Chapter 9 - The Sorcerous Bloodline
Written by LastationLover5000 and Demod20
Mercurius Castle
Piercing, raging waves. A liquid spiral, piercing the body of a young girl. The girl's body rode the current of the spiraling drill, her blood tainting the waters red.
Before the eyes of someone who struggled to comprehend what was happening, Wendy Marvell's body collapsed in a heap, lifeless and growing still.
The sound of ragged breathing, shouts and screams, filled Charle's ears as she woke with a start.
"That premonition again..." Charle shuddered in horror. "Only...there was more this time..." Worried, the Exceed turned her head to the outside window, taking in the light of the moon.
Wendy...what's happening?
Jade Mountains, Robin Hoodlums Encampment
Robin, sitting firmly on his frozen throne, observed the ongoing battle of his underlings against the Fairy Tail guild with an air of bemusement. He didn't despise his underlings, but if he was a mother, Brutalia and Handsome would be his least favourite children. Robin considered this their punishment; if they lost, it was entirely on them, and if they won, well, he'd have something to help him sleep pleasantly again.
"My little bird," Eris began, "shouldn't we be worried for Bobbie? She hasn't come back with your hat."
The young mage waved a gloved hand airily. "There's no reason to be worried, Eris," replied Robin confidently. "Bobbie's reputation speaks for itself; I count on both you and her more than anyone else in this group. If Bobbie fails, then we're going to have to reconsider everything." He gripped the arm of his throne, and the ice began to crack, shattering under a surprising amount of pressure from arms so lacking in musculature. She can't fail me.
Back on the battlefield, Wendy and Arcadios were being being pushed back by Handsome, whose Full-Body Take-Over was proving to be formidable. The duo weren't significantly wounded, but they were barely able to hold them back — Wendy's enchantments were failing. On the other side, Max was cleverly utilising sand to keep Brutalia at bay, yet it was obvious he too was on the defensive; they were stalling for time, and the trio needed more of it.
"You can't keep this up forever, you bowl-cut bastard!" snarled Brutalia, aiming an invisible blast of telekinetic force which collided with a dense Sand Wall of Max's. "You're going to run out of steam! And when you do, I'll make sure you suffer when you die!"
"You're a really picky woman!" snapped Max. "And I wish you'd make up your mind about how you're going to do me in! Is this why you're single?!"
"Low-bred vermin!" roared the black-and-red clad woman.
"Don't let up, Lady Wendy," urged Arcadios, parrying a blade-armed strike from an incoming Handsome. He used his armoured body to stand in front of Wendy, a knight in shining armour for a young maiden. Steel clashed with steel, and sparks flew as the blades of the two crashed. Arcadios' sword screeched against the sharpened, tempered body of Handsome — in truth, structured far better than any man-made blade could match — but Wendy's fading enchantments carried over to Arcadios' weapons, and the man held true.
"T-Thank you, Sir Arcadios," Wendy cried out, using Arcadios' distraction to gain some distance and devour the fresh air of the Jade Mountains. She held onto the hope that Doranbolt would come back to her; he had promised, and he wouldn't betray a promise. She merely needed to buy more time. Wendy coated her arms in wind, preparing to aid Arcadios another strike against Handsome—
—when an exhausted, battle-worn Doranbolt whisked into the middle of the battlefield.
Everything fell silent.
The battle stopped.
Wendy, Arcadios, Max, Brutalia, and Handsome turned to look at Doranbolt, their expressions mixed.
"Doranbolt!"
"You're back!"
"He's back?!"
"How?!"
Multiple voices, mixed reactions and tones, sounded off at once. Doranbolt only heard one — Wendy — and relief flooded him to see that the girl was alive. Yet he did not go to check further, as he wanted; he could sense a sudden rush of bloodlust and seething hatred emanating to his right. Doranbolt didn't need to look to know who it was; the young Generous Robin, sitting on his ice-hewn throne, fixed the Fairy Tail Mage with a stare far more frigid than his seat.
When he spoke, it was three simple words.
"Where is Bobbie?"
"You had high expectations for her," Doranbolt replied. "I took her higher than you might've bargained for."
"...and my hat?"
Doranbolt flinched. This sentence, while not as cold as the previous, was laced with venom. "Gone." He held up his empty hands. "I've already taken it back to Crocus — you know my magic is teleportation. It's hardly difficult." Slowly, Doranbolt began to back himself towards Wendy and the group. Still no one moved; all eyes were fixed upon the Generous Robin, who seemed to have frozen everyone solid with the fury he was exuding.
"I see..." The seat beneath Robin's firm legs cracked from the pressure he began emitting; more than rage this time, a flowing, cobalt aura of pure magical power gushed form. The chair shattered in its entirety, and Robin, in spite of his fury, landing gracefully on his heeled boots. The face he gave one of Doranbolt was livid. "I hold myself to very few rules, my dear former Magic Council member. And one of them I consider the most important of all. It appears I will need to break it now."
"A rule?" inquired Doranbolt curiously. "What rule is that?"
"Avoiding needless slaughter!" snarled Robin. He raised his staff high above his head, his aura moving with it, beginning to focus it solely at the tip of the rod. The temperature in the air dropped considerably, traces of water beginning to glint and turn to frost. Breath became visible and white in the air.
"Get down!" Eris ordered to Handsome and Brutalia, who needed no telling twice. The battles were happening close enough that, when Robin struck, the two would be struck down along with Wendy and Max. Handsome and Brutalia took cover, distance with their respective magics, leaving Wendy, Max and Arcadios alone.
"Wendy! Max! To me!" Doranbolt ordered, feeling the wind shift, becoming even more frigid. Above Robin's staff, a massive, diamond-shaped construct, entirely made of ice, formed. They recognised it immediately; it was the same icicle spear that Robin had easily blown the gate of the vault open with. Even as they ran, there was still enough distance between Max, Wendy, and Doranbolt which Robin could take advantage of.
Shit! I can't wait for them! Doranbolt focused on Wendy first, his body moving even as he thought the name of his spell. Direct Line took him to her in seconds, and Doranbolt scooped her up with a single arm. He held out a hand for Max, who grabbed it firmly, the bowl-haired man placing all of his trust in the person he'd formerly considered untrustworthy. Arcadios, with no hand to reach for, quickly placed an armoured limb on Doranbolt's shoulder.
All three were firmly holding onto Doranbolt now.
"You wont get way!" snarled Robin, his voice monstrous. With a gesture, the gargantuan ice spike began to spiral, drilling through air, shrieking towards the trio.
Doranbolt looked Robin dead in the eye, the split second of a glare the two shared conveyed multiple emotions — loathing, contempt, rage, desperation — before he focused entirely on where they were headed.
Direct Line!
In that instant, the ice spear crashed where Fairy Tail had been, yet Doranbolt had vanished from Robin's sight.
Silence followed. Robin stared blankly at the space where his attack had only barely missed. The ice spear emitting a soft frost, and yet it bore no blood. No gore splattered the ground. He knew he had failed.
With only his soldiers and followers to hear, the young man let out a blood curdling howl of rage, echoing throughout the Jade Mountains. It continued, beyond the lung capacity of any human.
It sounded like a raging beast.
Crocus, Mercurius Castle Courtyard
Fresh air.
Wendy, Max, and Arcadios, all not adjusted to the teleportation that Doranbolt prided himself on, gasped lungfuls of fresh, cool air of the Mercurius Castle Courtyard the instant they flickered into its confines. Doranbolt's hand slipped from Max's, allowing the bowl-cut man to wobble to his knees. Arcadios, made of sterner stuff than the lot of them, put on a brave face as he forced his scuffed-armoured form to his feet, without protesting in the slightest.
"Doranbolt..." Wendy's muffled voice came from Doranbolt's body; he had clutched her quite tightly. "You're still holding onto me...and I can't breathe..."
"Oh, I'm sorry...!" Doranbolt gasped, lettiing Wendy go as quickly as she pointed it out. The girl, pink in the face from the lack of air, was able to take in Doranbolt's appearance for the first time since he'd arrived. The man was cut in various places, his clothes flecked with blood — his own, Wendy could smell it — yet the most horrific would he possessed was a gaping hole in one of his shoulders. The fact that Doranbolt was even moving could be attributed to a combination of adrenaline and her incantations, both of which were running short.
"It appears we've made it back to Mercurius Castle in one piece," surmised Arcadios. "Sir Doranbolt, your skills continue to impress, truly."
"Don't...mention it..." Doranbolt replied, sounding thoroughly worn.
"But where is the hat?" asked Max. "We went through all that trouble to get it, and we managed to escape. You said it's here now?"
Doranbolt shook his head. "Yeah, about that..." He grinned slyly, and explained to his comrades what he'd done to throw Bobbie off during their battle in the Jade Mountains.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Doranbolt, you didn't..."
"He did..."
Arcadios, Max, and Wendy all wore similarly shocked or exasperated expressions. However they'd expected Doranbolt to have kept the hat out of harm's way, devouring it wasn't even on their list. Which begged the question on everyone's mind: how did Doranbolt plan to retrieve the hat from his gullet? The answer was as predictable as it was disgusting. Turning away from everyone, Doranbolt emitted a horrible wretching sound. After two minutes of convulsing, shuddering, and making sounds so horrible that the few castle guards that had survived Handsome's assault and recovered were rushing over, concerned, only to immediately flee.
Doranbolt lay, shuddering on the ground, next a hat, sopping wet from various stomach fluids and mucus.
"...If you will allow me," volunteered Arcadios, gingerly picking the hat up with an armoured hand. "I shall...deliver this to our Advisors, who will figure out precisely what to...do with it."
"I'll come along," offered Max. He began to create a whirling sphere of sand around the hat, levitating it from Arcadios' hand and using the whirling winds to begin the drying process. "We can get all of this stuff off of it. Wendy, can you...uh...help Doranbolt?"
"Y-Yes!" nodded the girl, who hadn't taken a concerned eye off of the man and was already kneeling at his side, preparing her Dragon Slayer Magic. "We'll meet you in the castle!" Gently, the young Slayer began to scoop the air from the surrounding castle-yard — not as delicious or pure as the air of the Jade Mountains, but there were still faint traces of magic that Wendy should draw on — and pooled it into her hands. They emitted a green glow, which Wendy placed over Doranbolt's stomach.
"Does your tummy hurt?" Wendy asked kindly, applying her magic as delicately as she could.
"I'll...never eat again..." Doranbolt shuddered.
Silence followed, Wendy focusing on the slow and methodical healing process. She could tell there was no internal damage to his stomach, and as soon as the young woman was sure the discomfort was gone, she moved onto his more serious wounds. The healing magic ran over the hole in Doranbolt's shoulder, beginning to stitch it up with the medicinal properties of Sky Dragon Slayer Magic. "Doranbolt..."
"Hm?" The Fairy Tail mage casually looked at Wendy, his queasiness gone. The pain from his wounds, which had begun to set fire to his body as the Enchantments wore off, was beginning to deaden itself again, Wendy's spectacular magic taking away the pain as it began the restoration process.
"I'm so happy...I'm so happy that you came back alive..." Her words, however, contradicted her face, which was on the verge of tears for what had to be the fiftieth time in a month. Swimming eyes looked upwards at Doranbolt, who was taken aback by the sudden surge of tears while he was wounded. "Don't put yourself through this much again...I don't want to be responsible for killing you..."
"Wendy, I—" Doranbolt tried to explain himself, but Wendy shook her head.
"You promised to be my friend...and I take care of my friends..." Her voice quavered. "So...take care of yourself for me too, please? Look after yourself, and I'll do the rest...just don't risk yourself needlessly like this again."
Her words shook him. While he had been prepared to be her friend from the start — to look after her, to make sure she could cope with the loss of her friends he felt entirely responsible for being the reason she'd even been exposed to it — he was going to take it entirely on himself. He was supposed to be her friend, not her bodyguard. Doranbolt smiled gently, a trait which complimented his youthful, if scarred, face.
"You're right. I shouldn't cause my friend to worry like this," replied the former Rune Knight. "I'll protect myself better from now on. You don't need to worry about that, Wendy."
"Thank you..." was all Wendy said, continuing to apply her magic towards Doranbolt's wounds. I'm glad I asked Charle to stay behind, Wendy thought to herself. Doranbolt is the most skilled out of all of us, and if he got hurt this badly, it could have been worse for Charle... Wendy couldn't bear to lose anyone else now.
But she also knew that, if she became stronger, she could fix that. Internally, however, the Dragon Slayer Magic resolved to do better; her Enchantments hadn't been strong enough if they'd allowed Doranbolt to get hurt. If Doranbolt could vow to not ever get hurt again, then Wendy would vow to make certain no one else ever did either. With renewed determination, Wendy set to work finishing Doranbolt's treatment.
Mercurius Castle, Advisory Sanctum
Wendy, Max, Doranbolt, Arcadios, Hisui, were gathered around a splendid table, upon which held the Generous Robin's now dried and clean hat. The teal hat, nearly identical to the mage's hair colour, with its only excess decoration being a black belt above the rim, adorned with a golden buckle. The group was joined by elderly men, wearing emerald-coloured hooded cloaks, which flowed past their barely-visible shoes. It was a very strange crew, yet they stood with purpose.
Within this magical hat stood the fate of Fairy Tail's reputation and Fiore's economic stability.
Arcadios remained standing, adjacent to his lord. The hooded figures mirrored him on the other side of Hisui. Hisui was the last to sit — which would have been considered incredibly rude, had she not instructed the others to seat before she did — and there was an air of silence, the entire group focusing on the hat. It was disturbed briefly by the sounds of drinking, as Hisui had decided hat a warm cup of tea for everyone would be best after nearly getting themselves killed. Hisui's gentle smile broke the silence.
"Fairy Tail, you've done splendidly," said Hisui heartily. "Truly, I don't think we could have reclaimed this hat without your efforts. But the true credit goes to you, Miss Wendy, for your fantastic plan. You pulled it off with aplomb, and because of that, the mission succeeded!"
Wendy blushed crimson, shaking her head into her cup. "It...it wasn't just me, Your Highness. Everyone else contributed, and if Sir Arcadios hadn't been there in command, I feel like we wouldn't have been able to pull it off at all. It was a joint effort!"
"You're a humble girl, Wendy, and for that, I admire you," replied Hisui. "I assure you, regardless of your nature, Fairy Tail will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts, as per our original agreement!"
"If I may," suggested Arcadios, leaning in to whisper something directly into the Princess' ear. Whatever it was, he clearly wanted to keep it a secret from the others.
"Ah!' Hisui clapped hr hands together enthusiastically. "Arcadios, that's a brilliant suggestion! As soon as this fiasco is completely resolved, please see to it at once."
"Regardless, we should see to the matter at hand," suggest Doranbolt, who glared at the hat with a level of distaste from across the table. It was foolish to hold grudges against inanimate objects, but the things Doranbolt had done to his stomach to retrieve this hat made the young man feel the beginnings of intense dislike.
"Of course," Hisui replied, adopting a more formal air near immediately. It was clear that, as easily excitable as the young woman became around Fairy Tail, she was more than capable of doing her job at the same time. "While it is a shame we were unable to capture the Robin Hoodlums outright, the recovery of this hat, which contains the stolen treasures of our kingdom, is more than an acceptable result." The green-haired woman then addressed the emerald-cloaked figures.
"Have you discovered anything about this article?" she inquired, her tone crisp and firm. "Affirmation of its contents? How to access the interior?"
"With all due respect, Your Grace," the tallest of the Advisors replied, bowing humbly first. "A preliminary analysis of this hat indicates that the stolen riches of the Treasury are indeed located within. However..."
"...there is a slight caveat, my Lady," added the second, shorter of the Advisors. "This magic tool is no mere layman's trinket. It is a storage unit of impeccable quality, and it shows signs of being crafted by the Lazuli family. True to their secretive nature, only those of the Lazuli blood can properly use this hat — we cannot force it to reveal its secrets, much less part with a single coin."
"The..."
"...Lazuli family?!"
The name of the family instilled a reaction in everyone in the room; everyone but little Wendy, who looked at each face with visible confusion on her's. A buzz filled the room, quickly silenced by the raising of Hisui's hand, yet the atmosphere remained astonished all the same. Doranbolt spoke first.
"The Lazuli family?" He inquired again.
"Even I've heard the name," added Max. "Though I've never been too curious as to what they do."
"Who are the Lazuli family?" Wendy asked, not wanting to be rude by butting in but growing more curious. She had no idea who they were, though she assumed this came from her sheltered life before meeting and joining the Fairy Tail guild.
"The Lazuli family," supplied Doranbolt. "They're considered the foremost developers artisans in the field of crafting magical tools, and their name is known throughout the Pergrande Kingdom. I know them by reputation, as well as documents stored within the Magic Council, detailing official dealings with the family. They're high enough up on the totem pole of society that the magical government itself considers them vital to our infrastructure, though I haven't a clue what the Council needed them for."
"But if this hat is a Lazuli magical item..." Arcadios thoughtfully placed a hand towards his chin. "Then the young lass—no lad—who wields it must be of the Lazuli family's blood. That's the only explanation. But why would a member of such a distinguished lot be running around as the leader of a brigand outfit?"
"The Lazuli family is a secretive clan," said Hisui. "Only the patriarch every shows his face to the public; we know he has children and took a wife, but we've never seen his family. So this boy is a renegade Lazuli...he must have had an interesting history."
"This changes the mission entirely," Doranbolt said grimly. "We thought we were clever, having won that little game of capture the flag. But the Generous Robin outwitted us. If only a Lazuli can activate this hat..."
"...then our priority is capturing him," finished Hisui, almost as if to make it an official order. "It troubles me to send you out so soon after your mission, but capturing the Generous Robin should be our priority. I only ask you that rest before you head out again, and otherwise prepare yourselves for the mission to capture him alive and bring him to me."
Fairy Tail nodded their assent, and the audience was dismissed.
Mercurius Castle, Hospital Wing
Wendy eased herself into a wooden chair next to Charle's bed. The Exceed, due to be released tomorrow, was sleeping soundly. Wendy knew that she herself should be sleeping too — they had returned to the castle in the dead of night, and Hisui had run out to greet them in her bedclothes, which had been amusing — as it was nearly morning. But Wendy's brain was working actively now. Her plan had been brilliant, but the Generous Robin had been one step ahead of her.
We're going to have to fight him again... Wendy gently rested a hand on Charle's sleeping form, feeling the slow moving of her torso as she breathed in and out. Not simply to play capture the flag...we have to capture him now... She knew she'd need to be at the absolute top of her game. And Charle could get mixed up in it; Wendy's leverage last time had been that the Exceed was hospitalised, and freshly awoken. Now, she could be there...and Wendy could keep her safe.
The Robin Hoodlums won't hurt my friends anymore, Wendy decided firmly. I'll protect them all!
Jade Mountains, Hoodlums' Campsite
Defeat.
It was a complete reversal of what happened the last time they faced these ragtag - barely even a squad strong - mages. Where they had completely destroyed opposition, even with the surprise of having a Dragon Slayer as an adversary, they made out with their prize with not a single member of theirs arrested.
But here, amidst a now overcast mountain vista, the thieves had tasted a true loss. Bobbie Blondes had suffered enough injury to herself that Eris prescribed plenty of rest after she submitted the proper healing to her more severe wounds. Meanwhile Handsome was given basic first aid though he felt remiss about a fight left only half finished. Brutalia, on the other hand was given a modicum of healing while she silently stewed, surprising none that she cast glares to anyone that dared look her in the eye.
In part, the Generous Robin felt a large part of the guilt lying on him. Not that he spared them only for them to return and make off with months of hard work and planning. No, he had no regret of sparing lives when he was in a position to do so. What he truly regretted was the visible division that came to his troupe. Once he had commanded a united if not motley crew of cutthroats, outcasts and miscreants into a force that made off with a plentiful bounty that no kingdom could stop.
Now he could barely get Runt and Mirror to leave their safe part of the encampment to be within throttling distance of Brutalia or cutting range of Handsome. But, even still, the teamwork he had commended his frontline trio or the skill of his lieutenant was outstandingly outdone by the united front cast in no small part to the Holy Swordsman. Despite having not an actual ounce of magic in his body, his sheer skill and physical ability made him a fearsome enough foe to hold off Handsome, their physically most imposing fighter if not most skilled; Runt wouldn't have even made a difference, despite her unorthodox magic that enhanced her.
Hours later, as the time of night began to change into the early morning, Bobbie was found and returned back to camp. She was injured, unconscious and unfit to be of use to track down the missing bauble of the Generous Robin's.
This left him alone, to pace about with a pensive expression that hid the brooding he was undoubtedly permeating.
Eris then approached, watching him sway back and forth as his heeled feet clacked against the soft soil with a stern repetition.
"Little bird?" She inquired airily, her pointed eared visage looking worried as he didn't meet her gaze like he normally did when spoken of his moniker.
Again, she tried, "Robin?"
"Now's really not a good time, Eris," The Hoodlum Leader retorted brusquely beneath his breath.
"But you have to listen," Eris turned her head as she spoke in a hushed whisper. "Handsome and Brutalia are quiet. Too quiet. Even the men are showing acute signs of restlessness despite no audible protest. We may have a problem if we allow this to escalate-"
"I can hardly believe anything can possibly get worse than it already has," He retorted with a snort.
A melodic 'ahem' interrupted whatever retort the elf would've poised to her superior, making her turn to look while Robin continued to pace. There, standing with a more or less seamless repair on her dress - undoubtedly thanks to a finesse use of her Telekinesis Magic - was Brutalia. With a fan in hand, she had one sleeved hand rest on her sumptuous hip as her hoop-skirted form stood firm in the face of the only two authority figures of the gang.
"Beg your pardon for interrupting whatever passes as idle fancy your kind have," The coral haired woman sang too sweetly with ruby lips spread ear to ear, her eyes flashing dangerously over to the troupe's boss. "But, as I understand it, the thing that was stolen from us contained all of our spoils from the past year of pilfering from all those countries so far?"
Eris was afraid of this.
"Yes, it was," Robin replied, now looking over his shoulder with a blank stare poised at the woman. "But it's not like they can use it. Its a magical tool I made. Without obtaining me, or having my blood, they'd never be able to unlock the vault buried inside. The real problem is reacquiring it back."
"We've stormed the fortress before, but now we have lost our element of surprise," Eris affirmed with pursed lips, her pink eyes blinking back and forth between the pair. "Even if we manage to martial up a counteroffensive, it is likely we'd truly attract more attention than we've bargained for. Last time we checked, Council affiliates are investigating Crocus; if we show up there again, the Rune Knights will not be far behind us."
"So you're saying that all is lost, hm?" Brutalia inquired with a raised brow. "That all of the thankless work you've put us through has been whisked away due to your careless mercy? Did you not have the chance to end things? Why are you so insistent on holding back?"
"I have few rules, Brutalia," The Generous Robin replied, turning his head to look away from the two as he gripped the top of his sleeved arms with both gloved palms, tight enough to turn them white. "I am no bandit. I am a hero of the people. Once we regain what was lost, we will-"
"Do what? Start a new country with the funds you've obtained, and invite all of the poor and misfortunate into it?"
There was a noticeable pause in the air at that. Eris herself looked surprise that the effeminate man had nothing to say about it, the youth being thin lipped with eyes widening at that. With her own pointed ears rising upward, the pink haired elf turned to look at the malicious spreading grin on Brutalia, twisting on her heel and swishing the hem of her dress as she raised her voice to those within the immediate surroundings.
"Attention everyone! The Generous Robin's hidden plan, of which I've garnered the knowledge of through my most restless nights with this raucous gang, is not one of riches and rewards as he had heralded! No, it is in fact a silly dream of utopia; a lie to coral beggars, urchins, widows and miscreants to all be corralled like sheep for him to Shepard with him holding the riches in the palm of his hand. There to be hailed as the King of the Weak, your Generous Robin is all but the most efficient con artist of all time!"
"What the Hell...?" Runt questioned, coming out of the crowd with Mirror trailing behind her not far away. The shorter blonde woman looked around at the murmuring crowd of thieves and scoundrels, seeing their expressions shift from one of confusion to one of anger and vitriol. Looking over at the Generous Robin, she could see his face covered by bangs, his long locks of hair swaying over his slender back as he turned to face them all. Raising her hands up, Runt exclaimed aloud. "Robin! When were you planning on telling us?! Why did we have to have it sprung from Brutalia of all people?!"
"It's not like you weren't going to be paid for your work..." Robin trailed off, his eyes sideglancing away, not wanting to look at the small woman in the eyes.
"HA!" Handsome bellowed, his laughter raucous as his stilt-like stride brought him into the fore of the rest of the crowd of the Hoodlums. "To think I thought you small minded. You were a clever bastard all along. But, you made a mistake...to pull a fast one on the likes of me."
"Children! Have you all lost your mind?!" Eris exclaimed, her body becoming engulfed in a bluish light that formed a halo behind her head. Clasping her hands together, she emulated with her words as her pink eyes stared them down with a warning. "If you don't settle down, I'll have to-"
Before she could finish speaking her piece, Brutalia gestured her hand from her hip straight towards Runt. A tether of invisible energy surged out, twisting and grasping something. For a moment Runt winced and raised her arms defensively; only to hear Mirror gasp behind her, and something speed over her head straight into the grasp of the crimson-black dressed mage. Her eyes widened palpably, eyes shrinking and her mouth agape.
"No!" Mirror squeaked out impotently, the wiry thin man exclaiming in a louder than usual tone for his meek personage. "H-How did you-?!"
"Were you so naive that I never noticed this?" Brutalia inquired with a tutting of her tongue against her teeth. Raising up what looked like a voodoo doll, made out of a brown sack-like material with mismatched buttons for eyes and stitches for its mouth it had a single strand of hair stuck into the top of its ovular shaped head. Plucking it out, she tossed the golden tress aside, yanking a thread of gold from her own luscious yellow locks to be placed within its crown. "I know much about the world of magic before I set out for guild work. And this Curse Magic is quite effective to turn such a weak midget like you into a force of nature. With the fine tuning of changing its nature with the right catalyst of magic...and one can increase its potential immensely!"
As she said this, her virulent red aura became a vibrant mantle of crimson that overlapped all of her features. Like an extra plate of pure energy, she permeated energy that swirled around in a maelstrom of force that kicked up earth and air alike around her.
Glancing at Eris, paralyzed at the sight, Robin looked on with an almost dull look on his face. Withdrawing his stave he began to saunter forward, his hips forming a confident swagger all the while his hair whipped back along with his robes against the sheer output of Ethernano she was projecting at the moment.
"Conniving. Truly cunning of you, Brutalia," The Generous Robin stated softly, his breath coming out as wisps of frozen moisture as the air around him chilled significantly. The air that the Telekinetic was whipping up also began to freeze over, the ground shifting from frost into solid sheets of ice. With not a scrap of frost touching himself, the icicle stave raised up to form a number of frozen spears, each one looking etched to look like smaller versions of the lance he used to destroy the vault door in Mercurius. "But will that be enough to match me?"
The Princess of Pain simply grinned, gesturing with one hand.
"W-What-?!" Eris felt her whole sense of self rocked by an unseen force from beneath her feet, twining around her. It was enough to surprise Robin as she was sent careening straight into his right flank, derailing his instantly fired ice spears. Missing Brutalia's person they showered the earth with explosions of impact, showering the area with more twisting debris that circled around her like orbiting a gravity well.
"All aspects of my person is enhanced with the doll in my grasp, from physical attributes to my own attunement to my magic," Brutalia exposited with glee, spinning around on her heels as her glowing verdant person gleamed with crackling majesty. "It's taken me so long to get to this point, but now, I'm all too thankful to those Fairy Tail brats. If it wasn't for them taking Bobbie out of the picture, I wouldn't be able to pull this off so easily."
"As if I'd let you-!" Robin began to sneer, raising his stave to form a number of hastily crafted orbs, discharging them at rapid bullet pace towards her. To his surprise they'd be deflected by her fan, dissolving into vaporous powder as she locked eyes with him. Unfolding the fan, a large gust of force thrashed him, sending him backwards and sending Eris tumbling away in addition.
Righting himself back onto his heeled feet, he'd find the magical tool in his grasp was missing. Looking over he'd see Brutalia grasping it with a loud clang, gripping it firmly in her free hand which held the doll.
"And now, I've disarmed you entirely," She declared with a narrowed glare that complemented her twisted, smiling expression. "Handsome, everyone. You may vent your frustrations on him as you wish."
"Oh no!" Eris cried out, staggering to her feet as she saw a slew of thugs poised with weapons and fists warped with their own magical abilities. Handsome himself galloped with inhuman momentum, a hideous grin over his broad face as he lifted a hand up and formed it into a guillotine blade. "ROBIN!"
He sighed.
The Hoodlums' leader, surrounded by enemies and no allies to aid him. He was brought back to a memorable scene. Beautifully dressed peers, all enamored with jewels, silk and magical items beyond compare. A court of people that knew not of his prestige but of just his surface value.
It was like that, all over again.
"You know you're above them, right? Why care what happens to the common folk."
He leaped back, avoiding the scything blow of Handsome by a few inches, his periphery vision taking in how it easily cut through the earth. Gritting his teeth, he pranced away from another Hoodlum's wind-blade, carving through space with an effortless grace while using his own natural physical dexterity to his advantage. One after the other, gang members attempted to take shots at him with vile expressions of joy, all pent up from their constant repressed feelings due in no small part to his power.
"Am I no different from you...brother?" The Generous Robin thought, closing his eyes as he vaulted over Handsome and dexterously spun into the middle of the crowd. He saw Eris look on with fear, Runt and Mirror look on in awe and Brutalia smugly staring at his dancing form with amusement. With tears forming into his eyes, a rush of liquid slipped out of his gloves, with fingertips forming claws as his teeth began to bare more prominent fangs. "All I wanted...was to be...a hero!"
Palming the nearest thug's face, a sudden discharge of liquid surged out in such a voluminous torrent that his skull concaved then exploded from the gesture. Pushing still forward past the now headless body came an explosion of water, erupting from the campsite within the mountain's valley. Like a tidal wave of blue, it swept outward towards the thugs, sweeping them all aside with nary the exception of Brutalia resisting with her energy shell wrapped around her body and Handsome leaping up above the liquid torrent preemptively along with Eris using her own magic.
"Water Magic?" Brutalia questioned, her eyes widening as she witnessed what looked like a lake forming from a single gesture. What was a dirty meadow at the base of several proximate peaks was now filled to the brim with liquid as if it was unleashed by an underground river. Levitating herself above its roaring movement thanks to her augmented spell she looked over at Handsome as his eyes stared with disbelief at what he was witnessing. Turning to look ahead herself, she then felt her throat constrict and her stomach knot into place. "N-No...it can't be-!"
"Robin...?" Eris queried out, her blue halo of light that kept her in the air caused her to watch with surprise. Looking over, she saw Runt had pulled herself and Mirror out of harm's way, despite her current level of strength depleted. A glance at the hill that Bobbie was laying, it looked untouched by the new wave of a instantly formed sea. When she fixed her gaze ahead, she looked on with a sudden disbelief of the kind of person that stood in its epicenter, surrounded by disoriented to gargling thugs immersed in his newfound body of liquid.
"I have a confession to make," The teal haired boy spoke lowly, his voice more grated and rough. Raising his moistened crown they'd see turquoise scales glistening around his brow and around his eyes, speckling around his jawline and under his chin. A pair of fins extended at sharp angles from his ears, similarly jutting from his sleeved elbows up to his wrists and from the back of his calves of his heeled boots. Fanged teeth bared prominently, and blue eyes were now a vivid turquoise with slitted pupils; all while projecting an immense roaring aura of magical power that gave off the silhouette of a massive turquoise scaled beast all knew was that of a dragon!
"I am not the Generous Robin of folklore tale. I am...Robyn Lazuli," He admitted aloud, casting his gaze from Eris to a tree hanging Runt and Mirror, and then finally to Handsome and Brutalia's stunned pair of expressions. "If you don't know that name, I'm sorry. If you do know that name...then you have my sympathy, for I wish this wasn't the case either."
"Lazuli?!" Eris thought out loud. "The Pergrande Kingdom's famous artisan family?!"
"How the Hell does that explain you being," Brutalia began to say, thrusting a palm forward, slicing the water apart by a bludgeon of her magic aimed straight towards him. "A freakin' Dragon Slayer?!"
The aforementioned Robyn seemed to disappear. The spot where Brutalia struck was merely a reflection in the water. A blur of movement was seen rushing to and fro across the body water that was made manifest. The dark mage gritted her teeth, swinging her hands around to uplift the water, swirling it around and thrashing it at any hint of a shadow, repeatedly blasting it apart.
"Stop moving around! Damn you!" She screamed, each and every strike failing to meet its mark. Gnashing her teeth, she turned to call for aid only to see the thugs that had been subsumed in the water were now limp to maimed bodies, bereft of life, within the newly formed lake. "Of course they were taken out in a single move. Handsome, I need back-up-!"
A sudden gallop was heard and Brutalia felt her eyes widen and her head turn to comically stare at a retreating frame of the abnormally large Take-Over Mage rushing away.'
"Hey! Get back here!"
"I love a good fight, but I prefer to live, thank you!" Handsome countered, his frame quickly disappearing out of sight.
"Useless!" The enraged petulant woman screamed, shoving the water back with a horrid shriek. "ALL OF YOU ARE USELESS!"
In the high decibels her throat released, a sphere of water, earth and air forming. Veins throbbed around her forehead down to her neck and across her face. Clenching the stave and doll tightly, she swung her fan around, scything the lake in a broad stroke towards the shadow she saw moving. Making contact, she had a dark grin spread across her face.
Then, a geyser of water shot back, slamming into her protective bubble.
"NGH!" Brutalia winced, finding herself thrown across the valley straight into the mountain's base. Stone gave way, exploding but her shield wavered and distorted. Reopening her eyes she saw her spiraling vortex of magic was being pierced by the jettisoning current of liquid; one that took shape with a clawed hand piercing through, with Robyn's eyes glaring in a menacing glow beyond.
"H-How?!" The clad crimson queen stammered out, her control breaking down as assuredly as her defenses were. "I planned for months. I schemed, I took my opportunity, and yet...someone like you," gritting her teeth, she released her bubble and unleashed a river of energy straight into Robyn's front; like a magma blast of kinetic fury. "WHY IS SOMEONE LIKE YOU SO STRONG?!"
Eris watched in awe. The blaze of light was something akin to a pure Ethernano discharge. The Curse Magic was being amplified by her feverous emotions being fused by her innate magical power. Even the most extraordinary mage would find this barrage of pure force to be something that can't be deflected so easily.
A pair of watery hands, twisting currents that moved in intense revolutions around the gloved limbs, spun around in counter-movements and split the magical bludgeon in twain, leaving Brutalia stunned and breathless.
"I have very few rules, Brutalia. I expected everyone under my charge to follow them," He stated, his body clad in a fabric of rushing rapid water that gave the impression of a phantom image of his own body rather than a simple exo-shell of magic like Brutalia's. Glowing pupiless eyes stared from beyond the torrent liquid threads, his voice coming out reverberated as if echoing all around her. "Do not take more than necessary. Do not fight amongst yourselves. Do not attract unnecessary attention. Do not cause needless slaughter. And, above all else...!"
A hand pulled back, and an incantation filled the air independent of his own words, the roaring limb became a phantasmal effigy of a draconic limb formed into a massive watery fist.
"FIST OF...!"
"...do not betray me!" He howled.
"...THE SEA DRAGON!" He intoned as he thrust his fist straight into Brutalia's face, crashing her into the mountain with enough force to splinter it upwards by hundreds of meters.
Deep within the hole of the mountain, Brutalia's energy finally petered off, A swollen face, ebbing blood with whited-out eyes was splayed in an undignified posture. The stave crumbled and the doll lied in tatters in her grip along with her own telltale fan.
Withdrawing from battle, the features of his draconic side receded, and once more the slender beautiful form of Robyn remained. But he didn't look Eris in the eyes, nor did he look at Runt and Mirror. As the fallout of the battle began to settle, the sky itself began to shed tears and a fall of rain began to crescendo across the mountainside and over the central part of the kingdom.
"Eris. I know I don't have a right to ask this because I kept this from you. But...if you can please do one last thing for me," He spoke almost too quietly to be heard, looking away as he began to walk away from the mountains and back the way they had all came. "Look after Bobbie for me, alright?"
The rain hid the tears well, for the Generous Robin's last venture.
A/N:
Demod20:
This was a wild ride. I know not everyone saw this coming, but to those of you paying attention, congrats! You get a cookie! Jokes aside, I had a lot of fun unveiling Robyn Lazuli's true nature in more ways than one, and while my partner did great set-up (along with some great additional touching scenes with Doranbolt and Wendy), I fleshed out our main antagonist of this Arc by shedding a bit more of his mentality when in the face of so many ruthless bandits that have fell into his ranks not by loyalty, but sheer greed. With Eris, Bobbie and even Runt and Mirror being the obvious exceptions, Robyn stood alone against the horde of conspirators and unveils his trump card: The Sea Dragon Slayer Magic he kept buried inside. Now with no one left to call aid, its up to his power alone to get back his treasure...and possibly save the unfortunate people of the world. Can't wait to show you the next chapter of what comes next!
LastationLover5000: This was one heck of a chapter! My section wasn't as robust as my counterparts, but I don't consider it unimportant. This is a chapter he and I have been waiting to write since we first had this arc under consideration, and suffice to say, I'm very pleased with it. This will be the first bit of our extra world-building, where Hiro failed to expand on his world, we won't. So we introduce the Lazuli Family, an affluent family responsible for creating magical items in Ishgar. A dear reader wasn't fond of our Robin Hoodlums, as I believe he saw them as stand-in villains. With Robyn, I hope you see we vied for a bit more depth; he's not a hypocrite, he's an idealist. The next chapter is going to be an absolute doozy! I hope you all will be here to see it!