Chapter 119: Evanee Carlisle
Sophie: Because…their probability of winning… is zero.
Cygnus slowly stirred to his hands and knees, and once he was aware again, it was like air was being vacuumed from his lungs the way he coughed just then. As his blurred vision regained itself, he saw two legs before him. Slowly, he looked up with disdain as the rookies now slowly came to as well. The view before him was simply a woman, barely over five feet tall with black to green gradient hair. But that simplistic view caused him to bare his teeth in anger as Evanee Carlisle towered over his compromising position. "You're stubborn." She said to him so condescendingly. "There's no chance of you winning, yet you refuse to admit it."
"Y-yeah, so what? Who said I can't win? You a fortune teller? Even then I wouldn't bow out of the fight!"
Evanee raised a brow at Cygnus's words, nearly cringing as she slammed a kick into his jaw to send him tumbling into the ground. She would follow, stalking him with each step as the rookie team continued to gather themselves just as slow. "Pride is a sin for a reason, lowlife. Learn when you're defeated."
Coughing ensued as Cygnus pushed himself up again. "Look who's talking! You're only so high and…. mighty right now because you're not in this situation. I'm ten times better than you and you're telling me that there's a time in your life that you would quit!? There's a time where you would abandon everything you stand for!?"
{Flashback}
The day before the Grand Magic Games at the guild known as Twilight Zone. Everyone sat around while Rylo and Evanee stood around in the next room. "A..are you sure!?" The magician asked, frazzled at a previous statement. Evanee, with her arms crossed and her visage focused out the window, nodded her head once. "Yeah. Don't act surprised. We had a deal when we were kids, remember? We said we wouldn't stay if we felt like it wasn't the right. It's been fun here, but Twilight Zone hasn't made any progress in a while. I can't keep standing in one place, Rylo."
"I know!" He exclaimed. "And we've been working hard recently. Me, your brothers and sisters, Ceaser and Adacore, everyone! Is that not enough?"
"Not really." She replied stoically. "It's not even that, but no one looks for Twilight Zone to give hard missions to. No one is calling our name. Look at the job board. All of those jobs are jokes, D class missions. There's nothing for me or you to do. These games coming up are the most I've had to look forward to, and that's if the rumors of the top guilds actually returning are true. Once the games are over, what am I supposed to do then?"
Rylo sighed, frantically looking for an answer. "Okay, how about this. Evanee, if we win the Grand Magic Games, you give us another year. With a championship under our belt, jobs will come. Real jobs from both the people and the council! We'll be known, which will mean more opponents for you and what not. Everyone wants to be the strongest. Once they realize that that's you, and we win, then you'll get what you're looking for. How about it?"
She remained silent for a few seconds before finally letting out a sigh of her own. "Yeah, alright Rylo. But.. if we don't win, I'm leaving. You can choose what to do on your own from there, because I'll be solo from here on out. It's just something I need to do."
{End Flashback}
"We're still in this." Rylo said to himself, refusing to look at the scoreboard. They had one strategy left on this final day, and that was to accumulate as many points without Evanee as possible. "I won't let her go… I'll make sure to take out whoever is in our way! Kaden!"
"I don't know what you're mumbling about over there!" Kaden Carlisle shouted in his newly masked form, a giant, burly man with a single wooden spear that held a curved blade at the end. He clashed with Natsu, causing the dragon slayer to drag his feet into the cobblestone ground until they finally came to halt. Surprised, Kaden readied his defenses as Natsu swung back with a pendulum like flaming uppercut aimed for the big guy's stomach. The Salamander was stopped short however, thanks to another barrier wall Rylo created. With the Black Market still prominent, it really placed Natsu and Takeru at a disadvantage and that really showed as Rylo appeared behind Natsu in a flash thanks to Flynn's speed magic. He coupled that with another magic that didn't belong to him — Blues' Water Dragon's Iron Fist slamming directly into Dragneel's spine. "GAH!" Natsu coughed out as he was thrown forward. Using that momentum he flipped upside down to fire a potent dragons roar, only for it to be absorbed by Rylo's sleeve.
"Above you!" Flynn shouted, sliding in, going to a handstand and then kicking upwards right next to Rylo to intercept Takeru's incoming fist. The stalemate was more in Flynn's favor, because Kaden then slid right back in and slammed the backside of his weapon directly into Takeru's abdomen.
"Gch! This is so annoying!" Takeru admitted, holding his stomach from the recent blow. He found himself headed upward, and in another desperate attempt, Tak used that momentum to reach for the Black Market only to be once again cut off by an invisible wall. "Dammit! Is Lluvi this strong!? Or is it that Magician dude?!" He growled, rearing his shadow infused right fist behind him. "No way! Even if he can steal magic! To perfect it is different. This is all Lluvi's strength! Impressive..I'm glad she chose us! Still, her magic is too prominent to get past it and destroy the Black Market. Does Lluvi have to be eliminated? How is Cygnus holding up? I know he's fighting that Evanee woman, but do I really have to wait for Lluvi's exit in order to break through? No! I have to defeat Natsu soon! I can't wait that long! I'm going to breakthrough!"
"You're sure heavy in your thoughts there!" Kaden shouted, slamming his fists into Takeru's stomach and sending him hurtling to the ground. A crash landing, and the Omega Shadow Dragon sprung right back up, surprising the younger Carlisle. "He's right back up…and he's not even paying attention to me!?"
And indeed Takeru wasn't, turning his attention back to the Black Market. This made Kaden visibly upset, and the masked mage immediately lunged for the dragon with his right fist pulled back. "I'll make you pay attention!" He shouted, and though Takeru still didn't brace himself, he turned his peripherals to the incoming Twilight Zone mage. And as Kaden swung his attempted punch, shadows emitted from Tak's hands a he ducked under Kaden in one swift movement, slamming his left elbow to his opponent's temple.
Instantly KO'ed. Takeru stood over him as Kaden's name was erased from the active board. "What the hell!?" Rylo shouted in shock as Kaden was removed from the battlefield. That simply left him and Flynn to deal with Natsu and Takeru, and with their numbers dwindling, it was about to become increasingly harder to protect his ultimate spell from being shattered. "Tch!" Rylo was duly aware of how hard the situation was becoming, and he also knew that he was asking for a lot, taking out two big fish in Natsu and Takeru, right after discarding of Mermaid Heel. With this knowledge in his head, he slowly took position, leaving his hands separated in front of him by merely inches. "Flynn. When this goes off, gain a lot of distance. You and Evanee staying in this fight will guarantee us victory."
"Huh!? Rylo, what are you doing?" The speed mage asked, but he didn't need a verbal answer, because a familiar Magic feeling that usually came from his ace was now potent in the area. "Oh no. Evanee is going to kill you for this!"
Of course Rylo wasn't heeding the warning, but the strength behind the summoning of magic alone caused even Takeru and Natsu to stop what they were doing, looking over at Rylo in amazement and disbelief. "What's he working on!?" Natsu shouted, bracing himself for whatever. "Natsu! We have to destroy that Black Market thing together!" Takeru replied. "Why should I help you!?" The hard headed salamander spat. A righteous question in Takeru's eyes, but he rebuttals anyway. "I don't want your help either, but those barriers belong to Lluvi! They're not going to break unless the attack is exponentially stronger than her entire person, and White Eclipse mages are all strong!"
"Are you bragging about your guild right now!?" Guilty, but Takeru was also completely serious as the scene switched back to Cygnus and Evanee. "That's Nymph magic. I don't know much about it, but it's obviously really powerful. You can feel it's strength from here and he's not even done powering up! Just imagine what Evanee herself can do!"
{Flashback}
"Yeah Evanee!"
"That's our Ace!"
"That's my sister!"
A pile of bodies laid around the younger girl, and as her black and green hair ominously wafted in the wind, the sound of cheering really battled against the murderous vigor Evanee carried at such a young age. She was strong; a lot stronger than her own peers or even her elders, but her guild mates were too blind to see the impending darkness this could lead to. It was a good thing that Evanee was self aware. As she stared at her own hands, slowly curling them into bloody fists, and as she stood over the group of dark mages that threatened her friends and family just minutes before she arrived, Evanee knew what they didn't.
"It isn't safe for them…for me to be around. I can't be their crutch when I'm also the reason stronger enemies attack them…" This was coming from a preteen at the time, looking around as the rest of Twilight Zone celebrated her lates victory against overwhelming odds. Rylo looked over, finally coming to suspicion at least as he saw Evanee simply staring off into space.
.
"You were great back there.." He said, entering the kitchen where Evanee sat alone with a glass of her favorite beverage — strawberry milk. She simply drunk from the glass with a response, releasing it with a refreshed sigh. Rylo let the awkwardness of no reply kick in for a few seconds before speaking again. "Thanks again, for coming to our rescue."
"What else is new?" The viper struck in the fork of a quip, catching Rylo off guard. He raised a brow, fixing his oversized top hat as Evanee drunk more from her glass. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, waiting for some sort of explanation. The one he received however was not what he expected.
"When I met everyone at their respective times, you were just a parlor trick mage, Flynn was just a little faster than everyone else, Ceaser was a tall goofball with two takeovers and Adacore could light his fingers on fire. That was years ago. Now, years later, you're still a parlor trick, Flynn is still just a little bit faster than everyone Ceaser is still the same goofball with only two takeovers, and Adacore can still just light his fingers on fire."
"And what about your siblings?" Rylo asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"There're no better, but watch your mouth. They're my siblings, not your friends. I know they also suck, but only I can point that out."
Rylo was really perplexed now. "They don't suck.. no one here does. You're just a prodigy-"
"An enigma, etc." Evanee replied, cutting him off. "Master says it all the time, but that's no excuse to use me as the bar. And even if you do, you all have been disgustingly stagnant. I'm twelve and you rely on me to save you."
"I'm thirteen?" Rylo said with a puzzling look. "We're peers. Peers, Rylo. And my natural gifts aside, when's the last time you even tried to consistently train in order to catch up to someone younger yet stronger than you? When has anyone here? You say you're thirteen? Ceaser is fifteen, and Adacore is twenty! You guys are using me, praying to me like I'm your god when times get tough. What was the point of making a guild? So you can rely on me to get the job done? I think it is, and you've never proven me wrong, so if that's the case—"
"I get it!" Rylo shouted. "I get it..and as your S class.. I'll get the guild to change. Don't worry.."
{End Flashback}
"..I get it..Evanee."
"Is there a time I would abandon everything I stand for, you ask?" Evanee repeated Cygnus's rhetorical question as she approached him. "You joke of a wiseman. I've abandoned everything I stood for a long time ago when I was young. I'm here now to reclaim it. Twilight Zone was a guild made on a whim between friends and family who needed a crutch to lean on. I'm not that type of person. I've kept myself under wraps and out of the way for years, yet I still remained at this level of ability. All I can think about now is how much stronger I would be if my comrades would have followed suit, if they didn't just sit around all day and do nothing but play around, if I didn't have to come to their aid every job, every time we were attacked, and you want to question me about what I'm willing to risk? For a guild that I created? For a place that worshipped me and relied on me instead of pushing me forward to achieve what I want to achieve. Go to hell, you fraud of a God Slayer."
Silence overruled all until finally… Cygnus began laughing. Evanee simply stood over him, glaring his way with low eyes as he continued pained laughter. "Well…that was from the heart right there!" He managed to say before spooling more blood from his busted lip. "You're upset at your entire career as a mage, because you were raising a bunch of bums? But those bums are your friends and siblings, so you feel torn about leaving them until now? I don't give a DAMN about any of that! What I care about…is kicking your ass to remind everyone that I'm the greatest there is! I've worked too hard to be defeated by some woman with repressed trauma birthed from selfishness! Maybe you should've let them solve their problems on their own! Maybe you should have butt out, or even forced them into training to be a powerful guild! But you're the Ace, so that falls on you, not the clowns you surround yourself with! It's a good thing you weren't asking for pity, because you've earned none of it from me! But your skills have earned something rare from me. That's my respect!"
Cygnus raised to his feet, wobbling yet catching himself to stand fully once more. "Now…because of that, let me show you something that only the gods themself should witness. As a god myself, I want you to consider this a privilege, to be defeated by me, with one of my strongest techniques! You can take your silly little trauma with you as well, because I'm not letting you use me and my guild to resolve your issues."
He talked a big game about himself, but Cygnus was fully aware of the monstrosity that he was up against now. He completely tuned out the presence of the rookies by this time, as did Evanee. He knew that it was all or nothing against the nymph, so with that mindset in his head, the Gravity God would take in a deep, deep breath before slowly opening his eyes to recite those words:
"God Trigger: Infinite!"
The instant it turned on, causing Cygnus to glow a powerful purple, the background characters in the back began choking on the strength it emitted. "It's like the air just left!" Tyson shouted to the others. "Try not to panic. The air is still there!" Lluvi replied with the useless advice as everyone else continued to wearily keep their stance. Wide eyes everywhere — Micaiah and Ilaria using each other for balance as they looked on. "He's…he may be the strongest mage ever in that form. There's no way Evanee can beat him like that…"
"She might not have to." Ilaria added, bursting everyone's bubble as she pointed at Cygnus. "Look…"
As they did, it was easily noticeable. As Cygnus's shirt ripped clean off his body, his entire frame could be seen shredding to pieces in seconds. It was like he was origami, unfolding before everyone's eyes. Even Evanee showed some emotion, smirking at the Grand gesture. "Your final attack against me is to tear yourself apart? Must be some grand meteor of an attack incoming. I can see your muscle fibers already. At this rate, you'll just kill yourself before you can do anything."
"Hmph." Cygnus smirked as well. "Lets find out! Gravity God's.. Gravitic Hell Zone!" Suddenly, Cygnus pushed his arms outward, creating a large dome that covered a large radius around him — covering himself, the rookies, and Evanee. Then, suddenly…Evanee found herself fighting with everything she had to remain standing. The Gravity picked up exponentially, to the point where the nymph was unable to make any lackadaisical movement. She couldn't even widen her eyes, her teeth bared as she was using every single bit of force to remain steady.
But…
She was standing…
And that caused Cygnus to give an angered visage, mixed with a grin. "What's the matter!? Where's all that pride you had earlier!? Where's that big talk from the little nymph that was burning my ears just moments ago!? I'm going to crush you! Unless you want to sing to me about how you forfeit! So pick one! Be crippled physically, or mentally!"
"Cyg… Cygnus…..!"
His ears wiggled, hearing his name from such a pained voice. He dare not turn around, but that voice behind him came from Ilaria and he could only imagine the worst. That imagination was dead on too. The rookies were caught in the zone — all of them lying on their stomachs, gradually being pushed into the ground as their bodies felt the weight of Cygnus's gravity crushing them. "Cyg-gch!" Reiss called out just loud enough for them to hear. So in response, after a few seconds of silence, Cygnus….
Began laughing.
"Congratulations you runts! You've earned your first lesson from master Cygnus Gwydion! Today, right here and right now, you will surpass your limits! Now I know what you're thinking… you're not strong enough to handle this gravity, and you don't have to be! But if you can grab one moment! If you can just find one second to surpass your enemy and make it count, in that moment.. you'll be known as stronger than them! And that's all you need!"
The message was heard loud and clear, but that didn't suddenly change the situation. "Come on kids.." He spoke to himself. "My God Trigger is tearing me apart, so I can't move to finish her off. Someone here has to make a winning move." That's when he turned back to Evanee with that same cocky grin. "Well, at least she can't move— WHAT THE HELL!?"
Her right foot raised, then slammed down into the ground after taking a step forward. Then her left, then her right again. Slowly but surely, Evanee Carlisle was moving forward towards Cygnus with pure white eyes and a struggling visage. She reached out with her right hand, threatening to crush his throat whenever she could reach him as she continued forth. Cygnus looked on with bared teeth if his own. "Well!? Who's it gonna be!?" He shouted back to the team of rookies.
"No one can move!" Reiss thought to himself. "How can we beat her when your best move is holding us down, and she's still moving!?" That's when Reiss looked up to see a twinkle in the sky. Hope crossed his facial features as he saw a bullet come soaring in, and all seemed right in the world knowing that big brother Reve was watching. That was… until the long ranged bullet entered the Hell Zone and slammed directly into The ground harmlessly. Of course Cygnus played it off with his pride.
"Sorry gunslinger! No outside interference! This is between the rookies and this Ace! Now I'll ask again! You're running out of time, kiddos! Who's it going to be!?"
"Ll-Lluvi!" Micaiah shouted. "It has to be you!"
"How…!?" The blue haired rookie pondered as she could feel her body crumbling. "Your dispelling magic! Make an aura just big enough to save us so we can stand..!"
"I can't lift my arms…" She cried out, being pushed further into the ground. "I'll have to shoot it through the ground, but how much? There's no time to decide. Just cover your comrades! Dispel: Pulse!"
With a strong push, a white aura shot through the ground in a small radius, covering herself and everyone except Evanee and Cygnus…
And Reiss.
"Reiss!" They shouted in unison. Reiss then shouted back. "Don't! Don't worry about me! You four…it's up to you guys! Combine, and finish her with everything you got! Don't hold back! You…you've seen how strong she is, so don't worry! You're not going to kill her! Don't be scared!"
"Just hang on, hard head." Said Tyson, taking a patented stance. "I'll lead from here! I'd anyone holds back, you'll get the Sidney treatment when it's all over! Now, focus your best attack just before me!"
On command, Lluvi found herself wrapped in her Dragoon Armor with a quick transformation. Simultaneously, Micaiah summoned a large, black knight before her, holding out his jousting sword as it illuminated a white glow. Following was Ilaria, who replaced her attire with a white shredded cloak that signifies the amplification of her magic strength. Suddenly, four small orbs began floating around her, each with their own voice — speaking together in chaotic phrases. The four spirits around her created a beam from each, meeting just before her to create an ever growing orb of Soul Binding Magic. She would join them with an extended right hand, amplifying the potential beam before her. "Soul Unison!"
At the same time, Lluvi and Micaiah were also ready. The Dragoon held her dragon-eyed shield forward, and as it glowed white, she planted her back foot hard into the ground. "Barrier-Dispel Dragoon's Flash Cannon!"
"Holy Black Knight!"
"EVERYONE!" Tyson screamed at the top of his lungs, combining the elements of earth and flame to create a powerful molten beam of magic. "Now! FIRE!"
And fire they did. The four attacks combined into one enormous unison raid that immediately caught Evanee's attention. She turned to the incoming attack quickly, causing her to slightly lose balance thanks to the punishing gravity, but that didn't stop her from holding out both hands to catch the incoming attack. "No way!" Reiss shouted, but Tyson refused to give up on it, holding his arms forward as he shouted. "We're going to win! Put everything you have into it! Even tomorrow's magic! Come on!"
Ilaria, Lluvi, Micaiah and Tyson, all with a loud battle cry, continued to pour every inch of magic they had within them, yet… Evanee held her ground through gravity and all. Tyson looked on through a single, squinted eye, grimacing as he watched the monster Carlisle take another step forward. "We're….right…there…! I just need…to give a little…more! Come ONNNNN!"
Evanee's clothes were tattered; in shreds as she took another step forward, pushing the beam back with each step. It could be seen in Cygnus's silence and body language as well as the forming scars on his body that he was fading and fast. Their opening was quickly slipping away.
"This is the first time in a while I've been pushed so far.." Evanee mumbled to herself. "It's too bad, that you needed so much help to get so far, and it's still not enough."
"What did you say!?" Cygnus yelled back just before falling to a knee. He was still holding on to the Hell Zone for dear life, but it was indeed growing weaker by the second as Evanee was no longer struggling so much within it. "You needed all this help and you still fell short. This was the peak of this free for all, and you couldn't finish. Now, enjoy falling to me."
"Taru!"
"Huh?" Evanee turned to Reiss who shouted at the top of his lungs for one of his Native Spirits. For a few seconds, nothing happened, but right after, a shadow appeared beneath Evanee. She looked down, and the second she looked up, Reiss's giant stone spirit came crashing down on top of her. The amplified gravity due to the Hell Zone turned Taru into a makeshift meteor, causing Evanee to also drop the Unison raid which would create a cataclysmic explosion that blew everyone away. A giant mushroom cloud covering the atmosphere, and it took some very long seconds for it to clear away and when it did…
Both Evanee and Cygnus were still standing.
Reiss, Ilaria, Tyson, Micaiah and Lluvi.. all five of them were down and out thanks to the explosion — being caught in the overwhelming force.
The two remaining stared each other down, panting heavily until finally…
"Just one moment…" Was all that Cygnus said before he fell forward.
"Cygnus Gwydion and all of White Eclipse B are out! That's six points for Twilight Zone, plus the five man bonus for another ten! Sixteen points done by Evanee Carlisle single-handedly!"
Chapati's announcement caused an eruption of cheers by the crowd. They were in a frenzy at her performance, and as the nymph turned to walk away from the carnage and destruction she created, Evanee… fell over, falling unconscious.
"Wait a minute!" Chapati interrupted the spectators. "It looks like Evanee Carlisle is also out of commission! Judges are ruling and…since Cygnus's attack was in effect until the very end, White Eclipse A indeed receives the points! That's ten more for White Eclipse A!"
"Evanee!?" Rylo looked up at the board, and indeed his nightmares came true. Evanee was no longer in the fight. An unbelievable sighting for him and Flynn. Those wide eyes then turned back to Natsu and Takeru, who readied themselves for whatever Rylo had coming. "No…this isn't over for us! Twilight Zone is going to win! I won't let you take my guild away from me!"
"Keh. That's the spirit!" Natsu shouted. Takeru wiped his nose, ending it with a thumbs down as he kept his sights on Flynn while speaking.
"Give it all you got, you two. It sounds like you're about to lose your end of a bargain you made!
Do it for Twilight Zone!"
