Chapter 4: Ariella vs. Fang
In a remote area further from the battle site, Ariella groaned as she opened her eyes, and she looked around to see that she wasn't in the battlefield anymore. Her vision soon fixated on Fang, as he smirked at her.
"Heh. You seem like a pretty little fairy," he crooned to her, licking his lips once more. "I can't wait to rip your wings off when I'm through with you."
"Identify yourself," she said to him. "And what do you want from me?"
"My name is Fang, and I am the son of Medusa Gorgon's master, Viper," Fang answered him.
"You're the guild master's son?!" Ari exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.
"That's right. He raised me in this guild, after my mother abandoned me when I was a small boy. She was also a wizard, and all she cared about was going out on jobs rather than her own family. Ever since she left me and quit the guild, I started to detest female wizards as much as my father did, and I will make sure to erase my pain by eliminating them all across the continent!"
Fang's declaration left Ariella in a state of horror, with her jaw dropped as her body began quivering in terror. She could hardly believe what he had just said; no one like Fang would target female wizards for such a horrendous reason!
Bickslow went first, his five dolls forming a pentagon shape and unleashing a massive beam of energy at an incoming horde.
"Let's rock, Babies! Baryon Formation!"
Evergreen was up next, shooting out needles of energy at incoming Medusa's Gorgon Mages.
"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!"
Juno conjured above her a magical arrangement in the shapes of camellia flowers, and then hurled them at a group of Medusa's Gorgon mages charging at her.
"Camellia Flower Bomb!"
Freed's right eye changed into a black eye with a purple pupil, and he took a swing of his sword and sliced through another group of the dark guild's mages.
"Dark Ecriture: Slice!"
Last but not least, it was Laxus's turn to make his move. Sparks of electricity flowed from his hands and he brought them together, locking them into a tight fist as he swung them onto Brutus.
"Lightning Dragon Jaw!"
Brutus cried out in pain as he was vigorously slammed down to the ground by Laxus's attack. A smirk from Laxus only fueled his frustration, as his fingers scraped the dirt.
"Laxus! Incoming!" Freed warned him.
The Lightning Dragon Slayer turned to see a trio of Medusa's Gorgon members and he inhaled greatly, just before shooting out a breath of lightning from his mouth.
"ROAR!"
The Lightning Dragon Roar was powerful enough to wipe the attackers out in one shot, much to Freed's delight as his eyes began twinkling like stars.
"Seriously, what was the guild master thinking, sending out these wimps?" the blonde boasted.
Brutus groaned in pain, struggling to stand up in the wake of being pummeled by Laxus. He may seem to be down, but he wasn't out since Laxus sensed an incredible amount of magic power flowing from within him—and he had yet to use it!
"D-Don't think we're wimps…," the brute said to him. "You haven't forgotten that Fang and I are the strongest of the master's members, have ya? And the master himself's the most powerful of all Medusa's Gorgon!"
"Speaking of which, I would like to meet your master, once he's out of hiding," Laxus said.
"I'm afraid that he isn't here right now. He's back at our guild hall," Brutus answered him. "Right now, I have a score to settle with you!"
"Bring it!"
Laxus and Brutus clasped their hands together, trying as hard as they could to push one another down with gritting teeth and sweat running down their faces.
"Come on, Laxus!" Freed cheered for him, in the midst of taking down two more of the dark guild's mages. "You have to defeat this muscular brute! Show him that Fairy Tail isn't to be underestimated!"
"Will you pay attention!?" Evergreen snapped. "We're in a battle here!"
"My apologies, Ever," the green-haired male replied, shifting his focus back to the fight. He performed another Dark Ecriture: Slice to wipe out five more Medusa's Gorgon members in one shot, and all he could give them was a confident smirk.
"Sorry, gentlemen, but you should know better than to charge at me so recklessly."
At the same time, however, he was also worried about Ariella. Ever since he witnessed her being taken into the woods by Fang, he couldn't help but think about what would happen to her. Fang was a dangerous mage in the guild, since he claimed responsibility for massacring the six female wizards, and Ari could be his seventh if she wouldn't be able to defeat him…
Ariella was still standing face-to-face with Fang, eager to know his motive behind the murders. Her eyes were glaring directly at him, and all he could do was chuckle wickedly.
"Tell me your reason why you killed the six female wizards!" she demanded.
"Why?" Fang repeated, his sinister smile forming across his face once more. "Oh, I'll tell you why. My reason behind the murders of these women is because they are inferior to men! We believe that males will reign supreme over the females in the magic world, and to create a world with only male wizards walking the earth, we simply target every single female mage we can find on the continent of Ishgar and we exterminate them!"
Ariella was left in shock and disbelief, a single bead of sweat dripping down her face. Her astonishment soon shifted into anger, her eyes glaring crossly at him. No one would intend to talk horribly of female mages that way, and Fang definitely crossed the line!
"It is such a horrendous act you would commit!" she chastised, aiming a finger at Fang. "How dare you rank women as inferior in the magic world when they simply are just as strong as men are! You should realize that they have spent their entire lives training and evolving as wizards! Think of their triumphs, their tears… everything they have had gone through! They even had loved ones by their side to support them along the way! This is how a real female wizard blossoms in the magic world."
Fang was left feeling unmoved by Ari's speech, his eyes leering at her in an unamused manner. He dreaded the speeches of love and friendship he would hear, but the one he just heard from Ari was just as awful.
"Oh, how touching," he replied ironically. "You believe that women would reign supreme in the wizard world? Well, I don't think so! I'm gonna make sure to wipe you out and add you to my death toll!"
"Never to the likes of you, Fang!" Ariella protested, and a magical glow engulfed her as she transformed into her Nymph Form.
"What is this, some kind of Take-Over Magic?" Fang questioned her.
"No. This is a part of my family's generation as Nature Wizards: the Nymph Form," Ari corrected, as she charged at Fang and summoned a large whip of prickly vines that assaulted him.
"Thorn Whiplash!"
"GH!" Fang cried, sliding backward after taking the hit.
Ariella continued to assault him with her thorns, striking him two more times before lunging at him with her nails extending out. She slashed Fang in the abdomen, slicing his obi to shreds.
"Ngh…," Fang grunted, his teeth gritting. "She's stronger than I thought…"
He resorted to evading Ariella's additional slash attacks, before teleporting behind her and giving her a kick in the back.
Ariella was sent flying, though she managed to land on the ground with her right hand. Her determination was burning like a wildfire, her refusal to give in was strong, just like her pure heart toward others.
I have to defeat him if I want to avenge the women he murdered, she thought. Right now, I'll keep going!
Ariella swiftly zoomed toward Fang, emitting a mighty battle cry as she conjured an arrangement of magic energy in the shapes of camellia flowers, and then hurled them at him.
"Camellia Flower Bomb!"
Two of the bombs made a direct hit on Fang, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward, whereas three of them formed holes in the ground as a result of missing the target. Once the smoke cleared up and Fang was able to stand up, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of her heading toward him…
…and grabbing onto his prized sabertooth necklace, pulling it off from his neck.
No… she wouldn't…, he thought, his rage starting to boil over.
With a valiant cry, Ariella gave Fang a high kick in the chin, sending him upward in the air. She then performed a mid-kick, which struck him in the abdomen and he was sent flying backward, crashing into the ground.
Victory seemed to be in Ariella's grasp, as she held up the necklace in front of her with a devious smile on her face. She was happy to having gained the upper hand in the battle, and her Nymph Form was just what she needed to seemingly win.
"Any final words before you concede, Fang?" she asked him.
Fang's fingers dug into the ground, his body staggering as he began to rise up. He also started to shudder, indicating that he finally reached his breaking point.
"That's… That's my…"
The moment he finally stood up, Fang screamed at her in a strident voice of fury:
"MY SABERTOOTH NECKLACE! THAT WAS A SPECIAL GIFT FROM MY FATHER, AND YOU DARE TAKE THAT FROM ME?!"
"His prized possession?" she wondered aloud, her eyes glancing down at the necklace.
A small smile soon formed on her face, and a light bulb popped up in her head and flashed brightly. She had an idea on what to do with the pendant, now that she had taken it away from Fang.
"You wench! What are you doing to do with what I call rightfully mine?!"
"I'm going to use your necklace as proof that you are the killer of the six female mages! You will regret your actions when you are arrested!"
"Proof? Oh, I'll give you proof… once I add your body to my death count!"
Fang inhaled, and then he exhaled a massive ball of poison magic at Ariella.
"POISON GOD… BELLOW!"
Horrified, Ariella narrowly evaded the attack, the ball of poison magic striking some trees and its toxic fumes reduced them to wilting states.
"He's… a God Slayer?!" she exclaimed, shocked by this revelation.
"Ahahahaha! You guessed it! I am indeed a God Slayer, and I was taught that kind of magic by a God!" Fang boasted, before bursting into laughter once more.
"Are you sure you really learned it from a God? It sounds like you are exaggerating to me," Ariella opinionated.
"I'm not exaggerating! It's the truth, you foolish girl! It is said that God Slayer Magic is obtained when one slays a God, and I did just that," Fang answered her, his right eye bugging out insanely at her.
Purple magic was gathered into his hands, forming balls of energy in his palms. Ariella stepped backward, prepping to guard herself.
"Poison God Achlys!"
The bombs of purple magic energy were hurled at her, creating a series of powerful explosions that scared off the birds living in the forest. The sounds of the explosions resonated to the area where Laxus, the Thunder Legion and Juno were clashing with Fang's comrades.
"These explosions are coming from the other side!" Freed exclaimed.
"Ari!" Juno cried.
"Heh… that's my man, Fang…," Brutus said of him, a deviously confident smile forming on his face.
As the smoke was clearing up, Ariella was left standing, though having to revert to her normal form since she had reached her limit using her Nymph Form. Her right hand clenched onto Fang's necklace tightly, though she could feel her palm dripping with sweat.
"Such incredible power…," she said of Fang's magic.
"Heh… and I thank the God I crushed for providing me that power!" Fang declared, before approaching the young woman. "Now… to carry out your demise."
He held out his right hand, his fingers spread outward and a purple magic circle forming in his palm.
"Poison God Mephistis."
A purple mist containing poison magic was emitted from his right hand, and it began to shroud Ariella. She immediately covered her mouth in an attempt to prevent the poison from entering her mouth, but to no avail.
"What… what is this?!" she interrogated through her hand.
"This God Slayer Spell is the exact one I used to kill two of the six female mages," Fang explained to her. "And soon, you will be the third to succumb to it. You will have little time left to fight for your life, and as the poison spreads throughout your body, you will gradually writhe in pain from it. Ohh, how I love seeing women cry out in pain and squirm!"
Ariella began coughing, the toxic mist engulfing her as she could feel some of it entering her mouth.
This mist is too thick! I can't see anything! she thought, her vision being blinded by the cloudy mist. She started trembling from the effects of the poison now entering her body. Any kind of poison magic is my greatest weakness as a Nature Wizard, and Fang's Poison God Slayer Magic is among them! I… I can't stand up to it!
"That's right. Suffer from my poison. Taste its toxicity!" Fang snarled, his tongue now hanging low as both of his eyes were bulging crazily at her. "Enjoy it the same way the two victims did, because it will be your last."
Fang took out a smoke bomb from his pocket and hurled it at his feet, vanishing in a flash. He let out one last wicked laugh that rang throughout the forest, and it would be the final laugh she would hear.
Ariella's vision was blurring, and she could feel the poison's effects kicking in as she continued coughing. Once the mist finally cleared up, she finally lost her consciousness and her body collapsed onto the ground, her right hand opening up to reveal Fang's necklace.
Having sensed Fang's apparent victory, a malevolent smile formed on Brutus's face.
"Now what do you think you're up to?!" Laxus snarled.
"Fang has just declared victory over the girl," he claimed as he took out a smoke bomb. The remaining Medusa's Gorgon members did the same, holding out their smoke bombs and they all hurled them at their feet.
"They all have smoke bombs?!" Evergreen cried.
The Fairy Tail Mages were coughing from the smoke, its cloudy puffs obscuring their vision. Once the smoke finally cleared up, the members of Medusa's Gorgon had disappeared in a flash, and it wasn't something the Fairies expected.
"Damn it… they've retreated!" Laxus growled.
"For the time being," Freed said to him. "We will stop them the next time we face them again."
"And we'll retrieve the stolen goods from them!" Evergreen added.
"We have to find Ari! I hope she's alright!" Juno cried, heading out into the forest first.
"Oi! Wait for us!" Bickslow called out, dashing after her. Freed, Laxus and Evergreen soon took off, and soon it became a frantic race throughout the forest. Once they made through an opening, they paused at the site of destruction, which was caused by Fang's Poison God Bellow.
"The trees have been damaged…," Freed observed. "They must have been affected by some poison. But I doubt that it was caused environmentally."
"Oi! Look over there!" Bickslow cried, pointing out to Ariella's body.
"Ari!" Juno cried, racing over to her sister. The others followed her, gathering around the blonde female.
"I don't see any external injuries on her," Evergreen said, as she examined the body.
"Are you sure?" Laxus asked her. "We may need to turn her over to see if there are any on the front."
In the midst of the examination, Bickslow spotted Fang's pendant lying on the ground next to Ari's right hand and he picked it up from the ground.
I wonder who does that belong to…? he thought to himself, examining the pendant.
The moment Evergreen carefully flipped her over, all five mages were horrified to see Ariella breathing feebly, sweat running down her body and a purple tint having formed across her face.
"Sis!" Juno cried, her teal eyes widening.
"She may have been poisoned!" Evergreen exclaimed. "We have to take her back to the guild and get Porlyusica!"
My beloved… poisoned?! Freed thought, his teal eyes still widening in horror. Who could've done this to her, and why?!
"Problem is, Magnolia is a bit far from Oak Town and we crashed at the halfway point. We'll have to call for some support," Bickslow deducted.
"And walking will take us longer than the train ride," Evergreen added, fueling the dismay that had just settled in. "I don't feel like spending hours walking in my heels!"
"That's why I'm calling them right now," Laxus said, taking out his communications lacrima. "Freed, take Ari with you. She'll need you more than ever now that she's poisoned."
"Yes, sir," Freed said, nodding to Laxus.
The Runes Mage lifted Ariella's body up from the ground, holding her bridal style. He glanced down at her, and he could tell almost immediately that she was writhing in pain from Fang's poison.
"Ari… please don't leave us," Juno whimpered, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Medusa's Gorgon has retreated; however, Ariella is poisoned by Fang and the race against time to save her is now on! Read the next chapter to find out how Fairy Tail will avenge her.
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