White Eclipse
Chapter 43
"Bang." Out of the tiny barrel of Reve's magnum, fires out a massive beam of raw magic that took up the space of the entire street. The blast took all of Fairy Tail off guard for a second since no one was expecting this from such a weapon.
"Look out!" Natsu yelled as he slid into a building side, watching the beam just barely hover over him. He held onto the wall with his "claws" dug into the side to keep from being blown away. Laxus turned into a bolt of lightning and literally fled around the corner with Gajeel for it was there only choice, also barely escaping. Loke had grabbed Lucy and they both now stand on a rooftop next to Sagittarius. "What was that...? He shot that from that little gun." The celestial mage pondered while everyone recovered from the shock.
"What kind of..." Macao looked on in shock at the now missing street, and the building at the end that no longer existed.
"It's a magnum. A celestial gun." Alzack said in a low, foreboding tone.
"A celestial gun?" Romeo asked. "What's that?"
"There's not many. In fact, no one knows the exact number of how many exists. Reve's guns and his clothing come from the same place Erza gets her armor and swords kind of. But there's a few guns, that were well crafted, a lot better than the normal ones you've seen him use. The magnum in his hand is one of them."
Bisca finishes Alzack's explanation as the rest of Fairy Tail look on in awe.
"The magnum is a six chamber shooter. The blast you saw is nothing compared to it's full power."
"What!?" Macao and Wakaba turned in unison. "There's no way!"
"Don't worry, there's always a downfall. And to the magnum, it uses nothing but the users magic. Though Reve is strong, he's spent on magic, which is probably why he's using it now. The magnum takes all of your magic that you have and divides it into six shots. So you'll see five more bullets that size before Reve gives out due to lack of magic."
Romeo turns back to the screen as he continues watching. "I wanna see it full strength..."
In her flame empress armor, Erza hovered over the blast just in time. Now looking at the destroyed street,
Her eyes widened as she examined the carnage. "From one shot... But I'm well aware of that weapon. And if we're gonna survive, there's something I have to do.."
"Better do it soon then. Heh." As Erza looked up, the view of the cocky smile on Reve's face was quickly blocked with a his own foot as Reve sent a spinning kick to the top of Erza'a head. Erza goes crashing into the ground and to the other side of the long road,
Or what used to be the stone road that covered the ground; now just a giant ditch of dirt. Reve lands on the other side, one hand in his pocket and the other hand dangled the magnum. "Alright Titania, lets end this right here and now."
"Reve..." Sidney groaned out. "Stick with your team Reve."
"Reve, lets fight together, we don't have time for one on ones."
"Hey, Luke. Shut up." Reve's tone was enough to halt the copy cat''s words, but not from respect, but from curiosity.
"...You're gonna ruin our chances of winning. Screw your thing with Erza." Takeru added on as he began taking steps away from Reve to not get caught in the crossfire. Reve dismisses the comment, only to tilt his head back a little. "Once I clear out Erza, you two are paying for the victory celebration. Out of pocket. Deal?"
No one was in a betting or joking matter but the cocky gunslinger.
"Reve.." Skye looked on with worry as the other White Eclipse members who were eliminated slowly walked over to the rest of the guild after being escorted out of the city.
"You don't have to accept Erza." Laxus told her. Yet, raising from the ground, Erza stood in her Armadura Fairy armor. The all pink armor that held two swords, one of her strongest armors. With the most stern look in her face, she points a sword at Reve. "I promise you. I'll make it to you, before you can finish me, Reve Volver. Besides, you only have five shots left, am I right?"
Reve growls a bit in a lone tone as he takes aim.
"Erza..." Lucy watched along with everyone else.
"Why aren't we attacking by the way?" Gajeel asked.
Laxus nodded at Gajeel's question. "You wouldn't want anyone getting in the way of your face off would you? The free for all will resume after this. These two have more bad blood than anyone."
Gajeel nodded after a few seconds of understanding the situation.
"Well here. Now I only have four left!" Reve pulls the trigger, and the massive beam if raw magic goes hurling towards Erza. Erza sprints straight for it. Her blades begin to glow a green aura. She then slashes into the beam. In a deadlock, she could already feel her armor begin to give way to the magnum's bullet. Still, with the strength of her armor, she redirected the bullets path into the air as it harmlessly flies into the clouds before dispersing. "Four.."
"Don't count for me you smug little!" Out of pure frustration Reve fires another bullet. Erza, who was still sprinting towards Reve, quickly leaps to a building side and began running the wall to avoid the blast. Which she successfully did. The radius of the blast blinded Reve's view of Erza, and she knew this as well; this is where she went to take advantage. "Three!" She lunged towards Reve with her glowing swords. She rears back, and then slashes forward the gunslinger who /just/ now caught glimpse of the fairy inches away from him. Only Reve would have time to give a smirk as a he merely tilts the magnum upwards from his hip and fires his fourth bullet, point blank into Erza's abdomen. "Heh..Two." The massive beam goes sky rocketing diagonally into the air. Erza's body was seen falling lifelessly as the beam continued to rocket into the air.
"Erza!" Natsu called out to the dead ears of the Erza Scarlet as she hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Heh. And I still have two bullets left." Reve twirled the gun in his hand as he looked at the remaining mages as the lacrima screen made it's way to Erza. "Now...lets-"
"Hold...on."
"What!? There's no way!"
Erza began to slowly struggle to her hands and knees, then her feet as she swayed back and forth, trying to find her balance. Though she panted heavily, a confident smile was painted on her face. Her armor was nearly broken to pieces, yet, she pointed her sword At Reve; still yards away from the gunslinger. "You have two left right!?" I hope you're ready! "She charged him once again as she yelled out."
"Why won't you..stay down!" Reve, now infuriated, fires off his fifth shot. The beam hurled towards Erza, just the same as any other. "Five!" Erza yelled out once again as he swords began to glow. Almost like a drill, she put both of her swords together as she somehow, miraculously began to pierce through the beam of magic.
"No way! She won't make that!"
"Reve now is a good time to move!" Kuro yelled for Reve as Erza continued to lunge forward through the magnums bullet.
"This goes beyond...anything Erza's ever done." Levy and the others continue to watch in suspense, waiting to see the outcome of the two powerhouses colliding.
Reve looked on, frozen in awe. His eyes widened from the sight. In the next moment, Erza appears out of the beam, unscathed, as she slashes her dual swords right through Reve, holding her stance as Reve's delayed reaction to the pain kicks in, finally coughing up a spool of blood into the air.
"Shit!" Waiston watched as Reve's body begins to tilt backwards, lifelessly.
"Idiot!" Luke and Takeru cried out in unison as Erza stood from her position, opening her eyes to look at them both.
Reve fell backwards with widened eyes. "...Bang."
As Reve fell, he reached back and fired off his last bullet.
"Down!" Takeru pushed Luke to the ground as Waiston and Kuro duck into a corner themselves.
"ERZA!" Natsu and Lucy both yell for her. But it was too late. Erza turned right into the blast, lifting her off her feet and into the building behind her. The lacrima screen floats over the mage...then finally counts her out; an X mark appearing over her face on screen.
"Erza..." Makarov looked on disbelief along with Mavis and the others.
The first master did nothing but slowly nod. "She did the right thing. Reve could of changed the entire fight with that weapon by himself."
"She sacrificed herself on purpose you idiot." Sidney slammed his fist into the railing, causing it to crack a good bit. "Where are your senses? Aren't you an S class Reve?"
"Cut him some slack Sidney." Calium said, looking over at the ghost mage.
"I won't. What he did was unnecessary. We better not lose."
"Erza...she's out..." Lucy covered her mouth in shock.
"What about Reve?"
Natsu looked over at the gunslinger who was out cold as well, an X appearing over his face on screen.
.
"Well shit. They cancelled each other out." Kiora laughed a bit as she continued watching the fight, sitting Indian style on the tower. "This is too good right now. It's like the best of the amateurs."
"So, White Eclipse is all out of S class mages, while the Fairy blokes still have one left eh? I don't know how much trouble that Laxus guy is gonna be. Hell, the wanker might clean house on all of them. Look at them, look at the brown haired one, he's beat."
"Patience Maggie." Arcturus began to yawn a bit as he scratches the back of his head. "It still looks pretty even."
"Arc is right." Rugal added. "This will come down to final blows. What you think Daityas?"
Daityas stays silent with his arms crossed, keeping his thoughts inside. "Kuro...you ungrateful bastard."
.
"Sagittarius, go back."
The horse cosplayer salutes as he beings to vanish back to the spirit world. "Moshi Moshi!" Lucy looks over at Loke with a smile. "You ready?"
Loke merely grins as he fixes his shades. "I'm always ready to protect and fight beside you, Lucy."
Gajeel walks from around the corner.
"Well...now that the awkwardness is over-"
"Ahhh!"
Before Gajeel could finish his sentence, Luke threw a fiery hook towards the iron dragon slayer. Gajeel managed to see it coming though and put up a forearm as he goes sliding backwards away from Laxus. "Gihe! You came at me like you had a real personal beef kid! Let me help squash it!" Gajeel grabbed Luke by his wrist and swung him around, but the second he let go, before Luke could go flying off, he conjured up a mirror in mid air. Luke then planted his feet on he mirror, cracking it from impact. Now, merely feet away from Gajeel Redfox, he crouches and then lunges towards the off guard mage. "Fire Dragon, Sword horn!" Luke Headbutts Gajeel right into the stomach, sending them both flying into one or the remaining buildings. As the smoke cleared, Luke and Gajeel were now in a tie up. Gajeel was proving to be stronger as Luke slowly went to his right knee. Gajeel, with a grin on his face, then slammed his head against Luke's, knocking him dizzy. Gajeel then released his grip and reared back for a punch but Luke quickly recovers from the headbutt and legs sweeps him, causing him to lose his balance as he falls to his rear. "Ice Make:..."
As another collision happens in Luke and Gajeel's area, Waiston hops up to the rooftops, now across from Lucy and Loke. Lucy turned to him, ready to go along with the lion Loke. Waiston merely grins as he charges them both, sliding into the middle of them both, he quickly fires a back kick to Lucy, which she blocks but still stumbles backwards. With glowing fists, Loke begins swinging a combination of punches. Waiston did the same as his fists were now wrapped in solid ice and raw sky magic wrapped around them. After a short exchange of fist to fist connection. Lucy comes back with her Fleuve d'étoiles, whipping it towards Waiston. He ducks. The Fleuve d'étoiles wraps around Loke instead, and before Lucy could recognize her mistake and unravel the whip, Waiston slams his fist into Loke's jaw. Though not enough to get rid of the persistent spirit, Loke goes tumbling to the edge of the building. Waiston then turns back to Lucy and quickly pounced at her. She scrambles away from the incoming punch and quickly pulls out a key. "Taurus!"
With a loud Moo, Taurus lunges out of his gate, swinging his axe vertically towards Waiston. Bursting with confidence however, Waiston catches the axe by it's sides. Now in a struggle with the buff bull, Waiston smirks as he begins to take advantage, until Loke quickly comes back with a glowing fist to the jaw of the Frozen Sky dragon; sliding him backwards a great deal. Now standing near the edge, he stared down the two spirits that stood in front of Lucy.
No words were spoken. They stared each other down from across the once stone path of Crocus. Takeru gave his regular emotionless stare as Natsu's face showed nothing but determination, with his scarf blowing westward in the wind. Takeru took a step forward, only to be stopped by Kuro.
"Wait..let me go. Finish off Laxus."
"Tch..who made you captain?"
Kuro turns to Takeru...and smiles. "We don't need another Reve, Takeru. If you want to have a showdown with Natsu, do it some other time when you're both full strength. This is more important. You can finish off Laxus because I believe you can. He hits heavy so watch out. In the meantime, I have a certain technique for Natsu that'll finish him cleanly. Lets /win/ first Takeru. Your unspoken rivalry with Salamander isn't going anywhere."
Taker looked at Kuro, and then walked forward, slapping his arm out the way. He began to stalk towards...Laxus. Laxus at this time was fluctuating with lightning magic.
Kuro smiled, and quickly turns to Natsu. "Dragneel, I'm finishing you here."
"Fat chance!" Natsu grins with excitement as he slammed a fist into his palm. "Lets go you bastard!"
And with that, Kuro took off towards Natsu. Electing to not use any magic yet, Kuro began throwing a jab to hook combination at the Salamander. Natsu then begins blocking and dodging the blows, until a right hook skids across his face. Natsu reacts by slamming a spinning back fist into the nose of Kuro, causing him to stumble back. Staying on the attack, Natsu followed with a right straight, but Kuro ducked the punch, and then grabbed Natsu by the arm with both hands. He then flipped him over and onto the ground. Not letting go of his arm, Kuro slams a kick to the ribs of the scrambling Natsu. The salamander quickly springs up after taking the shot to the ribs and throws a fiery punch to the jaw of Kuro, causing him to let go of his arm. While regaining his balance, Kuro quickly slapped his palms together. "Fire Make: Tornado!" From the magic seal in front of him, a giant flaming tornado comes spinning towards Natsu. The fire dragon slayer grins as he holds his ground. "Aye...you must have forgotten."
The tornado sweeps him off his feet and into the funnel. Seconds later, the sounds of flames being inhaled were being heard. Natsu made quick work with the tornado as he landed on his feet, smirking at the Fire Make Mage. "Oi! Not bad flames! Now it's my turn!"
Natsu rears his head back as his cheeks and stomach expand abnormally. Roar, of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu launches his head forward, firing off an enormous funnel of flames directly towards Kuro. Kuro Crane returns the smirk that Natsu held when he let off his fire tornado. He slapped his palms together once more. "Fire make: Jar!" From another magic seal, a jar made of fire appeared directly in front of Kuro. The jar then began absorbing the Dragon's roar whole. Not only that, but behind the jar was a small tube shaped line of fire that was connected to Kuro. Once the roar was completely absorbed, Kuro began to bulk up a bit, throwing away his coat because his arms were making the sleeves too tight. Natsu looked on in surprise as this went on. "A jar? That absorbs fire?" He goes back to his excited grin. "This guy is good."
"Right, lets finish this now. One attack." Kuro slammed his palms together once again, except this time, his right palm was upside down.
"You did not!" Kiora shouted.
"Tell me you didn't Daityas." Ruika added.
"Why!?" Tobias shouted, yet no one paid attention to.
Daityas shrugged. "Relax. It's the weakest one. And I'll admit, I got ahead of myself thinking Kuro was gonna join us, but that's okay. He's gonna perish with the rest of them anyways. On the flip side, I'm so proud of you annoying asses. You recognized the attack before he's even started."
"This is why I never teach anyone anything of mine." Arc boasted.
Kiora raised a finger to comment on Arc and Takeru due to his lack of memory, but once again was quickly halted by everyone else's evil looks towards her. She huffs. "I hate when people think they're right and you can't correct them."
"Hm? What was that Kiora?"
She waves her hands frantically towards Arc. "Nothing! Just keep watching Kuro kill everyone with Daityas move."
"Alright Natsu! Eat this one!" A giant magic circle appears under the feet of Kuro, but the radius was so large that Natsu was now in it too. The magic pressure alone kept Natsu from moving. "I can't.. move!" As the entire area shook, Kuro let out a yell as he began his attack. "This one is from my friend, Daityas. Hells flames: Eruption!" From the magic circle, hells flames magic arose, shooting into the sky, capturing Natsu inside as well as he let out a hell of agony.
"Natsu!" Lucy turned to see Natsu get swept into the flames.
"Now." Waiston sprints towards Lucy. Taurus tries to cut him off with a swing of the axe, but he slides between the bulls legs. He then lunges towards the celestial mage as she looked back at Waiston in horror. Wide open.
"Frozen Sky Dragon wing slash" Waiston spreads his arms like wings, but Loke steps in, slamming a Regulas fist the same time Waiston fires the Wing slash into the now in the way celestial spirit. Loke's fist slammed directly in between the eyes off Waiston. Loke grins as he slowly dissipates back to the spirit world. "Loke..!"
Waiston falls over in K.O from the well placed punch. Lucy, who had fallen to her seat from the shock of Waiston charging her, now holds Loke's key. She smiles as she holds it. "Thank you.."
"Raging Bolt!"
Laxus fired off a stream of lightning from the sky that Tak side flipped away from. He then charged towards Laxus. Laxus swung heavy punch after punch in his bulky form, but Takeru was too elusive as he kept dodging; until Laxus caught Takeru right in the abdomen. Laxus held the punch there as he sent sparks of electricity into Tak's body, continuously shocking the mage where he stood. Baring his teeth and refusing to cry out in pain at any decibel, Takeru reaches out for and grabs Laxus's arms. He then struggles, but pushed the arm away from his body. Laxus quickly follows with a right kick aimed for the Shadow Dragon's chest, But Takeru sways away from it and hops in the air. Spinning, he concentrated his magic into his right foot. "Talons of the Shadow Dragon!" Takeru then slammed his shadow infused kick into the neck of Laxus. The blow created a loud thud sound as Laxus just stood there, and from delayed reaction, Laxus fell over unconscious. Takeru panted, but he was far from tired. It was the excitement getting to the dragon slayer as he realized he just took down an S class mage of Fairy Tail. His aura begins to show as he stood there, heavily panting, but it came off different. It came off as a thicker black than his normal shadowy aura did. The same thick blackness began to cover his pupils as he stood there in the middle of the fight, as if possessed.
Gajeel slams Luke with another right hook, causing the copy mage to go sliding out of the building and right behind Takeru. He slid on his back until he bumped into Tak's legs. With pitch black eyes Tak turned and the second he spotted Gajeel walking out of broken down building, he fired a giant funnel of Thick blackness towards him.
No time to react, Gajeel was swept off his feet and through the building he walked out of. Then through two more as the funnel pushes Gajeel streets away.
Finally coming to a stop, Gajeel was out cold, borderline lifeless.
"Gajeel!" Levy cried out to the unresponsive mage, not that he could hear her from that position anyways. Levy covered her mouth in horror as tears streamed from her face.
"Gajeel is badly hurt!" Macao screamed. "Someone go check on him!"
"You should hurry.." Sidney stated.
"Shut up nows not the time you asshole!" Cana barked towards Sidney.
"Quiet drunk. I'm being serious. Everyone down there may be in trouble unless someone can snap Takeru out of it. Oh well. Hopefully he'll go after Fairy Tail first. Then I can poof down there and stop him afterwards."
"In trouble how?" Makarov asked.
"You guys remember Arc right?"
[Flashback]
"I'll be a part of you. So you'll have memories of the things that I've seen. Don't let them get to you, they're just demons." These words from Arcturus rung out to Takeru as he stood in the pitch black training room. "They're just demons. I can do this. They're just demons. I want to use Arc's magic to remember him by. I'll be unbeatable, just like he was. They're, just, demons." Takeru takes a deep breath as he stared into the pitch blackness. Though unseen, a black magic circle began to form under his feet. He then erupted into a yell as the force of Arc's magic began to shake the entire guild.
"Huh?" Luke and Selene were sitting in the common area with everyone else when the shaking began. "Is that Tak?" Luke asked.
Selene got up from her seat and walked to the training room. "I'll check on him."
Luke followed Selene as they went down the hall to the training room. A loud war cry could be heard as the shaking continued. The shaking came to the point where Selene and Luke had to grab the wall to brace each themselves.
"Geez! What is he doing!"
Selene makes it to the window but can't see a thing due to the darkness. "I can't see anything it's to dark."
Inside, Takeru continues to yell as his eyes become a pitch black just like the room. As he did so, he was cry turned into ones of terror as unspeakable images of the demons Arc preached about appeared around Takeru. At least in his head they did.
"...He's in trouble! Tak! Open the door!" Luke tugged on the locked door, trying to force it open.
"Move." Selene covered her arm in her diamond scales as she slammed a fist into the door knob, opening the door. "Find the light switch."
"Found it!" Luke flipped it on, but it was still as dark as ever. "It's not working!"
"It's working... Takeru! Can you hear me!?" Selene begins blindly making her way to Takeru, occasionally falling over as the shaking didn't stop. Still, she kept going until she hugged a figure that she prayed was Takeru.
"Takeru!" Selene's yell rung in Takeru's ears, quickly dispersing the demons in his head. The shaking slowed until they eventually came to a stop. As Takeru powered down from attempting to control Arc's darkness magic, his pupils turned back to normal as he looked at Luke and then Selene who was still hugging him. "What..."
"You okay?" Luke asked from a distance.
"Yeah I'm-"
Before he could finish his statement, a red mark appeared on his face from Selene's palm. He holds his face from a bit of shock. "Don't do that!" She yelled. "You don't know what Arc was capable of! He gave you that so you could live, not so you could kill yourself again!" Takeru just looked at her and blinked. "...Sorry."
"You had us worried there amigo." Luke walked towards them both, patting Takeru on the shoulder. "Lets just say, that magic is for last resorts only okay?"
Takeru merely nods as they begin walking out of the training room.
"They're only demons..."
[End FlashBack]
Luke looked up at the same pitch black pupils he remembered from that day. "No... Tak! Wake up right now!"
Luke scrambles to his feet, and begins shaking Takeru vigorously. "Takeru wake up! Don't do this again!"
Takeru gave Luke a blank stare, and then an evil grin as he raised a hand. Darkness magic swirled around it as he prepared to strike Luke down. Luke looked up in shock and horror and then flinched, getting ready for the worst as he tried one more time!
"TAKERU!"
He stopped... Not because of Luke himself but..
"Takeru! Stop! Fight it! You're stronger than that, don't do it!"
Her words somehow miraculously rang through Tak's ears. Even from so far away. His pupils then turn back to normal as his aura vanishes. "Luke...get up. We have a fight to win."
Luke opened his eyes to see Takeru back to normal. He smiled in such relief. "Oh my god...thank you. I thought..."
"OKAY, SOMEONE EXPLAIN RIGHT NOW!" Arc turned to everyone in a furious manner. "I KNOW MY MAGIC WHEN I SEE IT! SPEAK UP OR YOURE ALL GOING TO THE VOID!"
"Tobias did it!" Kiora shouted as she scooted away from the enraged demon slayer.
"WHAT!? NO!" Tobias shook is head frantically as he too moved away from Arc.
"GIVE ME ANSWERS!" Arc began to shake the tower until Daityas turned to him. "Hey, shut up and we'll explain."
He snarled at first, then relaxed, waiting on an explanation. "Well?"
"Well you see.."
"What was that!?" Lucy looked on in surprise. She then remembered. "Natsu!"
Kuro was just now dispersing the
Hells flames as Natsu came slowly crashing down right above Kuro. Kuro looked up as he smiled. "I beat Dragneel. Right? That makes me the one of the best, right?"
"Natsu...!" Happy looked on from the screen. "He's not done! He's Natsu! NATSU!"
His eyes flash open. Natsu then quickly flips into a dive bomb as his fiery aura covers him. He then collides head on to an unprepared Kuro, right between the eyes. The blow caused a massive shockwave from the collision as the ground was further uprooted. Natsu stood as the smoke cleared, hunched over and panting, but just like Takeru, it was from the excitement. Though he has burns from the flames, Natsu stood across from Takeru and Luke, raring to go. Lucy was on the back of Taurus as the bull jumped down from the roof, landing beside Natsu.
"It's two on two now... But anything can happen. We haven't seen lightning flame, or white shadow. But what if Tak goes crazy again?" Zalen looked on in worry as he fixed his glasses.
"Tak..." Selene looked on with everyone else as the two remaining mages of White Eclipse stared down the two remaining fairies.
"This isn't good. Both Luke and Takeru are strong. I'm just gonna get in the way and-" As Lucy began her thoughts, Natsu cut her off, as if he knew what she was thinking.
"Oi...two on two Lucy. This is where we thrive right? Lets show them what the best team in the best guild can do!" The Salamander grinned at the celestial mage. She slowly returned the smile as the high five each other. They then turn back to their opponents.
"No hard feelings right?" Luke said as he held his position.
"None at all." Natsu said in a mocking tone. "None except for the slander you gave Fairy Tail."
"Then by all means Salamander." Takeru taunted.
"Beat the apologies out of us!"
