Well.
Hmm.
Tbh I thought about it a lot, what I might say if/when I ever write this again.
Well, life happened.
I have no defense sooooo. Yeah XD
Thought one day that I should come back and finish what I started, so here we are. Don't kill me pls thx. :'3
The amount of fucking research I had to do to fucking write this, holy shit. It's been years since i consumed a single media for Fairy Tail. And yet here we are.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter warnings: Un-betaed. Multi-POV Minor Character death.
Disclaimer: I do not own FT and accidental SAO.
Chapter 15
The War
It was as if the first war of Ishgar taught them nothing.
Levy stared at the horizon, where they could see the commotion, the guild of Lamia Scale slowly approaching Magnolia. She activated the 'Zoom' collectible from her inventory, and gulped, confirming her suspicions.
With a steely gaze, she turned towards her comrades. "Let the Master know," she told Jet and Droy, "The enemy is approaching. And Ivan Dreyar is leading them."
About a third of the guild had logged off, hearing about the war. As Titania had briefed the remaining members about the true intentions of Lamia Scale, they had complained freely, vehemently against risking their lives for BlackIce.
At that moment, Levy had seethed in anger. How could they abandon the people of their Guild? How could they leave, knowing thihat their guild members' lives were at stake, despite knowing that this wasn't about BlackIce anymore? That the future of all the players, living or dead, was at stake?
But as Levy stared at Jet and Droy's retreating figures, it felt like her rose-tinted perception had suddenly been shattered. She could understand their fear. She could, because she felt it too - the cold dread that settled into her, as the enemy approached. It made her wonder why Jet and Droy didn't log out too. Was it because of their guilt? Because they hurt BlackIce? Because they hurt her?
She felt an arm encircling her shoulder, "I can hear your gears turning, shrimp," Gajeel, her partner, smirked at her, "What are you thinking about?"
"This is pointless," Levy whispered, "I know we won't ever kill our enemy, but what would stop them from hurting us? From killing us?" She leaning into Gajeel, seeking any form of comfort in this dire situation, "I can't see them die. They are my family. They are my nakama."
"I know, shrimp. But Fairy Tail is the number 1 guild for a reason." Gajeel smirked, "Our Guild's XP doesn't lie. It's the frozen bastards of the North, who are rushing to their own demise."
Levy closed her eyes. She knew the odds favored them. She knew that Titania shared every single piece of intel with them, every important detail. No more secrets. Maybe, she even shared more than she was supposed to, about their knowledge of the enemy.
Levy knew this, and yet, she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling. She grabbed the hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, and stared up at her fiancé, "Promise me that you will stay safe."
Gajeel's mirth still remained, eyes turned serious, feeling the weight of her words. He squeezed her shoulder a little tighter, "Our quest comes first, you know this," but looking at Levy's eyes, he added, "But I promise I'll be careful."
With a shaky breath, Levy faced towards their impending doom, and activated her Game Capture.
"Jellal," Erza called, having caught up with the hooded, armored figure, secretly sneaking off to the woods, "Where are you going?"
The blue haired male breathed a shaky sigh. "I'm gonna fix this, Erza."
"What do you mean?" Erza muttered, "You're not talking about the war, are you?" Anger slowly bubbled inside of her.
"For fucks' sake, Erza-"
"You're going after her, aren't you? You finally sense her." Erza's voice became louder with ever sentence she spoke, "I can't believe you're doing this to me, again. After what happened last time?" When Jellal wouldn't meet her eyes, she continued, "You wanna go after her alone, knowing that you can't fight her on your own, knowing what happened to our friends-"
Jellal turned around abruptly and stepped closer to her, eyes wide in desperation "I can't just let her go, Erza! She is the reason they are dead. She is the reason Simon sacrificed himself. She was the one who made me k-kill M-Milliana…" Erza's heart broke, when she heard his voice shake with emotion. "I won't let her take you away from me." Jellal muttered resolutely, and turned around to walk away.
"Jellal–"
But before her boyfriend could walk towards the woods, Erza's senses tingled, alerting her of another entity approaching them. She felt Jellal grab and squeeze her hand.
"Oh, my, what are the odds?" a jarringly familiar, yet foreign, voice chuckled from the depths of the forest. "If it isn't the mighty Titania."
The figure approached them with grace, mask disintegrating, with a smile on her startlingly beautiful face.
"Ultear," Jellal seethed in anger.
Ultear's face morphed into a mock surprise, "Oh! Long time, no see, my little puppet."
Erza grabbed Jellal a little tighter, stopping him from charging at her in blind rage. She could sense her overwhelming power, but it did not match the laughably low value displayed as her level at all. Erza wondered if this was similar to what they had observed with Lyon, with her true power being masked by a fake level.
She wondered how many more members of Lamia Scale had this sickening advantage over them.
"For an NPC, you really have the nerve," Erza's voice dripped with venom, "You've been doing Ivan's bidding from the moment you were created, like his little puppet. Aren't you such a hypocrite?"
The air around them suddenly chilled down, as the NPC's eyes hardened in a glare, "Oh, no, Titania, YOU are the one who's the hypocrite. Did you forget that the reason I am here is because of my dear Mother?!" Erza gasped, rage slowly consuming her.
The model of Ultear was designed by a former lead developer of NeuroLink: Ur Milkovich. Ultear, also known as the Witch of the North, was a *non-player character, an AI. She aided the players in the most difficult, physically, and emotionally draining quest in the former version of the game, providing the most unusual support to the players, a boost of hope.
The invention of this AI was ground-breaking in the gaming community. General VR games affected the neurotransmitters of the players, which enabled them to feel the physical sensations while playing the game. But Ur's invention also controlled their emotions to an extent. Ur Milkovich even named her brain-child after her deceased daughter: Ultear Milkovich.
When the news of the Glitch-Coma had broken out, it hadn't just created a panic in the game, but also a hysteria amongst the employees of this top-secret firm in the real world. That day, when multiple developers quit, hundreds of employees walked out, leaving them only with a handful of people, who wanted to rectify the horror that was unfolding within the game.
"I get it," Erza gritted out, remembering that fateful day, "I understand that you feel betrayed-"
"You understand nothing Titania-"
"- but you have to believe me when I say that this was never her intention."
Ultear barked out a laugh, eyebrows raising in mock disbelief, "You're right. This could never be her intention. After all, she never had the real vision, like my Master."
Jellal hissed beside her, mirroring Erza's anger towards the NPC.
Ivan Dreyar, the man behind the Glitch, had barged into the developers' bay that fateful day, demanding for a "solution", to keep players from leaking the mishap to media. No one knew he was the culprit. No one could have even guessed that he was the epicenter to the mass destruction that was soon to follow.
His demands had seemed reasonable, making the developers believe that a temporary solution was necessary. And in that haste, Ur, along with her team of developers: Erza, Jellal, Simon and Milliana, ended up expanding Ultear's area of influence to the entire map.
A solution, that led Ur to create this NPC capable of controlling any player's emotions.
A solution, that was hacked into, tainting the memory of her daughter forever.
A solution, that ultimately ended up killing Ur.
Ultear snapped her fingers, and a rose-tinted mist generated out of thin air, rapidly approaching the pair, "I could've never imagined that I would stumble upon my biggest foe in the middle of this war," she chuckled.
The pink mist didn't even graze Erza, confirming the NPC's suspicions. "Who could have thought that those good-for-nothing motherfuckers could come up with an Anti-Me." She threw her head back and laughed, as her beautiful features contorted into a terrible, terrible scowl, as the mist glowed bright, activating her Mind Control. But before it could affect Jellal, Erza had expanded her shield to her partner too.
Unfortunately, her partner was the only player she could protect.
"Let them go, Ultear," Erza said, "This isn't what you were created for."
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Titania. I was designed to manipulate players," Ultear said, "Ivan recognized my true potential. He figured out what I was capable of. He figured out how to make them stay."
"No, he used you," Erza gritted out, "He used you for his own sick gain. He used you to control tens of thousands of players. He used you to make them obsessed with the game, and he is still using you to kill innocents!"
"ENOUGH," Ultear screamed, and the ground shook. The air around them froze as the roses appeared out of thin air, blasting the duo away with the sheer force of her ice magic. "She made me this way to please her boss, and now her boss owns me."
"No, you vile witch!" Jellal screamed, when their XPs balanced out, and launched a beam of light at her. "She only wanted to save the players. Ivan hacked you. He stole your code and fled the company, and he made sure Ur didn't open her mouth ever again!" Ultear shielded herself with ice, but was distracted enough for Erza to find an opening.
"Requip: Nakagami Armor."
She zoomed towards the NPC and blasted her with the anti-magic, specifically created to battle her effects, sending her flying across the forest floor, uprooting trees in the process.
But as she saw the glowing rose-gold figure rise up in the sky again, XP decreased to a mere 96%, she knew this battle was never going to be so easy.
Lucy ran acounf the perimeter, surrounding Master Makarov's Safe Zone shield around Magnolia. Being followed by a crazed redhead with tentacle hair was not something she would have recommended.
"Celectica~" her opponent sang, swinging from the branches using her animated hair, like Tarzan… if Tarzan was a horror-hentai-themed atrocity.
"Star Dress: Leo Form," Lucy transformed into her strongest celestial fit, swiftly turning around mid-air and launching her attack at Flare. Flare dodged her attack with a crazed look in her eyes, but Lucy was relentless, and frankly, driven by the sheer creepiness of her opponent. It didn't take long before one of the attacks landed her opponent, square in the chest, finally dropping Flare's XP to 45%.
Lucy panted, drained from the constant assault from different opponents, over the span of the last hour.
Lamia Scale caught them by surprise, not with their numbers, which was so low it was almost laughable, but with their hacks. Not only did they all have a near-perfect XP bar, they also were in Quest mode, which meant that if their XP went below 20%, they would safely return to their guild, their Safe Zone, and return to the battle within mere minutes.
This meant that the moment Lucy and Loke had defeated Toby and Yuka, they couldn't even wait to see the two opponents pixelating, being transported back to Lamia Scale, before being attacked by another pair of enemies within mere seconds.
Sure, Fairy Tail was still winning, but the defeated members of Lamia Scale were never truly defeated, never felt the fear of the Glitch Coma, that was ever-present amongst the Fairy Tail members.
Lucy scoffed in frustration, as Flare straightened again, with another minor dent in her energy bar. Her strongest attack only amounted to 14%.
She wondered how Loke was faring, now that she got separated from him.
"Aren't you thinking too hard, Blondie?" Flare purred, sending chills down her spine. "Who knows what might happen to your tiny little brain?"
Lucy gritted her teeth, "How are you okay with this? What do you gain, killing innocent people?"
A jarring smile stretched on her lips, making her blank eyes even more haunting. "Isn't in obvious? We need to fight to please my master!" Flare cackled and charged at her, and in a split second, Lucy decided to run up the hill.
Being familiar with the territory gave her the physical advantage, at least for a bit. She zig-zagged around the trees, skilfully dodging the projectiles.
Unfortunately, Flare had the advantage of height. And before she knew, Lucy had inevitably reached the cliff.
"Shit," she cursed, and turned around. Time to change tactics.
"Why would you follow someone so blindly?" Lucy hoped to distract her opponent, while quickly scanning her surroundings. Trees in the front, cliff behind her back. Her opponent right in front of her, blocking her only exit. If she ran sideways, she would easily be intercepted.
"Why would you risk your life for the man who rejoices in killing?"
"Oh, you pretty little thing, would you like to know?" Lucy shuddered. Welp, another cute nickname down the drain for Loke.
"Oh, blondie," Flare chuckled, raising her hair, forming a giant half dome, "How I will enjoy, killing you slowly." Her XP finally balanced out with her partner, NalPudding, against whom, Loke was fighting somewhere. And the moment it did, Flare attacked.
And, of course, Lucy picked the only path plausible. She broke into a run, yelling, "Physical Burst!" and jumped down the cliff.
"Fuck!" Her opponent cursed from above, as Lucy skillfully hopped from one rock to another, using the Physical Burst App's speed to dodge the hair still catapulting towards her, as Flare chased her down in anger.
Suddenly, a beam of light surrounded her, and her speed slowed down very abruptly. "What?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock, as she saw Flare grin, with the mysterious light originating from the blaster in her hand.
Was she armed with a Virus Scanner?!
Taking advantage of Lucy's momentary shock, Flare charged at her with her own flurry of attacks, which narrowly missed Lucy, but forced her to actively dodge her anyway. Lucy countered with multiple hits, some causing significant damage. But due to her lowering speed, one of the stray tentacles managed to land a hit anyway.
Lucy let out a pained groan, as a whole chunk on her side got detached, pixels glowing at the edges of her virtual wound.
She gasped, as her XP dropped to 53%, realizing with horror that she couldn't move around freely with such a wound anymore.
Flare walked towards her with a menacing cackle, "Get ready to die, Celestica," and just as she readied to land the killing blow, a beam of white light cut through the atmosphere, blinding Lucy. When the brightness dissipated, she found her opponent, slowly disintegrating on the forest floor.
Lucy gasped, as a chill runs down her spine, thinking that Flare was dead. But her XP bar said 11%. She was safe. She was just being transported back to her guild. Sighing in relief, Lucy turned around to thank her saviors, only to freeze on the spot.
The group that approached her through the dense forest, the insignia of the Tiger blaring bright. It was none other than Sabertooth.
And her savior, grinning widely, with power still sizzling around his outstretched arm, was none other than Sting Eucliffe.
Lightning cackled around him, in sync with the resounding bell tower, as Laxus stood at the top of the Kardia Cathedral.
He had been in charge of the evacuation of Magnolia's residents, which had quickly become a shitshow the moment the rose-colored mist had surrounded them. The Witch of the North was really under Ivan's control, Laxus had scoffed in annoyance. Needless to say, all the residents of Magnolia had successfully logged out (with force, but no one has to know that part).
Laxus had to counter Lamia Scale's cheap tricks. So, as a solution, although Fairy Tail couldn't make this war into a NeuroLink Quest, their Safe Zone could still be activated, as long as the Guild members could make it back to his grandfather's shield. The shield that surrounded the entire city of Magnolia, providing protection to Fairy Tail.
The shield, that was blasted off, right above the Kardia Cathedral.
"You piece of shit," Laxus glared at his so-called father, who levitating above the destroyed shield, face to face with Makarov Dreyar. It was jarring, looking at the figure, after years of separation. The brooding black armor merged with the black clouds surrounding the Master of Lamia Scale, as he loomed menacingly above the heart of the city.
The armor seemed to be custom made, Laxus realized, jarringly similar to Gray's Black Ice. He must have gotten his hands on that piece of tech, back when Lyon had fought Gray.
This was going to get very ugly, very soon.
"Support your Guild, Laxus," Makarov's voice buzzed through their communicator, "I will take care of this."
"No way, I'm not letting you fight that psycho alone."
"Fairy Tail needs you more," Makarov's firm voice left no room for arguments, "This is my responsibility," Laxus gulped, understanding that Makarov wasn't just talking about his son, but the game as well, "Let me take care of this."
"Che," Laxus spat in annoyance, not wanting to leave his side. But he had to trust Makarov.
Fairy Tail was holding on, but their numbers were slowly dwindling, as the members slowly realised Lamia Scale's glaring hacks. Some logged out to avoid getting killed, and some fled, the moment they saw the Safe Zone slowly disintegrating in front of their eyes.
And the members of Lamia Scale kept coming back, revived and relentless.
The choice was logical, but as he hopped down the bell tower to join his Guild, the sinking feeling never left his gut.
Jellal panted, kneeling on the floor, "This is impossible."
"No, there has to be a way," Erza gritted out, worriedly glancing at their XP: 67%.
With a combined attack, the pair had finally countered the Witch of the North, blasting her away with a beam of pure, concentrated power. But the fight was slowly turning out to be futile.
With no real concept of a threshold, Ultear didn't sustain damages for long. Within minutes, the 96% XP had turned into a 100%, while she rained attacks on the pair, giving them a hard time to retaliate.
"We scraped off 57% this time," Erza said, "That will take her at least 15 minutes to regenerate-"
"But we can't keep repeating this attack Erza," Jellal countered desperately, seeing the pink mist slowly gathering again in the distance, "At most, we can do it just one more time," Jellal's power cackled and died out in his palm, and he gritted his teeth, "If we don't time it perfectly, we will never win."
Erza stood up quickly, catching him off-guard, "Then get ready, I'll keep her distracted."
She launched off the ground and zoomed towards her opponent.
Jellal watched in awe, as the Knight and the Witch collided mid-air, their auras of rose and gold, frizzling out like fireworks. The sky soon turned into flashes of light, with both of the opponents zooming around the sky, attacking and defending in flashes, standing their ground. Jellal breathed out, and stood up shakily, determined not to let his partner carry* him in this fight.
[Gamer terminology. Stronger players in a team "carry" the weaker players. Lol.]
Raw power channelled though his arms, this time not frizzling out. He observed the XPs. Both their XPs were perfectly maintained at the same digit. Erza's incessant attacks didn't let Ultear regenerate her XP. But Jellal knew that they were still playing on borrowed time. Both of them needed to be ready to do any real damage. He couldn't let Erza tank all the attacks.
The power in his arms materialized as a pure beam of light and he fired it at the unsuspecting NPC. Ultear turned around last minute, but could only dodge it halfway, before it slammed right into her shoulder.
Erza landed right beside him, panting now. He reached out his arm towards her, "Are you ready?"
Erza was slowly edging towards her limit too, but he watched her gulp and nod, anyway, "Let's do this," she said, grabbing his hand.
The sky darkened again, as their powers swirled together. The streamed of blue and gold combined into a ball of energy, exponentially increasing their individual capabilities. At a distance, the NPC screamed in rage, face contorted into a scowl, her arm dangling off her shoulder by literal threads.
"Prepare to die!" Ultear spat venomously, "Ice-Make: Rosen Krone!"
"Unison Raid: Grand Chariot."
The cornucopia of colors lit up the sky, exploding outwards, with a huge energy wave, almost sweeping Lucy off her feet, if not for Loke, supporting her.
"What was that…" Loke muttered, eyes fixed on the swirling magic too.
"Unison Raid," Lucy said, turning towards Sting, "We need to go towards the light."
"What?!" Sting's eyes widened, "We don't even know what's out there."
"Well, there's only one way to know," Lucy made up her mind. They had to split up.
She turned to Sabertooth and pointed to her left, "Follow that path and you will reach Magnolia. Leo and I are going to investigate that explosion."
As the pair approached the dissipating clouds, the woods turned thinner and thinner, ultimately opening up into a clearing. Some figures could be spotted at a distance. Lucy squinted and realized with dread who they were.
"Erza!" She broke into her speediest hobble, and Loke followed her with outstretched arms. As she approached the players, the scene unfolded in front of her eyes. A dark-haired figure was on the ground. Seigrain was holding a blade made of pure power, materialized in his arm, and Erza was holding him, or to be precise, holding him back.
"This is the only way!" Seigrain exclaimed.
Erza turned to look at the pair approaching in shock until she realized who they were.
"Lucy, Loke," she sighed in relief, "Thank gods, you're okay," then her gaze fixed onto Lucy's wound, "Though, I would say that you've seen better days."
"So have you," Lucy cursed under her breath, eyes scanning the duo in worry. Cuts, scars, whole chunks of armor missing and frozen…
"What happened here?" Loke asked, eyeing Erza and Seigrain's 38% XP warily.
Suddenly, Seigrain groaned in frustration, "We can't let her get away again, Erza." He pleaded, an almost-crazed look in his eyes. "You know what she is capable of. She is the reason they are dead." Lucy's eyes widened. Who was this woman?
"Her XP isn't regenerating anymore, Seigrain," Erza reasoned, her voice distorting when she muttered his real name, "There's no point in killing her."
"Wait, what?" Lucy whispered in horror, "You want to kill her?!"
"She's an NPC, for fucks' sake, catch up already," Seigrain grunted in frustration, "Look, Erza, even if she can't heal herself, her power still holds. Look," he suddenly grabbed Lucy by her shoulders, scaring the shit out of her, "Tell me, Celectica, how would you feel if Neurolink gets erased from existence?"
A sudden, ugly spike of dread settled into Lucy, and she batted his arms away, "What the fuck?! S-stop messing with me. That's not going to happen." Her voice faltered, and ugly desperation growing inside of her, "R-Right, Seigrain? Right?!"
Jellal shook his head, and turned towards Erza, leaving Lucy grasping at straws, as Loke urgently dragged her away from the pair.
"See?" Seigrain spat, "Her power is just as strong, if not stronger. There's no other way, Erza, we have to kill her!"
Lucy turned to look at Erza, and froze. For the first time in her life, she saw Erza Scarlet look crestfallen, "B-But she's Ur's invention, her legacy. I just can't-..." she groaned in frustration, "I get it, I get why it is necessary. But it feels like we're destroying the one last piece of her in this godforsaken game, and I just can't be a part of that!"
"I know, love, I get it," Seigrain walked up to Erza and pulled her into a hug. "But we have no choice," Erza bit her lip, and sank into it.
After a beat, Seigrain said, "We will retrieve it. After all of this is over, we will retrieve her code. We will get it back, Erza, I promise. For Ur."
Erza closed her eyes and frowned. Then she pulled out of the hug and nodded, turned her back to them and walked away. Seigrain let out a shaky breath, and rolled his shoulder blades back. He readied his blade again. "This is for Simon and Milliana… and Ur," Lucy stared, holding her breath, as the blade of energy pierced through the figure on the ground. The NPC disintegrated into a million pixels right in front of her eyes.
Weirdly enough, it wasn't just the NPC. It was like the whole layer of environment frizzled for a second, before fading away. A weird pressure had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders as well. Maybe she was seeing things, but even the sky looked a little more blue.
Seigrain's blade fell apart into pixelated fragments, and slowly faded away. "So?" he said, as Lucy blinked at him, "Tell me again, how would you feel if Neurolink is shut down?"
And this time, Lucy felt nothing.
Laxus should have trusted his gut feeling.
As he zoomed towards the broken barrier, slowly falling apart and disintegrating, he watched in horror as the tiny figure fell from the sky. He cursed under his breath and accelerated using his lightning. Sudden sparks and explosions echoed throughout the maze of Magnolia, but he dodged every blocker and every attack aimed at him, just to reach the hole in time.
Right before Makarov hit the ground, giant arms caught him just in time.
"Gramps!" Laxus cried, desperate for any response. "Wake up!"
Makarov's XP was horrifyingly low, that even looking at it made him sick. Thankfully, the Safe Zone was still active, even if the Shield was slowly diminishing. Makarov was healing, Laxus realized with a shaky sigh.
Suddenly, a barking laugh resounded above them. Ivan Dreyar and slowly descending towards the pair. Laxus sent his nastiest glare towards his 'father'.
"If it isn't Laxus-chan," Ivan mocked, levitating and landing right at the gates of the cathedral.
Laxus grit his teeth, about to fire off a bunch of expletives, when he suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist. Laxus looked down in alarm, relief flooding through him. Makarov was awake.
But his words sent a chill down his spine, "Run."
"W-What?"
"He is my responsibility," Makarov rasped, trying to sit up, but in vain, "It's my fault that he turned out this way. I should have paid attention-"
Laxus seethed in barely contained rage, "His actions aren't your responsibility, gramps. It's his own fucking fault. Don't you dare move, I will take care of thi-"
An energy-infused punch landed on his jaw, and sent him flying into the graveyard, almost colliding into a gravestone. Ivan strolled towards him, almost lazily, his black armor so dark that it seemed to be absorbing light. Laxus stood up shakily, relieved that his attention at least was steered away from his grandfather.
"I told you, son," Ivan spat the last word venomously, "I told you this was a mistake. I offered you to join us. And yet, you decided to choose the losing side."
Laxus gritted his teeth, with barely concealed rage. This man… this monster dared to hurt his family. Was waging all those wars not enough? Was sending hundreds of players into a Glitch Coma not enough?!
He suddenly remembered that time, a few years ago, when he had been cornered by a bunch of suits in the real world. They had offered him to join their firm… Ivan's firm.
They had become desperate when he had said no; had dropped Ivan's name, as if that would have convinced him. And when the first punch had landed on one of the suits' face, that sickening crack was like music to Laxus' ears.
(The men might have beaten him up after that, but that's just the semantics.)
"If winning means killing hundreds of innocents," Laxus growled, "then I would rather stick to the losing side," Lightning flared up in the atmosphere, and suddenly, three quick bolts hurtled towards Ivan.
But to Laxus' horror, the black-armored player did not move. The looming figure boomed with laughter, as the lightning got absorbed by his armor.
Laxus' eyes widened. An armor that absorbed energy… no wonder Makarov lost so easily.
Cursing, he raced towards his opponent. If energy couldn't touch him, he could. But before he could land a kick on his face, an invisible barrier stopped his incoming assault.
"Is that all you got?" Ivan mocked, and suddenly, everything around him exploded. Laxus was sent flying across the landscape, colliding into a building, which ended up crumbling right on top of him.
Laxus groaned, trying to move the rubble. But before he could do anything, suddenly, an arm grabbed him by his neck and yanked him up.
"If you choose the losing side, Laxus-chan," Ivan's blank eyes stared into his, his arm still radiating energy, "then you choose to die."
A beam of light suddenly shrouded the black-armored man, making him stumble back, dropping Laxus in haste.
"You idiot, what have you done? What have you done?!" Ivan screamed in fury, as his armor slowly disintegrated from where the beam of silver light had touched him. Nursing his neck, Laxus stood up, the Virus Scanner blaster smoking in his hand. Stealing the blaster from a whining Lamia Scale member had been useful, after all.
"The oldest trick in the book, Ivan," Laxus deadpanned, approaching the flailing man. "Just aJust applied your own cheap tricks on you."
Ivan raised his hands in front of his face. "D-Don't do this. You wouldn't do this," he chuckled desperately, suddenly realizing his predicament, "You wouldn't hurt your own father, would you?!"
Laxus raised a single eyebrow. Funny, how the man was suddenly reduced to a bumbling mess. It would have been funny, if it wasn't so fucking painful.
Without gracing him with another word, Laxus raised the blaster again, and fired it straight through Ivan's head.
And as the Master of Lamia Scale disintegrated away to his guild, an earth-shaking explosion resounded through Magnolia. Fairy Tail blew up right in front of her eyes.
Speed was never Wendy's forte.
"Momentary Wind," She uttered, using her wind magic to speed herself up. As she raced through the maze-like buildings towards the Fairy Tail guild, she cursed her inexperience. She was already out of energy. But she had to be ready.
When the streets finally opened up to the guild, she paused and gasped in horror.
The corner where her beloved guild used to be, the grand building, with her family, with so, so many memories, had now been overtaken by gigantic flames.
"N-No," she forced her shaky legs to work again, and started running towards the giant wall of flames. As she got closer, she heard it: the smaller blasts, the horrible screeches of battle, the screams.
Her breath caught in her throat. No, she promised Gray-san, she promised herself that she would be stronger. 'It's just a game, it's just a game, it's just a game,' she chanted, and approached the first person she found. A battered body laid unmoving in a narrow alleyway, perched up against the wall.
"M-Macao-san!" The blue armored player kneeled beside the injured figure, and activated her healing magic, "Troia!"
"Oh, child," Macao rasped, "W-why are you still here? You have no partner! Log ou-t al-read-y-…" His voice broke off, as if distorting, disconnecting. Wendy glanced anxiously at his XP: 13%.
"H-Hang in there," Wendy would already have been crying her eyes out, if crying was programmed into her model, "I will save you, Macao-san."
Macao's eyes softened, "Have it your way, kid. But promise me you will save yourself first. This isn't worth it, SkyMaiden."
Wendy nodded frantically, one eye on the growing health bar, but his XP didn't budge. With horror, she realized that the Safe Zone wasn't working anymore. She gulped, and aimed to recuperate his health bar. That way, his XP would start auto-regenarating.
"Hey, kid," Macao suddenly croaked, "You know BlackIce-kun right?" Shocked, Wendy looked up at the old man, his armor chunks still disintegrating from his face.
Wendy gulped, "You should log off, Macao-san. You still have time."
"N-Not before I say this," Macao muttered, but suddenly his eyes widened, "Watch out!"
Suddenly, he pushed Wendy with so much force that she fell face-first on the ground. When she turned around, she froze in horror. Macao had shielded him from the opponent, and a giant branch of the tree had pierced right through his chest.
"Macao-san!" Wendy screamed, as the magical branch suddenly picked him off the ground and threw him towards the side of the building breaking the wall on impact. "NO!"
A bone-chilling giggle resounded from the far side of the alleyway, as Wendy ran to shield Macao.
"Found you~" the voice sang, and suddenly, three more branches materialized right in front of her.
"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!" Wendy roared, and suddenly, a giant vortex of fast-speed wind launched at her mystery opponent, sending her and her branches flying off to a distance.
"S-Skymaiden…"
"Macao-san!" Wendy turned towards her fellow guild mate, but all she could do was stare.
Macao was already disintegrating away, his XP almost empty.
"S-SkyMaiden," he croaked, as his voice buzzed and distorted. "P-Please tell B-BlackIce," he gulped, "P-Please tell him t-that… I-I am ss-orry."
Wendy sobbed and shook her head, "You will tell him that yourself, Macao-san. Please, let me help you-"
"N-No, kid," Macao heaved, "I-I-It's of n-no u-use." Wendy gaped at the disintegrating figure, as his torso disappeared in front of her eyes.
"… p-please-…," the interference made his voice almost unintelligible now, "-save yourse-…" the last syllables cut short, as the remaining parts of his body faded away into nothingness.
Wendy would have stood there, frozen on the spot for who knows how long, of a silver beam of light didn't suddenly envelop her.
"Che," the same tinkling voice spat, "I thought your armor was custom-made." Throwing the blaster on the ground, she strutted towards Wendy. When the light finally grazed her, bouncing off her bright pink hair, Wendy muttered, "Cheria?"
The figure threw her head back and laughed, as if this was the funniest thing in the world. Wendy soon realized that she was indeed older, and taller. Her username read: Sherry.
"Oh, you naïve, little child," Sherry spat with venom, " SkyGoddess and SkyMaiden: two sides of the same coin. No wonder she could fool you so easily."
A chill went down Wendy's spine. This woman knew Cheria, her former partner. And she knew him in the real world. A gust of wind surrounded the healer, "Where is she?!"
"Oh, my," Sherry chuckled with mirth, her helmet shadowing her face, "Exactly where you friend is now."
"N-No… there's no way…" Wendy's legs felt like they were jelly again.
The magenta haired woman threw her head back and laughed, "She had one job: keeping Fairy Tail in check. Be a good little spy, but nooo!" she dramatically waved her arms, "She couldn't keep a secret. She couldn't keep a secret from her best fucking friend."
Suddenly, she snapped towards Wendy, almost making her stumble back. Something was terribly, terribly wrong with this woman.
"She came back to us, all shaking, and crying," Sherry imitated a shrill voice, " 'Nee-san, please don't hurt them! Please stop this war!!' Hah! Useless little shit, could never understand Reitei-san's vision."
Suddenly, her visor disintegrated, revealing a set of dull, void eyes. "So I did what I had to do," A crazed chuckle built up again, "I killed her!" She threw her head back and laughed again.
Wendy's ears started ringing, all the sounds dulled. World faded from around her, her gaze fixated on the crazy woman in front of her.
"You killed her…" Wendy heard a muffled voice utter. Maybe it was her own voice, she couldn't tell anymore. "You killed your own sister…"
Sherry's face morphed into mock sympathy, but Wendy couldn't hear a word she said. Suddenly, all she could feel was pure, unadulterated rage.
She watched as Sherry took a step back, face morphed into genuine surprise, as wind suddenly picked up around Wendy again. "Sky Dragon's Claw!"
Wendy jumped up, lifting her feet, and unleashed large winds the moment her leg collided with Sherry. Her opponent was thrown into the air, and before she could realize, "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
As Sherry's figure disappeared towards the Kardia Cathedral, Wendy activated her Armor enchantment. She looked at her stats – she didn't have much energy left, but she had to make do. She had to fight – for Cheria.
She flew towards the Cathedral, but before she could realized, a giant debris flew towards her. She dodged the first one, but realized that she was surrounded.
"Doll Attack: Rock Doll," Sherry shouted from the ground, and suddenly, the debris zoomed towards one another, assembling and forming a giant golem. The golem raised its arm, and despite her armor, sent Wendy flying towards the cathedral with a single punch. At the last moment, she cushioned her impact with wind, but the damage was already done. Her XP easily dropped to 29%.
The golem picked Sherry up and placed her on its shoulder, and for the first time, Wendy felt her fear return, tenfold.
She had no partner.
She was stuck in this world, alone.
Again.
"Wendy!" A voice broke through her spiralling thoughts. She snapped out of it and looked for its source. To her relief, she realized it was Laxus. Suddnely, the sky darkened, and giant flash of lightning collided onto the golem. The caster and her spell flew off on impact. Wendy looked up, to see Laxus already standing in front of her.
"The war is over," he shouted at the figure on the ground, who was shakily getting up. "The Witch of the North has been deactivated. There's nothing compelling you to fight anymore." With lightning cracking in his arm, Laxus threatened, "Go back to your guild, or I will personally send you there."
"My guild," Sherry spat, "my guild, huh." Suddenly a chuckle builds up in her throat again, "The same guild, which made me kill my own sister?"
"The fuck?" Laxus muttered under his breath.
But Sherry's gaze had already snapped to Wendy again, "You," she spat, "You're the reason she didn't have a partner anymore. YOU are the reason she couldn't hold her own in the fight. YOU'RE THE REASON SHE'S DEAD!"
Wendy gasped, but not for the venomous words thrown at her. Distracted by their opponent, none of them had realized that Sherry had the branches under control again.
As her XP alarmingly decreased to single digit numbers, she looked down at the branch protruding from her abdomen. Sherry had stabbed her from her back.
"Wendy, no!" Laxus' pained scream was the last thing she heard, as the world around her slowly faded away, succumbing her into darkness.
So.
Yup.
I'll see myself out.
*fucking flees the country*