Chapter 83: Release
Doranbolt stood off to the side as the trio of Wendy, Charla, and Cynthia rested on their seats, trying to grasp the air they desperately needed after such a hard fought battle. Still, there were smiles abroad after the demolishing of Face it seemed, and as the two managed a bit of laughter from their success, Doranbolt continued smiling, looking out into the horizon.
"I'm not much of a fighter, and it doesn't seem like you two can go on anymore, so we'll just have to leave it to the rest of Fairy Tail, alright?" Doranbolt inquired, turning back to the petite duo and the exceed. Wendy and Cynthia both nodded as the Sky Dragon fell to her back. "It's okay. I believe in Natsu-San and everyone else. Plus, we stopped face. Tartarus's plans are ruined, so now it's up to them to defeat the demons. Which they will."
Cynthia then chimed in with her comment. "They have White Eclipse with them as well. There's no way they would lose!"
"Oh what faith. But I bet to differ."
The voice rang unfamiliar for Wendy, Charla and Doranbolt, which is why they turned with a curious inquiry, but the moment Cynthia heard him speak, her eyes widened in disbelief. She slowly turned around with utmost shock riddled upon her features. Her entire body shook as she turned, but what she saw, made the situation even worse. That's when her eyes widened even more, song with Wendy and the others as they saw one Aiden Viscard being accompanied by someone who looked just like Cynthia.
"Cynthia?" Charla questioned, turning back and forth between the one next to her and the one next to Aiden. He chuckled. "Not quite. Allow me to introduce myself, since my dear Cynthia is just too shy to do so herself."
"My dear Cynthia?" Wendy questioned his words, but when she turned back to her friend, she murmured her name in concern as Cynthia herself kept her head down, shaking in fear as her hair shaded over her eyes. "Who are you then!?" Wendy shouted, turning back to the man as Doranbolt stepped forward to stand between them.
"Thank you for asking." He said, raising a hand to his chest, pressing a palm to his sternum as a profound look graced his facial features. "I am Aiden Viscard. The infamous scientist, and Cynthia's father." That's when complete shock hit everyone the same way it struck Cynthia earlier. Wendy remembered the story of Cynthia and her father vividly, and now with the monster standing right in front of her, Wendy's petite fists tightened as much as they could. That's when Aiden introduced the girl beside him. "And this, is Rose. She is what Cynthia is, or at least, whT she was supposed to be. The only difference here is, instead of endowing her with a Lacrima of the strongest flames, I decided to go one step further. Everyone, meet the Omega Fire Demon, Rose. She will truly bring an end to this awful country for me. Like you were supposed to, Cynthia."
Just from him saying her name caused Cynthia to shudder, to forfeit herself as her hands planted against the ground. She didn't even want to look at him, let alone be near the mad scientist. But here he was, directly in front of her. "Hm? You seem ill, child." He said coldly. "Are you sick? Not defecting, are you? Is that Lacrima inside of you holding up? It's not meant to be sheltered, you know? That's why I gave it to you, for it to expand and release its fire all over Fiore! The longer you try to control it, the longer—"
"Stop it!" Wendy shouted, pushing herself up to her feet completely, though teetering. "Cynthia isn't like that! So why are you trying to make her such a thing?!"
"Hm?" Aiden raised a brow. "Oh, I see you've heard of me, but you've not heard of Cynthia. Well, that's what happens when you only hear one side of a story. Oh well. It matters not, for the four of you, shall die here anyways. It's a shame,
I came here to see Face take action too, but this is a great consolation prize."
"Before you do anything, let me ask you something." Doranbolt took another step forward, glaring Aiden's way. "Are you the same Aiden Viscard that killed his own wife on that day of the massive wildfire?"
"Oh?" Aiden responded, amused. "You must be from the council to known such information. But my wife was burned to death, isn't that right? And in what fire did she burn in?" It was—"
"You're a monster!" Wendy interrupted again, wanting to move forward, but Doranbolt halted her progress. Not that it was needed, for she stumbled into his yielding arm from the lack of strength she had thanks to earlier. "Cynthia would never do that! You did that to her! You forced her—"
"Forced?" Aiden questioned, now chuckling as he pushed his glasses upwards, creating a visible glare within the lenses. "I forced no fire from her, right Cynthia?" There was no answer. Only the shaking of limbs and tears falling from her eyes slowly. "I gave Cynthia strength, and she used to destroy the only person who gave her any emotional crutch. Cynthia killed her mother alone!"
"Enough!" Doranbolt yelled, garnering attention once more, but it simply caused Aiden to laugh. "You're right. It is enough. None of this matters to you four, because this is where you die! Rose! Get rid of four fairy pests once and for all!"
Aiden pointed and grinned, but when he realized that nothing was happening, that grin dropped as he turned to Rose, who was not only standing there, disregarding his order, but her own fists were tightened, shaking as the ground beneath her began to give way as well.
"You did that to our mother?" The clone of Cynthia asked, shaking furiously. This caused Aiden to be struck with confusion. "Mother!? What? You're a creation! You have no mother!"
"Liar!" She shouted, producing a outburst of dark flames that pushed Aiden away. "What's going on!?" He shouted.
"Rose..?" Cynthia murmured in question, looking up through tear stained eyes.
"You killed my mother!? My sister's and I mother?!"
"Sister?" Wendy grew exponentially confused.
"It's okay, just stay quiet." Doranbolt pleaded in a whisper. The three of them turned to him, inside of why. "I altered her memories to think that she was born and not created. It wasn't easy to do, since she's a demon, but Aiden's boasting gave me enough to do so. It's only temporary though...so hopefully..."
"You can't be defective! You were created organically from Tartarus! Ah, whatever! I'll fix this!" Pressing his right hand to his left wrist, Aiden pushed up the sleeve to his coat, holding it out forward as he created a yellow orb around Rose to both quell her flames and constrict her from movement. Still, even while restricted within the yellow orb, Rose cried out as Aiden created one around himself. She punched against it, slowly cracking it as Aiden turned to Doranbolt and the others.
"It seems we'll have to pick this up another time, after I fix whatever is wrong with Rose. I failed once with that trash next to you, but I won't with this one. I refuse to. Fiore will pay for what they did, and it'll be by my hands!"
As he shouted, the yellow orbs he surrounded himself and Rose with took off into the air, and then over the horizon and out of sight.
Doranbolt watched them leave, then turned back to Wendy and Charla who was cradling a crying Cynthia closely. Still a sigh of relief left him, avoiding such prominent danger as he walked over to them, patting Cynthia on the head as she sobbed.
—
"Well this has been fun, but it looks like time is up!" Franmalth cheered as the countdown to Face completed. Lucy's eyes widened, waiting for the worst to happen as the demon cackled loudly. "Good bye, world of magic! Our time as demons has come!" He shouted, hands raised high in the air. Seconds passed and...nothing happened. "Huh!?" He looked around frantically, noticing that Natsu was still holding a hand full of flames and Takeru the same with shadows. "Wh...what happened!?"
"My Magic didn't vanish?" Natsu questioned, staring at his own flames. Lucy then smiled. "That means..."
"Charla, Cynthia and Wendy did it!" Happy shouted with happiness.
"Looks like your evil plan failed." Takeru teased, grinning Franmalth's way.
"Oh...how much will that mistake cost? How much?" Franmalth asked, taking in a deep breath. He then shouted. "1000 of your souls! It'll cost you a thousand!"
As he shouted, the demon became shrouded in a light, transforming into something familiar to Natsu, Happy and Lucy. Well, almost familiar. "It's...!" Natsu started. "How did he..?" Lucy asked the incomplete question. "That's...Master...Hades?" Happy asked, confused, for once the transformation was complete, it just looked as if Franmalth himself changed nothing but his face, resembling the Master of Grimoire Heart only a bit cartoonish.
"I think it's Hades?" Natsu asked, blinking as he tilted his head to the side. "That old guy back at First Master's grave...right?"
"It certainly looks like him...kind of.." Lucy chimed in.
"Enough!" Franmalth shouted, charging the group of mages head on. "If you're that skeptical, I'll show you!"
Franmalth threw his hands forward, crashing then into the stone floor as Takeru and Natsu moved out of the way by leaping backwards. As pieces of the stone floor broke apart, Natsu landed then quickly lunged forward, flames exuding from his right fist that he reared back behind his ear. Just before reaching Franmalth however, another portal opened up before him, causing Natsu to vanish from sight against his will.
"With you in this form, I'll need to give you my best, huh?" Rugal asked, his voice ringing throughout the hallway they battled in. Franmalth looked around, waiting for another portal to appear around him, which it did, revealing a charging Natsu once again. A blatant attack, and with Franmalth well aware of it, he easily countered by beating Natsu to the punch — grabbing him and slamming him into the wall with his oversized left hand. Just as Rugal predicted.
Just as Franmalth struck Natsu, another portal flung open behind the demon. As soon as he turned to notice, Franmalth was struck by a blade to his left side, leaving a painful, visible slice against his ribs. Franmalth released a pained cry, and as he went to grab that throbbing pain, he whiffed. Rather, he grabbed nothing but air. "Huh!?" He looked down, and what he saw caused his eye to widen in disbelief. "A part of me is missing!?" He cried out as Rugal stood there with a smirk upon his features. Simultaneously to that, Takeru was seen swimming through the broken floor in his own shadow, making a beeline straight for the Dimensional demon. Quickly spotted, Rugal raised his weapon, a glowing green blade that resonated with curse power, and casually spun it clockwise within his hands. From that spin, he created a dimensional rift that Takeru was sucked into the second he appeared from his shadows.
"Stop with that same old trick!" Natsu shouted, finally regaining himself after being crushed into the wall earlier.
"Same old trick, hm? Fine. Here's an addition to my stale performance." On demand, Rugal then raised his blade, and sliced right through the portal he created, causing it to vanish from sight. Everyone's eyes widened. "Takeru?!" Lucy shouted in surprise.
"Tak!" Natsu added, but the Shadow Dragon was gone from sight, and it didn't look like he was coming back either.
"Don't worry. He's not dead yet, but where he's headed is a place worse than hell itself. Now, let's wrap this up, shall we?"
"Don't mind if I do!" Franmalth shouted, appearing behind Rugal in an instant. Slowly, the green haired demon's eyes widened, cursing himself that he let his guard down as a magic seal appeared around him, Natsu, Happy and Lucy. "Amaterasu Form 28!" Right on cue, a massive explosion occurred, engulfing everything around them in a cataclysmic array.
"...Gehehehe. Gehehahahaha!" As the smoke cleared, Franmalth stood, laughing heinously as the trio lied on the ground, unable to love from Hades's magic. "So...strong..." Lucy would breathe out, Natsu doing the same as he struggled to move. "Now then! I'll be taking your souls, just as promised!" And just as he promised, a multitude of arms protruded from Franmalth's body to wrap around Lucy, Natsu, and Happy as an agonizing pain surged through them. "Now where's Rugal!?" Franmalth shouted, looking around. He then shrugged. "Oh well! He's probably somewhere under all this rubble! No one survives against such an attack anyways. Now, back to you humans! Hand those souls over!"
"Ngh! You can't have it!" Natsu shouted, pushing up to his arms and knees before being pushed down to the ground again. "I won't let you have my soul! It stays here! Until I meet Igneel again...I'll never give you my soul! You won't have my will!"
"Something important...!" Lucy starter, trying her best to keep Franmalth from having his way. "Fish with Charla...I will have fish with Charla..." Happy chanted to himself, making sure his resolve was heard. "Something important..." Lucy began again. "My friends...the guild... The Celestial Spirits!" Lucy rose to her knees. "Taurus and Aries were absorbed by that guy! At least...at least set them free! I won't let you hurt them anymore! Taurus! Close gate!"
In amidst of his laughter, something happened to Franmalth. Suddenly, in a rather painful matter, the celestial spirit Taurus was pulled from his body and returned to the celestial spirit world from which it came. "What's happening!?" Franmalth yelled frantically, causing Lucy to smile through the pain. "Aires! Close gate!" Just as Taurus, the same thing happened — the ram spirit forced form Franmalth's body and back into her gate. "What are you doing!? Stop it!" Franmalth pleaded. "Natsu! Close gate!"
"Huh!?" Natsu and Happy both squinted her way, but Franmalth immediately fell for the ploy out of panic. "Oh no you don't!" He shouted, releasing Natsu and expecting him to disappear like the other spirits. He didn't. Instead, Natsu grinned. "Good one, Lucy!" He shouted, hopping back to his feet and grabbing an enormous slab of rock from the earlier explosion. "So, how do you fair against something that doesn't have a soul!?" Natsu shouted, tearing back the mountainous slab of rubble. In total fear, Franmalth could only scream in terror as he had nowhere to run and down it came, Natsu slamming the rock slab into the demon repeatedly until there was nothing left of it nor Franmalth himself.
"Scary." Lucy iterates with a half smile, then breathing a sigh of relief for only a second once she remembered something. "Oh right! Where's Takeru!?"
"And that Rugal guy!" Happy shouted. Natsu sniffed around, coming back with a disappointed look. "Nothing. They're both gone without a trace..."
"You have other things to worry about."
"What was that!?" Happy shouted in a panic, only got the soul of Hades to appear behind the three as the others would slowly ascend into the sky. "H...Hades!?"
.
.
.
,
"Shit...where am I?" Takeru asked, sitting up after being thrown from the Dimensional Rift Rugal created earlier. He looked around to analyze everything. "Well, I'm still at Tartarus...that's a good thing I think.."
"It's far from that, Takeru."
His voice caught his attention and instantly Takeru turned to him, fear and disbelief in his pupils as he stared at the shadowy figure sitting upon a few steps. A wicked smile appeared from the shadows, and as he stood up, Takeru immediately took to the offensive. "Rugal really came through for me. Just like my camp always does. A shame about Tobias. It seems he was defeated by one of you humans. So with your life, Takeru.." The bulky frame stepped out from the shadows, noneoher than Daityas himself , shrouding himself in his Hell's Flames. "...I'll make sure to tie the score back up!"
—
"She's really strong..." Mirajane admitted, quietly huffing. Sayla began walking towards her, unfazed about the fight she was in. Mirajane was on high alert until she saw a pod beside her bubbling.
"HEY! Lamy! Sayla! Hurry up and let me out of here!" He shouted from the glass, banging on it. Mira's eyes widened, unsure of what was happening. "What's this?" She asked. And Lamy happily answered with a grotesque laugh. "This is Hell's Core, remember!? Whenever a demon is killed, they simply regenerate here! Which basically makes us immortal!" She boasted, laughing again.
"Lamy, enough." Sayla ordered, to which the annoying demon saluted.
"Is that so? So all I have to do is destroy these things? Simple."
"Oh, and how is that?" Sayla asked Mirajane.
On the other side of the room, Skye had quietly come to a decision, unsheathing her blade as she stood in front of the container that Kuro rested within. "Alright, Kuro..." She began, raising the blade over her head. "Let's get you out of here!" As she finished hesitating, Skye dug her blade into the pod, causing a mixture of static and explosion to occur as the etherious pod Kuro resided in was soon destroyed by the assassin. At the same time, every other pod began to explode just the same, destroying both Ezel and Franmalth before they could properly regenerate. Kuro fell forward, Skye catching him before he could hit the ground yet he remained unconscious. A smile remained on her features however, because she could feel him breathing. "Oh thank the gods! You're alive! I'd never forgive myself if I would have been the reason...let's get you out of here!"
Watching Skye carry Kuro off from her perched position on the ceiling, was Kiora, watching everything go down.
"It's a good thing I didn't elect to hop in one of those pods." She gave herself a small sigh of relief, turning back to Mirajane and the Etherious form of Sayla. "Maybe this demon wanna be can take out Sayla for me. That'll save me the hassle, and I can swoop in and finish her off after Sayla goes down. Or even if she puts up a decent enough fight and still loses, I can finish Sayla off from there. She's already pushed her to her Etherious form, so maybe there's hope. Either way...
it's in my favor."
