutes left before they broke out of his Piercing Fear and he wanted the sight of Pinky's severed head to greet them when they did.
If all went according to plan, then he would get everything he wanted and perhaps more. All he had to do was mop up the rest of them.
Kasai then turns around to fully face the swirling mass of sand, his ears homing in on the collective heartbeats of everyone inside the guild hall.
"They must be using another form of communication to keep quiet. Too bad for them they are still living, breathing mortals."
Kasai then prepared himself to lunge forward.
"Did you know that mankind's fall began the day they started to question everything around them", he asks Romeo one last time as he revved up his tail and extended his claws, "and foolishly thought there would be no consequences for such an action?"
With that, Kasai charges forward into the whirling sands.
But as soon as he did, the storm suddenly disperses and Kasai finds himself staring at three figures blocking his path to the guild hall.
"Oh? You're standing before me? Usually, at this point, your kind is running away from me", Kasai finds himself laughing, "I have to admit, it has been quite a while since this has happened."
Erza, now back in her original armor, draws her sword and points it straight at the Fire Spirit, with Gajeel and Gray simultaneously readying themselves for battle.
"Prepare yourself, Kasai, for now, we will show you the true strength of Fairy Tail!"
"This will be your last chance. Just give me Pinky and you can all walk away", Kasai warns them.
"Never!", Erza declares.
"Fine then, be like that! Now I'm playing for keeps!", Kasai chuckles, "Don't go screaming into the afterlife saying that I did not give you a chance!"
A/N: You may have noticed the thing with Freed and the Thunder God Tribe. While almost every other "team" in Fairy Tail is connected to Team Natsu to a varying extent, I have yet to see the Thunder God Tribe have such a relationship with them. They are their own stand-alone team and only seem to answer to Laxus and Makarov most of the time, (I don't count the time Erza was Guild Master seeing how that was due to reasons and she was only guild master for probably three weeks at best before giving it back to Makarov).
Also, please try to remember that the stronger members of Fairy Tail are still recovering after being frozen in time after seven years. Kasai may have been asleep for 500 years but there are hints pointing to the fact that this isn't the first time he has done this and so he can recover faster from it.
Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want, and check out my other stories as well if you have the time.
Heat Wave- Kasai absorbs the fire from his tail and converts it into heat which he can pulse out.