Chapter 92: The Shift

As Adamantine and Igneel took on Acnologia in the sky, and as a fired up Natsu dove towards the maestro behind Tartarus's grand plan, Marde Geer — as Erza, Maggie and Kyouka faced off in their three way bout, Ilaria found herself in front of her biggest responsibility as a rookie of White Eclipse. Her job, with no choice to accept or decline it, was to take down one of the demons of Tartarus; one of the outcasts, Sora the shadow puppeteer. The two stood off while the bystanders unwillingly watched from an unsafe distance. Still, as the atmosphere shifted into an eery setting, Ilaria held her ground as if she was the dominate source. Sora on the other hand was the first to show signs of wavering; her grin turning into a frown as she finally summoned her first attack — a hoard of shadowy human-like figures that rose before her. "Sora will wipe that smirk off your face! Go, my toys! Destroy her!"

Like a stampede they took off in a frenzy towards Ilaria, rushing directly to her with no apparent way to stop them. That was, until the Soul Binder herself made her own move not even seconds after. Slowly, gradually, she raised her arms by her sides. Upon that action, a plethora of chains sprouted from the ground without warning, enough to wrap around each and every shadow creation Sora manifested.

"Whoa! She got every one of them!?" Reiss shouted, surprised at the effortless work by his own guild mate. "Chains, hm?" Lluvi pondered. "Not just any chains." Micaiah added upon further look. "Ethereal Chains. Her Soul Binding magic, or curse should I say, are imbued in those chains, if I'm right."

"Not imbued. They are the chains." Tyson added on. "She's not exactly human after all..."

"Don't say that like it's an omen! Let's go, Ilaria!" Reiss shouted, mentally pumping his fists as the shadow figures vanished from the squeezing chains. As they retracted back into the ground, Ilaria charged forth, darting towards Sora with her weaponry held by her sides. As she neared her, Ilaria swung the ethereal scythe in her right hand, looking for decapitation. Sora defended herself by instantly creating another shadow simply used as a shield. As Ilaria alternated hands, Sora continued to remain on the defense until she found some space between herself and the Soul Binder by having her own shadow pull her a good distance away. This caused Ilaria to raise a brow in surprise.

"You really control the shadows, huh Sora?" She asked with a half hearted smile. Sora merely sucked her teeth before holding out a right hand. That's when yet another hoard of shadows rose from the ground. This time however, each shadow minion would combine, mushing into each other until the reconfigured into one giant shadow creature. Though it's movements seemed slow, Ilaria had no opportunity to dodge since the giant shadow was now threatening her guild mates with its size. A giant fist was hurling right towards them, and the Soul Binder couldn't simply evade it without putting them in jeopardy. So, she braced herself by showcasing another technique of hers; withdrawing two talismans and placing them before her. "These are usually for magic but...!" Just before that giant fist could reach its intended target, the talismans acted as a barrier, shielding against the shadow's punch, creating a stalemate that she desperately clung to until the creature before her finally gave up trying to break through, but its relentlessness refused to do so.

"It's us.." Reiss realized. "We're in the way..."

"Well there's not much we can do about it." Tyson said, pointing out the painfully obvious. Lluvi grunted and struggled, but just as Tyson pointed out, it was all for nothing. "If Sora was a mage, I could cancel her magic, but she's a demon so..I have no control over curses."

Reiss looked around, noticing everyone struggling to free themselves, or simply giving up and relying on Ilaria altogether. Then, he turned back to Ilaria herself, watching as she herself continued to struggle to keep Sora's creation from breaking through her defenses. "Tch..! I can't just stand here! What kinda leader does that!? I have to help! My magic...! It isn't connected to me physically! So why can't I use it! No way, I can! It's just in my head! Come on... Poia...Rios... anyone! One of you! Force your way here!"

Reiss pleaded for his spirits to appear, and yet none have shown any sign to do so. Simultaneously, Ilaria could be seen being pushed back, the invisible shield her talismans created now began to crack like glass as she was running out of time. All while Sora was cackling in the background while repeatedly shouting "kill them, kill them," in a heinous manner. "Anyone!" Reiss shouted again. "No...Reiss, focus on one of them. But who?" The summoner would grit his teeth tightly, running out of time as the cracks in the talisman created shield grew bigger by the passing second. "Our own shadows are restricting us, so if I can disrupt them then maybe...? Taru!? Taru! Come on...!" Reiss clenched every part of his body, his eyes slammed shut and his fists curled tightly as his body began to glow. "Taru!" He yelled once more, and as Ilaria's defense finally failed, a rumbling was heard and just before Sora's creation could slam her fist into Ilaria and the others, that rumbling turned into a broken plane as everyone was tossed into the air thanks to the arrival of an earthquake like event. Just below him, the summoner's awakened spirit stood at what was left of the ground before the pieces of earth fell back out of place to create a rough terrain. "Taru!" Reiss shouted with elation as he stared at his eight foot tall spirit. His overly bulky stature was enough to command respect from those around him, and his shaved mohawk hairstyle and granite white skin tone gave him a very unique look. Red eyes of the spirit then turned to Sora and as Reiss shouted "DO IT," the stone spirit raised his bulky arms to the sky only to slam them into the ground to create a wave of broken rubble that rushed toward both Sora and her giant shadow.

The shadowy figure stepped forth, protecting Sora from the incoming wave of stone, but that's exactly what the rookie team wanted and with it distracted, Ilaria appeared behind Sora with a wicked grin.

"Got you." She boasted, causing Sora's eyes to widen. Before the shadow puppeteer could move however, a plethora of chains wrapped around her body to not only constrict her, but the ghastly aura caused her to scream out in a pain she's never felt before.

"I can't hurt you physically with my magic, but the feeling of your soul being pulled away from you...or in your case, the very essence of what makes you tick as a demon."

Sora grimaced and grunted in pain, and that didn't stop as Ilaria pointed towards her airborne friends; showcasing her impending doom.

"Alright guys, I know she looks like a little girl, but give it everything you've—"

"Die demon scum!" Tyson shouted, cutting Reiss off as his hands glow two different auras. Fire and earth surrounded his hands as he plummeted towards Sora.

"Hey! On my Mark next time!" Reiss shouted as he too divebombed towards the demon. Her giant shadow puppet saw them, and proceeded to turn and face them, but the instant it did, it's face slammed into an invisible wall, causing it to lose its balance as it teetered backwards. Lluvi's barrier halted its progress, leaving it confused long enough for Micaiah to get in on the action. Appearing by its right foot, the light mage held her arm forward, shouting for her spell, Elight — creating four rays of light that slammed directly into the shadow figure. It howled in pain, falling to its knees while rendered helpless. That made two of them, and as Sora stared upwards towards the two falling boys, she could only watch as Tyson combined his hands together for a hardened molten hammer fist of fire and earth, while Reiss's fists covered in borrowed magic from his favorite spirit.

"This is the part where I say something cool!" Reiss shouted, preparing to do that, but instead, everyone else interrupted and simultaneously shouted the same thing as Tyson and Reiss swung their fists for the top of Sora's skull.

"It's White Eclipse or second place!"

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The tremoring unison raid from the rookies could be seen just over the horizon from a short distance. Daityas watched and grinned, walking his way over once he felt one of his own had fallen. "I knew Sora would go down easily, being the weakest of us all, but power is power so I'll go absorb her too."

"So that's what you've been doing this whole time?"

For the first time in a while, Daityas stopped cold in his tracks, eyes widening at the voice behind him.

"I didn't think you'd evolve to such a level, Daityas. If only Marde had your ambitions, Tartarus wouldn't be losing this battle. Not that it's my concern however."

"You...!" Daityas snarled, looking back to see he one and only black wizard himself, Zeref. "What are you doing here?"

"I simply came to say hello to someone, but now with that complete, I was on my way out, and I happened to run into you here. After taking note of everything that's going on, between the dragons, the humans, and you absorbing demons of your own brood, ya safe to say that the biggest danger to my own creations, is you. Tell me Daityas. Do you plan on absorbing my greatest creation as well? Do you plan on taking E.N.D's power as well?"

"So what if I am?" Daityas responded, laughing right after. Turning completely to Zeref, the atmosphere grew hostile. "With that book's power, along with everyone else I've absorbed, destroying you and completing my revenge will be a walk in the park! Surely you remember right? When you woke up and appeared in that town just before Acnologia! Where you looked at me and the others like scum and tried to kill us! After the lifetimes of serving you! You think I'd let that slide!?"

Zeref merely gave a small, genuine smile. "Forgiveness? That's what you want? I thought demons were emotionless. Why would you yearn for something?"

"Are you mocking me!?" Daityas shouted, instinctively lunging forward in an attempt to get the jump on the black wizard, but in a flash, the demon found himself with a gaping hole in his stomach as Zeref stood there with his right hand extended, flowing with death magic and a hidden visage underneath his blackened hair.

"WH...what just happened!?" He shouted in his mind, holding his open stomach in immense pain. Fallen to his knees, his blurry eyes stared at the ground as a pair of feet walked past him, only to stop right next to him to deliver one more message.

"Demons are emotionless by every stigma. That includes being prideful. Out of all the projects I created in my attempt to creat E. N. D, it seems that you, Daityas were the one with the biggest fault, but your pride wouldn't allow you to see it. You were more emotional than any of them. How you accomplished emotions is a mystery I don't wish to solve, since you're completely demon and not like a few other Etherious beings roaming around, but your pride caused you to believe you were perfect, when in fact you were the worst of the bunch. The strongest, but still the worst. I'll be taking my leave soon. Sleep well Daityas. Your revenge against me is complete, because the only thing that can harm someone like me, is letting me down. And you've succeeded."

As Zeref walked off, Daityas reached out for him, gagging and holding onto the little life he had left. "No...No! You...you don't get to tell me when to perish! This isn't my r-revenge! I won't die here! I won't! You hear me!"

As he yelled, his eyes became heavier and heavier. Daityas was heaving, trying to gain composure from the immense pain he was feeling as Death Magic coursed through his open wound until eventually...

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"Allow me to reintroduce myself!" He shouted, spinning a single gun in his hand a few times before finally stopping. The cocky gunslinger stood before Noboru, next to Tayakata with a grin on his features and bandages wrapped around the wound he took from the demon earlier. Still, he was as confident as ever as he pointed his latest firearm towards an enraged Noboru. "My name is Reve Volver, S class of White Eclipse, the strongest guild in Fiore. You got the jump on me before we could actually fight, but now that I'm alert and aware of your presence, pops, you won't be able to cheap shot your way into victory against the gunslinger. Oh yeah, and Taya's here too."

She rolled her eyes, but those same eyes turned to the gun he pointed towards her father. "Is that new?" She asked, very in tune to his arsenal. "Sure is. I call it my Wingman." He responded, keeping aim on Noboru. "Whereas the Magnum takes all of my remaining magic power and funnels it into six powerful bullets, the Wingman does the same, only in a larger quantity. It allows me to not rely on six shots, yet still pack a punch with every bullet."

"Not bad." Tayakata admitted. "Maybe you'll be able to keep up after all."

"The audacity you have to not only anger me, but to hold a pointless conversation before me." Noboru shouted as a plethora of vectors sprouted from his back. As they grew, they rose, nearly blacking out the moonlight above just before they rained down upon Reve and Taya. "I'm going to slaughter you both! Welcome to your hell!"

Reve smirked as Taya lunged away, looking back in confusion to see the gunslinger had yet to do the same. "Reve!?" She questioned, but upon further look, Taya realized that the eyes of the gunslinger were no longer blue, nor even green signifying his Precision Eyes, but pure white. He's been hiding plenty of tricks it seemed, but Noboru was causing him to reveal them. Yet, the raven haired male of White Eclipse remained as conceited as ever, dodging the rain of vectors with minimal movement, as if he knew exactly where they were going to land.

"How!?" Noboru asked in surprise. "Foresight?" Taya questioned to herself. She hit the nail right on the head, and as Reve lunged forward, Taya snapped out of her wandering mindset and rushed in right behind him. Once in close range, the gunslinger pulled the trigger to his bulky pistol the Wingman, and though Noboru evaded at the last second, the random rock formation behind him disintegrated instantly from the punch Reve's gun packed.

Noboru bared his fangs, but he couldn't retaliate just yet as Tayakata rushed in, slamming a left fist covered in vectors against the demon's chin. His head snapped back, and as he tried to pull himself back forward, Reve spun, slamming a back-pistol whip against that same chin again. Noboru teetered, and Reve finished his spin by aiming for the demon's sternum once more. This time, as if they had a mind of their own, the Tartarus outcast's vectors moved to protect his body by shielding against the powerful blast from the Wingman. The blast pushed him back, ultimately deflecting it to the side as it exploded away from him, and the demon was regaining composure as Reve yelled for the opposite. "He's on his heels! Rush him!"

"Unnecessary to tell me!" Tayakata lashed back as she rushed in, Reve covering her with shots from his gun. "Left!" He shouted, and for a second Taya almost forgot, but at this moment, the purely white eyed Reve Volver could see ahead. She didn't know by how long, but it sounded as if he knew enough, so she did as she was told by strafing to the left and behold, a vector that belonged to Noboru sprouted from the ground with Taya avoiding it just in time. Noboru was too busy defending from the shots Reve fired to hold off both of them simultaneously, leaving Taya with the ability to score another open strike. This time she slammed the heel of her bare foot to Noboru's chin. At this point, he was growing painfully annoyed.

"I see...that boy can see my moves. But it's magic! It won't last forever, so I just have to wait it out, huh?" He broadcasted, yet the duo were unfazed by the revelation, continuing their assault against the demon. Noboru raised his right hand in an attempt to attack, but before he could, Reve fired at the perfect time, blasting him in the shoulder. His arm went limp as he held his shoulder in pain, growling as he glared towards the cocky gunslinger. Reve smirked, but following right after, a noticeable grimace could be seen from his features. "Not yet..." He whispered to himself. That's when Noboru's expression changed as well. "Right on cue. Your magic is fading, boy." He announced, causing Taya to turn to Reve. "Turn around!" Reve shouted back at the concerned female, and Taya did so, just barely escaping Noboru's incoming vectors that threatened her life. She managed to escape with only a few cuts against her arms, but Taya slid away, losing ground against her father as his vectors returned to his frontal, as if protecting him from anything that came near.

"How are your eyes, boy? I'm sure that last shot of yours meant to aim for something more vital than my shoulder, right? I mean, with those eyes you can see the future, but it's costing you a lot of your magic to do so, correct. You fired at the right time, when my vectors were all spread out, and when I was preparing to attack, leaving no defense, but your aim was so bad, surely it was from exhaustion, from lack of magic power! That's why demons are superior! While your tank empties...mine remains filled to the brim with my curse! The second I see those blue eyes again, you'll be dead, boy!"

Reve grimaced again, starting to pant heavily as his visage became a bit blurry. "So...I guess there's no need to gamble on using this to the end, huh? I've seen this future, and your vectors will keep their defenses up until I run out of magic. Then, you'll luck up and kill me. So, I'll just go back to not seeing the outcome ahead of time... but it's me, so I already know the end result of all of this.." As he spoke, those sapphire eyes indeed returned, Reve back to his normal ocular state. "...And that's us ending you once and for all!"

"We don't need to see the future to defeat you, father." Taya chimed in, walking over to stand next to the gunslinger for one more round with the demon himself. "This ends here and now, and I'll make sure of it, I promise."

"Very well then!" Noboru shouted, shifting his vectors back to his backside. "It's your funeral, my worthless daughter! I'll gladly end this little charade of you and your boyfriend's. Prepare yourself, for ultimate despair!"

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As the three way fight between Erza, Maggie and Kyouka played out, no side gave leeway as a consistent array of punches, blades, magic and curse flew about in a catastrophic manner. Each time one side seemed to be gaining the upper hand, the other two would immediately shut that down, and the painful cycle would continue even as Erza requipped from armor to armor, even as Kyouka dug her nails and torturous attacks into the skin of her opponents, even as Maggie burned and melted the skin of Titania and the other demon with her volcanic curse, the three femme fatales continuously proved to each other how they were one of the strongest in their camps. That's when Marde Geer contacted Kyouka, informing her of what she must do to speed up the process of FACE's detonation. Hesitant at first, she placed devotion into her task, fusing herself with the lacrima that controlled the country's strongest weapon and transforming. Both Erza and Maggie looked on in disbelief, and both of them now fell to a tier below the powered up demon as Kyouka took control of the three way fight. Eventually, both Maggie and Erza would find themselves on their last legs as Kyouka stood over the redhead, ripping her armor clean off like paper. "My curse, reinforcement, which allows my power to grow by the second! I won't be defeated by the likes of either of you." Kyouka boasted. "You've both been defeated, but you should know despair, right Maggie? Erza? First, I'll steal your eyesight." She began laughing as Erza and Maggie's eyes were visibly seen growing dim. "What's happening?" Maggie questioned to herself as Kyouka remained standing on top of the fallen Titania. "Next, your hands. Your nose, your taste, all of your senses; gone! It's my complete victory! I've taken your future away from you worms even if it costs me my own soul! Tartarus wins!"

"I just know that bird is bragging about beating me, but she's taken away my senses." Maggie thought to herself, lying in defeat. "I tried to get to her before she took to her etheirous form, but she took it one step further. She fused with the face lacrima. Now she's unstoppable. No...she's beatable. Even without my senses...I'm not going to let Kiora...and the others down, am I? No way! Stand up, Solfatara! You don't need touch to realize you're standing on your own!" And with that, she stood up on her feet. "You don't need senses to know who is in your way of completing your mission!" And with that, she turned to face Kyouka, but quickly hopped out the way. "Was I being attacked just now? No! That was a body about to crash into me. How I could sense that was amazing though. I can't see nor hear anything. I can't feel or smell anything, but this random light from within...it's a feeling I've never felt before... a sixth sense maybe? Anyways, that was Kyouka! So if she was sent flying like that...that's means...!"

She turned her head to face the other shrouded figure the pitch blackness showed. It was Erza, standing before them both with a fist clenched. "As long as I have my light...the light of a future, then I fear nothing!"

"Is this what it is?" Maggie questioned. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to digest it all, almost disgusted in knowing that her and Erza were on the same wavelength. "I'll take you both down without my senses!" Erza pronounced. That caught Maggie's attention, and snapped her back to reality as she turned to realize she was caught in the middle between Erza and Kyouka. That's when she snarled but then grinned. "You heard her, Kyouka. I don't need my senses to defeat you scumbags.

Lets finish this like we're supposed to, so I can return to my comrades, eh?"