Wendy glanced around curiously as the others just gaped at the sight of her.
…
…
Jura nodded and turned to look at everyone. "Now that all the guilds are accounted for…"
Karissa arched a brow at how unfazed he was. It was either he doesn't really care or he knows not to judge right away.
"We've got a massive punitive mission, and they send one child alone… what can Cait Shelter be thinking?"
Karissa tipped her head and watched as a small white cat started walking into the building as Sherry spoke. It didn't look like your typical cat that walked on four legs. No. This one was dressed in clothes and walking on two legs. She knew a similar cat who walked on two instead of four.
"Oh, but she isn't alone Miss Garish Woman." The cat spoke with a slight miff leaking from her tone, causing Wendy to whip around in surprise. "Carla! You followed me here?!"
The white cat known as Carla only crossed her arms and gave Wendy a look. "Of course I did! I'd be overcome with worry were you alone."
"Oh… well, thank you." Wendy shyly smile, but then she remembered about the alliance members standing behind her. She blinked and her gaze slid around nervously after she turned to face them again. "U-Um, I know that I'm really useless in any kind of battle… but I know a lot of support magic that I'm sure will help. So… So please don't leave me out!"
Carla sighed and pointed at her with a disapproving finger. "It's that weakness of spirit that allows others to dismiss you."
Karissa blinked and watched Wendy look so worried and shy. It made her feel empathetic towards the young girl. When she was a fresh teen, she used to worry a lot more about how others perceived her and how people might leave her out because she wasn't good at socializing with others. However, unlike Wendy, she did a better job at concealing her worries.
"Excuse us, we were surprised," Erza spoke to reassure Wendy. "But we haven't the slightest intention of leaving you out. Glad to have you with us, Wendy."
"That girl is going to grow into a real babe." Karissa heard Ren speak which only made her sweat drop. She watched Hibiki walk up to Wendy and bring her towards the couch that they somehow managed to bring back out. The Trimens were acting as hosts again just like they did for Lucy and Erza.
This is freaking weird.
"Again with this clown fest. I wonder, would this be considered pedophilia?" Karissa mumbled impatiently, her gaze sliding away with exasperation.
"Wendy…" Natsu murmured, making Gray and Karissa look at him curiously.
"What is it, Natsu?" Gray asked him, his hands in his jacket's pockets. Natsu frowned and crossed his arms, tipping his head a little to think. "I have a feeling I've heard that name somewhere before… Hmm," he closed his eyes for a few seconds before turning to the Fairy Tail ice mages. "Can you guys remember for me?"
"Hell no!" Gray snapped, looking at him with disbelief.
Karissa face palmed. "We don't share a brain together." She let her hand slip off her face lazily. "But can we seriously just get to the mission?"
"Yes, we should." Jura had heard her and nodded in agreement. He looked at the Ichiya who was fixing his hair and gave him a nod as a signal to the start of the mission briefing. Ichiya stepped up and posed in the center, gathering everyone's attention. "Allow me to explain the mission." He said seriously. He paused. Then he started shuffling away. "But, first a trip to the little boy's room to smell the perfume there."
"Hey!" Gray threw his hands up in disbelief. "Seriously? Now?!" he dropped his arms and just shoved his hands in his pockets, his patience thinning once more.
"Oh my god." Karissa rubbed her temples impatiently. "I am this close to getting my stuff and going back home!"
Lucy sweat dropped and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hang in there."
"This has to be some kind of joke." Lyon put his hands in his jacket's pockets, annoyed.
"Patience, Lyon." Jura said, his hand on the younger man's shoulder.
…
…
…
"If you go north from here, there's a huge expanse of the Worth Woodsea. Ancient people sealed an extremely powerful magic spell inside the woodsea. That magic's name was Nirvana."
"I've never heard of that magic." Lyon admitted as he crossed his arms over his chest, his interest a bit piqued.
"How about you Jura-sama?" Sherry wondered curiously to the ace of her guild. But, Jura, too, had no idea of what it was. Everyone was in the dark about the subject, all but Blue Pegasus.
"For the ancients to seal it away tells us that it's very destructive magic." Ren guessed with a slight shrug.
"It's safe to assume that the Oración Seis are gathered there to get Nirvana for themselves. And to make sure that doesn't happen, we must stop the Oración Seis!" Ichiya spoke again while still maintaining his weird posing.
Hibiki stepped forward. "We have thirteen people versus their six. But don't take them lightly for a second," he told them and held up two fingers up to his face. "Those six are unbelievably strong." He swiped his fingers to the side which caused seven screens to appear.
A picture of a dark red haired man with tan skin and slanted eyes.
"The wizard who controls poisonous snakes, Cobra."
Natsu huffed. "Oh, he looks like a real bad guy. Look at those slanted eyes."
Upon hearing that, the disciples of Ur turned their heads to look at the pink haired mage and said in unison, "Your eyes are the same."
The next screen showed a man with a blonde mohawk, racing glasses and a pointy nose.
"Thought to use speed magic, like his name implies, Racer."
The following screen showed a man whose face was like a geometrical form with so many sharp angles.
"He's a wizard that can wipe out an entire military unit, and will if there's profit in it, Hot Eye of the Heaven's Eye."
The next one was a woman who dressed in white to match her silvery hair, it was easy to see that she dressed similarly to an angel or some bird with all the feathers on her.
"The woman said to peer into your heart, Angel."
The next person to be shown was a man who looked effeminate with black and white hair.
"We don't have much information about this guy, but he's called Midnight."
The next image displayed a dark skinned man with white hair and strange black tattoos.
"Then, the control center for them all… Brain. The six I've just named each hold magical power great enough to destroy an entire guild."
"Hold on." Lyon stopped him and pointed at the last picture that Hibiki didn't mention. "What about this one?"
"I was going to get to that." Hibiki made the screen he was pointing at swerve and face them all. There was a pale man with brown eyes and green blonde hair. Karissa was reminded of dead fish eyes when she looked at him.
"I thought there was only six…" Karissa spoke up, her right hand holding her left wrist behind her back as she leaned her weight on her left leg.
"From what we gathered; this one is not a member." Hibiki stated. "However, he has done considerable enough damage to consider him a threat on par with them. So, just consider him one of their members. We have no clue on what his magic is. We only know his name, Hystoran."
"We won't simply count fighting strength in our tactical advantages. As long as we can simply find their base, we'll be fine." Ichiya reassured them, confidence radiating off him.
"Base?" Lyon repeated, a singular brow raised.
"There is much we don't know about them yet, but one thing we've deduced is they have a stronghold in the forest." Ren informed the alliance. "What would be best is to have all of them gathered in that base."
Gray crossed his arms. "Okay, and how do we do that?"
Natsu threw up his arms excitedly with a huge smirk. "We brawl until it happens, what else?!"
"Natsu, calm down." Karissa pushed his arms back down and patted his shoulders. She wanted all the information to be given without interruptions.
"We will use our guild's pride and joy, Christina, the Pegasus, and together with it, we can bury their stronghold!"
"A magic heavy bomber?!"
Lucy sweat dropped at the sound of something so destructive. "Wait… we're up against people…"
"They are that kind of enemy." Jura spoke firmly, making the blonde shiver. "Listen, even when it comes to battle, we must not fight on our own! We must always battle with odds of at least two against one."
"But what happens if we get separated and we have to face one on our own?" Karissa asked him, just to be safe.
"Then you run, and try to find an ally no matter what."
Karissa frowned. That was not what she was expecting to hear. Were they seriously that powerful?
Then, all of a sudden, Natsu shouted out that he was ready to take them all on and literally broke the doors down of the backdoor as he sped off to the north. The alliance watched dumbfoundedly at the cloud of dust he left behind.
"I like Natsu… but sometimes… he gets on my nerves." Karissa slumped and shook her head, groaning. Why did the simple minded idiot always have to charge off on his own? Charging in randomly doesn't always work! Did he even pay attention or was his mind too busy thinking about fighting to register the information?! Because of him, they would have to follow after him.
"Yeah, well, he always irritates me." Gray spat, face twisted in annoyance.
"We have no choice. Let's go." Erza commanded her fellow guild members as she took the lead and started running after him. Karissa stared at Erza's leaving figure with moue of slight discontent, this was not how she wanted to the mission to start. It seemed... too fast and reckless. She personally would have preferred being more stealthy. She stumbled a little when Gray hit her back as he passed her by.
"Let's go!"
"Alright, alright..."
With Fairy Tail taking the lead, the mission had started.
…
…
…
Karissa crossed her arms with an unhappy look.
"Seriously?" Gray deadpanned when she flew right in front of him. "You want to waste your magic power? You got legs! You 'em!"
Her eyes slid away from him as she poked her tongue out and shrugged with her hands.
After running for a long time, Karissa just got sick of running and started to rely on her magic to get her moving. Cardio wasn't one of her best strengths. She was currently right behind Natsu while facing the others who were following after them. She figured that it would be best to stick close to Natsu just in case he got too far and the others got lost.
"Don't care." Karissa waved her hand dismissively. "I have…" she trailed off when she saw something approaching them. A large airship was flying right above them. Was that the bomber they were talking about? Just as she was about to point it out to the others, she collided against Natsu, who stopped running, making her lose her balance and almost made her fall flat on the ground.
Gray skidded to a stop just before he could run into her.
Erza held back her long scarlet hair when the wind picked up, she smiled as she saw Christina flying above them. "It's the magical bomber, Christina!"
"Whoa!"
"That's the Pegasus I heard about?"
However, their admiration towards the bomber turned into horror when they witnessed it get blown up from the inside, sending it crashing down. Debris flew everywhere. Karissa flinched when she saw a big piece of wood fall right in front of her, causing her to cast a wind spell above her, Gray and Natsu to protect them from the debris.
We should have backup plan to replace that bomber.
Because that strategy just went straight to shit!
Karissa stopped her wind magic that protected her and stared at the smoke from the crash landing. It was blocking their view, but they didn't even have time to think about what just happened because they started seeing some figures approaching them from behind the smoke.
It was the Oración Seis and their mysterious seventh person.
Karissa took several steps back when she felt that she was too close for comfort. She needed some distance after what just happened.
Brain's eyes looked with disinterest at all the ten people who stood in front of him. "The maggots… have been gathering." He spoke after a brief pause.
Angel closed her eyes and smiled mockingly. "We saw through your plans." She told them simply before the two little creatures next to her added that they already took down Jura and Ichiya when they were busy running off.
Karissa clenched her fists tightly at that. Now she was starting to regret following Natsu in the first place! Why did they all have to follow after him and rush?! Jura was the ace of Lamia Scale so that meant that they already lost a good player!
Not good!
Cobra smirked at them all. "I can hear it… your trembling!"
Racer slightly tipped his head and held up a finger. "It's best to race through our problems. But you are getting in our way." He pointed at them, his eyes narrowed at the mages of light.
Karissa's fingers twitched as they kept talking. A plan of attack needed to be figured out, anything at all.
Calm down. Calm down. Think. Rushing in would be reckless right now!
They were in danger. They needed to figure out a new plan or some plan to come out alive no matter what. If anyone on the light team died, it might ruin their chances to beat the dark guild. They needed to—
Natsu and Gray charged first.
Are you fucking kidding me?!
Nope. There wasn't going to be a time to think of a plan. The time to attack was now. Karissa dragged her foot back and prepared an ice spell. "Ice Make:" she pointed her hands at Cobra who looked in her direction with a smirk. "Thousand Spears!"
Spears of ice flew directly towards him, but to her surprise, he just simply stepped out of the way, and that purple snake coiled around his body blocked the ice he couldn't evade in time. Not a single one out of a thousand had touched him. Karissa paused for a moment in shock. Then she shuddered when she felt a pair of eyes on her. Her eyes shifted and she spotted Hystoran watching her carefully with a smile on his face.
Creepy...
"Go." Brain simply said, and then the green blonde haired man came running towards her. Karissa's eyes narrowed with focus and she created an ice shield to block his fist that was covered in black smoke. It was close.
Her eyes widened. The ice was cracking. He was going to break through! With a growl, Karissa side stepped away from the shield just before he smashed through with his magic. She didn't know what kind of magic that was, but she felt like she shouldn't take it lightly.
Meanwhile, Lucy, the Trimens, Sherry and Lyon were all getting attacked by Hot Eye, Racer and Angel's two little creatures.
"Ice Make: Frigid Thorns!"
Spikes of ice came rushing at Hystoran who blocked her attack with black smoke. Karissa launched herself towards Hystoran's side with wind magic and scratched the ground with her shoes when she stopped with two ice blades in her hands. Her enemy blinked in surprise before turning around and coating his hands in black smoke to catch her swords just before she could plunge it into his shoulders.
Karissa caught sight of Natsu getting beaten around by Racer in her peripheral vision. She gritted her teeth. They were already losing the battle so fast.
Hystoran pushed her swords back and aimed a kick for her abdomen. Karissa used her wind magic to protect herself, causing his foot to bounce off from the pressure. He let out a yelp from the sudden lack of equilibrium. Karissa gripped her ice swords tightly and closed the distance rapidly. However, Hystoran's black smoke punctured the ground behind him and pushed him back upright while his arm was covered in black. He harshly slammed his arm down on the blades, shattering them.
Karissa stiffened.
That black smoke…!
Karissa was mostly forced on the defensive when Hystoran came lunging at her with fingers coated in black. She already knew that they were dangerous when it nearly grazed her. It felt like so much magic power was condensed within the smoke. It was also hard to concentrate when she was left open for other Oración Seis to attack. She didn't even have a chance to attack with wind before a black smoky line shot out from his mouth, straight towards the left part of her chest.
Definitely not a good place to get hit.
Damn it!
The ice mage quickly turned to show her left side and let it pierce through her left bicep. She winced from the sharp pain.
"Oh." Hystoran blinked. "It was aimed for your heart. You react fast."
"Karissa!" Lyon, who was currently the closest to her when he was flat on the ground, shouted which caused Gray to look in her direction because he didn't like the tone in Lyon's voice. His eyes hardened when he saw the black line piercing through her arm. The sight that tickled a horrible memory nearly made him see red. He growled and focused his attention on Hystoran once he put his hands together, he wanted to provide support. "Ice Make—!" he flinched when he felt a breeze behind him. He turned and only saw himself standing behind him before getting attacked by ice lances.
Karissa hastily used wind arcs to push Hystoran away and cut the line that connected them, making it fade away in smoke. She was injured, but it wasn't something she couldn't handle, she's literally had worse. Her eyes narrowed when she felt someone appear behind her. A wind barrier encased her body just before a clone of herself attacked her with ten ice clock hands that were just shaven off by the sharp wind.
Through the wind, she witnessed Erza get bitten on the arm by Cobra's purple snake in mid air before crashing on the ground.
Karissa bit her lip in frustration. We… We've lost!
Everyone but her was down for the count. It happened so fast.
"We must always battle with odds of at least two against one."
For now, she needed to listen to Jura and escape. She needed to get to gather everyone with her wind and bring them away from the Oración Seis for now. She couldn't do this alone. It was seven against one. Escaping to survive was the only way the success rate of this mission would increase now that it was extremely low.
"Howling Gust!" Karissa let the wind explode and attacking as it pushed back her clone and Racer who were waiting for her to come out. When her sight was clear, she surveyed the area fast to get a good idea of where to move to.
Brain observed the young Sinclost with a piqued curiosity before smirking. "You bear a resemblance to Clavis. How interesting." He said lowly, not really intending for her to hear, but she was still able to catch it since she wasn't too far from him.
Her body stiffened and stopped completely after she took one step towards Lyon, her eyes wide open.
What?
What did he just say?
…
…
…
Domilia touched her chest where her heart was. "There."
Karissa put a hand on her finger and repeated what her mother said with a cocked head.
Domilia nodded with a smile. "That's right."
…
…
…
"What…?" Karissa was turning to look at Brain.
Her guard was down.
That was her mistake.
Karissa was so thrown off by Brain's comment that she didn't notice Racer zooming towards her. She only snapped out of it when his leg slammed into her, sending her flying upwards. Then he jumped up and slammed his leg on her again, straight into her gut, to send her crashing down on the ground. Karissa winced and didn't move, she had difficulty breathing. Racer didn't stop there, he continued beating her while she was still recovering from the ground slam to keep her from moving.
Lyon gritted his teeth when he saw her still struggling to breath even while getting repeatedly struck. "You bastard…!"
With Karissa's fall, every member of light was down, and the members of darkness towered over them. Racer disappeared and reappeared where his comrades stood. Karissa blinked and took in some deep breaths. God, she felt like she was dying.
"All of you trash…" Brain raised his staff and gathered dark green light. "You will all vanish together!"
Sherry stiffened. "Wh-What is that magical power…?!"
Hibiki struggled to get up. "The atmosphere itself trembles…"
"Dark Rondo—!" Brain stopped the spell and stared at something in the distance. The magic power died as he lowered his staff and silently looked at the person who was hiding behind a boulder. "Wendy? I'm sure of it… You are Wendy. Priestess of the Sky."
"Priestess…?" Karissa murmured against the hard ground. She never heard that name before.
"It looks like we picked up a nice present." Brain smiled darkly and raised his staff once more. "Come!"
The skull of his staff glowed and then released a beam of green light that shot into the air and went straight towards Wendy who did her best to keep herself out of his sight, she was hiding behind a rock with Happy and Carla at her side. It snatched her right off the ground and pulled her towards Brain.
Upon hearing her screaming, Karissa forced herself to move and lift her right hand to use her wind magic, the fastest weapon in her arsenal. A strong wind current flew and then made a screen that stopped Wendy's body from moving any closer towards the Oración Seis. Wendy ceased her screaming and blinked several times when she was stopped, wind was pressuring her in the opposite direction. The young girl spotted the wind user doing her best to protect her.
Brain made it seem like he needs her. If that's the case, Wendy must stay away from Brain's reach! But I can't keep her away from them on my own! But I have to try…!
The girl winced when she tried to push herself up with her left arm.
Racer clicked his tongue. "You don't know when to give up—" he was about to go and crush her arm until Hot Eye stepped forward and used his magic to throw all the fallen light members away by shifting the earth. Karissa winced when she knocked her injured arm on the hard earth which ceased her wind magic.
Wendy screamed as she got taken away and sucked into the staff.
"I have no more use for you! Vanish!" Brain finally casted his previous spell. Beams of dark green shot up in the air and then started homing down on them.
"Everybody, get down!"
Seeing how Karissa was struggling to move away from the incoming danger, Lyon reached her and covered her protectively after he managed to move her at the last second. The girl flinched and closed her eyes.
"Iron Rock Wall!"
The earth that was curved around them shot out pillars that arched over them protectively to withstand the blow of Brain's magical attack which made the ground rumble a bit. When the smoke cleared, a single man stood before them. It was Jura without his helmet.
"That was amazing!"
"You saved us. Thank you."
Natsu instantly sat up and looked around for the enemy only to notice that they were all gone much to his annoyance.
Lyon removed himself off of Karissa and noticed how his white sleeve had blood on it. It was hers. After a small mumble of thanks, Karissa stood up and inspected her wound silently.
"How is it?" Lyon asked her, concerned, and held his left arm that was hurt.
"… Well, it hurts." Karissa replied. "It'll hurt if I move my arm."
Jura approached the two after noticing that she was bleeding. Lyon faced his fellow guildmate with relief, but then his eyes widened at the wound on Jura's right side. The taller man had bandages wrapped around his stomach, the part that was injured had blood seeping through the bandages.
"Jura-san… that wound."
"It was a dangerous spot." Jura admitted. "I was able to fight through it using Ichiya-dono's temporary Pain Relieving Perfume." He turned to look at Karissa and held out a hand near her shoulder. "Karissa-dono, I have brought bandages just in case something bad happened to any of you. Allow me to help you."
"Oh, uh… Okay." Karissa blinked. "T…Thank you." She nodded timidly with a soft tone.
Concerned about her, Gray approached them while she was slipping her left arm out of the sleeve of her cardigan so that Jura could wrap her injured bicep. He stood next to Lyon, who was watching the two, and his eyes fixed the wound that was still seeping blood. He occasionally glanced at her expression just to gauge just how much pain she was in. Thankfully, the wound didn't look so bad, and fortunately, Ichiya's pain reliever greatly helped Karissa since she got one of the worst injuries so far.
Gray's dark blue eyes narrowed a little when he remembered how she froze while fighting earlier. He knew Brain had said something to her, but he didn't catch it from where his was. He was wondering why she looked shaken up by whatever he said.
When everyone remarked at how nice the smell of Ichiya's perfume was, Karissa couldn't help but recall what Brain said about her. She bore a resemblance to Clavis? How could he possibly know that name? It's impossible. No one else should know that name. But yet…
Karissa looked away from Jura's work and stared at her two old classmates apathetically. After a few seconds, she looked back down at Jura's work, masking away her current concerns.
"I'm fine." she told them.
Karissa lowered her head silently which made Jura shift his eyes towards her while he wrapped her wound. Much like how he sensed that Wendy's power was different than those in the allied forces, he could also sense something different from Karissa. Not only that, but he also couldn't help but wonder if he had met her prior to the meeting of the alliance because she looked a little familiar.
"Damn those bastards… How dare they kidnap Wendy and Happy?! Where are you? Where did you run off to?!" Natsu yelled and started running off again which made Karissa a little pissed that he was still going off on his own recklessly. He needed to calm down.
"Natsu!" Karissa snapped loudly, making Jura, Lyon and Gray jump a little. Lucy flinched with a squeak; it wasn't a good sign if Karissa started getting angry. Just as Karissa was about to say something else, they all saw Carla bring out white wings and fly after Natsu to yank him back by the end of his scarf, making him choke and fall backwards.
Carla crossed her arms with a huff. "Try calming down a little."
"Wings?"
"Definitely wings."
"A cat is flying around."
Carla just smiled proudly and flew a little higher to show off her wings. "This is a magic called Aera. It's only natural that you wouldn't know it—"
"It's just like Happy." Natsu said bluntly.
"What did you say—?!" Carla snapped at him but then quickly composed herself with a soft sigh. "Anyway, I'm worried about Wendy and that male cat. But these aren't people we can beat by randomly coming at them, right?"
Karissa wanted to hug and kiss that cat. That was exactly what she was thinking. Jura finished wrapping her wound which she thanked him for, and they joined the others who were gathered in front of Carla.
"It is as Carla-dono says. The enemy is more powerful than we predicted."
"Also…" Carla looked to the side where the trees were and pointed her paw at a figure who leaned against a tree. It was Erza, still in her Flight Armor, and she was holding her arm with a painful expression. Everyone quickly gathered around her to check on her condition. They all knew what happened to her. It was hard not to miss it when she screamed in the air from the snake bite. The pain-relieving perfume didn't seem to have any effect on her either.
Karissa watched Erza grab Lucy's belt, making her shorts fall down and exposing her panties, and tie it around her right bicep far enough from the spot where the snake venom was visible. She held it up and threw her sword down after stuffing a handkerchief in her mouth.
The black haired girl's eyes widened when she realized what the was doing. "Erza, no—!"
"Cut it off!"
"Don't be stupid!" Gray responded fast.
Without wasting a second, Lyon lowered himself to pick up her sword as he volunteered to do it. Karissa gaped at him and tugged his arm back while Gray stood in front of him, telling him to not do it.
Karissa tugged on him arm again to pull him back. "And what happens after that? Did you think that through? She'll end up bleeding profusely!"
Lyon glanced at her but did not push her off. "With your wind magic, it would be more than easy to get her back to the building for treatment. That alone let's her have a better chance of survival than allowing the venom, which we cannot treat, to spread through her body. We're lucky that it's only in her arm at the moment. Now, let go."
Karissa gritted her teeth at his argument, her hand loosened around him. In some way, she could see his point. It would be easy to treat that wound back at the villa where she assumed the rest of the medical supplies were. But this was her friend! She wasn't going to let her arm get cut off without fighting against it.
"We cannot allow this woman to die here and now!" Lyon pulled away his arm from her.
"Put down the sword, Lyon!" Gray glared at him, standing in his way.
"Would you do the same if it was for me or Gray?!" Karissa tried again only to be pulled away from Lyon by Sherry. Karissa whipped her head towards her in surprise.
"Just how divorced from reality are you Fairies?!" Sherry spoke with a disapproving tone.
"What would you know about reality?!" Lucy snapped back.
"I doubt you'd allow this if Lyon was the one poisoned." Karissa spat with narrowed eyes. She could see the surprise in Sherry's eyes when she said that. Yeah, she wouldn't be able to do it. She was just talking because this wasn't Lyon suffering from snake venom.
"Do it! Now!"
"Don't do it, Lyon!"
Even the Blue Pegasus boys were on Fairy Tail's side as they tried to interfere only to be stopped and held back by Jura. Gray was quick to block Lyon by freezing the sword midway as he swung. The two glared at each other. Karissa and Lucy exhaled a relieved sigh.
Lyon clicked his tongue. "You value this woman's arm over her life?"
"There could be a better way than this so don't take the first simple solution that comes to you." Gray shot back.
With all the arguing and time wasted, Erza reached her limit and fell unconscious at Lyon's feet. Lucy and Karissa flew to her side with worry. Gray kept the sword frozen in place just in case Lyon tried slicing her arm off while the others tried to rack their brain over a solution.
That is until Carla spoke up.
"Wendy could saver her. This is no time for squabbling among allies. We should combine our strength and save Wendy… and that male cat along the way."
"So, that girl has some anti-venom magic?" Eve asked hopefully.
"It isn't just 'anti-venom'. She can break fevers, relieve pain and heal wounds."
Karissa blinked, surprised. "So, in other words… that pretty much makes Ichiya obsolete." She spoke quietly to herself but it was enough for the said man to hear it and freeze in stone at the plain truth.
Sherry crossed her arms under her chest, looking impressed. "But I thought Healing Magic was a Lost Magic?"
Lucy gasped. "Could it be related to the Priestess of the Sky thing?" she wondered.
Carla crossed her arms and slightly turned her head to look at Lucy. "Wendy is the Sky Dragon Slayer. The Sky Dragon Wendy." Everyone was shocked to hear that. It was not everyday they hear about other Dragon Slayers in this modern age. "But the details can wait until later. Still, there isn't much more you need to know. Right now, we need Wendy. They need Wendy too, but I don't know why."
Everyone looked at each other when they realized what needed to be done.
They needed to rescue Wendy to not only save Erza and Happy, but also to stop whatever plan they had in mind that Wendy was necessary for.
…
…
…
They were split into groups that each had members of the same guild searching for Wendy and their stronghold. However, Carla, the only member from Cait Shelter, stuck with group Fairy Tail instead of staying behind with Hibiki and Lucy who were looking after Erza. She said it would be better than just sitting and waiting.
Carla and Natsu were taking the lead while Karissa and Gray ran behind them a few feet. The two up ahead were talking about Wendy.
"What does she eat?" Natsu wondered curiously.
"Air."
"Does it taste good?"
"Who knows?"
Gray sweat dropped. "How is it any different from oxygen?"
"She volunteered for this mission because she thought she might get to meet you. You're also a Dragon Slayer, yes? She wants to ask you something."
While Carla and Natsu talked, Gray turned to look at Karissa who remained silent the whole time. Her face looked troubled as she stared ahead, she didn't seem to notice his piercing stare. What exactly was on her mind?
"What's wrong?" he finally asked.
She blinked back, snapping out of her thoughts, and then turned her head away so she could hide from his eyes. Her worries and issues were the least of their worries right now. There was no time for her to feel confused when a young girl was in the hands of a dark guild. It wasn't the time. She bit her lip and forced herself to push away the useless thoughts.
"Nothing."
It's unnecessary to think about it.
So, don't think.
Gray narrowed his eyes, he wasn't stupid. After freezing up in battle and looking so weird, he knew she was lying. There was faint vulnerability colouring her tone no matter how indifferent she tried to sound.
"What did that guy Brain tell you?"
She returned her gaze back in front of her. "It's not important right now."
Don't think.
She really needed to get it out of her mind. Earlier, she allowed her mind to race a mile with unnecessary thoughts and basically just allowed Wendy to get captured since she didn't focus on escaping from the Oración Seis. A real dumb mistake. This was an important mission, and she couldn't afford to let her guard down like that.
Gray redirected his gaze in front of him. Fine. If she didn't want to talk now then maybe she will later. And now might not be the time for it if she decided to brush it off. He didn't want to push her into talking either.
Carla let out a huge gasp and stopped which made everyone stop in their tracks as well. They looked ahead and found trees drenched in black up ahead.
Gray's eyes shifted around. "Why are they black?"
"This isn't right." Natsu didn't like the smell of those trees either.
Karissa whirled around when she heard footsteps behind them. The rest turned around too and saw two individuals walking towards them.
"They say it's from the influence of Nirvana, Big Brother Zato." one said, he had a weird tattoo on his big nose.
Zato, a big guy with sunglasses and an afro, laughed. "It such a powerful magic that the earth itself is dying Big Brother Gato!"
Karissa scratched her neck apathetically. I'm seeing a lot of clowns lately...
Carla looked around worriedly when she noticed more people coming out and surrounding them. "W… Wait a moment…" the light group stood together in the center, their backs to each other, as their enemies surrounded them. "We're surrounded!"
Natsu mimicked a monkey pose. "Wow! Monkeys! There are two monkeys over there!"
It turns out, Oración Seis had ordered this guild, Naked Mummy, to stand in the way of the alliance. It was safe to assume that Naked Mummy was not the only dark guild that had been asked to take down the alliance. There was probably many more lurking in the forest just waiting for them to show up.
Still…
Karissa opened her hands and created vortexes of wind in them. "This is good."
"Yeah." Gray held up his hand and had ice swirling around it. "This is perfect timing."
Natsu grinned goofily and repeated after Gray in a stupid way while still imitating a monkey. Seeing him like that brought an amused smile on Karissa's face. Carla looked at the three in disbelief. She couldn't believe how confident these Fairy Tail wizards were when they were clearly out numbered. "What are you people saying? We have to hurry and break through to escape!"
"No," Karissa surveyed the faces around her and increased the power of her vortexes. "We should use this chance to find out where they took Wendy and Happy. We need to hurry."
Gray looked at them seriously with Erza's state as his primary concern. "In other words, we're going to force you to spill where their base is!"
Natsu swung his arm around in a wheel of fire and grinned. "We're coming for you, Happy! Wendy!"
They each charged bar Carla when Naked Mummy made their move.
Karissa stared at the dark guild members without blinking and then launched her vortexes at them. It travelled towards them and gathered them up while also leaving cuts on their bodies. She controlled the wind and gathered some more members. Their shouting was completely ignored. She put her hand in her palm. "Ice Make:" she touched the floor. "Crystal Tower!" the vortexes stopped, temporarily suspending them in midair, and then ice erupted from beneath them and shot up to encase them in crystal shaped ice.
Karissa yelped when she felt Natsu jump over her from the side and drop kick a guy coming near her. Still a little surprised from it, she was careless and didn't notice someone coming at her from behind. A blast of magic struck her in the back of the head, stunning her for a brief moment. Damn that hurt. She growled and clicked her tongue.
"Ha! Got he—!" the Naked Mummy member didn't even finish his sentence once Karissa made an ice sledge hammer and slammed it into his side, sending him flying towards his comrades and knocking them away like bowling pins.
She spun around the ice hammer and then swung it down when she stood in a fighting stance. Her eyes darted around when she saw more of them coming out. Miffed, a groan escaped her lips as she tightened her hold on the ice hammer.
This is going to take a while…
…
…
…
Karissa wiped the side of her mouth with her sleeve and panted tiredly. Gray and Natsu were also tired and a little trashed from the fight. Damn monkey guild was actually tougher than they thought. And here Karissa thought that they were actually just a bunch of monkeys acting tough. She sat down on the floor and gazed at a rock while she tried to catch her breath, almost in a daze. She mostly had to resort to lesser ice creations and hand to hand combat because she wanted to conserve her strength.
"What was with those guys? I thought they were supposed to be small fries!" Natsu scowled at them while wiping off the sweat above his brow.
Gray panted wiped his chin with the front of his shirt. "They fought better than I thought…"
Karissa laughed a little and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I guess we shouldn't have judged them based on their dumb looks."
Carla poked her head out from behind the tree she was hiding behind. "Well, what did you expect?! You fought an entire guild! What were you three thinking?!"
"I mean… we got the job done." Karissa replied with a nonchalant before standing back up.
"That's not the point!"
She watched quietly as Natsu tried to interrogate one of them albeit in a violent manner. But they refused to give up the information they wanted. Gray and Karissa just stood together and watched Natsu interrogate the next person since the other one was now knocked out from a headbutt.
Karissa's eyes shifted around to find a conscious person. While surveying the bodies, she noticed someone struggling to sit up.
The girl looked at Gray and nudged him on the side. "Can you break a finger?"
Gray stared at her strangely at that question. What was she trying to do? She just quietly stared back, waiting for him to answer. He nodded a little after he exhaled a small sigh. "I don't like it, but yeah I can."
"Come." Was all she said before stalked over to the member. Sometimes it was just necessary to use a little more extreme method. She didn't like it either, but they didn't have time to waste. Besides, she needed to make up for letting Wendy down and letting her get captured so easily.
When Gray realized what she was trying to do when they approached someone, he inwardly groaned. He was going to have to break someone's finger. Great.
Gray restrained the guy while Karissa sat down on the ground in front of him to ask him where the Oración Seis's base was. She was hoping that he would tell them seeing as how they literally just beat them all.
Hopefully, he would squeal the information fast.
But…
The Naked Mummy member just glared at her. "You think I'll tell you, bitch?"
Gray inhaled sharply.
Natsu scowled.
Karissa blinked. "Oh."
"How rude." Carla frowned.
"I have a job, and I'm not about to sell them out!"
"Okay…" Karissa lolled her head and then scratched her cheek with her finger, her gaze skittered away. She felt offended but she really didn't care enough to insult him back. "Let's see how dedicated you are to your job." she said lazily before looking at Gray with a frown. The dark haired male sighed. He reached for one of the guy's fingers.
The next thing they heard was an unpleasant crack and a wailing cry. Karissa kept a straight face despite the urge to wince.
"Their stronghold is in the ancient city to the west!"
"There we go." Karissa rolled her eyes, and Gray released the crying man, he almost pitied him. Almost. They were just grateful he gave it up with only one finger. Karissa shuddered to think about how they could have broken another.
"You scare me sometimes, you know that?" Natsu spoke once she got up on her feet and patted her pants and cardigan.
"Look, I didn't like it either." Karissa shrugged at him and put a hand on her hip. "But your method took too long. We need to rescue Wendy fast." She looked at Carla apathetically. "Right?"
The white cat nodded in agreement, she also agreed with how the method wasn't likable. "Yes. Now, let's stop dawdling here and get moving!"
"Yeah, Erza needs to be cured fast." Gray nodded once while looking at his friends, his expression serious. Natsu and Karissa nodded too, they didn't know how fast this poison was going to spread.
Time was of the essence.
...
...
...
After a long time of running and taking out dark guild members on the way, they found the said ancient city in the west that had a waterfall near it. They were standing on higher ground where they had a good view of the houses, and it didn't look like anyone was inhabiting the houses below. There was no sign of their main enemy anywhere.
Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth. "Happy! Wen—!" Karissa flinched and then tugged on Natsu's white scarf with wide eyes for yelling out of nowhere. "Don't be stupid!" she said harshly, not caring one bit that she made him choke from that tug.
"What's the big idea?!"
"There might be enemies around here!" Carla hissed at him. The little feline had enough of his reckless behaviour.
Gray narrowed his eyes at the wooden gate in front of a cavern near the waterfall. Then his eyes widened when he saw something flying out of it a full speed. It was coming towards them. "Heads up!" he yelled, alerting them instantly. Even when they were prepared to block an attack, they still ended up getting knocked away at full force.
"It's him again!"
Karissa hurriedly got back up on her feet and whipped her head around to catch sight of their enemy. She found Racer standing atop of a tree branch and looking down at them. Karissa took a few back steps away from him and stood near Gray and Natsu.
Gray narrowed his eyes at Racer and kept his sight on him. There was only one thing to do now. "Leave him to us. You hurry and get down, there Natsu!" he told him, remembering Jura's words about being at least two to face one of them.
Racer dived down. "You think I'd let you do that—?!" he let out a startled sound when he slipped on the ice that Gray rapidly created on the ground.
Karissa didn't waste that opportunity; she moved to the edge of the cliff and created an ice ramp for Natsu and Carla since the white cat was too dizzy to use her Aera magic to help Natsu after getting knocked away by Racer. "Here, get going!" she patted Natsu on the back when he passed her by with Carla under his arm.
She turned her attention back to Racer who was glowering at them.
"You stopped me in my tracks…"
Gray gave Racer a smug smirk and shrugged a little. "Really? Looked like you just slipped and fell. That's all." He said while pointing his chin at the ice on the ground. Racer scowled at him and clenched his fists. "Oh yeah?" Racer crouched on the ground with an unpleasant smirk.
"Ready, Karissa?"
"Yup."
Oof. So, I wrote this chapter kinda fast. It must be my impatience to reveal the name Clavis haha. I swear, I had trouble picking a damn name for that character. I kept bouncing around the names Clavis, Clovis, and Cline.
That Crystal Tower move for Karissa's ice make was totally a reference to Tales of Zestiria's Crystal Tower. Lately, I've been playing too much Xillia and it's giving me so much ideas for moves haha. And I need to control my damn impulse because I'm this close to whipping up a story for Xillia (ಠ_ಠ)
Anyway, the little flashback scene with Domilia was copy pasted from a previous chapter. It might give you a little hint as to who Clavis might be...
See you in the next chapter!