Hello, everyone, One Half here! I bet you didn't expect it, did you? Less than two weeks ago I've published an update for my Infinite Stratos story, and now here's an update for the THotE. But it's here!
Yes, yes, I know, it's not the time to joke around – it's been 23 months since the last update, and I'm really sorry about that. But that Midnight and the plan about how to deal with him really caused me a headache.
Sorry, but there won't be a review answers section, or this chapter will take another month to complete, and I don't want to see that, as well as the most of you, I believe. If you really want to ask me something – PM me, I usually answer within a week.
Now, let's proceed with the story, this is why we here in the first place, right?
Chapter XXX – Test of Resoluteness
December 11, X784, 21:25, Worth Woodsea's northwestern border.
(With Nelliel)
Damn thing, where are you going!?" Turquoise-haired dragon slayer growled angrily. About twenty-five minutes have passed since the alliance forces were scattered once again. Almost immediately after that, Nirvana, which, in its true form, looked just like some sort of a giant insect (with only six legs though). The round, city-like structure, about a mile in and half in diameter, served as a 'body', and it had six, massive woven hoses-like legs. As soon as it completely rose from the ground, Nirvana headed somewhere to north-west, and Nelliel was chasing after it ever since.
She was using her invisibility at first, but dropped it to save her mana, since obviously no one cared about her presence anymore. She had no idea where that mysterious 'Zero' person is, but even from the ground her dragon eyes could see that whelp, which infuriated her to the limit – Midnight. He was standing atop of some sort of a 'ritual square' or something, watching straight ahead, as if looking, or waiting, for something.
And in this situation Nelliel could only growl, as her fury was boiling over – Nelliel was brought as a Metsuryū Madōshi [Dragon Slayer] from the very childhood by her foster dragon-mother Somniara. And of course, together with all of the benefits and strengths of a dragon slayer, she got their characteristic weakness – severe motion sickness. As such, while Nirvana was in motion – Nelliel could only follow it, hoping that it will stop, soon.
"Nelliel-san!" A voice called for dream dragon slayer.
"Huh?" Nelliel looked that way. She didn't feel anyone's presence, probably because the source of the voice was quite afar – Nelliel only managed to hear that because she has an enhanced hearing. She also recognized the voice's owner – that was Lucy, or, as she calls herself now – Luciferona. "You?" Nelliel sounded a bit surprised as she turned her head a bit aside and saw the jet black-haired, three-tailed girl also following the Nirvana.
"Nelliel-san, you can't get up there due to your motion sickness?" Luciferona asked.
"Yes…" Nelliel grunted in reply. There are already two dragon slayers in Fairy Tail, so Nelliel wasn't surprised that she figured this out – Lucy was naïve but not stupid and quite observant, and since, as Natsu claimed, this girl is Lucy – no wonder she managed to put two and two together.
As she got the answer, for about ten seconds Luciferona was following the Nirvana silently, and then she finally spoke out, "Then we have to bring those dregs down from there…"
"How?" Nelliel wondered shortly.
"I can do this," Luciferona's eyes flashed with dark violet light.
"Really?" Nelliel didn't believe her. In fact – Luciferona seemed quite crumpled. She barely recovered from her battle against Angel, during which, still being Lucy, she got beaten pretty badly. Wendy patched her up I bit, but still. Besides, when Natsu was captured or kidnapped or whatever – and when the alliance members were once again scattered all over the forest – black haired girl's landing seemingly wasn't that lucky. To just running after Nirvana and not fall back – that required considerable efforts. And, most importantly, Nelliel knew Lucy as quite a mediocre mage – is this 'version' of Lucy actually more capable?
Luciferona knew about Nelliel's skepticism, but that didn't change her intentions. "Yes, this probably will be my last act in this operation, but if Nelliel-san promises to give that one what's he asking for – I'll throw him down from there…" As she said that, Luciferona smiled darkly as her eyes flashed again and she added, "Most of all – I hate being laughed at…"
And something in that dark smile changed Nelliel's mind – for some reason she thought that this girl with fluffy ears shouldn't be underestimated, despite her kawaii appearance. Besides – they're in critical situation – if she knows how to bring that whelp down – by all means – why not let her try? "Don't worry," Nelliel nodded after several seconds of thinking, "He'll get exactly what he deserves – my reserves of good will for today have ran out…"
"Then please – prepare yourself," Luciferona said shortly and summoned her new bow, though – that was the only thing she's got – there were no chains and belts – probably she had no power reserves to summon anything but bow… or she simply had no need for anything of those. Black-haired girl jumped on the closest tree's brunch, large enough to support her weight, and pulled the bowstring. An arrow appeared from nowhere.
Nelliel couldn't understand what this girl's doing. During today's morning battle Erza learned quite a lot about Midnight's magic and she of course talked about her observations to everyone. Midnight can twist space, and, in particular, he can make all projectiles, both magical and material, to fly around him. But Nelliel was experienced enough to stay silent while others are working – Luciferona (though, she was still Lucy back then) also heard Erza's words. Dreamwalker used her Dream Cloak spell to turn invisible, her right hand clutched the hilt of her sword, Yume Hyakutō…
Luciferona released the bowstring and arrow flew toward its target, remarkably fast. That was a very good shot, with precisely calculated target lead. However, just as Nelliel had anticipated – Midnight sensed the threat. He saw an arrow, which was heading straight at him. His arrogant face expression didn't change as well as he didn't step aside to dodge the attack – probably he thought that arrow may explode or something like that – he decided to play a winning game. Midnight's hands slightly moved as he made an area of twisted space around himself – to make sure that arrow (and any surprise it may carry) won't get close to him.
But then, when the distance between arrow and its target was about 40 feet, Luciferona clapped her palms. That instant the arrow disappeared and Luciferona herself appeared instead of it. At the same moment, to Nelliel's surprise, arrow appeared just where the black-haired girl was standing a moment ago, slightly above the tree branch. That ebony arrow, which Luciferona has shot, was imbued with her Jahō [Wicked Weave] power, and then, using her Warped Devil's ability – Luciferona switched places with her Jahō-imbued arrow.
But the one most surprised here definitely was Midnight. "What?" His eyes widened as a black-haired girl flew to him, easily passing through his twisted space, because, devil or not, she's a living being and as such – immune to this kind of magic. Before Midnight could rethink his actions, Luciferona grabbed him. That wasn't that difficult – physically Midnight was relatively weak; in contrary – Luciferona's grip on the enemy's body was extremely strong, she even curled all of her three tails around one of enemy's legs. Moment later, an entire world around Oración Seis member turned into huge, dark-violet vortex. Then again, everything returned to normal, except that he was no longer atop of Nirvana – he was on the ground, in the middle of the dark forest.
While still trying to realize what exactly happened, Midnight felt that Luciferona's grip on his body weakened. Actually, girl simply released him and strengthlessly fell on the ground. Seemingly that trick of her – switching places with her arrow and back, at such a distance, and carrying a 'passenger' on her way back – that was effective but quite pricy – she spent all of her mana and stamina alike – now she was lying virtually unconscious.
"You…" Midnight hissed as he finally realized what happened. His usually emotionless face was distorted with rage, he slightly moved his fingers, gathering magic, intending to use his powers to twist the ground, on which Luciferona was lying, to crush her body.
BAAM! With bright flash of magic Midnight flew away from Luciferona, crashing trees on his way. Everything happened so fast that for a wingside spectator it seemed like a magical blast. In fact, however, that was a pretty complex event.
Despite Midnight appeared right in front of her, not like Nelliel actually expected this to happen, she adjusted herself almost instantly. With a full force she swung her sword. She didn't want to take any chances – Nelliel was aiming at Midnight's neck, intending to behead him and be done with this scum. However, at the last moment, Midnight somehow felt the danger, probably Nelliel couldn't completely hide her killing intent – in the end she was very, very displeased with those Oración Seis and Nirvana – they are threatening the entire world, no less, including Nelliel's daughter – such an act may not be forgiven. It's no longer about alliance – now it is personal.
Since Midnight couldn't see the opponent, to protect himself he used magic, which he already gathered to attack Luciferona, to install the bubble-like reflector field around himself. In theory that field would've destroy any weapon aimed at him, at the same time making a wall made of highly compressed air, in case if the unarmed attack will be used. Yet – he made a mistake.
Nelliel's sword – Yume Hyakutō [Dream Slicer] – it's the weapon of the same nature as Natsu's Gladius Terminus [Sword of the End] and Erza's Astrum and Eclipsis – a high-class artifact, the so-called sacred artifact. Those weapons couldn't be affected with space-time magic because they're counted as living beings. Yume Hyakutō passed through Midnight's reflector and clashed with the wall of compressed air, completely destroying it and causing that magical blast.
Due to the blast Midnight flew fort, crashing trees with his body. Though, actually trees were crushed with his reflector (for some reason those trees didn't count as living beings), so when he fell on the ground, he was virtually unharmed. Without delay he placed both of his palms on the ground and used his space-twisting magic to make a dome made of earth over himself. Despite she was invisible – Midnight clearly realized who his opponent is – one of dragon slayers, so he can't allow himself to be negligent.
Crash! A powerful blow made a breach in the dome, sending earth debris toward Midnight, forcing him to use his reflector to protect himself. Nelliel appeared from the breach and immediately rushed at her enemy. Midnight hurriedly used his magic to make several lances made of highly compressed air and launched them at approaching dragon slayer. But Nelliel easily sliced them all with her sword and continued to advance. *Swoosh!* Midnight barely managed to dodge Nelliel's sword, but immediately after that he got a crushing knee blow right to his abdomen.
"GAAAKH!" He broke through the remains of the earth dome that he made earlier, and since he was using his reflector to make and guide those air lances – he couldn't use his magic to protect himself. Boom! He crashed into a big tree and fell on the ground. "Ough!" As it was mentioned earlier – physically Midnight was relatively weak, so that attack took quite a toll.
For Midnight, situation seemed pretty bad. His own magic – the reflector – was pretty useless right now. Nelliel's weapon – Yume Hyakutō – cannot be affected by space-time magic. Her armor… she has none – her white clothes are just that – plain linen clothes, even if he will try to twist them and use to bind her – that won't hinder her even a bit. Besides, for some reason her body seems blurry somehow – so even aiming projectiles at her is pretty difficult, not to mention she can easily deflect or destroy them. His ability to create illusions won't do any good either – Erza already has proved that dragon slayer has no need for eyes to crush him.
Nelliel was just a few steps away from her enemy. She already rose her sword, intending to end all of this with one swift strike. That piece of trash, he and his friends-imbeciles were threatening the entire world – all the kids in the world… there are no forgiveness for them.
Until now, due to lack of necessity, and another certain reason, Midnight only used his own magic, he didn't use ability, granted to him by Nirvana. But now… He could feel his enemy's killing intent – if he won't stop her somehow then he'll die within a second. 'Father… this time…' He thought as golden markings on his body began to glow '…this time I won't lose…'
*Floosh!* Midnight's body emitted a burst of golden energy (which looked like a dense steam made of golden particles), forcing Nelliel to cower her face and throwing her back for almost a hundred feet. Golden 'steam' quickly dissipated, revealing a cocoon-like thing, right there where Midnight was lying just a moment ago, and its surface seemed like some sort of a boiling, oozy liquid. And before Nelliel could do anything, the oozy cocoon exploded like a soap bubble, revealing Midnight once again.
The Oración Seis member opened his eyes and slowly stood up. Considering previous incidents, Nelliel didn't rush at her opponent, instead she now was carefully examining him once again.
"Hmm… That's not so bad…" Midnight noted to himself, looking at his arms. Actually, he looked just like a minute ago, more or less… but something has changed. Nelliel's dragon eyes could no longer see the heat, emanated by his body. Her dragon ears could no longer hear his heartbeat and his lungs intaking the air. And her dragon's nose… the smell from him has changed. Until now, he was smelling just like a foul man, but now it became much worse… if she'd has to describe that new smell with one word – that would've been a word 'insanity'. "The nightmare returns…" He pronounced, raising his arm. At the next moment, the ground beneath Nelliel's feet moved. No doubts – Midnight used his reflector to twist the earth underneath Nelliel to attack her with it.
Dragon slayer reacted with no delay. "Muryū no Hōkō!" [Dream Dragon's Roar] Nelliel released an ultrasonic dragon's roar, aiming at Midnight. During morning's battle Erza also learned that Midnight can't use his magic to attack and to defend himself at the same time. As such, if he's attacking her now – he can't protect himself from her own attack – her ultrasonic roar will tear him to shreds… or that what's supposed to be happening.
Nelliel's spell wrecked several trees behind Midnight, but the dark mage himself didn't get any damage – some sort of an eggshell-like magical shield, made of golden energy, protected him. He didn't even move a bit, just smiled. But Nelliel was quite an experienced mage – she won't be taken aback with just that – she pressed the attack. "Muryū no Shōsen!" [Dream Dragon's Flash Attack] She emanated an ultrasonic shockwave to destroy all the rocks that Midnight created to attack her, at the same time preparing her katana. "Shitsugeki: Sōyōhōshi!" [Deathblow: Blossom Collapse] Dream dragon slayer dashed forward, charging her sword with magic. This was a special attack, which uses not the ultrasonic power, as all other of Nelliel's kill-shots, but illusive magic. This skill can not only do a physical damage with a sword, but also, if enemy survive the sword's attack, it can disorient him, preventing further actions for some time.
*Clash!* Nelliel's sword clashed with Midnight's magical shield, but couldn't break through it. The magical shield's energy seemed much denser than when it protected Midnight from Nelliel's dragon roar. In fact, Midnight himself used his reflector on that magical shield to gather its energy into small area, to block the piercing attack.
"Keep your distance," The dark mage said coldly as he struck the dragon slayer right into her solar plexus, as she couldn't block that attack because she was holding her sword with both hands.
"Ugh!" Nelliel groaned as she got thrown away by the blow. But the most weird thing wasn't that a well-known 'ninny' Midnight somehow struck Nelliel strong enough to hurt her and throw away for more than 50 feet, but the fact that his arm, which struck a dragon slayer, was still clenching to Nelliel's shirt… "Huh!?" Her eyes widened in surprise as she now was looking at detached arm – elbow and palm. Though, she couldn't look at it for long, as hand exploded. "Auuugh!" Powerful blast threw Nelliel into the air for about 30 feet.
But, despite that she got damage and was disoriented and confused, Nelliel quickly recomposed herself and landed on her feet. Now her eyes were focused on her enemy, she has to reassess him, quickly.
"Because of you I won't be able to have dreams ever again…" Midnight said as golden energy gathered on his right side and formed a new hand, to replace the one that just exploded.
Obviously – Midnight was no longer a human. In fact, he turned into some sort of a clockwork doll. And this transformation was permanent – that is impossible for him to revert back to his human being – that's why he was reluctant to use those powers. That was a blessing and a punishment at the same time, bestowed upon him by Nirvana. His new clockwork body is a lot stronger and ageless, and nothing can make him feel physical pain anymore. On the other hand… the freshness of a clear air, the taste of food, the warmth of sun – feeling anything of those also are unavailable for him from now on.
Dark mage raised both of his arms with his palms outstretched, and all ten of his fingers detached from his hands and flew towards Nelliel, like a swarm of homing missiles.
"Annoying pest…" Nelliel swore silently as she swung her sword, creating a broad shockwave to destroy those missiles. However, missiles engaged evasive maneuvers, and only one out of ten has been destroyed. 'You've got to be kidding me…!' She thought as she urgently kicked the ground in attempt to avoid those things. She tried to hide from missiles in trees' crones.
However, fingers-missiles were chasing her, executing complex maneuvers, avoiding trees and branches. At the same time, Midnight used his own reflector magic and sent a cone-shaped wave of space twisting magic at his enemy. Though, he wasn't aiming at Nelliel, but at those trees, where she was trying to hide. 'Damn, that's not good!' She though as she got cornered by the missiles, at the same time trees' fragments were flying towards her like a shrapnel.
*Clash!* A powerful magical shockwave annihilated all projectiles that were aimed at Nelliel. Missiles exploded, but Nelliel got no damage. She let loose of her magical powers, and that alone was enough to suppress all attacks. On the other hand, it also means that Nelliel admitted her opponent's strength, and there will be no quick victory – she has to fight seriously. Dream dragon slayer landed about 70 feet away from Midnight, her eyes were glowing with aquamarine light.
"Yume no Gazō!" [Dream Image] She cast a spell, creating a copy of herself, just like it was when she fought against Natsu inside of Phantom Lord's headquarters. But just as soon as it appeared, the dream image quickly approached her creator and literally merged with her. Nelliel did that because, being a purely magical creation, the dream image can be easily broken by Midnight's space-twisting power.
Seemingly, despite that during last few months she had to work as an independent mage (she joined the Aurora Presage only recently) and care about her young daughter, she still managed to improve some of her spells, including the 'Yume no Gazō'. Quite an achievement, to be honest, no doubts that Nelliel is an excellent mage with a boundless talent, but that's to be expected from someone, chosen by a dragon. Thanks to her efforts, now she could use that spell in similar way as Natsu's 'Core' and Erza's 'Drive' spells for self-amplification.
Nelliel dashed toward her enemy with unimaginable speed, uprooting several trees just because she passed by them. Midnight again raised his arms and shot all of his ten fingers (which restored themselves previously) at Nelliel. Additionally, he used his reflector magic to create several spheres of compressed air and launched them at his enemy as well. However, all that has been simply swept away as dragon slayer fully utilized her greatly improved speed and strength. All Midnight's attempts of attacking Nelliel were cut short as she approached him and attacked with remorseless flurry of blows.
One after another, furious blows were falling down on Midnight, who had to focus all of his attention to track the sword's movements. He was using his reflector magic on his own, eggshell-like, yellow magical shield, to twist it and make it tchick enough right at the point of incoming strike to withstand the strength of those attacks. But still, even using all of his magic and senses, he couldn't keep up. After Nelliel struck him twenty-three times, the twenty-fourth attack broke through Midnight's shield. His shield crumbled and, seemingly, he suffered a backlash of sort, as he lost orientation and almost fell on the ground. Nelliel didn't miss the opportunity, with her next swing she beheaded her opponent, as Midnight's head flew off and fell in about two dozen feet away from his body, which also fell on the ground.
However, Nelliel didn't relax even a bit. Her sixth sense was telling her – it's not over yet. And her flair didn't fail her – within next three seconds, Midnight's body, excluding his chopped-off head, melted down and turned into a pool of yellow liquid. The liquid turned into a stream and rushed toward a lying head, and, starting at the neck, Midnight's body has been quickly reformed out of that yellow liquid. A moment later, Midnight opened his eyes and quickly stood up.
Nelliel didn't rush to attack again – what just happened was within limits of her expectations. She stood still, carefully observing her enemy and trying to figure out how to finish him off for good. His ability to reconstruct his body out of almost any state seemed very troublesome, but it must have some flaw…
Midnight also stood still, silently eyeing the dragon slayer. Then he opened his mouth "…really now… I finally realized," He said thoughtfully, before looking at Nelliel. "Now, thanks to you, I finally realized how pitiful humans are… how pathetic they look in the eyes of monsters such as you." His inexpressive face portrayed some semblance of a smile, "Now I know how pathetic in your eyes have looked our worthless attempt to attack your group earlier. You, and two others… you guys probably were barely holding back your laugher, right? In your eyes, normal humans probably resemble ants, does they?"
Nelliel kept silence. She was smart enough and grown up enough to understand what he's talking about, more or less. It wasn't a first time when she was called a monster, and honestly, she had no special emotions about it, since it was a truth, in a certain respect. She was aware that when a human starts to learn magic from a dragon, i.e. when he becomes a dragon slayer, he incorporates some of dragon's essence. The more of a dragon's heritage he or she will accept, the more of his or her bloodline will be turned to that of a dragon. Her foster mother, dragon Somniara, explained that herself, and Nelliel actually had no problems with that fact. To be honest, Nelliel Tu Odel always thought that dragons are… pretty cool. Especially one thing about dragons – she heard that they won't ever cheat on their mates – after certain events in her life, Nelliel developed a lot of respect toward that trait. As such, she never had any issues about being a 'monster'. But of course, Nelliel had absolutely no desire to explain any of that to Midnight. Until recently, he was a 100% human, but that didn't prevent him from being a 100% scum.
Though, Midnight seemingly never expected her to reply to him. He continued to speak, "As such, my decision to discard my humanity seems to be the only possible one. However, I didn't expect you to be a monster to that extent… As such, it seems that I have no choice but to discard my humanity completely, even my appearance, if I want to fight on par with you… I'll show you the true power of Nirvana!"
And as she heard that, Nelliel got some very unpleasant foreboding.
Right in front of her, Midnight's body started to change. Quickly growing in size, it also started to change shape. Within just two or three seconds, he turned into a 60 feet tall clockwork abomination of large insectoid form with steam rising between the plates of its hide. It seemed like a weird hybrid of a mantis and a rhinoceros beetle. It stood on four hind legs, two limbs were resembling pincers growing from the middle of a vertically arranged body, and two more palpus were growing from abomination's 'mouth'. Its upper body was cowered with helmet-like structure. Its many orange-yellow eyes were shining like dim lanterns and revealing no hint of expression or intent.
"Ugh…" Nelliel gulped in disgust, looking at an immensely loathsome clockwork creature.
It was late evening, but thanks to long, early summer days, sun was still above the horizon. In his house, Natsu stood near the window, looking outside, towards town of Magnolia.
"Natsu, how long are you intending to stay there?" Gentle voice asked him from behind. Natsu turned around to see the owner of that voice. Erza was sitting on their bed, wearing a white, almost transparent negligée. Through the transparent fabric, her bulging belly could easily be seen, according to it – she was at least at 8th month of pregnancy. Natsu looked at her for a few moments, but then he again turned to window.
"Oh, Natsu, c'mon, give me some attention!" Erza exclaimed a bit resentfully. She stood up from the bed and made several steps towards her husband. "You're making me jealous! Does those trees are more beautiful than I am?" She asked as she stopped neat Natsu. But when she raised her arms with intentions to take his hand, Natsu abruptly turned around as Gladius Terminus glinted in the air, and without uttering a single word, with horizontal swing he sliced off Erza's head, and then with vertical swing he sliced the rest of her body in half.
Erza's head flew away for several feet as her sliced body fell on the floor, but not a single drop of blood was spilled. Instead, Erza's remains crumbled into yellow dust, a moment later the same happened with the rest of Natsu's surroundings.
"Pathetic attempt…" Natsu hissed as he once again appeared inside of a grayish nowhere. "People can fight pain, but they cannot find happiness…" Natsu said quietly, "But you, whoever you are, have no idea what I think happiness actually is." Natsu remembered that he was captured, most likely by Nirvana. He knew that right now he's imprisoned inside of a small spherical prison, but he couldn't look at his surroundings as that strange glass-like material, of which that spherical prison was made of, was reflecting his heavenly sight back at him. "Well, you just wait… Using my beloved wife, and even a child that we one day will have, for these pathetic illusions, you're only making me more furious. Sooner or later, I'll gather enough powers to crush that thing, and then…"
(Unknown location)
Inside of a huge round hall with six exits, a large sphere made of glass-like material was floating. From inside that sphere was dark gray, but from the outside it was glowing with crimson light. A silhouette of a man, who was floating inside of that sphere, could be seen from the outside.
"Tch…" Someone snorted. A figure was standing in the shadows, according to its voice – that was a female. Since she was hiding in the darkness, her features couldn't be seen, aside from nine wiggling, tails-like things, which were looking like they're made of some beast's vertebras. "Such a powerful mind… I guess in my current state I won't be able to completely subdue him no matter how many times I'll try…" She said with eerie whisper. "Well, I probably should have expected that…" She added, raising one of her arms, holding something. That was one of those magic-restricting collars that Natsu has put on defeated members of Oración Seis. "To think that someone from that era not only managed to find that place, but also used its technology to actually create something, all on his own…" She sounded a bit impressed. "But that doesn't matter. Ewen if you're denying me now, I still can draw enough power from you to power up that accursed thing. You just wait – when I'll return home and re-merge with the rest of my self… you will serve me… just as the rest of this world… ahahahaha!" A mysterious woman laughed maniacally.
December 11, X784, 21:40, Worth Woodsea's northwestern border.
(With Erza and Sin)
Erza was running through the forest, chasing for Nirvana. She fell behind a lot, so now she couldn't even see that huge, spider-like construct. Though its foul scent was still present in the air, Erza had no need even for that as she was just following the mess that Nirvana made, marching through the forest. Not that she has been thrown too far away when Nirvana appeared, besides, Sin caught her in mid-air so she had no issues with the landing, either. It just took too much time to sort out her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Sin, I know it's unpleasant for you to hang around with someone as useless as I am, but please, bear with it a while longer – I will need your help…" Erza said with self-pejorative tone. Little skeletal creature was closely following her, flying about ten feet over the surface. In his current form, his top speed, especially with a passenger, wouldn't be any faster than Erza's current speed as she was running, so he decided to keep the profile as low as possible, just in case.
"Now what?" Sin asked tiredly. Just after Nirvana's awakening (i.e. after Natsu has been captured), Erza's rage has been replaced with deep stupor, to the point that she had no idea where she is and what she's actually doing. Sin spent almost half an hour, trying to convince her to get a hold on herself and start thinking, and he wasn't eager to hear another self-loathing tirade.
"No, I was just thinking…" She shook her head, continuing to run. "Just when I've become so pathetic? I guess Natsu just spoiled me too much…" She sighed, "I've got carried away. I've got so used to that he always knows what to do, always has answers to all of my questions… and as a result, I've unlearned to think by myself… hahaha…" She laughed joylessly. "I wanted to stand right beside him proudly, as the only one worthy of being his consort… and look at me now… I've turned into a spoiled wife… even now, chasing after that thing, I have no idea what to do after I'll catch up…"
"I don't think right now we need some complex plan," Sin replied. "Since I and Natsu are connected, I have a faint feeling of what is going on. I don't know how that damn thing is getting magic, but I think that Nirvana uses him as a catalyst to convert the raw magic into a controllable power. As such – our best option is just to smash that thing and free Natsu from wherever they're holding him! And I can't think about anyone better suited for that job than you…"
'Can I really destroy that gargantuan thing alone?' Erza asked herself as she heard Sin's words. Yes, earlier she promised to destroy Nirvana – 'If magical bomber can do this, so can I' – she said. But can magical bomber destroy that? Unlikely… But can she? 'I guess I'll find out soon enough… Natsu, love of my life, please be safe…' She pleaded in her heart.
Sin, flying after Erza and watching her back, also was thinking. 'Maybe she's right? Maybe Natsu really spoiled her too much? But can anyone really blame a man for spoiling his beloved woman? Or can anyone blame an enamored girl for wanting to be spoiled by the man she loves? No,' Little dragon decided. 'If there's someone to blame – then it's this Nirvana thing…'
December 11, X784, 21:45, Worth Woodsea's northwestern border.
(With Wendy and Carla)
A bit behind Erza and Sin, another dragon slayer and her familiar (or, rather, partner) were chasing after Nirvana.
"I'm sorry, Carla, for forcing you to do this!" Wendy apologized sincerely.
"Don't worry about me!" White kitty replied. She was breathing heavily, after flying at full speed for almost forty minutes, "I'm more concerned about you… what you intend to do when we'll catch up with that thing?"
"I… have to do something to stop Nirvana!" Wendy clenched her small fists, showing a certain determination, "There must be something I can do to help, right?"
"That's true…" Carla smiled, approving Wendy's combat spirit.
They were flying forth for about half a minute in silence, but then Carla's body jolted and her flight speed dropped a bit. Through those small paws, with which Carla was holding her, Wendy felt that her feline partner is trembling all over. "Huh?" Wendy asked in surprise. "What is it, Carla?" Girl asked.
"It… it has to be… a coincidence, right?! I mean… there's no way…" Carla replied, stuttering and continuing to tremble all over, "This direction… if it keeps going… straight this way… That's where Cait Shelter is!"
"Ah?!" Wendy yelped in shock as all of her innards grew cold.
December 11, X784, 21:50, Cait Shelter Wizard Guild.
Here, in the middle of the low mountain ridge, was situated a mage guild Cait Shelter. Being a weird mix of a wigwam and a longhouse, stylized to look like a cat's head, the Cait Shelter's guildhall was surrounded with several lesser houses, which also looked like the traditional dwelling of North American Indians.
One of the guildmembers, who looked like a member of an Indian tribe, rushed into the guildhall. "Everybody, this is bad!" He announced, still running, "Nirvana is heading this way!"
As they heard that, many of Cait Shelter members, most of whose were wearing traditional tribal masks, started panicking:
"What?!"
"So, the allied forces' mission failed!?"
"Wait, didn't they have two of the Ten Wizard Saints and few other powerful mages?!"
"Master!" One of the guildmembers ran to a small, slim elderly man with a long white beard, complete with a mustache, which extended up on his face's sides, making for a large pair of sideburns and his two bushy eyebrows as well. On his forehead was a tattoo, composed of a dot surrounded by two arched stripes. He was wearing an attire somehow reminiscent of that of a Native American chief, with a large headgear composed of feathers, with more, lighter-colored feathers adorning the back of his waist. He was sitting on a big chair, seemingly made of straw. That old man was the master of Cait Shelter guild – Rōbaul.
"Nabura!" Old man shouted in reply, pouring some liquor into the glass, that was standing on a round wooden table in front of the guild master. Though, when the glass was almost full, Rōbaul brought the bottle to his mouth and started to drink right from it.
"Whaaat?!" Several guildmembers were shocked.
"If you're just going to chug from the bottle, don't even bother pouring it!" Someone exclaimed.
"Nabura!" Old man just shouted again.
"Come on! Nirvana is coming this way…" Guildmembers were still calling for master's reason.
"What?! Is that true!?" Rōbaul suddenly yelled, and he did so before swallowing the booze that he just drank, spilling it all around as a result.
"Swallow before you start talking!" One of guildmembers scolded master.
"Nirvana is heading this direction…" Old man mumbled thoughtfully, "Is that a fate or Nabura coincidence…"
"I just hope that Wendy is okay…" One of guildmembers sighed.
"Especially since we won't be of much use when the worst of it comes…" Another one nodded.
"Be at ease!" Roubaul announced, and he again did it after drinking from the bottle and before swallowing it.
"Will you just drink it first!?" Several men screamed in unison.
"The magic of light is alive and well!" Guildmaster announced, pointing upward, "And it's shining Nabura bright!" For some reason, his senseless words caused a glee among the guildmembers. Though, it quickly quieted down.
"But don't you think it is just a coincidence?" A woman wondered.
"Maybe there are some guys out there who know what we are…" One of guildmates thought aloud.
"If so, that may be why they're coming here," Another woman suggested.
"Nabura…" Rōbaul grunted as he heard the discussion.
"We've been with you for a long time, but even now, we have no clue what 'Nabura' means!" Some guy exclaimed.
All guildmembers continued to chatter among themselves for about two minutes. "Master! Let's evacuate!" Finally, someone decided to express almost everyone's opinion, "We can't hold back Nirvana with our wards!"
"You fools!" Roubaul suddenly bellowed, spilling the booze from his mouth all around again. Entire guild quieted down in shock as master continued to talk, "We already have Nabura strong allies fighting to stop it! Any who have faith in their victory have no need to move from this spot!" Old man placed a bottle on the table and added with quieter voice, "Or perhaps… Maybe our time has come. The time when we atone for our sins…"
December 11, X784, 21:55, Worth Woodsea's northwestern border.
(With Nelliel)
About 25 minutes have passed since the moment when Midnight turned himself into a clockwork abomination. All that time, Nelliel was fighting toe to toe against him, but now it started to seem that she's actually at disadvantage. However, her main issue wasn't the fact that Midnight was pouring her with bullets from four machineguns, mounted on his hind legs. Nor it were those missiles, launched from two missile launchers, mounted at those points where a normal mantis would've wings. Her magic power reserves also weren't an issue – she still had plenty of magic. Her real problem was that she had no idea how to land a killing blow.
Fighting against him now, and considering what she has seen before, Nelliel suggested that somewhere inside of that monstrosity should be something, resembling a core. Just before Midnight changed his form, that core probably was inside of his head, where normal human would have his brain. Nelliel thought so because, when she beheaded her enemy – his body melted down and flowed towards head, despite head actually was a smaller object, so making otherwise seemed more logical. Sadly, back than Nelliel didn't think about that possibility, or she'd sliced and diced that head immediately.
She only thought about that later, when she landed several successful attacks, but that grotesque insect has repaired itself almost immediately. That was one of the reasons why she still had an almost full manapool – because, aside from running and dodging, avoiding enemy's attacks, she didn't do anything, as she had no idea what to do. Right now, the core may be anywhere inside of that thing, which had no apparent head. Even more, core actually could be moving around, making the task to localize it almost impossible.
The second reason why Nelliel still had almost full mana was a timely arrival of the reinforcement. Of course, reinforcement came to Midnight – about seventy members of one of dark guilds under Oración Seis control arrived to the battlefield. Of course they didn't recognize Midnight, but, on the other hand, they've recognized Nelliel. However, while they were staying there in complete confusion, thinking whose side they should take, they all were caught in a crossfire, so now all seventy were lying wounded and unconscious, all over this place. Nelliel used few of them to replenish her magic, but actually it was almost unnecessary, the reason was already mentioned before.
'Damn, what should I do!?' Nelliel was thinking desperately. While she was fighting here, she has lost sight of Nirvana long ago. If that damn thing will run away and start rampaging in Fiore – that will be a complete, utter failure of her mission, no matter how you'd look at it. 'But if things continue like this – that fight may last for days!' Nelliel thought, as she continued to avoid bullets and destroy homing missiles. Of course, using her speed and invisibility, she can easily retreat. But Midnight definitely knows where Nirvana is right now, he'll simply will go there, and will be waiting for her or anyone else, if she'll try to attack again. 'No, retreat isn't an option,' Dreamwalker decided, 'But then, how can I kill it?'
Honestly, right now Nelliel could only think about one possibility – she should destroy Midnight's body with one, decisive blow. But she has no powerful enough spell to completely destroy this huge, armored insect, with one attack…
No, actually, there's still one possibility left. She still has one ability, and if she'll use it – she may get a big enough boost of her powers to take the upper hand. But actually, Nelliel thought about that ability of hers as of a last resort – a very unpleasant aftertaste will remain if she'll use that…
'But what else can be done?!' Dream dragon slayer thought, as she continued to submerge into the depths of despair. 'Shall I really send all of that to hell and go back to my daughter? She asked herself. And then, out of nowhere…
'Okā-san!' Suddenly, she heard Luminel's joyful voice.
"Ah!?" Nelliel yelped as her body jolted as if she was struck by lightning. She looked at her own arms in surprise, 'What the hell was I thinking?!' No, she wasn't just surprised, she was deeply shocked with her own behavior. 'Luminel's fourth birthday will be within few months, if I run away now, we will be celebrating it in the world full of sadness and despair! And I was thinking about allowing that?!' She couldn't believe that those were her own thoughts, just a few moments ago.
'I have the ability that may allow me to win! Then why the hell I was hesitating?' And Nelliel's eyes widened in sudden realization, 'Don't tell me that… I was hesitating… because my mind actually was affected by Nirvana?!'
*Boom!* Nelliel swung her sword, creating an arched shockwave, destroying all of insect-Midnight's missiles and bullets and leaving a big scar on his body. The scar quickly disappeared, but that Dreamwalker's action was somehow out of a pattern, so Midnight even stopped his attacks for a moment to observe the situation.
"That damn thing even more dangerous than I initially thought," Dreamwalker muttered to herself, before looking at Midnight. "I'm sorry, little insect, give me a moment and we'll continue," She added, before jumping into the air and performing a high summersault, and landing among the defeated members of the dark guild. She raised both of her arms, clapped her palms above her head and shouted, "Devour!" As she did that, all bodies that were lying nearby were covered with greenish light, and a few moments later, all those dark guild members began to scream and writhe in convulsions, definitely feeling a horrible pain, as streams of turquoise energy began to flow from their eyes and mouths, and all that energy rushed towards Nelliel and started to pour into her body.
For some reason, Midnight felt some danger as he saw Nelliel's technique. He launched several weird-looking homing missiles to interrupt her action, but turquoise dome made of energy protected her, easily blocking the attack. In about ten seconds, all that strange energy had been absorbed by Nelliel. Mages from the dark guild stopped writhing and limply fell on the ground, all as one. Just now, Dreamwalker didn't just consume their dreams, as she usually does to replenish her powers, instead, using her secret technique, she drained their memories. All of them. Permanently. They will not remember anything since they were three years old. Nelliel really didn't like that ability of hers, in her opinion, stealing memories were worse than killing, so she only thought about this secret technique as of a last resort among last resorts. But right now, she had no choice, and that wasn't a self-persuasion but a simple fact. Besides, those people were just a selected scum, no one will cry about them.
'My strength… is overflowing!' Even she herself was surprised with the amount of power that was coursing through her body, 'Alright, I can do this!' She decided as she elicited a powerful magical shockwave as her whole body was engulfed with turquoise light.
In a blink of an eye her appearance changed slightly. For instance, she got longer and more curly hair that now points slightly upwards at the ends. The Dragon Slayer also got greenish scales, that springs out of her back, and smaller ones on her hands and feet. But changes in her appearance were nothing, compared to changes Nelliel was feeling inside of her own body. Even her hearing and her sight were as clear as never before. 'So, this is how this world looks, with the eyes of a dragon… as if entire world is on my palm…' She thought, as she activated her Ryū no Chikara [Dragon Force] for the first time in her life.
"Muryū no Sokusui!" [Dream Dragon Breath] Nelliel released a roar-type attack, with both speed and destructive capabilities drastically empowered due to her Dragon Force mode. The powerful stream of ultrasonic energy reached the target almost instantly, causing a massive blastwave, that wrecked a massive part of the forest. However, as dust dissipated, insect-Midnight appeared unharmed – seemingly, that yellow egg-like shield, together with his reflector magic, protected him. But Nelliel expected that.
*Baam!* She abruptly kicked the ground, causing a shockwave that uprooted about two dozen of trees, due to her rapid acceleration. "Shitsugeki: Kaishōgiri!" [Deathblow: Starfish Slash] She empowered her sword, preparing it for the B-rank 'certain kill' type attack.
Midnight quickly manipulated his reflector to gather all of the shield energy at one spot, at the same time he tried to counterattack Nelliel with his pincers. But, still in mid-air, dragon slayer abruptly changed her trajectory, clockwork insect had no time to adjust his actions to counter Nelliel's lightning-speed moves.
With remorseless attack, the upper half of a giant insect was sliced off and thrown away for about 120 feet. The lower half immediately began to melt down, but even before it was completely liquified, "Muryū no Muyoku!" [Dream Dragon's Netherwings]. She performed a 'wing attack' type spell, power and speed of which also were greatly increased due to her Dragon Force. Two massive rays of ultrasonic energy brought down upon sliced-off upper half of a clockwork abomination. BOOM! Massive blast damaged that half of the insect and throwed it further away.
To that moment, lower half of the insect has completely melted down and a stream of yellow liquid rushed to the sliced-off upper half and started to re-merge with it. To the moment when dust dissipated, the huge, grotesque insect has already been restored. It hissed angrily, swinging its mechanical pincers, but Nelliel smiled victoriously as she landed on her feet not too far from her enemy. She found enemy's weakness – it seems that Midnight is unable to use that yellow egg-shell-like shield while his body is not whole. He still can use his reflector magic, but that alone is not enough to defend from Dragon Force empowered attacks. Midnight also realized that his weakness has been discovered, but right now he could only hiss in anger, as he had no more hidden cards.
"Prepare yourself, you, ugly little cockroach – I'm going to hit you with all the dope!" She declared as she once again kicked the ground and rushed at her enemy. In his last, desperate attempt to fight back, Midnight used everything he got. He opened fire from all four of his hind legs-mounted machineguns, launched several homing missiles, raised his mechanical pincers to counterattack, and of course prepared his shield and reflector.
And as expected – nothing of it did help. With her tremendous power and speed, Nelliel effortlessly wiped off all of those hostile projectiles. She prepared an A-ranked kill shot, it wasn't the most powerful that she could use now, thanks to Dragon Force, but in this situation that one was the most suitable. Half of the forest has been lit up with greenish light when Nelliel charged her sword, Yume Hyakutō, with insane amount of magic. "Shitsugeki: Hokutōgiri!" [Deathblow: Ursa Major Slash] With horrible creaking sound, upper half of insect-Midnight's body was sliced off once again, and now it was thrown up, for at least 300 feet. And even before the lower half started to melt down, still being in mid-air, Nelliel turned around and used her S-rank spell, "Metsuryū Ōgi: Getsuyō Kagura: Reikyō Kachōten! [Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Moonlight Kagura: Soul Mirror: Crescendo]
A massive magical seal, at least 400 feet in diameter, appeared in about 600 feet above the ground, right over Midnight's two halves. A vortex of ultrasonic energy was formed out of that seal, and that vortex immediately crashed down at tremendous speed, as any matter that happened to be inside of that ultrasonic vortex was dissolved on molecular level. And since Midnight's insect-like body was still sliced in half, with his reflector alone, without help of his shield, he was unable to protect himself, as such, both halves of his body were pulverized.
When ultrasonic vortex dissipated, Midnight's clockwork body turned into the yellow dust. Only one solid object remained inside of a powerful spell's area of effect. A small, about four inches in diameter, solid sphere, that was glowing with yellow light. However, the light was gradually dimming down, as some cracks appeared on sphere's surface. Probably, soon it will crumble by itself, but Nelliel didn't want to try any chances. She jumped up and sliced the sphere in half. Both of appeared halves then were also sliced in half, each one. Resulting four also were sliced. And so on and so forth, until the sphere was sliced to 256 pieces. With horrible dying wail, sphere's remains crumbled to dust, which was quickly blown away by the wind. With that, 5th member of Oración Seis, codename Midnight, ceased to exist as his miserable soul has been banished from this world for good.
"Ugh…" With heavy sigh, Nelliel landed on the ground. Around her was a complete mess, the forest within about half a mile radius from this spot has been completely wrecked. "Victory…" She whispered to herself as she fell on knees and her Dragon Force wore off. Not that she was out of magic – she used several taxing spells, yes – but with her 'devour' ability she recovered a lot of extra mana, so by now her manapool was at least half-full. She also recovered a lot of physical stamina. But mentally she was quite worn out, thanks to long and pointless battle and Nirvana's negative influence.
Though, Nirvana's influence is no longer a concern – just like 'Charm' spell, or other mind-affecting magic – its weak point is 'awareness'. While she knows that she may be influenced – influence's efficiency will be drastically reduced. "Damn, what a troublesome mission…" Nelliel swore as she rose up on her feet. Midnight may be killed, but threat is not over yet – there's still one member of Oración Seis remains, and that only if to consider that Brain and Zero actually is the same person… As she sighed again – Nelliel again ran after Nirvana, she really couldn't care less about those dark guild mages, whose memories she drained.
December 11, X784, 22:10, Nirvana.
Here, just beneath the summit of Nirvana's tallest building, the so-called King's Tower, which was located right in the middle of the ancient city, was some sort of a control room. A man was standing here alone, watching ahead. His appearance was quite similar to that of a Brain, but with a few differences. His hair was wavier, his eyes were blood red, his skin was of a much paler color, as his outfit seemed as a military officer's outfit of some sort. And this man seemed quite full of himself, as he was looking into control room's window with insolent, arrogant and indifferent sneer. He was the master of Oración Seis guild, and Brains alternate personality – Zero.
However, in the next moment, his face's expression changed as he looked around, as if trying to look through the wall. Zero even seemed surprised a bit, "Midnight… was defeated again?" He asked, seemingly talking to himself. "There still was someone strong enough to defeat even that monstrosity? Ahahaha!" He suddenly laughed, "Then it means that fun isn't over yet!" Seemingly, somehow, he knew that Midnight not only used Nirwana's powers, permanently turning himself into a clockwork doll, he also knew that Midnight has thrown away his humanoid form. Yet he still has been defeated.
Suddenly, he felt someone's presence behind himself, in the shadows, near the wall. "You're the last one," A newcomer said. According to her voice, that was the same mysterious woman who tried to use some vile illusions on Natsu in attempt to entrap his mind. "I will not tolerate failure, not when I'm so close!" She announced.
"Don't worry, mistress of Nirvana, we're almost there," Zero replied. His voice sounded calm, but when he was talking, facing away from mysterious woman, his face actually was distorted with disgust. Seemingly, he really hated to follow someone's orders. But for now, he has to obey. "When time's come, I'll personally head out there and deal with those maggots. I may be the last one, but also the most terrible one…"
Woman didn't reply anything, she just remained standing there, in the shadows, watching ahead. She also was eager to arrive at their destination, wherever it actually is…
December 11, X784, 21:11, On approach to northwestern mountain ridge.
(With Erza and Sin)
Since Nelliel has stuck in a long battle, Sin and Erza overtook her a while ago. However, at one moment, both of them stopped and looked behind. Even from more than twenty miles away, they could see a huge magical seal in the air. Seal disappeared in about five seconds, but few moments later they both felt something – it wasn't toward some specific direction though, in contrary, they felt that the dark presence all around them became slightly weaker.
"Sin?" Erza asked.
"Yes, even I felt it," Lil dragon replied. "She's a remarkable girl, after all," He nodded in approval. Both he and Erza have recognized that seal. "I guess she worked very hard after Natsu kicked her ass…" Boney creature thought aloud.
"That lanky girl has someone she wants to protect, with all her heart… as do I," Erza said, turned around and ran after Nirvana with renewed vigor, eyes of she-dragon already could see its silhouette in the distance.
(With Ichiya)
The so-called 'Ace' of the Blue Pegasus guild opened his eyes. "Men?" He looked around in great confusion. His hands and legs were still tied to the wooden balk, as if he's a pig, prepared to be roasted. "What place is this supposed to be?!" He screamed as he looked around, "Heeey! Where did those uppity brats go?!" The balk, to which he was tied, was hanging on a stalagmite-like formation, that was protruding from the very top of some weird-looking, conical building, which seemingly was an ancient-designed apartment building. He currently was about 400 feet above the ground level. But, worst of all, that ground level wasn't on the earth's surface, but rather, on some huge, moving platform. "What's going on?! Meeeeeen!" He screamed in panic, desperately calling for his teammates. It is almost impossible to tell how he appeared where he is now, but, more importantly, no one seems to care about his presence 'aboard' Nirvana, neither Zero and his mysterious mistress, nor the alliance team.
(With Wendy and Carla)
"Wendy… I'm sorry…" Carla croaked, breathing heavily; it was impossible to see it due to she-cat's fur, but actually she was sweating all over, "I can't fly on any longer…" And as she said that, her magical wings started blinking, gradually fading away – her mana has gone dry.
"Carla! I told you to not push yourself!" Wendy exclaimed as she saw her feline partner's wings disappearing, "Get to the ground quickly!" But Wendy's plea came too late as Carla's wings disappeared and both of them started to fall on the ground. Wendy grabbed Carla and prepared for a very hard landing, but suddenly, a big palm made of earth appeared in mid-air, right beneath Wendy and Carla, and caught them. Wendy even had no time to get surprised as earthly palm moved her somewhere, and in no time, she found herself standing on some sort of a transport, with several other people aboard.
"Wendy-dono, are you alright?" A man's deep voice asked.
"Y… yes… I think so…" A blue-haired girl replied uncertainly, staring at one of the Ten Wizards Saints, who just saved her and Carla. "Ah!?" She suddenly yelped as she realized what just happened, "J… Jura-san!?" Skymaiden perplexedly looked around, only to see that now she's riding on some sort of a transport. Except for Natsu, Erza, Sin, Luc(y)iferona, Nelliel and Ichiya, all the alliance's team members were here.
From aside, that transport, on which Wendy and others were riding now, seemed like a manta made of ice. In fact, that was a joint creation of Lyon and Gray, utilizing their Aisu Meiku [Ice-Make] magic. That construct has been further strengthened with Jura's Tsuchi Kei Kakushu [Erath-Shaping] magic, as he created a frame made of solid earth. To allow that construct to fly, Sherry and Ren were using their Ningyōgeki [Doll Attack] and Kūki [Airfield] magics, respectively. And finally, Mirajane was using her Yami [Darkness] magic while Eve was using his Yuki [Snow] magic to provide propulsion.
"Wow!" Wendy exhaled in amazement, looking at everyone working together to make this artificial manta to chase after Nirvana. But then she remembered something very important, "Everybody, we've got trouble! That Nirvana city… it may be heading for our guild!"
"Yeah, we've figured that out," Gray noted as he looked back at Wendy, "But aside from that, we know nothing…"
"You've got any ideas, Wendy-chan, Carla-chan?" Hibiki asked, who, by the way, was the only one not doing anything, due to specificity of his Ākaibu [Archive] magic.
Wendy just shook her head, but Carla, still being held in sky sorceress arms, spoke out her concerns, "No idea, aside from our guild master's idiotic drinking habits, there's nothing remarkable about Cait Shelter…"
"Then I guess we have no choice but to storm that city and ask the one who's controlling it…" Mirajane pronounced through clenched teeth.
As she said that, all other people aboard the ice manta fell in silence, until Sherry's moan gained Wendy's attention as entire flying construct jolted. "Ugh… sorry, everyone…" Sherry apologized, "I've never tried to manipulate… anything for this long… but I still can hold on…"
As she heard that, Wendy looked around one more time and noticed that almost everyone aboard, aside from Jura and Hibiki, are panting and sweating all over.
"It is difficult… to keep this thing's form for so long…" Leon mumbled as his face was cowered with sweat.
"I… it's not like this is heavy or anything…" Ren growled with efforts, holding his left arm with his right, forcing himself to continue channeling his magic.
"My magic… has not been used up yet…" Eve said but Wendy noticed that his knees are trebling.
'Of course! All of them have endured several battles and rested only for hour or so, there's no way any of them could get enough time to recover their stamina!' Wendy thought as she trembled and tears swelled in her eyes.
"Wendy-chan, don't worry," Hibiki said as he ruffled her hair. When he saw a change in Wendy's mood, he hastened to console her, "Believe in your allies, together we are strong enough to stop Nirvana! Just wait and save your mana, there may be people in need of help…"
But Wendy just shook her head and smiled, wiping off her tears, "No, I can't just sit idle while others are working so hard to save my and Carlas' guild," She said as she got an inspiration of sort. "My mana is full right now, I can help!" Skymaiden announced as she raised her right arm and chanted a spell, "O fresh air that fills the heavens… Daini no Fū! [Second Wind]" She created a sky-blue power seal above her head, as the same-colored light engulfed everyone aboard, including Carla.
"Oh!?" "Um?!" "Wha?!" Several people exclaimed in unison as their exhaustion suddenly backed off. Everyone looked back at Wendy, who just smiled shyly.
"Wendy Marvell, huh?" Leon mumbled.
"She really is a little marvel, after all," Gray nodded.
December 11, X784, 21:20, Nirvana.
Among all the members of the alliance team, the only one who was completely unaware about rather dramatic events, involving Nirvana, that transpired within the last hour, was Natsu. No, of course he knew that there's something going on around here, but he had no way of knowing any details, as he still was locked inside of that spherical prison. That mysterious person, who tried to subdue his mind using some illusions, also stopped her attempts, so now he was just floating inside of that spherical prison, all alone.
When he has been captured, his magical prothesis, that replaced his left arm, was destroyed (or simply thrown away), so now he was holding Gladius Terminus with his only remaining hand. Since he was always using his right hand to write in his notepad, including times when he was at the guildhall, almost everyone in the guild was certain that he's a righthander. Only Erza and Sin were aware that actually it was some sort of a quasi-ambidextria that Natsu developed since the time when his left arm was mutilated and he started to wear a glove – it was simply uncomfortable to write with the glove put on. In fact, Natsu was a lefthander, and since his main hand has been lost, the strength and precision of his sword attacks has been reduced, especially of those techniques that require two hands.
*Clank!* The Gladius Terminus clanged as it bounced off from the sphere's surface. No, of course Natsu knew that it will happen, he wasn't so naïve to think that he will be able to break it with a simple sword strike. He just wanted to test the properties of that glass-like material, of which his spherical prison was made of. "So resilient…" He mumbled. "Okay, let's try this, then," He continued to talk to himself as he charged Gladius Terminus with his magic and raised it to make another hit. But when Natsu swung the sword, intending to hit the glass-like wall again, Gladius Terminus abruptly changed its trajectory, ignoring Natsu's intentions, and plunged itself into God slayer's chest, right through his solar plexus.
"Gah!" Natsu coughed as his eyes widened in shock when he looked his chest, pierced with his own sword. But, despite that the sword entered his chest up to the very hilt, not a single drop of Natsu's blood was spilt. That was because Gladius Terminus pierced not his body, but his soul. Natsu's conscious quickly faded as everything around him went black.
Time and location unknown.
As Natsu regained his senses, he found himself in a completely different place. He looked around, only to learn that now he's at some village's outskirts. On the background, almost everywhere around him, were groups of men and women, armed to the teeth, which were shouting and screaming, fighting between themselves and not giving Natsu any attention. Finally, as if to complete this weird world's image, the god slayer noticed two dark moons on completely crimson, starless sky.
However, the god slayer had no time to examine his surroundings closely as someone appeared right in front of him. That was a woman, who was wearing a black shirt and shorts, chainmail gloves, elbow pads, knee pads and boots. The upper part of her chest and shoulders also were protected with the chainmail armor. Her eyes were glowing with crimson light and her long and beautiful, luxury, salmon-colored hairs were waving in the wind.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Natsu asked coldly, looking at the woman in front of him. Of course, that wasn't Natsu's mother, and he himself was well aware of that. As an indestructible-grade sacred artifact, Gladius Terminus has its own consciousness, and right now Natsu was looking at his own sword's mental body, that simply took shape of its previous owner.
"I'm challenging you," Gladius Terminus replied simply, without any emotions. Its voice sounded similar to Morrigan's, but with some high, metallic notes. That answer was rather short, but for Natsu it was more than enough to understand the sword's intentions. Seemingly, for some reason, the sacred artifact was dissatisfied with his current owner, i.e. Natsu, and rebelled against him. The world around them now is the sword's consciousness, in other words, when Gladius Terminus pierced Natsu's soul, it dragged him into the world of its own will. Natsu knew about several cases when powerful and proud sacred artifacts have rebelled against his owners. According to those stories, if he'll lose here now, his soul will be either enslaved or, more likely, thrown out of his body and artifact's consciousness will possess it instead. A bleak prospect, to put it mildly.
"You think you're up to the task?" Natsu wondered, still looking at the sword's mental body.
"I admit, even crippled, you're still strong enough," Gladius Terminus replied, to Natsu's surprise, he actually didn't expect the answer. "Because of that, I've taken a liberty in recruiting some help…" Sword added, as it raised its hand, revealing a sphere three inches in diameter, made of blue energy. Gladius Terminus released the sphere, and it quickly solidified, taking a shape of a human. And to Natsu's surprise (quite unpleasant), he recognized the man with navy-blue hair and a mark on his right eye. That was none other than Jellal.
"It's been a while, scum," Blue-haired young man greeted Natsu with all the scorn he could muster.
"Even in such a way?" Natsu looked at the sword's mental body, ignoring Jellal. "You've been planning it for a while, are you?" He asked. In those stories that Natsu did hear/read, some sacred artifacts were openly rebelling against their owners, refusing to follow their will. But Gladius Terminus was different, that sword appeared to be exceptionally perfidious and cunning. All that time it obediently followed Natsu, waiting for him to weaken. But not only that, the sword went as far as to steal Jellal's soul when Erza used it to kill her nemesis. It also somehow managed to hide the stolen soul from Natsu's heavenly eyes. "You do understand that you won't get anything even if this one will succeed in taking over my body?" Natsu inquired as he looked at Jellal.
"I don't need anything," Blue-haired young man smiled maliciously. "I am already dead, my dream will never come true. But if you'll perish, then that ugly bitch will be sobbing desperately, maybe she'll even go mad. That will quench my hatred a bit, before I depart to the netherworld. More than a good reason to help anyone who wants to kill you…"
As he heard Jellal's acid words, Natsu didn't show any emotions, he seemed calm as ever. "So, it seems that even after you demise you haven't repented of what you have done, you still believe in your cause… that actually makes me to respect you a bit, believe it or not… but nothing more than that," God slayer spoke out. Then he looked back at Gladius Terminus, "So, with what I've displeased you so much that you went so far as to not only rebel against me, but also to steal a soul of a mortal, who foolishly interfered with the affairs of higher powers, which are far beyond his comprehension?"
Jellal clenched his teeth as he heard Natsu's arrogant question, but God slayer ignored him. Again, he actually did not expect the Gladius Terminus to answer his question, but it actually did.
"Too little…" The sword said emotionlessly. "Too little blood, too few deaths… My blade became completely dry long ago… I am the Sword of the End… My purpose is to end things… End lives… End nations… End worlds… You're useless… You are unworthy of wielding me… I'll personally end you… And then I'll use your body to personally ask my previous owner… I'll ask her why I ended up in hands of someone such as you…"
"I see…" Natsu mumbled. "So, in a general way, you two want to banish my soul from my body, to make my spouse suffer, and to harm Okā-sama… I see…" He repeated. God slayer doesn't seem angered or mad, instead, a satanic smile beamed on his face. "If that's the case, then you more than deserved what is going to happen with both of you." As he said that, a crimson energy formed a left hand, in place of an artificial one that he lost. The hand looked pretty solid, almost as if this one is real.
"But you made a mistake," Natsu noted as his devilish smile became even wider. "If you would've challenged me in a physical world, it'd not been easy for me to defend myself. But here, in the world of will – magical reserves, physical condition – all those things are meaningless here. Only power of one's mind has the meaning here. Ahahaha…" Natsu laughed joylessly. "Seriously, challenging me for a battle of wits… that's the most foolish thing anyone could do… If it's a battle of wits, I won't lose even to Okā-sama!" Natsu declared, "Let alone two weak-minded degenerates such as you…"
"Enough talking!" Jellal bellowed, infuriated with Natsu's arrogance, white-yellow light engulfed his body as he activated his Tentai [Heavenly Body] magic (of course he lost access to Procellion's powers).
Gladius Terminus took its original shape, and now it looked like a katana, which was floating in the air by itself.
"Agree," Natsu's eyes glowed as his body elicited a bright flash of crimson light. Almost instantly, a headless horsewoman riding a bicorn, both made of crimson energy, appeared out of nowhere. Both were clad in plate armor, as a headless horsewoman (dullahan) was holding a jousting spear in her right arm, and her helmet (head?) in left one.
Another flash, and 30 feet-tall skeletal being, wearing a hooded loose overall, and holding the giant scythe, appeared beside Natsu.
"But you know what the most funny thing is?" Natsu asked, as another, manticore-like monster, made of crimson energy, appeared beside him. "I bet you didn't know that there actually was a seal on my soul, did you? The seal that Okā-sama has put on me, when, while I was still very young, Otō-sama's power began to manifest itself. Back then, my body just couldn't handle Okā-sama's and Otō-sama's heritages at the same time."
Initially, the seal have had to dissipate by itself at Natsu's 15th birthday. However, about one year prior to that day, he got himself into a big trouble while he was exploring The Tower of Din, when he almost died in the Chamber of the Damned. However, as he demonstrated miracles of improvisation, he used that seal to block the terrible curse that was devouring his flesh, sacrificing only half of his left arm in the process (and acquiring a familiar at the same time, who's advice greatly helped Natsu to stop the curse). But as a result, the seal became much stronger, because the curse now was literally dwelling inside of it (and inside of a mutilated part of his left arm). Back then, he actually had no idea how to remove that seal after all of that. But when Natsu's left arm exploded due to oversaturation, during his battle against Laxus, the seal weakened significantly. And today, when Gladius Terminus betrayed Natsu and made its treacherous blow, it completely destroyed the seal…
"I'm not that old me, from four years ago," Natsu announced as fourth monster appeared beside him with another flash of crimson light. "Today, I'll wipe the two of you from existence, and use your remaining magic to subdue and incorporate all those powers that rightfully belong to me! C'mon, come at me!" Natsu spread his arms wide, as if inviting his enemies, "Give it your best shots!"
Names list:
Metsuryū Madōshi – Dragon Slayer
Jahō – Wicked Weave
Aisu Meiku – Ice-Make
Tsuchi Kei Kakushu – Erath-Shaping
Ningyōgeki – Doll Attack
Kūki – Airfield
Yami – Darkness
Yuki – Snow
Ākaibu – Archive
Daini no Fū – Second Wind
Yume Hyakutō – Dream Slicer
Gladius Terminus – Sword of the End
Astrum and Eclipsis – Star and Eclipse
Nelliel's spells:
Muryū no Hōkō – Dream Dragon's Roar
Muryū no Shōsen – Dream Dragon's Flash Attack
Shitsugeki: Sōyōhōshi – Deathblow: Blossom Collapse
Yume no Gazō – Dream Image
Ryū no Chikara – Dragon Force
Muryū no Sokusui – Dream Dragon Breath
Shitsugeki: Kaishōgiri – Deathblow: Starfish Slash
Muryū no Muyoku – Dream Dragon's Netherwings
Shitsugeki: Hokutōgiri – Deathblow: Ursa Major Slash
And this is it people! See you soon! Don't forget to write a review!