Chapter 17
"Only one member?!" Lucy cried out with a gasp. "Whoever they are sending. He must be pretty hardcore…."
As Lucy said this A small girl ran into the mansion before tripping on the rug and falling over. "WWAAHHH!" WHAM! "Ughh.." The young girl brushed herself off as she stood back up. "Sorry for being so late, I'm the wizard from Cait Shelter. My Name's Wendy, Wendy Marvell. It's nice to meet you"
"What?! She's just a little girl?!" Gray exclaimed and soon everyone began to whisper among themselves.
"Why should it matter if she's younger than us? If she can fight then we'll welcome her with open arms!" Erza exclaimed with as much determination as always.
"Hey Natsu." Mason whispered as he elbowed his fellow dragon slayer. "Is it just me or is this girl familiar to you?"
"Wendy huh?" Natsu said to himself not answering the question.
"Good, now that everyone is here we can begin." Jura refocused on the task at hand not giving the situation a second thought.
"That Cait Shelter guild must be desperate for members if they sent this little girl alone." Sherry said off handedly.
"She's not alone you gaudy trollop!" A prim and proper voice called back from outside as a white house cat entered through the still open door.
"Oh no! Not another talking cat!" Lucy cried out.
"ACHHOOO!" Mason shot out a nose full of snot as the new cat entered the room. "Crap.. I was getting used to Happy but this new cat is gonna kill my allergies."
"Woah! She's so pretty!" Happy, eyes turned into hearts as he leapt into the air in delight.
"Uh I don't know about fighting… But I can use all kinds of support magic." The little girl said nervously, her legs shaking as she struggled to speak. "I'm sorry, I know I'm probably not what you're expecting! But please don't send me home! It'd be so embarassing!"
The Trimen quickly swept Wendy up and began there flirtation routine, the whole while Natsu's eyes were locked on the little girl. "Hey. Is it just me or is that little girl familiar?"
"I literally just asked you the same thing." Mason deadpanned.
"Really?" Natsu quickly perked up. "You recognize her too? I swear I've heard her name before!" Natsu turned his attention back to the little girl who shot him an innocent smile. "Got anything?" Natsu looked back over at Mason who was busy mulling things over in his mind.
"MMM… I don't know. Maybe I arrested her or something..." Mason scratched his chin as he scanned his memory.
"Maybe I arrested her?" Natsu added with an equally puzzled look on his face.
"That could be it…" Mason muttered as he evaluated Natsu's claim.
"You two are idiots." Gray commented with a roll of his eyes.
"AHEM!" Ichiya faked a cough in order to draw the attention of the room. "Now that all the guilds are present we can discuss our plan of attack…. Right after I make a letter of the alphabet!" The short mage quickly scurried off to the bathroom but made a quick return. "Okay much better."
"What the hell…?" Mason mumbled to himself as he stared at the short ginger wizard with . "Something's not right about him…" Mason said making a concerned face.
"Your just now figuring that out?" Gray added with a smirk.
"Okay, now that I've cleared that issue we should get started on preparing for battle." Ichiya said as he made an over the top pose.
"Hold up!" Mason called out as he slowly walked up to Ichiya. "Let me ask you something real quick…."
"Uhhh….. Is there something I can help you with my good man?" Ichiya began to sweat as Mason started pressuring him.
Mason glared daggers at Ichiya refusing to take any pressure off of him. "There's something really off about you… Did you swallow a person or something?..."
"Uhhh…. What?..." Ichiya's jaw dropped and every just sat stunned by the bizarre question. "Uh…. No….."
"Oh well then that's unfortunate." Mason reeled back before he quickly slammed a glowing purple fist into Ichiya's face knocking him back across the room.
"Hey buddy!" Hibiki rushed to the defense of his master. "What's the big idea we're supposed to be allies here."
"How could you big brother." Eve cried out.
"Relax idiots." Mason said as he simply walked through Hibiki and Eve, literally, before he lifted the beaten Ichiya up by his head. "This may surprise you but normal people have one soul and when Ichiya left he was one of those normal one soul people, but when he came back he had two of them. Meaning this probably isn't your friend and he better start talking."
"Hmmm…. And you just expect us to believe you?" Hibiki asked back with sceptical frown.
"Yeah buddy we can't all see souls. I bet you're just jealous of the boss's good looks so you tried to damage his perfect face." Ren said bumping Mason and getting him to drop Ichiya.
"Ouch that hurt! Piri Piri!" Ichiya began to speak in a high pitched unrecognizable voice before his body began to glow before separating into floating twin creatures.
"Ouch, I'm gonna feel that one tomorrow…" The floating entity with a frowny face said as it gripped it's head.
"You can say that again…" The smiling twin replied grasping its head as well.
"Oh my! What are they?" Sherry cried out with a gasp as she clung to lyon.
"I have no idea…." Lyon replied not really adding much.
"Give the master back!" The Trimen cried out.
"You've done it now, Piri Piri." The twins said in harmony. "Now we have to resort to plan B. Bad news for you guys, this is where things get rough for you!" The blue twins zipped out through a window.
"Hey! They're getting away!" Erza called out gathering the troops. "After them!" She rushed to the open door but before she could make her escape a wall of sandy wind suddenly appeared blocking the exit. "What the!" The ground beneath them began to shake.
"Uh oh…" Mason groaned as he and Natsu quickly turned green as the house was lifted up into the air, slamming everyone inside onto the ground. Mason struggled as he reached into his pocket to pull out a small pink bottle which he popped open filling the room with a soothing scent that helped Mason and Natsu to recover.
"RRRAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGGG!" As soon as he felt well enough to move Natsu slammed a fist full of flames into the ground, destroying the floor.
"WHAAAAHHHHH!" The entire coalition screamed as they dropped from the sky onto the ground below. "OOFFF!"
Everyone slowly began to dust themselves off and recover as they realized they were alone in an unfamiliar part of the forest as master Bob's house was carried off by a spiraling sand storm before it was slammed into a mountain and destroyed.
"NO! MASTER!" The trimen cried out as they watched the shambles of Bob's mansion fall to the ground in the distance. "He never made it out of the bathroom…" They said with a sniffle.
"Man!" Ichiya emerged from the bushes in the forest and rejoined the others. "Fear not men, using my incredible survival skills I managed to escape that death trap before it was too late." He posed with his fingers over his eyes.
"BOSS!" The trimen jumped on Ichiya tackling him to the ground as the wizard trio sobbed there eyes out.
"Okay so what now." Lyon said with his typical cold stare as he reevaluate the situation. "We're lost in the middle of the forest with no idea where the enemy could be or what we're up against."
"I can help with that." Mason said as he pulled a notebook from his dark black cloak. "According to the information I… Borrowed…. From the council archive the Oracion Seis has been stealing information and artifacts related to a legendary dark magic called Nirvana. The legends say that Nirvana is located here in this forest so we know what there after and I also have information on each of the members but you can read it for yourself." Mason tossed the notebook into the air where lucy caught it.
"Cobra…. Poison Magic 63 confirmed kills." Lucy shook as she read the details from Mason's classified notebook. "Angel…. A Celestial Wizard! 77 confirmed kills! Guy's I don't know about this…"
Mason's nose picked up on something as he turned to his right. "I'm picking up on some major negative energy in that direction! So it's either the Oracion Seis or Nirvana, but either way it's where we wanna go…" Mason declared as he took off, following his nose.
"Are you sure it's where we wanna go.." Lucy said with a sob, still shaking in fear as the rest of the wizards followed Mason.
"I'm not sure!" Wendy shrieked.
"Come now child. We can't be left behind and embarrass our guild." Carla grabs Wendy by the arm and began to drag her off after the rest of the group.
"HEY! Don't leave me alone here!" Lucy cried out as she chased after the others.
Mason, Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lyon and Sherry held lead the group. "So during your time serving the council did you ever encounter any of these monsters." Lyon asked Mason as the two wizards ran side by side.
"Personally, no. The sad truth is that while I was serving the council had gotten to the point where they simply ignored the actions of the Oracion Seis. They were scared to lose anymore men." Mason said in a grim tone. "So all I have to go off of is horror stories."
"That's awful…" Sherry gasped. "Where is the love?"
"I can't believe the cowardice!" Lyon declared in a spiteful voice. "I can't believe those idiots would have the gall to tell us official guilds how to do business when they neglect their job to take down one dark guild."
"I have to admit that I was never a big fan of the politics, but I don't know that I disagree with the council's decision on this topic. I know people who were assigned on missions to deal with the Oracion Seis or I guess it's more accurate to say I knew them, and just in case I was being too subtle to you I knew them because they're dead now because the Oracion Seis killed them." Mason grew silent as he his mind was flooded with memories of dark times as the group approached a plateau.
"Yes!" A strange raspy voice flooded Mason's ears. "Thank of dark times! Give into your negative thoughts! Let me in!"
"What was that?!" Mason stopped in his tracks and looked around to see no one that he didn't recognize. "Who said that!?"
"Um… I just said that I was sorry for you." Sherry said taking a few steps frightened by Mason's reaction.
"Oh. never mind. I'm sorry." Mason said grasping his head, but then a rush of air flew past his head. "What the?" Mason looked up to see a massive mechanical flying horse hover over his head.
"You're looking at Blue Pegasus' pride and joy as well as our secret weapon. Christina! The Magic Bomber!" Hibiki announced with a confident smile.
"I'll admit that is an impressive piece of magical machinery." Mason looked up at the floating weapon and began to smile feeling a bit better about their chances.
"You bet, with christina on our side we should have no problem dealing with the oracion seis. No matter how powerful they might be they are still just six humans." Just as Hibiki finished speaking KABOOM! A massive explosion erupted on Christina's side and smoke began to pour from it as the machine crashed into the earth resulting in another KABOOM!
"No way…." Lucy looked on in disbelief at the fire and smoke and rubble burning on the ground that the mighty Christina had been reduced to.
"I'm not likin what I'm smellin." Natsu announced as he stared at the pillar of smoke.
"Keep cool everybody we've got company." Gray called back, picking up on what Natsu was saying.
"There here." Mason's nose confirmed as six silhouettes appeared in the smoke.
"I suppose I should expect insects to swarm together." A white haired man carrying a staff with a skull on top of it emerged from the smoke followed by five other wizards. According to Mason's information this was guilds leader known as Brain.
"Hey white haired boy!" A beautiful woman dressed in fur with short white hair called out to Mason. The Seis' deadly beauty Angel. "I hear you're the brute who raised his fist to my spirits. You'll pay for that!"
"Yeah that's him! It really hurt!" The two twins said in rhythm as they floated over Angel's shoulders.
"I'd like to see you try and make me!" As combat seemed to be imminent, Mason's more fiery battle personality took over as he charged his fist's with magic power.
"Look at you acting tough, but I can hear your fear. You should all be afraid." The sharp tongued poison mage Cobra called out, he had spikey maroon hair and a long white coat and a large purple snake coiled around him.
"He's right you should be scared, if you aren't on your toes then I'll run you over before you even know what hit you." The fast talking sharp nosed racer was the next to hurl insults. "Now lets teach the guys a lesson."
"I have a lesson for you." A robed wizard with an angular face called out. This was the money savvy mercenary Hoteye. "The importance of MONEY! Saving a penny a day can amass you a fortune in the future."
"HAAAAAHHHH! SHOOOO!" Rounding out the six was Midnight a young wizard with black and white hair sat sleeping on top of a flying magic carpet.
"Hehe…. You guys waiting for an invitation or what?" Cobra taunted.
"You guys showin up is all the invitation I need!" Natsu and Gray charged forward into combat, but before they could make it very far Racer intercepted with a spin kick. "AAAHHHHGGG!"
"PHANTOM DRAGON'S ROAR!" Mason spat a mouthful of Magic Phantom's at the venomous wizard Cobra.
"Please. Can you be any louder." Cobra lept effortlessly out of the range. "Cubellios sick em!"
The massive purple snake struck at Mason with it's mouth open, but the beast simply passed right through the Dragon Slayer. "Oh, nice try hope that's not all you got. Erik." Mason said with a satisfied smile.
"What the! How do you know that name!" Cobra hissed.
"Don't tell you forgot me?" Mason continued with a smile. "I guess after all these years it would make sense you'd forget but let me give you a refresher."
(Flashback! The tower of heaven!)
"Hey! Give her back!" A young Cobra cried out as one of the tower guards ripped a small purple snake from his hand and stuffed it into a bag. "No please! She's my friend!"
"Friend ha! What kinda loser keeps some dumb little snake for a friend!" The guard taunts as he throws the bag over his shoulder. "Anyway this thing is dangerous it tried to bite me. I'm gonna throw it into the ocean and you're lucky I don't do the same to you, ya freak!"
"No please!" Cobra tried begging again, but it was too late the guard just ignored him and walked away. "No!" Cobra dropped to his knees and started sobbing into his hand before a voice called back to him.
"Pssst! Hey!" The Maroon haired boy looked up to see a kid with white hair similar in age to him standing above him holding his fist out to him, before he opened his hand to reveal his small purple friend alive and well. "Here ya go."
The white haired boy looked back and forth to make sure the coast was clear as Cobra stood up and dried his eyes before being reunited with his friend. "Thank you… But how did you get her back?"
"I just reached into the bag and grabbed her." The white haired boy shrugged.
"How?..." Cobra asked with a confused look on his face. The boy demonstrated by phasing his arm into a nearby rock. "Is that magic?!"
"Yep, but not very much of it. If I had all my magic then we wouldn't even be here, I could kick all these guard's butts if I was at full strength. Then I could go find my dad." The white haired wizard said as he made a determined fist, but then he snapped out of his own head. "Oh my bad, I was talking to myself out loud. My name is Mason by the way."
"E-Erik. It's nice to meet you." The two boys shook hands, before Erik spoke something he had on his mind. "So is magic really that powerful?"
"Oh yeah, magic is the best." Mason said with a confident smile. "My dad would always tell me if you work hard enough and make your Magic strong enough then you could have the power to grant any wish you want."
Erik's eyes sparkled after hearing Mason's words. "Any wish I want?..."
(End of Flashback)
"I recognized your smell almost immediately, but your soul is so dark and murky I was having doubts. After seeing that snake I realized that unfortunately after all these years you became a monster." Mason said with a serious glare.
"So it is you… Now I remember…" Erik looked down at his hands as he evaluated his thoughts. " I guess I'll have to thank you for saving Cubellios but I hate to tell you this but the weakling Erik who needed help from losers is gone! Now it's Cobra! But if it makes you feel any better I'm practicing what you preached to me all those years ago using my magic to achieve my goals and dreams!" Cobra summoned clouds of poison to his hands before charging at Mason. "HHHAAAAAHHHH!" Cobra punched forward but his fist just went right through Mason. "What the!?"
"That's too bad, looks like you can't touch me, but now that you remember that conversation we had all those years ago, I think it's time I showed you my full power that I was telling you about." Mason cracked his knuckles. "Phantom Drive!" Mason's body charged with Magic energy as he reeled back and struck Cobra in the face, knocking him back.
"Ahhhggg…" Cobra rubbed the bruised area on his cheek where Mason had hit him. "I may not be able to hit you, but you still have to breathe!" Cobra's arms became covered in purple scales as he held up two scaly fingers to his mouth. "POISON DRAGON'S ROAR!" A cloud of red poison flew from Cobra's mouth and completely covered Mason's body.
Slowly the cloud disappeared to reveal Mason standing completely fine, protected by an energy dome. "Wait! Did you say Dragon's Roar? Are you a Dragon Slayer?!" Mason asked in a wide eyed stare.
"Grrr! So you can protect yourself huh! But can you protect her!" Cobra spotted Wendy out of the corner of his eye and aimed two fingers at her. "POISON DRAGON'S ROAR!" Another toxic cloud flew from Cobra's mouth aimed at the young wizard.
"No wendy!" Mason turned to the girl and quickly raised his hand. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S SHIELD!" A wall of magic energy formed in front of Wendy protecting her from the deadly cloud.
"POISON DRAGON'S ROAR!" Cobra spat one last mouthful of poison and this one landed on Mason's unprotected back.
"ACK! ACK!" One breath of the toxic could was all it took as Mason began coughing his lungs out as his body was flooded with Venom.
"Angel! Now!" Cobra cried out to his comrade.
"Thanks for the opening! I told you I'd make you pay! CAELUM!" Angel waved a silver key with her hand as a mounted cannon appeared in a flash of light. "FIRE!"
"Wha?..." The weakened Mason turned to see a large energy blasted headed straight for him and the poison made it so Mason couldn't evade the attack. KABOOOMM! Mason was blasted head on by an insane amount of magic power knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious.
(Blackout…)
