Chapter 10 - A Dragon's Tears
Written by LastationLover5000 and Demod20
Endless, fluctuating black in human form. A creature of ill reputation, heralding destructing wherever it went. Eyes, brilliant pearls in the inky dark, gleaming down towards a young girl who could not defend herself. The creature, so obviously draconic in-shape that it was painful, did not move, however. It leered at the girl, yet it did not budge. Waiting? Biding time? Watching?
A chill wind rushed through, frigid as winter and causing the girl to feel it in the depths of her bones. Someone — a human — followed the wind, walking in front of the draconian shadow. He was beautiful, more beautiful than she remembered seeing him; his long blue hair fluttered in the wind, and his eyes as bright as jewels. He sauntered over to the dragon's side, more serpentine than human in the sways of his movements.
It was then that the young man's hand pierced the body of the dragon; it roared mightily, and the blue-haired boy slipped into the shadows. The shadows solidified, freezing over, bit by bit. The pearls of eyes became sapphires, the fluctuating darkness scales of frost. Standing before the girl was an ice dragon, who opened its mouth in a howl.
In her bed, Wendy Marvell sat bolt upright, her breath ragged as if she'd just run a mile. Her clothes stuck to her body, drenched in sweat. She quickly surveyed the dark room; Doranbolt slept soundly on a cot near the foot of the bed, and at her side, a freshly recently-from-hospital Carla slept on peacefully, ignorant to her sudden movement. Wendy was inwardly thankful she hadn't had a fit while sleeping. These two — the dearest friends she had — did so much for her, so often, that Wendy didn't want to disturb the respite they received in sleep.
Even if she herself couldn't find any.
I can't tell Doranbolt, but the dreams aren't stopping... Wendy thought ruefully. But this one...this one was different...it almost feels like an omen...is something coming?
Completely awake, Wendy could hear a rumbing noise fill the sky. Outside the window, she saw that the sky was dark with clouds, and as such, she couldn't tell what time it was. It wasn't simple an overcast sky, however; rain was falling heavily over the city, and what the young girl could hear as a fierce, howling wind caused the rain to slant. The pattering against the castle walls was soothing, a sound she could find comfort in, though she hadn't counted in rain. Nothing in the forecast had predicted it.
...Another omen?
A rustling caught her attention; Wendy saw that Doranbolt was sitting up, lacking the grogginess typically associated with someone who had just woken.
"Wendy, you're awake already?" asked Doranbolt, his voice clear. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
Briefly, the Slayer contemplated lying to him. She didn't want to keep worrying him. This notion vanished immediately as it came — Wendy didn't want to lie to him, to deceive him, when he'd sacrificed everything to be her friend. Thus she spilled everything, elaborating on her dream, the finer details, and how she'd seen the Generous Robin combine with the shadowy figure she knew to be the lingering nightmare of Acnologia.
Doranbolt was silent for a moment, his pensive. "I'll have to be honest: I've never placed much stock in omens. Perhaps it was my line of work as a spy for the Magic Council, but I've always preferred to deal with facts when possible. However," he added, as Wendy did not look thoroughly convinced, "I've been bending my thought process quite frequently as of late." He placed both hands on the girl's shoulders, gripping them firmly. "Even if it is an omen, it won't help us right now."
The sky lit up outside with a flash of lightning, timed perfectly to a booming thunderclap.
"When this sudden storm clears up, we'll track his scent like before," Doranbolt said, trying to sound reassuringly. "Don't dwell on it n—"
Doranbolt was interrupted by a sudden quaking impact off in the far distance; this itself would have been meaningless, but it was followed by the perception of a now very familiar surge of magical energy. The Generous Robin was approaching Mercurius Castle at an alarming rate!
Crocus City, Border Wall
At the furthest edge of the Capital, Crocus, all was silent. Border guards patrolled the perimeter, yet the position was largely for show. Crocus was a city which had gone largely assaulted for years, a product of Jade Mountains being generally sufficient enough protection; the wall had been constructed the one time in ancient memory that an army from a neighboring nation had managed to invade Fiore and strike at the heart of its capital. The wall rose approximately seven meters high into the air, and encircled the city's borders completely, barring the gated entrance along what could be described as a main road.
It was perhaps because of this air of laxness that the guards found themselves casually shooting the breeze with each other.
"I'm just saying," one of the patrol guards tried to defend himself from an affronted looking associate. "If I hadn't seen the Grendel there, I wouldn't have loosed the grenade like I did!"
"What was that?!" asked the other guard, anger rising as his voice pitched. "I can't hear you over my busted eardrum!"
"Don't be like that," the first guard tried to console him. "It'll get better!"
"No it won't!" shouted the second. "It's going to be stuck like this forever!"
"Both of you, can it!" shouted a different guard. This man was obviously their superior, and this could be divined by the more intricate armour he wore and the way he carried himself. His eyes squinted, focusing into the distance where it was clear he could see something. "What is..."
"That can't be..." one of the other guards gasped in horror.
What they saw was something that was hitherto unheard of in the modern era. Flying against the backdrop of a furious storming sky, small at first but growing larger, looked to them all like a dragon. It was shrouded in a veil of water, but the shape was unmistakably draconic and it was flying at ludicrous speeds. At that very moment, adrenaline rushed through every guard, every soldier present, and they turned to their commander; training was what they would rely on here, as many of them had never seen real battle before.
Orders were issued quickly and efficiently. Patrol guards manned the cannons, others loaded them full of explosive, magical-quality shells. Others mounted giant crossbows, filling them with bolts the size of large tree branches. The air was split by the sound of explosions, the air whistling as the giant crossbows loosed bolts through the sky. The dragon, now fully revealed to be indeed what they had expected — liquid in the shape of a dragon, a shimmer, glistening aquatic creature floating high in the sky — withstood each blow easily, reforming its body when it was loosened by the detonation of cannons and piercing of arrows.
An enraged roar filled the air, mixed with grief, resentment, and disappointment. It opened its maw, discharging a torrential deluge of water downwards. It struck the wall, cutting through a portion with ease and causing it to crumble. Many guards and soldiers lost their footing, falling into the rubble below, destroyed cannons and artillery following. Explosions rocked the ground as the cannons detonated on contact, killing many of the men. Without a passing regard, the dragon continued its flight, ignorant to its own destruction.
The dragon flew over the city at large, ignoring the common folk who were racing through the streets, panicking, screaming, shoving others into buildings in a desperate bid for their own safety. The dragon swooped downwards, crashing the entirety of its body into the Main Street, only a dozen kilometres from the Mercurius Castle. The water slipped from its body, melting away entirely and flooded the street; wood, glass, and people washed away into the distance. Where the dragon had crashed, the lithe form of a young man was revealed; Robyn Lazuli, sans staff, his face empty and broken.
He walked forward slowly, his heeled, diminutive soles trudging through a sloshed road. Robyn strode single-minded towards the Castle which loomed in the distance; it held his treasure, it held the reason his dream would come true. He couldn't go back without it. He couldn't apologise to Bobbie, or face Eris. He couldn't mend things with Runt and Mirror. Not until his hat was back in his hands. As the young man approached the castle gates, he spotted a man, sporting a clean-shaven, angular head and a swollen jaw with a spectacular bruise he covered with a gauze. The very same man that Max had slugged nary a week ago. Initially, the man looked to be making an escape, but when he saw Robyn, turned and pointed.
"Who th' 'ell are you?!" slurred the man. It was quite clear he was drunk, and had Robyn been in a better state, the smell of alcohol would have been even more apparent, regardless of this downpour. "Can't ya see th' town's bein' attacked?! Get th' 'ell out of 'ere, you stupid kid!"
Robyn turned. Slowly. Methodically. One could almost hear the slow turn of his muscles, the creak of his bones. His eyes, empty and unblinking, stared down the drunkard. He took a step.
"You wan' fight?" crowed the man, clearly unable to sense the room. "Yeah, I'll give ya what for ya little shit!"
A slim, gloved hand was raised to shoulder height. Water began to swirl around it, moulding itself in accordance to Robyn's will. First a shapeless mass, it quickly gained solidity and sheen, revealing a powerful lance, made of water that appeared to be much more solid than liquid. Robyn wasn't looking for a fight.
He was looking to kill.
Robyn's steps forward were corpse-like, unsteady, yet the lad made his way towards his would-be victim with a most assured hoisting of his blade. The glinting, liquid brand cut through the air, and Robyn was sure that it had bifurcated the drunkard...
...only for a flickering of movement and a blur of physical form proved him wrong. Team Wendy had materialised right in front of Robyn, and reacted quickly. Max conjured a Sand Shield, using his magic to deter the blow of Robyn's incoming blade as quickly as the pouring, whipping rains made his sand utterly worthless. Doranbolt was able to snatch the man and teleport him a ways away to safety. Wendy, meanwhile, landed neatly on the ground next to Max, her eyes burning with fire.
"Good save, Doranbolt!" cried Max.
"Your reflexes saved us!" replied Doranbolt from the distance. "It worked out better than I could have hoped!"
"Wendy, what should we—?" Max began but Wendy shook her head.
"It's like I thought," Wendy said, not looking at either one of them. She'd wondered how she missed it before. When he'd invaded the castle previously...and when she'd tracked his scent deep into the Jade Mountains, something had been interfering. Not merely her thoughts, but a sweet perfume, most likely something the Generous Robin himself wore. But here, in this rain, unnecessary colognes and perfumes were washed away. But a keen Dragon's nose could pick up the natural scent of a human...or a rival Dragon. "I could smell something was off about him, and now that I'm this close with nothing to distract me...I can smell it. He smells like Natsu...or Gajeel..."
Max and Doranbolt understood the implications without being told. This young boy, who was weaving water together like an expert seamstress, was in fact a Dragon Slayer. The idea Max had thrown around in jest made far, far more sense now. The Jade Mountains, only easily navigable when someone like a Dragon Slayer was present...Max had postulated, only as a joke, that the Hoodlums might have had one.
It proved true. Their Dragon Slayer stood in the pouring rain, staring at Wendy with sunken eyes. His body possessed a strange assortment of scales, his ears finned and webbed. He almost looked like a human Dragon.
"Oi...why did you save me...?" the drunkard stared hazily from Doranbolt, to Max, to Wendy. "W-Wait, I know you lot...you're those Fairy Tail mages...the second rate ones who survived the destruction...!" His finger, which he'd only just noticed he was pointing, went slack. He remembered quite clearly the blow to his body and pride that Max had given him, and in the midst of all this, felt much more sober. "Why did you all save me, when I said those things before?"
"Because that's the way Fairy Tail is," replied Max simply. "Now stop talking and get out of here. We're going to need the room."
"Max, Doranbolt...please help everyone evacuate the city!" Wendy's directions were crisp but sudden, taking both of the Fairy Tail mages by surprise. "I'm going to stop the Generous Robin...so you all just focus on protecting everyone else!"
To Doranbolt, this sounded absurd. "Wendy, we've seen how strong he can be...and now that we know he's a Dragon Slayer, we can't possibly expect to fight him in a one-on-one match! We've got our best chances with the three of u—"
The young Sky Dragon Slayer turned back to smile at Doranbolt. "Doranbolt, please trust me. When two Dragons meet...this is the only thing they can do." Her face breaking into an unsteady smile, she added. "At least, that's the kind of thing I think Natsu would say!"
Doranbolt was floored. Swallowing the lump that began to build in his throat, the former Rune Knight nodded slowly. This wasn't the same Wendy who had cried into him after the Tenrō Island debacle. No, that's not fair to say either...there's traces of that Wendy here or there...but she's stepping forward, bit by bit. Returning Wendy's smile, his far more confidence, belying the worry he couldn't help but feel bubble within him, Doranbolt told her, "Wendy...promise you'll make it back to me."
"I promise!" Wendy replied confidently.
"You heard her, Max," Doranbolt's attitude shifted almost immediately, and he quickly made his way towards his bowl-cut companion. "We're not needed here, so let's on getting the citizens out of here! Arcadios should already be on his way to provide back up; we'll do what we can until he arrives." Doranbolt placed a hand on Max's shoulder, ready to take him side-along via his Teleportation.
"Doranbolt...are we just going to leave her?" Max was insistent, worried, unable to take his eyes off Wendy's back.
"We're going to trust her. Now come on."
The two instantly vanished, leaving the drunkard to hobble up and away on his own.
Wendy and Robyn were entirely alone.
Taking a deep breath, Wendy steadied herself. There was no one else here now. No one to impress. She could admit to herself...she felt terrified. The bravado she held together with her own composure threatened to slip as she asked Robyn, "Did you really intend to kill that man?"
Robyn blinked. A few moment's deliberation seemed to register in his brain, and the young lad finally stood at a proper posture. Light did not return to his eyes, and yet at the same time, a shadow of a flame danced behind them. "Wendy Marvell...a Dragon Slayer. I thought you smelled familiar, but I wasn't quite sure. Too much was going on when we last met...but I can smell you clearly now."
"You're ignoring the question," accused Wendy.
"'m not ignoring it," shot back Robyn. "I threw away everything to come here...I've disbanded the Hoodlums..I've betrayed the friends I cared about...and I've broken my own rules. What was one more unnecessary sacrifice if it means realising my dream?"
"I didn't think you were the type to kill someone for convenience," Wendy replied, surprised at the scorn in her own voice. She may have had no prior relationship with Robyn, but the young girl had gained a measure of respect for his methods and ability to hold such a group like his Hoodlums together. He hadn't bothered to kill them, and even if he'd failed to mince words, Wendy felt like Robyn had genuinely believed in what he was fighting for.
Now he was surrendering his own morals and pride for the sake of a quick victory.
Wendy shook her head, her long hair flying everywhere in the pouring deluge. "I thought you were a good man. What happened to your rules?"
"Good men don't need rules," replied Robyn icily. "But today, you'll find out just why I had so many."
When two Dragons meet...this is the only thing they can do.
Those were her words to Doranbolt because it felt like the right thing to say at the time. Now Wendy knew that this hadn't been mere boasting. Robyn would not see reason. He was determined to fight her, she could smell it.
"You won't return my hat?" he asked. "You should know you can't use it."
"We're not returning it," replied Wendy. "You won't cooperate with us instead?"
"No," replied Robyn. "If you won't give me back what is rightfully mine, then I will take it. And if I have to kill you, I will!" Robyn hated hearing the words pour from his mouth, but too much was standing in his way now. Too many obstructions. Destiny itself seemed intent on throwing himself out of the path he tried to carve for himself...in defiance to its whims, he clawed tooth and nail for a different result. Even if the world fights against me, I will become a hero to the people who need it!
So Wendy would have to fight. She'd wanted to avoid it coming to this, but it appeared there wasn't any other choice. "I was hoping to find another way that didn't involve fighting you, Generous Robin."
"There isn't another way," Robin said bitterly. "But if we're going to fight, then I suppose it's only fair to divulge one bit of truth. You may have figured it out, you may not have, but I'd rather you know my real name. The 'Generous Robin' is dead. My name is Robyn Lazuli; whether you know what that means isn't what matters, merely that you know it."
Robyn Lazuli...so we were right, The faintest flicker of recognition crossed Wendy's face. The young girl clenched her fists, and her magical energy began to build. Robyn recognised this, and responded in kind. Their cheeks swelled with a massive surge of magical power.
"ROAR OF THE..."
"...SEA DRAGON!"
"...SKY DRAGON!"
Two, simultaneous twisters were released from the mouths of the Dragon Slayers, an explosion of magical power thundering through the city. Robyn's, a surging, swirling waterspout. Wendy's, a violently rotating tornado. The Breath Attacks of the Dragon Slayers ripped the ground asunder, crashing against each other. Furious winds fought against raging rapids, the two elements fighting to overwhelm the other. The result was a powerful explosion, wind and water rupturing against each other, the shockwave knocking Wendy and Robyn in opposite directions.
The Dragons had begun their battle.
Robyn expertly twisted himself back upright, his body performing a pirouette as one boot's heel sliced through the earth, stopping his momentum while discharging the rain that accumulated over his body. With his hair flipping around in an arc of moisture, the Sea Dragon Slayer looked ahead, seeing just in time how Wendy herself handled her rebound.
The Sky Dragon Slayer had gracefully bent her elbows skywards and palmed the slick road, gathering air along her rapid uncontrolled motion to gather energy for her next move. Just as she'd slam head first into the face of the building, she sprung herself by her dirtied hands, spiraling upwards into the air akin to a corkscrew. Despite the pouring rain she ascended into the air unimpeded, flipping backwards just as she reached the top of the four story structure, stumbling a bit upon its slippery yet angled tiles.
Had this been a more jovial circumstance, the Generous Robin would've complimented her performance and even give her a rating. But his blank eyes just stared ahead, his face a mask of stony conviction.
With his mind on autopilot, he raised his hand upward, and the rainfall coalesced to his whim. Glowing with a teal-hue, Wendy recognized its shape as it turned into what looked like a diamond shape, though constantly rippling as if on the surface of a deep ocean.
And then, he threw it, with a howling roar as it bore to shred her into pieces with its drilling momentum; and take off the top story of the building in a messy impact.
Noticing something different, the cobalt haired girl swished her hands around, arcs of cyan colored air swishing the water with her gestures. In but the time of several seconds passing, she managed to form what looked to be a funnel of air, shaped like a dragon's jaw that latched out and grasped it between its fangs; the impact causing the roof to crack and the building to quake with a visible dispersal of rainfall and air.
With gritting teeth, Wendy's eyes widened as she swung her slender arms around and hurled it over the ruined gate of Crocus - leaving it to explode with a massive distant impact of pressurized liquid, boring a hole through the forest and into the hills.
It wasn't as fast as his ice magic, but... She thought, her eyes looking on with fear at the carnage that was wrought at the distant wilderness vista just a few kilometres away from Crocus. ...its power is the same. Could it be that his wand, up until now, was just freezing his Slayer Magic and enchanting it to move faster?
The rainfall was so constant, she almost didn't hear him. Her blue hair whipped with her head, seeing the teal-haired young man catapulting himself into the air with one strong leap of his legs. Draconic wings formed from his slender back, propelling him forward in a blur of high velocity, with water coated claws poised to lance towards her in a single charge.
Leaping away at the last second, she twisted her upper body around, palm-heeling at his water-winged back - casting Vernier while also unleashing a powerful gust of air straight at his back.
The effect was instantaneous, shearing through the top of the building and with a loud boom crashed into the face of one, two, three, then four buildings out the other end with a series of explosive impacts.
I can't match his offensive power, but what I lack is made up for with enchantment and just as much air as there is water here, She determined, looking on with determination exuding from her amber eyes.
Then, the rain stopped.
"Secret Art: Abyssal Depths - Eternal Expanse!"
A visible undulation of energy shot up like a pyre of a grave. Cyan light danced up towards the sky, and with its thrum came the command of the rain across the city. Rising out of the debris on wings of the sea came a dirtied, but still beautiful boy. With a trickle of blood dripping down his forehead over his stony face came a light of fire; anger was beginning to brew within his teal colored orbs. With hands outstretched, and energy flaring, the rain over Crocus halted and what continued to fall formed a dome of water, cutting off a swathe of the capital from the outside world.
"What just happened?!" Wendy exclaimed, feeling her hope become doused by this new situation. "Did he just, stop the rain? And form a barrier?"
"You must have thought that was real clever, sending me flying with that enchantment of yours," Robyn replied with a sense of irritation in his voice. Thanks to the rain being muffled to the working of his barrier, she could hear him, even though he was a good sports field's distance away from her. Continuing on, he raised his fin-adorned arm with claws formed with the fabric of his glove, gesturing with emphasis as he spoke. "This spell denies exit or entry of those I deem as enemies. Thanks to this storm, you won't be able to escape; and not even your friend's teleportation will breach this spell - my Secret Art, Eternal Expanse."
A feeling of dread washed over Wendy. Hearing that Doranbolt would be unable to reach her, let alone anyone else from the outside.
"Wendy...will you come back to me?"
Biting her lip, she realized that her gut reaction was wrong. This wasn't about surviving, nor was it about simply winning. The stakes were much too high to be thinking of herself.
With a deep breath, she coiled her being and then refocused it back at the distantly hovering Robyn.
"Escape? You're mistaken, Robyn," Wendy replied back, her own aura igniting in a surge of serene air, pushing back the rain while a cacophony of wind swirled about her form. Her emerald dress flourished and her blue hair sweeping around in the air as she balled her fists and shouted defiantly at him. "I'm here to stop you, and return everyone's treasure back to those whom it belongs; I can't flee, not when my friends and everyone else is counting on me!"
"You'll try," Robyn sneered, clenching his outstretched hands into claws - forming the rainfall around him into rows of watery shaped fangs the length of swords. "And you'll fail."
"Sea Dragon's Biting Rain!"
Clapping his hands forward, a horde of shrieking projectiles of rainfall shot towards her, slashing rooftops and shattering glass as they poised to shred her apart.
"Three fold enchantment," Wendy whispered, her glowing body suddenly wrapping three shades of magick till it turned into a cyan mantle of light. Leaping off the roof, she dove head first into the horde of liquid spears, twisting about as she glided across the capital's skyline.
"Sky Dragon's," She began to utter, a rushing torrent of air sweeping from the stilled firmament, the cyclone that gathered around her slight frame suddenly whipping out in a pair of slicing air waves that deflected the piercing wall of water. "Wingbeat!"
Tapping the top of a roof, she throttled herself forward, using each building's top to get herself closer and move even faster than the last bound towards her target. With the added momentum of her leaps, she gathered wind around herself, trailing a line of cyan behind her as her body produced a visible arc of light in a leap straight up to meet him head-on.
"Fist of the Sky Dragon!" Wendy cried out, her fist swinging towards his still-form, her glaring eyes meeting his stony stare that looked at her impassively.
At the last second, she saw him rear back, his shoulders bending and consequently so did the wings of water erect from his back. Unable to veer herself away, she saw him bend his neck out of the way, letting the powerful gust of air kick his hair up; nicking a cheek in the process.
A clawed hand grasped her by the face and a sudden surge of water encompassed her vision - throwing her back with prejudice into the closest building with such force that an explosion of moisture, dirt and debris shattered it upon impact.
"You were painfully linear," Robyn chided mockingly, raising a clawed hand, his fin-formed-ears fluttering as his scale-framed eyes narrowed down at her barely visible form pinned by a pair of half-crumbled walls. "You've got another ten years before you can catch me off guard with such an easily telegraphed stratagem."
Wendy grimaced in pain, though it was dulled thanks to her prompt enchantment a minute ago. It'd hold, for the next few minutes she figured, and by that point her body would likely give out from the stress.
Creeping a stare with one clenched eye and the other opening she saw Robyn raising a hand, forming another one of the watery diamonds, the same as before. Rotating swiftly, it was poised to strike her at any given moment...yet, it was hanging there, dragging out the time. What was he waiting for?
Closing her eyes she inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh storm air into her lungs and filling her body with power. Raising her petite fingers she slammed them into the rubble covered earth, spearing into the earth and then - bellowed straight down at the collapsed ruin surrounding her, catapulting the soggy flotsam ahead of her propelling body straight at him.
"As if that'd work-!" Robyn snarled aloud, throwing his liquid spell at it, grinding the jetsam into powder and boring a hole deep into Crocus's earth with a violent crash.
And then, a violent pain exploded across his skull.
"Hngh!" His left eye blanched while the right eye clenched shut, a dainty foot coated in pressurized air slamming against his teal-colored crown as Wendy had arched herself purposefully around his blind spot.
With his head ringing and his vision spinning, he could do little other than flail an arc of watery claws at her, only for her to jettison herself with another spurt of air from her mouth, bouncing over him before she'd throw both of her feet straight down on his shoulders between his artificial wings - and enchant his speed with a bit of Vernier for additional velocity.
A scream tore from the Generous Robin's throat as he slammed deep into the hole of his own making, causing a geyser of earth to fly upwards. At the same time, the rain that had stopped in the vicinity began to pour, though with less veracity thanks to the barrier surrounding them.
Thrown off course thanks to the shockwave, Wendy found herself bouncing back first onto the nearby street. Squeaking out grunts from every bounce, she rolled over onto her hands and knees, scraping them along her enchanted flesh much to her chagrin.
Gaining some respite as she pushed herself upright, she turned to see the air shifted and the rain swirled like a river to pour into the hole that Robyn was buried into. Smelling an accumulation of moisture, she felt her hairs stand on end along her neck as a sense of danger was being formed in the hole.
Leaping up, she just barely avoided a sudden eruption of water that tore through the soil like a drill. But, instead of it being a projectile or a spell, she saw a watery bodied silhouette akin to the young man she was battling. Soaring across the heavens it arced around and sought purchase on the ground before bouncing straight towards her still airborne personage.
"Secret Art: Abyssal Depths - Body of the Maelstrom!"
In a moment, Robyn's body - swirling with the ferocity of a sea's vessel devouring whirlpool - swung his fist of a twisting gout of water. With eyes glowing yellow behind a shell of spiraling waves, his arm connected with Wendy's crisscrossed palms, a blast of wind parrying his watery bludgeon.
And with a full turn of his upper body, he launched her across Crocus, her body shooting across it like a star and slamming into the city wall with a moist slapping sound; followed by a vicious crunch as she became embedded into its surface.
Coughing up blood, eyes widening palpably, Wendy felt pain throb her whole body despite deflecting the worst of the blow.
"I've got to push myself...higher," She croaked out, her blurring vision seeing the incoming streak of liquid heading straight towards her. Clenching at the wall she was stuck inside of, she inhaled a slew of the storm's air, revitalizing her lungs and filling her pained figure with energy.
Three Fold Enchantment...times two!
With widened eyes shrinking her pupils to pins, she wrenched herself out of the wall and took to the air above the spearing burst of water that tore a hole through the Crocus wall. Kicking off the skyline, she propelled herself by the very rushing air of the storm that still stirred within this barrier-encroached vista. With her eyes staring ahead she saw the blur of teal colored water tear across the skyline, aiming to strike her again with another direct blow.
Ducking below the swift torrential currents that wrapped around Robyn's arm like a spiraling armor of fierce rapids, she palmed his chest, discharging a gust of air that was enhanced by her multiplied strength and magical power.
Her eyes widened with shock as it only rippled across his slender chest, barely exposing the robes beneath the twisting liquid that coated his body.
In her surprise, she felt a sudden sharp pain strike her from below, as the Sea Dragon Slayer catapulted her upwards with a sharp kick into her abdomen. Sailing high into the air she barely had the chance to right herself before she plunged back first into the firmament that Robyn had created-
-and, like a rubber band, she bounced back downwards at a life threatening speed.
"S-Sky Dragon's-" She began to inhale, her body free falling as she took in air that swathed the enclosed arena of their choosing, her mouth expanding along with her chest; right before exhaling downward at the rushing ground she was poised to impact. "ROAR!"
A loud, bellowing howl erupted from her throat and a cyclone kicked up the water, earth and air alike in a single blast that rebounded her from the incoming floor of the Crocus street. Spiraling around, she barely had the chance to right herself again, only for her to ram feet first into an upper story window and emerging into an abandoned inn room, crashing across the bed and out the door into the hall. Splinters of wood showered around her with flecks of glass, parts of her skirt torn, her skin scraped and bruised but not severely injured thanks to her current slew of enchantments under a twice multiplier.
"He's not only stronger, but faster and tougher. Its like that armor of his enchants him just as much as my Vernier, Arms and Armor do," She deliberated aloud, wincing as she began to push herself on all fours. She could already hear her enemy moving on the outside, approaching her vicinity. Her mind swam as she began to creep around a wall, hiding as she struggled to regain a semblance of initiative while coming up with a plan. "I'm not as strong as Natsu, nor as tough as Gajeel. I have to find a way to even the odds...even for a little bit."
She realized that her enchantments had been having an effect, but only for brief moments. If she was to succeed, she'd have to take it to new heights, even to ones she hadn't tested out or refined just yet.
"No time like the present; its time to show Robyn why I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard!" She growled out with a forced, but confident grin as her face trembled under the weight of all those who were counting on her.
"You're really taking your time getting out here," The haunted, echoed voice of Robyn spoke as a pair of draconic talons clenched on the window frame and a pair of clawed hands clenched at the sill, a head bending in with an opaque surface of rushing water only defined by a pair of golden eyes behind its passively moving surface. "I was about ready to drag you out; I'm not finished giving you the beating you deserve, wannabe Slayer!"
"I'm not a wannabe," Wendy spat back, her hands clenched and her feet stepping forward with a furrow on her brow. "I'm Wendy Marvell. My mother and teacher was Grandeeney, my family is Fairy Tail, and you're acting incorrigibly."
"That last bit may be true," Robyn intoned, the yellow spotlights for eyes shrinking a midge as if imitating a narrowing of one's optics. "But I'll be sung as a hero in the ballads once I've retrieved my hat. You were a mistake, after all. You should be dead like the rest of your guild."
"I wish they didn't die, and I wish I wasn't separated from them. The pain is so great I wake up screaming at night," Wendy confessed, her face grimacing and teeth clenching hard enough to make her molars grind. Spreading her legs, her fists balling up, a sudden howling gust of air swept past the windowsill perching Robyn and swimming around her in a visible mantle of colored air. The walls buckled, the floor cracked and the roof tore as the wind became enchanted, and by extension so did the body of the Sky Dragon Slayer.
Amplified, augmented and brought to a further height, the light soon became an incandescent spiral that brought her blue hair upwards in a spiraling torrent of cobalt tresses, her skirt sweeping around her legs and rushing around her chest. Eyes had her pupils turn into draconic slits and fangs became pronounced; all at once a howling torrent of a white scaled dragon blowing the building's top off its seams, revealing Robyn looking back with unseen awe at the newly improved Wendy.
"Three Fold Enchantment...Times Three!" Wendy declared, her eyes gaining a pigment of cyan within her normally hazel irises. "I'll defeat you here, Robyn, and show you why you're wrong!"
A/N:
LastationLover5000: We did it, everyone! We hit our tenth chapter! This, right here, is where my co-author and I have wanted to get for a long time. I had a lot of fun with the set-up to this battle; the nightmare, the consoling, the utter rampage of an effeminate dragon slayer who has lost just a little too much. Robyn was such a great addition, at least I feel like he was, so when my co-author suggested him all those months ago, it paid off tremendously in this chapter and this chapter alone. But we're not done yet; Wendy and Robyn's titanic battle of little dragons has only just begun; Robyn has his goals, and Wendy has to protect her friends and defeat Robyn. My friend's section with the battle was great; full of action and emotion, just how it should be! We'll be getting another chapter to you soon!
Demod20: This is one of the reasons why I've been wanting to get to this point. A real first for Wendy, her very own Dragon Slayer duel! All this time she's fought in a group, but she's never had a rival in strength as well as ideals. Robyn Lazuli is a tragic individual, who desperately wants to help people but his twisted sense of morality is pushing him down a darker path. Wendy, despite empathizing with him, sees the destruction he's causing and knows the only way to truly stop him is beating him on her own; to show that despite her own insecurities and weaknesses, Wendy at her core is a true mage of Fairy Tail. Loved the setup my co-author did and I can't wait to start the next chapter ASAP! ^^ Great stuff he did all around, love working with him!