Hello, everyone! One Half's here again!
Well, even though it is pretty difficult to get back on track after holydays, it seems I've made it somehow. I had to rewrite large sections of this chapter several times, but now I thing I've achieved a more or less acceptable outcome.
Answers for the reviewers:
RebelTreecko: Agree, there are always things in the past that we'd like to change, yet we have to work with present.
RKingQway: Honestly, I have no idea what for the original Edolas arc was needed at all.
Rajo: My answers to you are in PM, here I'll just say that I hope your Christmas/New Year holydays went well!
FanFictionHunter: To be honest, the very idea of multiverse, be it a scientific conception (like in physics) or an artistic conception, seems unconvincing to me, not to mention it unfitting for my story.
shubhankarupadhyay20: Hey, I also want to have some rest during holydays, you know? And here's an update!
By the way, some people were asking why I'm writing these omakes. Honestly, I think it's obvious – to better explain characters' motivations, and why their behavior is changing, comparing to canonical story.
I hope I didn't forget anyone (or anything). Now, let's proceed, good reading!
Omake – The True Princess
…
Flashback, March 3, X785, 23:25, SIR.
A few hours after Erza returned from that trip with other girls to the lake filled with yin-attuned ethernano. She just entered the SIR with Nelliel (who went to check on Haru, who just began refining his new flame essence), Lucy and Mirajane. Lucy went to darkness zone and Mirajane went to void zone, but Erza stayed in host zone as she had to think of something. She was equally interested in understanding the nature of her flame essence and of her heart of metal, so she had to choose between fire zone and metal zone. As she was deciding on where to go, she was wandering around the main building in host zone.
It is an important place, where, for instance, members of Shinryō no Setsuma are residing – since their real bodies are in Arx Tenebris, they are not affected by SIR's side effects. And since they are spending here a lot of time, Natsu allowed them to decorate this place to make it more 'cozy', as Lakshmee claimed.
And as Erza walked by, one of those decorations attracted her attention. It was a pretty large photo of a young woman, which seemingly was magically enhanced, as, even though the photo image was static, the lady seemed as if she's alive.
As for the young lady herself – to say that she's magnificently beautiful is to say nothing – her appearance was breathtaking. It was a pale skinned girl with hip-length silver hair that has bangs hanging over her face where it mostly hangs over on the right side, and clear, sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a black jacket-like trench coat, with a white button-up shirt and black skirt. She is also wearing a red pendant gemstone with light-blue ribbons, possibly indicating her royalty status. She also has golden chains looped around her left shoulder. Somehow, the colorization pattern of her clothes was resembling the color scheme of Natsu's coat – overall black with golden elements.
Erza was examining the photo with narrowed eyes – even though this building was a residence of Shinryō no Setsuma, she didn't like the idea of Natsu being able to look at this photo even accidentally. "Erza-sama, does something troubles you?" A gentle voice sounded from aside. Erza looked that way and saw a lady with three pairs of snow-white wings – Lakshmee Surtros, a demon-asmodian, number two of Shinryō no Setsuma, and another source of irritation for Erza. Not that she had something against Lakshmee personally – Erza dislikes beautiful women, who are constantly hanging around Natsu, in general. Though, for Natsu's sake, Erza was keeping her negative (and irrational) feelings at bay.
"Who is this?" Erza asked as she again looked at the photo.
"Huh?" Lakshmee also looked at that photo. "Ah, this is Her Majesty Crown Princess Ophelia Áine Rivetvein, the Goddess of Medicine and Blessings, and a primary candidate to become the next leader of the Rivetvein clan, one of branch clans of clan Bloodfallen," Six-winged devil explained, "Also, she's Natsu-sama's second cousin."
"What?!" Erza jumped in surprise as she looked at Lakshmee with widened eyes, "Natsu has a cousin!?"
Lakshmee looked at Erza in confusion, but then a smile beamed on her face as she realized the situation. "Ara ara…" She giggled, covering her mouth with her palm, "Natsu-sama can be a bit absent-minded sometimes… though, no, excuse me – it's not absent-mindedness, it's just that such things are self-evident for him."
"What do you mean?" Erza inquired.
Lakshmee smiled again, "You see, clan Bloodfallen is one of eight elder clans of Western Pantheon, and since High Lady Morrigan-sama is the current leader of the Bloodfallen clan, Natsu-sama probably considers only her as an important person in entire clan. Maybe, due to this, he never told you about his other relatives… I won't be surprised if I'd learn that he actually doesn't remember their names…" Six-winged demon giggled again. "But in fact, Morrigan-sama has a younger brother and two cousins, who are belong to different branch clans, and all of them also have children on their own. When you've married Natsu-sama, you've actually joined a very large family, my lady," She explained.
Fortunately, Lakshmee was reasonable and tactful enough to not mention in front of Natsu's wife that some people were viewing that 1227 years old girl on the photo as a potential bride for Crown Prince of clan Bloodfallen. Being so young she still has a good chance to acquire third domain and become a Great Goddess, and in gods' clans age difference lesser than 5000 years is considered negligible… Though, now all such talks became an irrelevant demagogy, as Natsu is considered MIA in the outside world, only the selected few knows of his real status and whereabouts.
"Natsu!" Erza moaned in anguish as she covered her face with both hands in double facepalm. Apparently, Erza just got a few questions to her husband, mostly about his sense of reason. Seeing this, Lakshmee decided to leave Erza alone and quietly left, still smiling.
That was a truth, though – Natsu really never mentioned anyone from his family, aside from his mother, and, sometimes, his father, though, latter doesn't belong to clan Bloodfallen. Besides, partly it was Erza's fault as well as she herself actually never asked about Natsu's other relatives. Well, she was an orphan, so family's matters were a bit of a slippery topic for her. Of course all that situation may be described as extremely weird, but that's how it is…
A minute later, Erza somehow managed to tear off her palms from her face. Being left all alone, she again looked at the photo. She couldn't help it as she involuntarily compared herself with the beautiful goddess-girl. Obviously, in terms of raw beauty – like face features and body proportions – Erza won't lose to her, as she won't lose to anyone. But in terms of demeanor…
That photo was just a static picture, but even just that was enough to realize – this young lady is a top-tier royalty. Her serene sight, her regal bearing, her gentle smile, her faultless sense of style…
Erza tightly clenched her fists – that photo made her to realize an important thing. Sooner or later she and Natsu will leave the Magicscar Triangle – about that she has no doubts. And of course, Natsu will bring her to his clan. To the place where this girl is, this one and many other like her – educated and erudite, the true royalty with noble blood and perfect upbringing. Comparing to them, Erza will look like a country bumpkin, because she actually is a country bumpkin, no matter how painful it is to admit such a fact.
Power? That girl on the photo – she's a full-fledged goddess, and her title means that she already has two domains, which, in turn, means that she definitely doesn't lack power or talent – she's a true prodigy. Beauty? No matter how you look at her – this girl possesses an astounding beauty. And, no doubts, there are more like her out there…
Power and beauty aren't enough to be a true princess. And if she doesn't want to disgrace both Natsu and herself – she must learn to behave like a true princess, to speak like a true princess – to be a true princess – to be the one fitting the position of Crown Prince's consort…
Learning proper manners and etiquette, fixing a huge number of holes in her education – that will be the most challenging thing Erza ever attempted, that will be much more difficult than learning any spell or sword combat style… but, naturally, she has no choice…
Flashback end.
Chapter XXXXIII – The Domain of Ruin
…
Edolas, Time +12:00, Port city of Sycca.
Two hours after they've split up, team again has gathered in the hotel to share and discuss their findings. Natsu didn't find anything particularly interesting, however, he learned an important thing – people of Edolas do support their king and his course of actions. As much as Natsu could tell – the king's approval rating was about 85 - 90%, which is an immense level of support. Whilst Natsu was hanging around the port he didn't, not even once, heard someone disapproving the act of stealing magic from 'another world' – those who were against king's actions were simply afraid of something going wrong – they weren't against the act of stealing magic itself. And yeah, local seemed more or less aware of that 'stealing and extracting magic' essentially means mass murder, yet Natsu didn't hear concerns about that…
Sin reported about his dialogue with local version of Gajeel, and how he explained the situation to the opposition journalist. Natsu agreed that such a find must not be underestimated. Edo-Gajeel went to the capital immediately after he spoke to Sin.
And Erza reported what she has learned about this world's recent history, as well as about the strange girl she saw outside the city. Of course she didn't mention her whimsical thought about that person being Natsu's counterpart as Erza couldn't explain even to herself why she thought so… Was it an intuition of sort?
"Very well, I think we've learned all that we need – it's time to depart to the capital," Natsu concluded. "Where's the girl, another Lucy?" He asked his wife.
"She ran off when we were on our way back here, claiming that she has to discuss something with her guild," Erza replied, "I saw no reason to stop her."
"Whatever," Sin waved his palm, he was still in humanoid form.
"Agree, for now we have no use for her," Natsu nodded, "C'mon, our time is running out, let's go!"
Edolas, Time +12:35, Port city of Sycca.
Just as the team left the hotel and appeared on one of Sycca's streets, they saw a relatively large flying vehicle – an armored airship. Apparently, it just took off, and now the airship was heading to the east – most likely its destination is the royal capital.
"Erza, shoot it down," Natsu ordered, not even looking at the airship.
"As you wish," She-dragon replied imperturbably. One of her swords appeared in her hand, and she threw it towards the airship. The sword flew forth at an astounding speed, spinning like a circular saw blade, and cut off one of airship's engines, then turned around in mid-air and cut off the remaining engine, before returning to Erza's hand. Being deprived of propulsion, the airship crashed into the sea from about 700 feet height.
"I want communications between western and eastern island being cut off," Natsu explained his plan, "Sin, destroy the port, make sure that all off the ships are sunk," God of ruin ordered, "I'll take care of the landing pad and remaining airships."
"Alright," Sin nodded. He jumped up and appeared on the roof of the highest building in the vicinity. "Absolute Zero Bomb!" Sin made a large sphere, made of blue energy, and threw it towards the port. The sphere collided with seawater and exploded, turning into a huge cloud of blue dust. As blue dust began to sink into the water, it caused a rapid icing-up, as water began to freeze. The rapidly appearing huge mass of ice wrecked all moorings and port terminals, port equipment and service buildings. Also, all ships in the port, none of which was built to withstand the ice pressure, were crushed between ice blocks.
In the meantime, Natsu turned to the airships landing pad – it was pretty close, so he even had no need to take the higher ground. "Thunder Gates!" Natsu knelt and placed his palms on the ground, sending his power through it, and thousands of swords-like, dark blue lightnings appeared from the ground, wrecking and destroying everything on surface. The landing pad, and two airships on it, which probably were awaiting the crew and cargo, were completely annihilated by a massive explosion, probably caused by a magical fuel, stored abord the airships.
"KYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The passersby began to scream and run away in panic. Due to swiftness of Natsu team's actions, people around didn't immediately realize what's going on, but in a few moments, as port and landing pad were destroyed, the citizens of Sicca finally realized that their city is under attack.
Natsu ignored those people – with communications with this city being cut off (or at least greatly hindered) these passersby are of no interest for him anymore.
Sin and Erza approached Natsu. "Are we good to go now?" Familiar asked.
"Yes," Natsu nodded.
"Natsu," Erza calmly addressed her husband, "I appreciate the gesture, but there's really no need to give me 'less bloody' tasks." Obviously Natsu asked her to bring down the airship because there were only soldiers aboard, besides, most of them probably did survive the crash as airship was at a relatively low altitude. His own and Sin's actions definitely had much more victims, including several civilians, of course. The real war is ugly and cruel, and, maybe subconsciously, Natsu wanted to shield his beloved one from it… but Erza didn't want that. She definitely isn't a fool – she knew what she's signing for when she married Natsu – Erza knew that his life won't be peaceful, and she made that choice consciously. Yes, she has a strong sense of justice, and harming civilians probably is unjust, even in this situation, but… saving Fairy Tail is more important. In addition, just as Natsu mentioned – almost all citizens of the Edolas kingdom strongly support their king and his plans, which are, essentially, a mass murder of Fairy Tail mages and citizens of Magnolia. As such, maybe the real war is the true justice those people deserve… Erza just shook her head – such extreme philosophy never was her forte. "I will do whatever I have to, just as I swore at our wedding. For better or for worse, in this life – I'm with you, to the sweet or to the bitter end," She proclaimed, looking into Natsu's eyes.
Natsu was really touched by his loyal spouse's words, but before he could think of any reply, Sin interfered. "Is there really a need to be so theatrical, you, Star Drama Queen?" He asked caustically.
As such, instead of replying anything, Natsu was forced to embrace his wife, to not let her pounce on Sin, who perfectly ruined such a moment, as by now Erza's only wish was to tear the insolent familiar apart with her bare hands.
'Seriously man, I really appreciate your attempts to improve your relationships with Erza, but this is not working, think of something else,' Telepathic message sounded in Sin's head as with his real voice Natsu whispered to his wife, "I love you." That was a really touching moment, especially with the burning remains of a landing pad and two airships on the background.
All the passersby already ran away, and most of this city's soldiers have been neutralized together with the airship launchpad and a shot downed airship. It's time to head to the capital. "Let's move out!" Natsu ordered as he jumped on his sword. Sin assumed his little skeletal creature form, picked up Erza and followed Natsu as trio headed to the royal capital. When they've gained a certain altitude, Natsu swung his left arm, making a swarm of firefly-like insects, made of his wicked weave power. Natsu was making such insects on regular basis – their task is to guide Lucy and Mirajane to him when they'll enter this "world".
Edolas, Time +14:40, Royal capital of Edolas.
Right now, it was a late morning, probably local time was nearing noon. What's interesting about Edolas' day/night cycle is that there is no Sun in the sky – neither during day, nor during night. Apparently, the sky itself was glowing with alternating intensity, emulating the day/night cycle. Usually, in large Spheres of Inverted Reflections, where internal time is synchronized with the outside world, there are system that projects the light from the real suns into SIR, thus copying the day/night cycle from the outside world. Sky dome with alternating glowing intensity is a cheap alternative to more complex projection system.
Day/night cycle in this SIR (the 'world' of Edolas) has about the same length as in the outside world, however, locals are using… an unorthodox time format. Day in Edolas consists of 100 hours, and each hour consists of 1000 seconds, and there are no minutes. Due to this, one second here is a bit shorter than in outside world. Natsu had to admit that there is some pragmatic beauty in such system, but now, it seemed pretty confusing. For example, the current local time was 49h 694s… Well, it seems like local time 50h 000s is equal to Earth Land's 12:00 (in 24h format). There was a large clock on one of castle's tower – but for non-locals it was nearly impossible to understand what exactly that clock (with seven clock hands) is showing…
Natsu, Erza and Sin have arrived to the capital city without anything remarkable on their way. Using Sin's spell to suppress their presence (the one that makes them 'uninteresting'), the team simply flew over the city wall and got into the capital without any issues.
The royal capital seemed completely different, comparing to Sicca. The port town seemed… normal, there were a lot of people being busy with their daily routines, and town's overall design seemed pretty modest. But here…
There were different shops, cafés and restaurants almost everywhere. Glowing words, composed of floating magical letters, could be seen all around the street. Buildings here seemed pretty luxury, and here were even buildings, which were floating in the air. Local people seemed quite relaxed and cheerful, they were wearing pretty decent clothes (most clothes design was of an early steam age). Apparently, even 'commoners' in this city actually belong to middle and above social classes.
"What's with this place?" Erza asked as she was looking at 'holographic' image of a chibi dragon (half-transparent image of course was made using magic). Due to large number of entertainers here, even Erza's flashy appearance didn't seem so uncommon, so no one from the team had to wear hooded cloaks to hide their appearance, even without Sin's spell.
"It's certainly surprising," Sin shook his head (he was in humanoid form again).
"Local Fairy Tail members were saying that this country is under a dictatorship, so I was expecting the capital to be way more run-down. I was expecting to see guards everywhere," Natsu noted.
"And we got into the city with no trouble at all, there was a minimal number of guards on the city wall," Sin agreed.
"It's really different from Sycca," Erza added. "Entire city is like an amusement park."
"They steal magic power and amass it all in this royal capital," Sin nodded, "They made this place into an amusement city to gain popularity among the citizens."
"What a repulsive kingdom," Erza snorted.
"Don't worry," Natsu smiled eerily, "The happier they are now – the louder will be their screams when we'll turn their happiness into nightmare…"
"Hmm?" Erza suddenly stopped as she looked to the right, "I hear a lot of excited voices from over there," She pointed that way, "There's some sort of commotion over there, I think we should take a look."
"Alright," Natsu shrugged and team headed along the street, towards the place Erza pointed at. In a few moments, the team appeared at the edge of a large square, which was filled with people to the brim.
"Are they holding a parade or something?" Sin wondered.
There were at least ten thousand people on the square, of all ages and both genders. The square was filled with cheerful and excited screams, and reason for all that commotion was in the middle of the square… Yes, it was a large, no, huge lacrima crystal. The crystal was about 90 feet in height and 80 feet in radius. It was surrounded with armed guards, and in front of it a high tribune has been installed.
"A lacrima?!" Erza exclaimed as she looked at the crystal, "Don't tell me this is… all the people of magnolia?!"
"No," Natsu shook his head. "I mean – it's definitely the lacrima, but that's not all of it," He added.
"Look at its edges – it seems like this crystal was cut out of a much larger crystalline formation, using some crude instruments," Sin commented.
"Besides, I can see only two souls inside," Natsu noted. "They seem blurry to me, apparently due to lacrima's influence, so I can't say whose souls are those, exactly…"
"Such a massive crystal with only two people's magic?" Erza wondered.
"Well, we don't know the rules of such transformation – maybe such a size is normal for two people… or, more likely, those two are among the strongest mages of our guild," Sin speculated. He considered second option to be more likely because, if such a size is normal for any two people, then the main lacrima should be about 30 000 bigger, which means it should be more than 500 miles in height – such a thing would've been hard to miss, to put it mildly. "Maybe those two are master Makarov and Gildartz, or some other people with good potential, like Gray or Gajeel…" Familiar speculated.
"But… where is the rest of lacrima can be?" Erza wondered.
"There…" Natsu pointed upward, toward northern sector in the skies. Erza and Sin traced Natsu's sight and saw a huge floating island with massive lakrima on it. Inside of that lacrima Natsu's eyes could see a massive cluster of souls, being held inside.
In the meantime, the cheerful screams of people on the square became even louder, and that distracted Natsu's team from examining the floating lacrima in the sky. The reason for that became obvious as someone appeared on the high tribune, which was standing in front of lacrima. A tall elderly man with a very long, wavy grayish-white hair, wearing a regal, yet little garish attire, which was brown in color, appeared on the tribune. On his head he was wearing a headgear, which was reminiscent of a rounded miter, decorated with the Kingdom of Edolas' coat of arms. In his right hand a man was holding a very long scepter, taller than the man himself. Scepter's plain, light pole ends in an intricately decorated part, with two large protrusions on its lower edge, mildly reminiscent of an axe's head, and a smaller pair on the upper part, each possessing two rings hanging from it. Judging by man's appearance and the reaction that his presence caused – Natsu's team came to an unequivocal conclusion – this is their main enemy – the king of Edolas.
As the king appeared on the tribune, Natsu was examining the crowd's reaction. People's cheering seemed completely sincere. Some were crying with the tears of joy. Others were standing, holding their arms in prayer posture. Probably saying that these people are not simply love but idolize their king won't be an exaggeration. Things here seemed much worse than they were in Sycca.
In the meantime, the king raised his arms, meaning that he wants to speak to his subjects, or rather, he wants to deliver a speech. Cheerful screams gradually quieted down and the king began to speak. "Children of Edolas! Our sacred kingdom of Edolas, through Anima, has produced ten years' worth of magic power!"
"Produced, huh?" Sin snorted, "This is how they call stealing and kidnapping?"
The king continued, "Together, let us sing! Let us laugh! Let us partake in this joy!"
"HOOOOORRRAAAAAYY!" The crowd exploded with joyful scream.
"The people of Edolas deserve to share this magic power, for they are the sacred race that will last into the future!" King announced. "We are the chosen! No one shall take magic power from our kingdom!"
"HOOOOORRRAAAAAYY!" The crowd again exploded with supporting cheer.
"Additionally, I pledge that we will obtain even greater magic power!" King proclaimed as he plunged his scepter's head right into the lacrima behind him, making a deep crack. "Magic power that will make this look like rubbish!" A few small pieces of lacrima fell on the ground…
Natsu glanced at Erza. To be honest, he was slightly afraid that she may do something hasty… but apparently, he's been mistaken. Her muscles seemed relaxed and her breathing was steady – in fact, it seemed as if she doesn't feel any fury at all. Though, because Erza was standing slightly ahead of him, Natsu didn't notice a smile on her face, which was becoming wider with every word, pronounced by the king.
"EDOLAS! EDOLAS! EDOLAS!" People on the square were chanting, as king was laughing like a madman.
"Well, I guess we've heard enough," She-dragon noted as she turned to her husband. "So, what's the plan?" She asked, and Natsu even jolted as he saw a smile on her face. No, rather, he jolted due to massive killing intent, perfectly hidden behind that kind and gentle smile. Actually, that intent looked so intense, as, if not for the current circumstances, it seemed that Erza would've gladly killed everyone on this square, not just the king.
'I guess that king should pray that any of us two would get our hand on him before she does…' Sin sent Natsu a telepathic message, seemingly he didn't dare to say that aloud.
'Yeah…' Natsu shook his head. Though, his wife's reaction was perfectly understandable. These people – they really do consider themselves sacred. They really do think that they are the chosen – and all means are good to satisfy not just their needs but even their whims. For them – it doesn't matter how much people from other places should suffer for their sake. In short, it appeared that this Kingdom of Edolas actually is a true Nazi state, no more no less. And if so, they shouldn't complain due to being treated as such.
'But, well, it actually plays in our favor,' Natsu thought to himself. Even a war has rules, and those rules says that innocent people should be left out of it whenever possible. However, due to current circumstances in this kingdom, no one here may be deemed innocent – which means that Natsu's plan is perfectly justified. "C'mon, let's go, I think I saw an entrance to the sewers not far from here, we need to get beneath the castle," God of Ruin announced. "You will learn what is a true nightmare in one's waking hours…" He added as he glanced at the cheering crowd for the last time.
Edolas, Time +15:25, Royal capital's underground passages.
Despite all the information that Natsu's team has gathered until now, there still was a very serious disadvantage they couldn't get rid of – they have no idea how to turn all the people of Magnolia, including Fairy Tail members, back to normal. Natsu, probably, could easily make a counterspell (or, rather, reverse spell), but for that he needs to see either the spell's formula or the process of casting (i.e., the magic seal). And since the kingdom already has that huge lacrima – it is quite unlikely that someone's going to cast that spell again in the nearest future. Besides, since locals don't have the ability to use magic by themselves, casting that Anima spell probably requires some techno-magical installation…
"I guess we need to devise an actual plan if we're going to change everyone back," Erza sighed, grimacing in disgust. It seems that she cooled down a bit, maybe an… unpleasant smell in these underground passages, which are, essentially, the sewers, has something to do with it, as she-dragon was especially sensitive to that stink.
"We need to learn who uses that spell," Sin replied, "I wonder if it is the king himself?"
"Even if the user isn't the king, he definitely knows who it is," Natsu noted, "Either way, we have to capture him alive and interrogate, before we'll give him what he deserves…"
"So, why we're in here then?" Erza wondered, covering her nose with her palm, "You think we can get inside the castle from these tunnels?"
"Sorry about that, my dear," Natsu apologized for that he dragged Erza into this stinky hole. "But this is the best course of actions I can think of, for now. That castle is pretty big, if we'll try to storm it openly, it will be a chaos inside, and with only three of us – we can easily miss that piece of shit they call the 'king'. To prevent that, I'm going to create chaos everywhere else, thus challenging the entire kingdom, not just the king himself. I'm going to threaten to squash his pride – with that he won't be able to even think of escaping," God of ruin explained his plan.
As they were talking, the team entered a large underground chamber, where several flows of sewers water were converging. "Are we beneath the castle?" Sin wondered.
"Maybe," Natsu shrugged, "But right now castle isn't really important, what I really need is the geometrical center of the city, and I'm sure this is the place."
"Wait a minute!" Sin looked at Natsu, "Don't tell me you actually want to do that?!"
"Oh, I'm certainly do," A wicked smile beamed on Natsu's face. Erza looked at him questioningly, so he explained, "I'm going to expand my domain over this city. Of course, since I'm not really strong yet, the city won't be ruined immediately – the process will be slow, but still quite painful for the citizens. I'll squish that feel of exclusiveness out of them, drop by drop…"
"You are a real sadist…" Sin shook his head.
"These aren't news at all!" Erza snorted, however, the way she said it allowed to suspect a presence of some hidden implication. Sin looked at her with narrowed eyes but didn't say anything.
Anyway, despite their caustic remarks, neither Sin nor Erza tried to suggest any alternative. "Drawing a domain seal will take a while, and it cannot be put on halt, so please, watch over this place," Natsu asked as he knelt and placed both of his palms on the ground as he began to draw the dark-blue seal.
Sin just shook his illusory head, but Erza grimaced and coughed several times – it seems she has to endure that smell for a while…
Edolas, Time +16:30, Royal capital's underground passages.
"That's a… remarkable seal," Sin noted as Natsu's seal was about 90% completed. Not that he saw a lot of examples, but still, he could say that just by looking at its complexity. Natsu's domain seal looked like an equilateral triangle (with very complex linear drawings inside), length of triangle's side was about 30 feet. Also, there were three circles, with triangle's vertexes as their centers, each circle had a 10 feet long diameter.
Each one of god's domains has its seal, and each seal is the unique one. They can look like squares, circles, hexagons, et cetera… And there are no matching domain seals in the world. Even if you take gods with the same domain (gods of war, for example) of the same pantheon from different generations, their domain seals may look completely different or somehow similar, but they'll never look exactly the same.
To complete his seal, Natsu only needed about five or six more minutes. However…
"We've got company," Erza said quietly. A lot of people were approaching Natsu team's position. They were trying to move silently, but against the dragon's hearing it was useless.
"Where from?" Sin asked.
"Coming from those two passages," Erza pointed in two different directions – to southwest and to the north.
As it was said – the process of drawing a domain seal may not be put on halt – if Natsu will be interrupted – he'll have to start again from the very beginning. And now Sin and Erza have only a few seconds to decide what to do.
First option – block the passages from where the enemies are coming from, either by collapsing them with Erza's magic or blocking them with Sin's power. It may work, but if the enemies are strong and reckless enough – they may try to break through the blockade, thus there's a risk that this entire chamber may collapse. Not the best outcome for sure.
Second option – attempt to hide their presence. That probably won't work as, first – enemies, most likely, already are in 'seeker' mode, and second – Natsu's seal is pretty flashy, so making him look 'uninteresting' is difficult.
Third option – play for time. Natsu needs only about three or four more minutes. And with proper instruments, that is probably the best course of actions. Fortunately, the Natsu's team do has proper instruments. "Mind Cloak!" Sin used another technique, which also belongs to Black Arts category, and which can be called more advanced version of previously used "Mind Haze". If the latter just passively reduces target's attractiveness and its ability to pick up others' interest, "mind cloak" actively redirects attention from one target to another. Natsu's body did glow with blue light for a moment, whilst Sin and Erza's bodies glowed with red. In current case, Sin targeted Natsu to redirect attention from him to Erza and himself. This should negate the fact that enemies are not simply patrolling but came here with explicit intention to find something or someone, as they are definitely going to find someone. The drawback of this spell, is that, as with other active-type sensory interference magic, the spell has a diminishing returns effect, i.e. the longer it works – the less effective it is. But it definitely should be enough for three or four minutes.
As magical preparations were completed, Sin and Erza stepped away from Natsu as far as they could to not affect the Sin spell's (and to not get into a situation with their backs against the wall).
Even before the Edolas soldiers came out from the passages, they did notice Erza and Sin. And as they did, some of them immediately shot several streams of some white-colored, sticky-looking substance, using their spears-like magical devices. However, before the suspicious substance made contact with Erza's body, she covered herself with a layer of plasma, greatly increasing the temperature around herself, and white substance ignited and turned to ash. Sin made the exact opposite – he lowered the temperature around himself to the extent that white stuff got frozen and crumbled to pieces.
"Ugh.." "Damn…" "Shit…" Several soldiers grunted as their attempt to seize the initiative and bind Sin and Erza failed. However, soldiers appeared to be well-trained and disciplined, as they didn't get startled by a minor failure. As they were coming from the passages, they began to surround the intruders. The ones that came out of the north passage surrounded Erza, those from the southwest passage – Sin. Here was quite a lot of them – two infantry companies, one per each passage – about 200 soldiers in total. Erza and Sin were calmly looking at their enemies – they were evaluating them, but not doing anything. Obviously, so many soldiers couldn't have come here just by themselves, and their leaders should appear in no time. And that was exactly what happened next.
"So, these are the Earth Land wizards?" Asked a female's voice, as the leader of a company that surrounded Erza appeared from the shadows. Voice so familiar yet completely unknown at the same time. A scarlet-haired woman, holding some sort of a magical spear with four blades, appeared from the passage. However, just as she came close enough and took a good look at her enemy, she froze on place as her eyes widened is shock. Certainly, Erza Knightwalker has heard rumors that "Earth Land's inhabitants actually are the counterparts of Edolas' inhabitants", but she has never seen one, until now. And who could have thought that first alive (non-lacrimaized) inhabitant of the Earth Land that she met would appear to be her own counterpart…
In this situation, with two of them being put one against another, it became obvious that Erza Bloodfallen and Erza Knightwalker actually do look quite different. Earth Land's variant of Erza had vivid, almost knee-long, fiery-red hair that looked like a waterfall made of liquid flame. Knightwalker's hair was shorter (barely reaching the middle of her back), of less vivid (a so-called 'rusty red') color. Knightwalker's eyes were brown and looked like normal human's eyes, whilst Earth Land Erza's eyes were silver and looked like lotus flowers (both irises and pupils). And of course, Knightwalker had no horns crowning her head and no scales covering some sections of her body. By the way, Erza Bloodfallen realized that she's going to face her own counterpart long before Erza Knightwalker did, as, first – she knew about counterparts for sure, and second – she can see in this dark environment much better than humans. "My my… What a pitiful sight…" She-dragon pronounced, "Is it really this world's version of me?"
"And I'm… surely hope… that this is NOT this world's me," Sin stuttered a bit. His opponent was a muscular, blonde guy, who was wearing quite a feminine pink plate armor, with tights and elbows being exposed, and a white cloak. His appearance and his moves were like screaming that this guy is a total freak.
"Do you want to switch?" Erza asked Sin, maintaining a neutral face expression, "I don't like this girl – she reminds me about pretty grim pages of my own life." True to her words, Erza Knightwalker looked almost like Erza Scarlet from about two years ago (back then she was still wearing her maiden's name, which wasn't even real), just before she and Natsu started dating. Back then Erza's life wasn't filled with happiness at all.
"Nah, we're not going to stick with these creeps for too long to bother," Sin shrugged. In the meantime, soldiers that surrounded the familiar once again attempted to capture him, using that sticky, resin-like material. Probably they (or their leader, Sugarboy), thought that if they'll use their equipment from closer distance and with more men, they may succeed. But their attempt has been proved useless, of course, as that sticky thing again got frozen and crumbled before it could reach Sin. Soldiers, which were standing closer to familiar, shivered from cold.
*Sigh* Sugarboy sighed, "How troublesome the dark wizards can be?" He tried to look casual but in fact he's been a bit wary – this situation was quite unusual, to say the least.
"You seem quite calm, do you realize the situation you're in?" Edo-Erza asked, her voice sounded normal, but she was clenching her spear unusually tightly – she definitely was irritated.
"What's wrong with our situation?" She-dragon inquired with the neutral voice. "By now it should be obvious that capturing us without a fight isn't possible. On the other hand, since you're this world's me, you should at least be realizing that, if we'll start a fight, that stinky hole's ceiling will collapse on our heads and bury all of us here alive…"
"You don't think that such an outcome may be fine by me?" Knightwalker sneered.
"Tell me, have I really been like her less than two years ago?" Erza addressed Sin, rolling her eyes. "Natsu really pulled me out of a hole… I guess I shouldn't complain and just agree to obediently do all those perverted things he has in his head…" She shook her head.
"Erza, my dear," Sin replied immediately, "Even I know that, comparing to perversions you have in your head, Natsu's fantasies are as plain and flat as a bottom of the dried-up salt-pan!"
"You really want to piss me off, are you?" Erza asked Sin with charming smile.
However, the one who really was pissed off here was Erza Knightwalker – never she's been treated by her enemies like this – as if she's some sort of a joke. Sugarboy also seemed quite enraged, but that was exactly what Sin and Erza were aiming for with their talking – their task was to draw away attention from Natsu, who was using his electroweak lightning-like power to draw a seal in the middle of the room. And of course – infuriating your enemy was an obvious course of actions. Obvious but effective, as Erza and Sin have succeeded.
Natsu's seal was completed. He removed his palms from the ground and made several hand seals in rapid succession, and then clapped his palms. The domain seal that was drawn on the stone floor of the chamber elicited the bright flash of light. Of course, such a flashy event canceled Sin's spell, that was redirecting attention from Natsu, but that was no longer matter.
"Wha…!?" "Hah…!?" "Hey…?!" The soldiers that surrounded Erza and Sin were startled and confused, they didn't realize what happened.
"Was he there… all this time?!" Sugarboy couldn't hold back his voice as he suddenly realized that there is one more enemy.
'This guy and that glowing thing were right in front of us, yet we didn't notice?!' Knightwalker thought. "You… what kind of dirty trick you used?!" She growled, barely containing her rage, she realized that some sort of mind-affecting magic was used to trick her.
"Captain Erza, look!" One of the soldiers called, pointing at glowing seal in the middle of the room. Right in front of awed Edolas' soldiers, the seal began to grow rapidly. It quickly reached the walls of the underground chamber and continued to grow though them. As seal was growing, its light was becoming dimmer, lines and curves, of which seal was composed, were becoming less vivid and more transparent as they were becoming larger. In the end, the seal cowered the entire city, but its lines became virtually invisible.
'Damn… it became almost imperceptible…' Natsu thought as he saw the outcome of his domain being expanded to the size of just one tiny city. 'Mother can expand her domain seal over entire continent, and it still could be visible… I still have a long way ahead of me…' He sighed.
Edolas soldiers were at a loss, they couldn't understand what is going on. They were constantly glancing at their captains, awaiting instructions, but both Sugarboy and Knightwalker also seemed confused. During entire time of their service, they've never been in such a situation.
In contrary to them, Natsu got a clear plan. 'Sin, prepare the smoke screen,' He ordered to his familiar via telepathic message. In the meantime, with his real voice, he addressed his wife, who still stood in the middle of a crowd of enemy soldiers, being completely surrounded. "Erza, I'm sorry, but, as much as you'd like to kill all these clowns here and now, it's not yet the time for it. Come, we're leaving." In response, Erza just nodded in sign that she heard him.
"You're not going anywhere!" Knightwalker wailed furiously – she definitely was at her limit. She raised her spear, seemingly preparing to attack, soldiers of her unit did the same.
But Natsu didn't seem impressed. "So, you're local Erza…" He addressed Knightwalker "…well, you do have some similarities in appearance, but… my, what a disgusting soul you've got…"
"Shields up!" Sugarboy's voice suddenly sounded from aside.
The reason for that was that Sin made two glowing energy orbs in his arms. All soldiers of Sugarboy's unit rose their shields, closing their ranks, forming an almost solid, aquamarine-colored, magical shield around Sin. However, instead off attacking them, Sin just threw both energy orbs over their heads, into the nearest channel with sewers' water.
As they fell into water, both spheres exploded, filling the entire chamber with very dense, icy-cold mist, reducing the visibility to less than two feet.
"COLD!" A lot of soldiers screamed simultaneously, as that mist was chilling, and their shields and armor couldn't protect from it. At the same time, Sin and Erza simultaneously jumped up, disappearing into the mist.
"Erza!" Sugarboy called, he was addressing his fellow Erza, of course.
"Eighth Form: Million Suns!" Knightwalker shouted, using the eighth form of her spear, The Ten Commandments. The spear's form changed, and now it seemed as if the spear's blade was made of pure light, which began to shine like a real sun. Within about ten seconds, the dense icy mist has been completely dispelled. But of course, to that moment, Natsu, Erza and Sin were nowhere to be found. "Where are they?!" Edo-Erza bellowed, looking around.
"They're gone," Sugarboy said, coming closer to fellow captain. "Erza, calm down, we shouldn't attempt to pursue them now. I doubt they're going to run away – we'll meet again, and we must prepare to our next meeting. The enemy is insidious and cunning – they shouldn't be taken lightly," He added, signaling his unit to lower the shields. Despite he looks like a freak, Sugarboy seems to be pretty clever, "We'll make them pay for our humiliation, next time."
Erza Knightwalker didn't reply anything, she just smashed the floor with her spear (as it returned to its default, First Form: Eisenmeteor ('das eisen' means 'iron')), making a deep crater in it, turned around and disappeared in one of the passages. Soldiers of her unit looked at each other with uncertainty, but followed their captain. Sugarboy just shrugged, and went into another passage, followed by his unit.
Edolas, Time +17:00, Edolas royal capital
"I must admit, when you two team up, your ability to piss off people becomes superior," Natsu addressed his wife and familiar.
"It's still way behind yours," Erza snorted.
Sin wasn't interested in such talk though. "We've got away pretty easily," He noted, in fact he was expecting a pursuit.
"I wonder how they've found us in the first place," Natsu thought aloud, "Do they have some means to detect unauthorized use of magic? Or rather, means to detect unusual ethernano activity?"
Since Natsu doesn't use magic, magic-detecting equipment is useless in his case. But if that's an ethernano activity detector – how does it work? The entire city is packed with magical devices, so detecting Natsu steadily using a moderate amount of ethernano to draw a seal underground shouldn't be an easy task. Or he was detected exactly because he was underground? However, answers for those questions can be sought for later, as now there's more pressing task.
"What's happening?" Erza asked as she was looking at the sky above. That really was a surrealistic sight – since the morning, the weather here was very good, and it still seemed very good all around the royal capital, but above the city itself, a huge, anvil-like thundercloud was forming right now.
"Just as I promised," Natsu smiled proudly, "I've expanded my domain over this city. And since I'm the God of Ruin, the city is going to suffer from all kinds of misfortune, and since it's a god's domain – it won't require even a bit of my mana, ethernano around the city itself will be used instead."
"These domains really seem like cheat tools…" Sin shook his head.
"Amazing…" Erza seemed impressed.
"Anyway," Natsu addressed his teammates, "Even though I'm a dark god, I'm still going to follow the rules of war. Since these people are going to suffer, let's at least explain to them why…" He smiled evilly. Since the team has already met the local authorities, the last reasons to avoid unnecessary attention were gone. The time to declare war officially has come.
Natsu pointed at his throat, casting some sort of a spell. Next moment, he began to speak, but his voice wasn't coming from his mouth but from the thundercloud above the city. The thunderous voice was loud enough to be heard everywhere in the city, even through the walls of buildings. "ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF EDOLAS. MY NAME IS NATSU BLOODFALLEN, I AM THE GOD OF RUIN FROM THE EARTH LAND. AS YOU ALL KNOW, YOUR KING HAS KIDNAPPED SEVERAL TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FROM MY WORLD, THUS GRAVELY OFFENDING ME. FOR THIS TRANSGRESSION, YOU ALL WILL BE PUNISHED. I HAVE PLACED A CURSE OF MISFORTUNE ON THIS CITY, WHICH WILL PERSIST UNTIL YOU REALISE THE WEIGHT OF YOUR SINS. AND IF YOU WANT TO BLAME SOMEONE – BLAME THAT FOOL OF A KING WHO DARED TO OVERSTEP HIS MORTAL AUTHORITY, AND WHO YOU'VE BEEN SUPPORTING SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY!"
Of course, the part about curse was an extreme simplification, as Natsu had no reasons to explain to local plebians the conception of gods' domains. On the othe hand, he introduced himself using his true identity, as hiding it from locals was pointless. "Well, that's it," Natsu addressed his teammates with normal voice, "Misfortunate events will be getting more frequent and more intense with each hour, let's find ourselves some good observation point. It's their turn to make a move now…" He concluded. "Also, maybe we'll be able to capture a few soldiers and question them about our secondary objective," He added.
"Huh, what?" Erza looked at her husband in surprise, "We have a secondary objective?" No, she knew that they came here to save their people and punish the king and his associates, but she thought that Natsu counts those two tasks as a single objective. Then what's about second one?
Natsu looked at his familiar, probably asking him to explain, but in fact Sin also was looking at him questioningly. Natsu rolled his eyes, "Sin, you've been my familiar for several years, yet you still know me so poorly? That really pains me to know this," He jokingly blamed his familiar, holding his left hand at his chest, feigning a deep pain in his heart.
"Natsu, stop that clownery!" Erza raised her voice at her husband, demanding an explanation, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that I won't leave this 'world' until I plunder the royal treasure hold. I won't be surprised if locals actually managed to find some items from the times when owners of this SIR were still here. But even if not – even though the local currency is useless in our realm, gold is still gold," Natsu's eyes flashed with dark-blue light.
"Natsu," Erza listened to him with narrowed eyes, "Are you sure it's the secondary objective and not primary? At least in your system of coordinates?"
"Who knows?" Natsu smiled cunningly as he started walking. Unsatisfied with his answer Erza followed him with intention to question further. Sin just shook his head and followed the couple. Considering that the three of them just declared a war against the entire kingdom, the three surely were acting quite casually…
Edolas, Time +17:10, Edolas royal capital
The citizens of the Royal Capital seemed completely at a loss. A few moments ago, someone, who called himself a "God from another world", deemed their beloved king guilty, and claimed that their beloved capital city has been cursed as a punishment. Such a message isn't easy to stomach, to say the least, especially for local people, who really consider themselves chosen, who truly believe that their whims should be above everything else. The royal capital became filled with grumbling.
Some people seemed cautious, as of course they've noticed an abnormal cloud over their city. The royal capital is located on a dry land, even some light rains are big rarity here, and of course locals never saw a thunderstorm before. Can it be that words about god's curse aren't just an empty threat?
Others met Natsu's declaration bellicosely. They were calling him an upstart and impostor, claiming that their sacred kingdom has the right to do whatever it wants, and/or saying that anyone who's threatening Edolas, a god or not, should just fuck off.
But majority of people were just saying that this matter should be left to the king, as he definitely can handle it and soon everything will be fine again.
In the meantime, Natsu's Domain of Ruin began to affect the city.
Without any warning, a small tornado descended from the thundercloud above, and destroyed an open-air café. The wind wasn't strong enough to lift up an adult human, but several people were injured by flying remains of café's furniture.
Five minute later, in different part of the city, a lightning struck one of city's houses, setting its roof ablaze.
Five more minutes later, another part of the city. Again, without warning, a fifteen feet deep crack appeared in the middle of the street, and two passersby fell into it, suffering moderate injuries.
Four more minutes later, one of city's restaurants. One of magic-powered kitchen stoves exploded without any reason, the chef who was using it was severely injured.
Four more minutes later, near the city center. An aqueduct with hot water suddenly crumbled, several people got moderate burns. Being built on a dry land, this city heavily depends on complex system of magic-powered aqueducts, their destruction is a major issue even without injured civilians…
Four more minutes later, near the city gates. Another lightning strike has set ablaze the local guardhouse.
And all of that was only the beginning. The frequency and scale of misfortunes will be only growing with time. The catastrophe is inevitable.
Edolas, Time +17:45, Royal capital
"Ugh… agh…" One of local soldiers moaned as he's been thrown away like a useless trash. As a few others before him, he was interrogated by Natsu, using his 'blood order' ability. Soldiers couldn't say anything concrete about royal treasurehold, but still, the team has learned a few interesting things.
"Damn, my eyes hurt…" Natsu complained as he was rubbing his eyes with his left arm. His eyes' capillaries were clearly visible, indicating that Natsu's eyes were overstrained.
"You're continuously using power, which you inherited from one of the most powerful seraphims of this world, with only your current strength, what did you expect?" Sin inquired, meaning Natsu's father. Well, even though Natsu's 'blood order' wasn't an exact copy of Watcher Ramiel's power, it was quite similar, and of course Natsu's young body could only handle a few uses per set period of time.
"Right, Sin, you being a captain obvious always helps a lot, thank you," Natsu snorted in reply.
Erza raised her hand. She really wanted to console Natsu, yet she endured that desire as she removed her arm – obviously her pity is the last thing he needs right now – he's well aware that he just needs time to get stronger. Instead, she changed topic, "So what's about those 'angels', which these fools were mentioning, the 'exceeds'? They are the species like Carla?" She wondered. The interrogated soldiers were mentioned some winged, cat-like, 'angelic' beings, the 'exceeds', who are the true rulers of this "world", because their queen is a 'goddess'.
"Sounds like pure heresy," Natsu shook his head. "However, such beliefs don't appear out of nothing, so we definitely must investigate that matter," He added. "We must learn who or what is that queen of theirs, also we need to gather information about that "Extalia" overall combat power, and we need to determine the exceeds' degree of guilt in the current crisis."
"I see," Erza nodded, "So this is one of those unknown variables…"
"Seems like it," Sin nodded.
One of the reasons why Natsu's team didn't resort to an all-out attack on the royal castle was that he was wary of unexpected occurrences. Like a discovery about another race inhabiting this world. After all, Natsu had no way to determine what part of Carla's information is real and what exists only in her imagination. However, she and Happy definitely did came from somewhere, so in the end everything that Carla said was deemed as an unknown value. If Happy and Carla are ones of those exceeds, then there's no need to be wary of them – their mana capacity is quite modest. However, what if there are more 'advanced' versions of these species? Or maybe they do possess some advanced magical science, using which they've made an 'artificial goddess' of sort? Such possibilities shouldn't be taken lightly…
'I really wish for Jane and Rona coming here rather sooner than later,' Natsu thought, 'We really lacking manpower for throughout investigation…'
However, now the team got a much more pressing concern. "Natsu, something's happening," Erza pointed out. She has a superior vision, and even from quite afar she noticed an unusual activity around the piece of lacrima that was kept on the city's square.
No one questioned Erza's words – the team immediately went to take a closer look at what's happening near the lacrima. As they got closer, the three saw something weird. Aside from soldiers that were guarding the lacrima, and many onlookers that were hanging around, who didn't believe in (or weren't scared by) Natsu's warning, a few strange men did appear. All four men were wearing a biohazard-protection-like suits, holding staves, bottom part of which was connected to something that looked like a giant vacuum cleaner via hoses, and all four were wearing white, non-transparent veils, with the Edolas' coat of arms, to hide their faces. Those veils were giving them a look of cultists of sort. The big device, that 'cultists' brought with themselves really seemed like a huge vacuum cleaner, it could be moved around thanks to four wheels, attached to its bottom.
"I see," Natsu nodded, "Well, not that this was unexpected."
"Our interference forced them to hurry up with their plan," Sin commented. Apparently, those guys wanted to test their magic-extracting equipment on this smaller lacrima, before attempting to extract magic from the bigger one.
Natsu glanced at Erza. Her killing intent was so thick that one could probably feel it physically – there were no need to ask her what she thinks about those people who are about to drain magic (and, thus, destroy the physical form) of two of her guildmates. "Let's go," Natsu ordered, "Try to be as careful as possible around the lacrima, preserving it is our top and only priority."
Edolas, Time +18:15, King's conference room
The king, Faust, just finished listening the report from Erza Knightwalker and Sugarboy. There was a very strange atmosphere in this room, to put it mildly.
All of it started about two hours ago. Just as he returned to the castle after delivering his speech, Faust has received a message (or rather, an order) from exceeds' queen, Shagotte, to capture a dragon slayer from the Earth Land, who's lurking in the underground sewers. Such an information came like a thunder from the clear sky, however, since the dragon slayer's magic was essential for king's very ambitious plan, he was very glad to hear that info. To not take any chances, he has sent two of his royal army captains to capture the target, which he needed alive at all costs.
However, just as he was awaiting good news from his subordinates, about the dragon slayer being captured, everything went awry. Instead of some good news he, the king, just as all other citizens of the capital city, has heard enemy's war declaration. I.e. someone, who claimed to be a 'god from the Earth Land', declared that he has come for king's head, and that he's also going to put the entire city into chaos.
To say that he was angry is to say nothing. Faust was infuriated to the limit, something like that was just outrageous, no one dared to openly challenge the kingdom ever since the entire world of Edolas was united under its rule. There were exceeds, of course, but they were like a necessary evil of sort. On the other hand, even the magic guilds, that refused to follow the disbandment order and were branded as dark guilds, weren't so bold to openly declare war on the kingdom.
After that, king's subordinates have returned. But they've returned empty-handed. However, even though already infuriated, king couldn't punish those who returned in failure, as now's definitely not the time for that, besides, it actually seemed like they're not the ones to blame, or at least it's not entirely their fault. Instead of supposedly one enemy, they've met three. Three enemies, fully capable of using magic, despite exceeds' claims that Earth Land wizards are powerless in Edolas.
How such a thing could happen? The queen Shagotte, a, supposedly, all-seeing and omnipotent goddess, has mistaken? What is that supposed to mean? Has she really mistaken, or she just decided to mock the kingdom? Maybe she got some ulterior motive?
And as if those problems weren't enough – the reports about weird incidents started to come from all over the city. Tornado. Lightnings. Random explosions. Earth cracking. Not to mention that thundercloud that is hanging right over the city. Was that possible that terrorists (from king's point of view Natsu's team is an outright terroristic group) weren't bluffing? Is the entire city is going to be put into misery? Until now, there were no deaths, but if it'll continue like this, it's only a matter of time when corpses will start to pile up.
And right now, just as it seemed that things can't get any worse, another soldier ran into the conference room with report. That one seemed quite worn out, by the way. "Your Majesty!" He addressed the king, asking for permission to speak, ignoring others in the conference room.
"Speak," King said with hoarse and very irritated voice, guessing what else could happen.
"Your… your majesty…" Soldier stuttered, seeing that his king is already very frustrated, not willing to make things even worse, but he had no choice. "The l-lacrima… o-on the square… i-it's… been taken from us…"
"WHAT?!" Faust roared furiously as he slammed his fists on table. The table jolted, as king's fury could be felt physically.
"I-I'm sorry!" The soldier cried as he fell on knees. "Th-The enemies… they l-launched an indiscriminate attack on us!" He explained, trembling, and, for some reason, glancing at Erza Knightwalker from time to time. "We've got a lot of casualties, including civilians! And then, a lightning magic of sort enveloped lacrima, and dragged it into that thundercloud above the city! That… that was horrible!" The man reported, though his wailing didn't sound like a military report at all – he definitely was shocked.
"What's with the magic extraction team!?" King asked impatiently.
"D-dead… all of them…" Soldier replied, stuttering.
Edolas soldiers were well-trained and disciplined, yet they weren't prepared to something like what happened a few minutes ago. Three people appeared as if from nowhere. Natsu was using armor-wearing soldiers as railgun shells, launching them towards other soldiers. Erza beheaded all of those veil-wearing guys with staves (the so-called magic extraction team) with one swing of her sword. But worst of all was a sight of people simply turning into ice statues, with expression of horror being frozen on their faces. Those three weren't attacking civilians directly, but they definitely were unconcerned about their safety, many were wounded during battle. In the end – hundreds of wounded, at least a dozen of corpses, a destroyed magic extraction equipment and a lacrima crystal being lost to the enemy – that was an extremely unencouraging outcome of short but violent battle in the middle of capital city.
As the soldier managed to get a hold on himself, he described the course of battle with as many details as he could remember.
"So, the legends are true," Hughes said thoughtfully.
"Yes, we now can be sure that all Earth Land wizards possess internal magic power…" Byro nodded.
"They're almost like exceed," Sugarboy noted.
"However, common exceeds' magical power pales in comparison to those who attacked us," Byro shook his head.
"Yes, most likely they still didn't show us everything they're capable off," Edo-Erza said darkly.
"Is it possible that not only the woman but all three of them are dragon slayers?" Coco asked, "Shouldn't we try to capture them alive?"
"It's not that easy, Coco," Sugarboy admitted, "The enemy is elusive and cunning…"
Onerous silence hung in the conference room. King was sitting with his eyes closed while others were looking at one another, as they seemingly didn't have any concrete suggestions.
"Gather all forces," King said as he finally opened his eyes. "Byro, prepare all available equipment. Pantherlily, Erza, Hughes, Sugarboy – gather all available forces, prepare legions, we must find those intruders. If they want war – they'll get it!" Faust announced.
And that's it for now! I'm leaving for a short assignment; I'll get to work on the next update as soon as I'll be back! See you, don't forget to write a review!