Chapter 122: Confidence.

She ran through the knee high rain, searching left and right for the culprit that caused her magic to literally shut down. "I want to say that he can't be far, but that weird kid shut down a whole city area if I recall correctly." Kairi said to herself in the midst of her frantic search. She kept running until she spotted a large serpent lunging her way. The takeover mage was able to leap out the way, watching the reptile closely as it slithered through the water ominously. Her guard was up, and as it reared it's head once more to bare its fangs, those dangerous teeth began to spark electricity, causing Kairi's eyes to widen as she realized that she was in the middle of a perfect conduction thanks to the flooding rain.

There was nowhere to go, and as the snake lunged for Kairi once more, she lunged into the air as expected. It saved her from the electric current in the water, but without her magic, she was now seemingly a sitting duck in midair. As she remained up there however, something caught her peripherals. Footsteps through the water, running away from her and the giant snake. She knew exactly who that was, because anyone else would take advantage of this situation. "Found you!" She shouted, curling her legs to her chest as the giant snake neared her again. With impeccable timing, Kairi used her legs to slam a kick right into the roof of the serpent's mouth just before she could become food. That spring loaded kick launched her back to the ground and as she splashed into the knee high water, she took off after her target.

"Get back here!" She yelled, gradually gaining on the kid. At this distance, she could at lead confirm that she was chasing the right person, Ano Lyrai of Empyrean Dawn. The Hacker Mage was panting heavily. He wasn't gifted in any way at all physically, so with Kairi on his trail, panic was setting in, even with his magic at his disposal and hers "shut down."

"Protect me!" He shouted desperately, and just as Kairi was catching up to him, three more serpents rose from the waters. Each of them showed their fangs — one of lightning, one of flame and one of poison. "Tch!" Kairi came to an unwanted halt, watching as Ano turned the corner to escape and leave her with his snakes. Turning her visage back to the three before her, the takeover mage simply sighed as she looked around for an escape. It was hard to see anything with the continuous rain, but as she looked around, her search stopped as she her a thudding noise around the corner. "Huh?" Inquisitively she peered past the three serpents to see what the commotion was about, and what she saw was bitter sweet.

It was Mirajane Strauss, holding Ano Lyrai by the collar like a dog with her disciplining facial expression. "Now, turn the magic back on, or you'll be in big trouble!"

Kairi then just made a face, accompanied by a sweat-drop. "Yeah, that'll tell him, Mira."

"OKAY, OKAY! JUST DONT HURT ME!" Ano yelled in response, flailing frantically.

"YOU COWARD!" Kairi shouted angrily, as if she was disappointed at just how much of a coward Ano truly was. It was too easy. The Hacker Mage waved his right hand to reveal some pixelated writing floating before him. He would then literally break it in half, allowing the code he wrote to vanish, and for Kairi and Mirajane's magic to return to them. "Oh?" Kairi could feel her magic returning, and Mirajane had the same look of content before turning back to Ano and the three snakes that waited his orders. "Now, surrender in Fairy Tail's name and I won't have to hurt you."

"Not so fast there, demon woman." Kairi interrupted swiftly. "My guild needs those points, so he's surrendering in our name."

"And who is our? Twilight Zone, or White Eclipse?"

She knew exactly how to ruffle and angel's feathers it seems, because Kairi was now quietly fuming, and she did every time Mirajane brought up that fact. She pushed away her comment however, because there was a more important matter to intend to. "Give me the kid, Mirajane." She replied in a stern tone. Mirajane simply smiled a small, evil curl of her lips as she kept next to Ano. "I can't do that, Kairi."

The face off continued even as Ano tried to quietly slip away step by step in the flooding water. Two bright lights overtook the area, and suddenly the Satan and Angel Soul takeovers returned to the battlefield. Ano thought he had escaped by turning the corner, but a second later he was surrounded by the two femme fatales. Fear was more than evident on his face, but as Kairi charged him to strike, she was immediately blown away by a blast of dark magic created by Mirajane's Satan Soul. Kairi slammed into a nearby wall, and Mira turned her attention to the cowering Ano. "Wait!" He shouted in plea. "Marshall needs me!"

That meant nothing to Mirajane — especially coming from a criminal. She reared back her hand, held like a knife, yet before she could swing, Kairi was returning the favor with a plethora of air bullets that slammed into Mirajane's body before lifting her off of her feet and into the water. Kairi then rushed for Ano, but the Empyrean Hacker ran as well, diving out the way as his giant serpents took the front lines to protect him. All three of them lunged at once, but with her magic back online, it was child's play to take them on as she flew around each one. That bought Mirajane enough time how we as she stood up to direct attention back towards Ano Lyrai.

"Evil Explosion!" She shouted, holding her hands outward to create an orb of darkness magic that chased after Ano.

"Dammit!" Kairi shouted, but as Ano cried out in horror, he also swung his left arm out, causing a pixelated rune to appear. The second Mirajane's attack touched those pixels, it changed colors from black to white before hitting Ano and though it knocked him off his feet, it could be seen and felt that the attack actually healed him?

"Huh!?" Kairi and Mirajane both blinked in surprise. "He changed the properties of my attack?"

"More like..he overwrote its code? Man, that kid could really be something if he wasn't such a chicken. Like, if he grew a backbone this second, we would be in deep trouble."

"I need to rewrite the EMP!" That was a red flag immediately raised for Kairi and she quickly swooped down after Ano to halt any of that. She was sidetracked, keeping track of both Mirajane and Ano, she forgot about the serpents as one rammed right into her with their hardened scales. It slammed Kairi into the water, chasing right after her. That was the snake's mistake for the second it submerged into the water, Kairi blasted it with a powerful orb of gold and solved light, sending it flying out of the water and over a building.

Ano watched in horror, only to turn back to an incoming Mirajane. She dove towards Ano with a hand filled with dark magic only to be tackled into the water by Kairi. The two women remained submerged until a sudden quaking took place and the water seemingly began receding. Ano watched as the water dropped from waist to shin high, but the reveal as to why was worse than any flooding.

Kairi and Mira were now in a different takeover — gathering the water around their respective frames as they stood off against each other. Kairi now stood in her Angel Takeover: Arariel. The Angel known as the commander of waters, Kairi now sported a black one-piece suit that exposed her midsection, and was accented with purple waves and silver lining. She sported black, wrist-length gloves along with matching thigh-high boots. Her hair jutted upwards in a wild, wavy fashion, and adopted the full color of her lilac ends.

Mirajane on the other hand, stood in her Takeover Satan Soul: Torafusa form. The demon of Tartarus that dominated the waters, Mirajane also donned a (black) one piece attire, tallied with green scales what stapled to her sides. Her arms gained the same sharp fins Torafusa came equipped with, and her hair was tied back in a high ponytail, resembling a dorsal fin.

As the two takeover mages gathered the raging waters in the negative space between their hands, they both eventually fired at the same time to release a powerful blast of the element — colliding with one another to create an explosive rush of water. Blown backwards, but neither woman was truly affected by the chaos thanks to their takeovers. Mirajane seemed to recover a second quicker however, giving pursuit and slamming a scaled right fist into her defending arms. The power alone sent Kairi flying into the nearest condemned building, but as Mirajane gave chase, she suddenly found herself bound by the tight grip of a giant serpent. She struggled as it squeezed tightly, baring it's electric fangs as Ano watched from the side.

"Is he gaining confidence?" Mirajane asked herself. Just like Kairi, she understood the dangers of Ano gaining the courage to fight with his magic. He was a genius kid filled with potential and nothing more, but that's exactly where the two wanted to keep him at. A glimmering light would shine where Kairi was last seen. "Cosmic Explosion!" She shouted, creating a powerful blast of gold and silver light that soared directly for Mirajane and the snake that held her down.

Kairi watched with a grin as the blast neared her targets, but as Ano swiped his hand through the air.. "Rewrite: Property change!" The blast Kairi created condensed, changing from its original form, into a laser as it rushed towards Mirajane, piercing right through her left shoulder.

Her eyes widened in both pain and shock, and the demoness slumped over before Ano's serpent released it — allowing her to fall back into the water. Kairi looked on, stunned. "That wasn't my attack.." She realized, turning to Ano. Ano then made eye contact with her, and that cowardice look on his face returned. He quickly realized himself that he was now alone with the angel and only two of his three reptilian friends to protect him. "Oh no.. I got too far ahead of myself..!" He said aloud, literally shaking in his shoes as Kairi removed herself from the damaged building. "Dancho…Marshall.. I'm.. I can't go any further. I have to forfeit-"

{Flashback}

"A…Ano Lyrai!" He shouted, bowing before the light blue haired secret leader of Empyrean Dawn. Familiar faces stood to his left and right; faces like Marshall and Mizaki Izumi, Nina and Julia Roulette, and Hubert Ozwell, Firenze the giant and the pink haired woman Zinnia Sage. Along with them, were unfamiliar faces that belonged to the faction. Most of them stood closer to the light-blue haired man than Marshall and the others, but one that stood out was a woman with a large witch's hat on top of her long, stringy, jet black hair. Her pale features were adorned by light purple lipstick. She chuckled as Ano struggled to speak.

"I'm begging you! Let me join your guild!"

That's when laughter erupted between the group — everyone but the leader who simply smiled. "Guild?" Firenze repeated. "Hey kid, beat it before we kill you. We just came here to pick up our mangy mutt, Marshall. You two just happened to be in the same transfer carriage."

Ano was frightened at the thought of dying, but the kid understood that it would only be a matter of time before he was captured again. He didn't have the support system that Marshall did. He was alone, desperate and weak, so the nervous wreck shouted again. "I'm Ano Lyrai! I'm a hacker mage! That's how I ended up here! I can shut down or change the properties of any magic or system! I can help you guys with anything! Guild, dark guild, family..I don't care! I just want to be a part of it! Please.. if I'm alone, the council will find me and take me back to prison! I'm just a kid! I can't go back! Marshall…"

"Oi..!" The psycho interjected. "Don't be begging for me! You're a guy, and that's more competition for me and Zin-chan!"

"There is no competition, because there is no us, you lunatic." Zinnia said, speaking into deaf ears.

That's when the witch hat walked forward, crouching down to his level with her left hand, nails painted black, pressed against his cheek. "Ano Lyrai. Hello, little one. You say you're a hacker mage? You're one of a kind, that's for sure."

Ano slowly opened his eyes, now glued to her own violet pair as she smiled sweetly. "My name is Cecelia. Of course you can join our brood. We're not the type to turn down a criminal in need."

Ano flinched as Cecelia suddenly pricked him with the nail of her right index finger. A single drop of blood fell from his cheek, but instead of hitting the ground, it began floating before him, swirling around Cecelia's hand as she moved her fingers to will the blood to do so. "Meeting us..joining us is never coincidence, yet merely fate. Look around you, Ano. These misfits will take great care of you, but there's one thing that you're never allowed to do here. You can run away, you can turn yourself in, you can even kill yourself, but you can never quit on us. Can you handle that, little Ano?"

He looked behind her, into the eyes of everyone except their leader, who was already facing the other way so mysteriously. Ano then nodded once, wiping his swelling tears. "I won't…! I promise I'll never quit on you! I'll follow every order or request! This world has already shunned me, so I'll do anything to be a part of yours!"

{End Flashback}

"— No.. I have orders from the boss to give it my all. I'm the only one he gave those orders to..but why, I don't know." Ano gulped, but he continued to stare directly at Kairi with a vote of confidence — enough to make the angel takeover realize and observe him before rushing in for victory. That's when Ano..

Took off running.

"Cecelia said I could run! I can even turn myself in or kill myself, but I can't quit on them! I cant quit! So for now..I run!"

Kairi sighed. What she thought was a breakthrough for her opponent turned out to be exactly what she expected from the kid. "I'll catch up to him later." She said, tired of the chase. That's when she turned her attention to Mirajane, who was bracing herself against a wall while holding her pierced shoulder. The angel flew down to stand before her, giving a small smile that the demoness returned in a more pained manner. "Once again, this fight goes unfinished. This time thanks to a third party."

Mirajane couldn't help but not in agreement. "Unfortunately. But I do look forward to a time where we can settle things just like you want."

Kairi raised a brow. "Don't do that. Don't put this all on me. We've been gravitating towards each other since we met. It's not just me. It's both of us equally."

Mirajane gave a sly smile. Of course she agreed with that notion. "Before you take this win for your guild, I just wanted to let you know, Kairi… why I've been pushing you to return back to White Eclipse."

"I'm pretty sure I got the idea behind that, Mirajane." Kairi retorted. "It's because it's where we've began all of this."

"It's because you don't belong anywhere else. Just like Fairy Tail is my only home. Your strongest being, you left it at White Eclipse. I felt it when Fairy Tail disbanded over this year. No matter how much stronger I became from training with my siblings or how many jobs I took.. I knew a piece of me was missing. A new guild wouldn't fix that, and I feel like you're the same way. And that saddens me for you, Kairi, because I've seen you at your strongest. I saw it six months ago when I was called upon.."

Kairi raised a brow.

"There was rumors from passing travelers, of an Angel of destruction inhabiting an abandoned town just south of Matza Valley."

Kairi's eyes widened. She knew exactly what Mirajane was about to speak of.

"That was how they described you. A beautiful angel that they couldn't even get close to, because of the strength you were radiating — it was destroying everything around you. They said you only came out at night, so that night I went to go see it for myself. And there you were… you were so beautiful in that form that I almost fell for you." She laughed at her ending quip, giving a softened smile. "But I also realized that you held a power that I might not ever be able to reach. For some reason, that form of you I saw that day.. I felt as if it had some sort of hold on me.."

"Lucifer." Kairi interjected. "That time I spent in that abandoned town was to train that form. Not to perfect it, but to simply survive in it. It isn't ready, so you don't have to worry about it for a long, long time, Mirajane. But to answer your curiosity… there is a legendary angel that fell from the heavens above — damned for his rebellious ideals and nature. He was the most beautiful, and the strongest angel in the eyes of the gods. His name is Lucifer, and he is the father of all the dark beings….of all demons. I specifically took the challenge of that takeover to have the clear advantage over you. So yeah.."

"……." Mirajane slowly closed her eyes as she sat down.

"You don't have to worry about finishing me off. I'm officially dropping out. I'll let Natsu, Gray and Erza finish for Fairy Tail here. I only joined for this fight anyways, and now that we're at this point, there's no need to continue."

"That's understandable." Kairi added.

"It just doesn't feel the same with you as a Twilight Zone member, but I'll stop pushing you, and allow you to make your own decisions. Anything else would be selfish of me. They seem like nice people overall anyways. Good luck to them and you…Kairi."

"Mirajane has dropped out of the fight!" Chapati shouted. "Twilight Zone earns one point, plus another ten point bonus for another five mages defeated by their hands! That's an eleven point boost for Twilight Zone, putting them at ninety eight points! They're now tied for second with the Council and only nine points from taking first!"

"Are…are they going to do it?" Aubrey asked, leaning over the railing with the rest of Twilight Zone as a bandaged Evanee watched stoically in the back.

"Hell yeah! It's possible! We have Kairi, Flynn and Rylo!" Ceaser shouted, for once not distracted by anything. "Twilight Zone let's go!"

Mirajane was transported out, and Kairi placed her hands on her hips as she stared her out in space while her greatest rival disappeared. "All that for that brat, only for Mirajane to take the fall." She smiled, rubbing her nose as she checked the scoreboard. "Now, to help Rylo and Flynn-"

Just before she could finish that statement, the giant snake that was blasted away earlier came barreling through the a building, capturing Kairi in its mouth instantly. She stumbled into the belly of the beast, regaining composure for a few seconds as she stood up once more. "Tch! This was your desperate sneak attack, kid? You're gonna have to do better than that!"

Her wish was his command, because as Kairi rushed back to the mouth of the serpent, the reptile began to glow brightly.

"My Hacker Magic can change or shut down the properties of any magic. My snakes, are simply magic based, given to me by the boss himself. "Override: Self Destruct!"

Before Kairi could reach the end, the giant serpent would indeed explode. It was a massive explosion that would shake the entire area, and finally, through the cloudy aftermath, Kairi could be seen slowly falling to the ground, hitting the floor in an unconscious state.

"Ano LYRAI!" Nina and Julia shouted together as Empyrean Dawn cheered together at the breakthrough development their youngest member just made. Sitting at the top of the stands alone and out of sight, Cecelia was seated with her arms crossed, smiling to herself as Empyrean Dawn gained another point to edge out ahead…

Empyrean Dawn now had one hundred and seven points…

And a dangerous kid was still at large, now brimming with confidence in his abilities.