Chapter 22
For Mason everything was dark, a familiar position for the Phantom Dragon Slayer and it wouldn't take long for Mason to stir from his slumber. "Wake up! Hey idiot you better get up right now!"
"Ughhh…." Mason groaned as he slowly opened his eyes where he immediately saw Brosnan looking down at him and slowly he realized she wasn't alone. Erza, Tyson, Wendy and Jellal had circled around above the Dragon Slayer with Julia rubbing her hands together as if she planned to shock him back to consciousness. "I'm up! I'm up!" Mason hopped to his feet to avoid Julia's shock.
"Awh…." The Gen 2 Dragon Slayer groaned with disappointment.
SMACK! Brosnan conked Mason on the back of his head, knocking him over and creating a bump on his noggin. "What the hell were you thinking!" She roared. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?"
"What am I doing?!" Mason roared back, butting heads with the Knight Captain. "I'm saving the day! Like always! Somebody had to do something!"
"And you thought it was a good idea just to fly off without telling anybody." Brosnan and Mason continued to bicker back and forth while the rest of the wizards could only look on and laugh all except for one.
Wendy slowly walked up to the argue wizards before she poked at Mason's side. "Um Mister Mason…. Thanks for saving my guild hall."
"No problem kid." Mason smiled as he looked down at the young mage. "Us Dragon Slayers gotta stick out for each other you know."
"Uh...Right." Wendy nodded.
"And while we're on the subject of thanking people." Mason turned back to Brosnan, who still seemed to be mad at the Dragon Slayer. "Thanks for saving me back there." Brosnan didn't answer, she simply looked back with confused eyes. "When I was falling, before I went dark I saw gold light and figured that must've been you."
"Yeah but that wasn't me." Brosnan said before pointing a finger towards Jellal. "He's the one who flew out to catch you." The blue haired mage looked away feeling bashful.
"Jellal? Really?" Mason looked back at his former foe. "Uh thanks man…"
"Yeah don't mention it…." Looks like the awkward tension between the two hadn't quite been resolved.
"As long as you're thanking people might as well thank them." Erza pointed up to the magic bomber that was currently floating above Nirvana. "They're the ones who swooped in and made sure you didn't end up as toast."
"Oh yeah…" Mason looked up at the flying pegasus and waved his arm at them. "Thanks for the save."
"Don't mention it." A mysterious voice called out in Mason's head getting him to jump. "Also you don't have to wave, we can hear you."
"Hibiki?" Erza said aloud, recognizing the voice as one of Blue Pegasus' Trimen.
"Yes, it's good to see you're alive Erza." Hibiki answered back but his voice had gone ragged. "We're doing our best to hold on up here but we're running low on ammo and Magic power we won't be able to stop another blast from the cannon so you all have twenty-five minutes to stop this thing or else Cait Shelter will be destroyed. Luckily I've found Nirvana's weakness, what we thought were legs are actually pipes that collect magic power and store it in a massive lacrima at the base of each pipe. There are six legs which means six lacrima and we need to destroy all six at the same time in order to finally end Nirvana."
"Really? That's your big plan…" A much more sinister voice answered in everyone's head.
"Zero…." Mason muttered to himself.
"If you idiots think I'm gonna sit still and let you stop Nirvana then you have another thing coming. I already took care of three of you puny little wizards, the Ice Wizard, the Celestial mage and the Fire Dragon. You need to destroy all six of the lacrima in order to defeat me so all I need to do is stop one of you from finishing the job. Good luck Fairy Tail…" With that Zero's voice disappeared leaving all the other wizards to determine their next move.
SNIFF! SNIFF! Mason sniffed around before he seemed to find something. "There's something rotten coming from east of here, I bet you that's Zero."
"You mean you can smell him from here? Why didn't you do that before?" Erza asked feeling annoyed by the Dragon Slayer.
"Well for one I was kinda preoccupied until recently and another is that I couldn't really smell much through the stench of Jellal's soul...sorry…" Mason shrugged apologetically as he knew he let on a little more than he probably needed to. "Whatever the reasons are doesn't matter, I'll track down Zero and keep him preoccupied, the rest of you can work on dealing with those lacrima."
"No way!" Natsu's voice rang out through Hibiki's psychic communication. "Zero is mine. I owe him a major beat down."
"Natsu?" Erza called back through Hibiki's link.
"Don't count us out yet Erza!" Lucy was the next one to answer. "We wanna help."
"We still got some fight left in us." Gray followed up. "Just tell us where we need to go."
HOP! HOP! "I wish to help as well my honey…" A tied up Ichiya bounced over towards us. "All I ask in return is that you free me from this cursed rope."
"Understood." Erza took over command, freeing Ichiya from his bindings. "Natsu, Lucy, Gray you take lacrima one, two and three respectively Jellal, Ichiya, Wendy and I will take the four, five and six." As soon as Erza finished assigning numbers the communications cut out. "Ichiya you take four, I'll take lacrima five. Jellal you and Wendy go to the sixth one…. Jellal!"
Jellal looked to have spaced out for a moment but he eventually answered. "Lacrima six got it." Then he took of leaving Wendy behind.
"Hey wait for me!" The young Dragon Slayer cried out as she chased after Jellal, followed closely by her flying kitty cat.
Before Erza could leave as well, Mason reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "Hey what about us?"
"You've done enough, you're almost out of magic power. There are at least two Oracion seis members unconscious somewhere on Nirvana and two more down in the forest somewhere. You probably wanna make sure you have them all captured." Erza said before freeing herself and running off towards her lacrima.
"Wait!" Mason called out, he was ready to chase after her when he felt a hand grab hold of his shoulder.
"I don't love admitting it but she's right." Brosnan smiled calmly at Mason. "You're running on empty, I'm down an arm and this was their fight to begin with."
"It's my fight too." Mason pulled open his collar to show off his white guild mark. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail too, Master Makarov sent me because I have the most experience with missions like this. I can still fight."
"You've fought enough, you saved Wendy's guild. You need to recover." Brosnan let go and took a step back. "I need you and Julia on the ground."
"What? No way! You want me to abandon ship!" Mason argued. "Not gonna happen I can-"
"I need your nose on the ground, you and Julia are the only ones that can track an individual through all that forest." Brosnan's eyes narrowed as she became more serious. "Besides if I let you stay up here I know you'll try to run off and… GET DOWN!"
Brosnan pushed Mason to the dirt as a massive purple snake leapt out from behind a wall and sank its fangs into Brosnan's shoulder. "Brosnan!" Mason called out before the captain blasted the reptile off of her shoulder but her strength was fading and Mason ran up to catch her before she fell. "BOSS! Boss are you okay!?"
"Uhhh…." Brosnan couldn't even speak as her eyes closed and her breathing sped up to the point where she was panting like she couldn't catch her breath.
"Boss!" Mason shook Brosnan hoping to get some form of movement out of her. "Come on! You gotta open your eyes!"
"Oh no… That doesn't look very good at all." A familiar villainous voice called out getting Mason to turn back, his eyes full of tears. That's where he found Erik standing atop a building petting his venomous pet. "Titania got it relatively lucky, but you can't exactly cut off her entire shoulder now can you and with your little healer nowhere to be found I give her five minutes." The dark mage shined a toothy grin down on Mason and his friends. "Ten tops."
Mason lifted the sickly Brosnan up and dropped her in Tyson's arms. "Get her to a hospital, fast! Drop Julia off in the forest, she needs to track down those other two wizards." Mason declared as he turned to face Erik.
"Hey why should we listen to you, you're not the boss of us anymore! I'm gonna stay and fight!" Julia argued back but Mason replied by looking back over his shoulder and glaring at his old teammate, his eyes glowed with fury and Julia immediately backed off and grabbed hold of Tyson's massive arm. "Aye sir!"
"You're going to fight him alone, Mason you're almost out of Magic power!" Tyson warned the Dragon Slayer.
"Trust me. For this, I have plenty of power." Mason summoned Magic power to each of his hands and took a battle stance. "Now go!" Without so much as another word Tyson blasted off with his rocket jets and the second he was gone.
"Haha! You really wanna fight me all by yourself, you must be some special kind of stupid. I'm not taking it easy on you anymore." Erik taunted as he cracked his purple knuckles.
"Phantom Drive…." Magic power exploded around Mason before he disappeared. "VANISHING FIST!" He appeared right next to Cobra with a punch aimed for his jaw.
"Nice try!" Erik grabbed Mason by the arm and threw him over his shoulder and down onto the ground knocking him out of his drive mode in the process. "You're so angry, I could hear that coming a mile away."
"PHANTOM DRAGON ROAR!" While he was lying on the ground Mason opened his mouth and shot A spiral of purple phantoms aimed directly at Erik's head.
"Woah." The poison dragon exclaimed as he just barely managed to leap out of the way. "You almost got me there but man your head is screaming at me. I'd tell you to calm down but it doesn't really matter. You got the jump on me before but now you can't just rely on overpowering me anymore!" Streams of smoky crimson magic erupted around Erik before he delivered a nasty venomous punch to Mason's chin and filled his body with vicious toxins. "Face it buddy, your toast."
Mason stumbled backwards, the venom had already begun to attack everyone of his senses but Mason simply grit his teeth and took a step forward. "PHANTOM DRAGON VANISHING FIST!" Mason rushed forward, his arm blazing with magic power.
"Seriously?" Cobra stepped out of the way before delivering a poisonous kick to Mason's back. "You don't need to announce your attacks dumbass!" Erik kicked Mason off the top of the building they had been standing on, and sent the weakened dragon slayer down to the street below. The dark mage then leapt down and landed a few inches to Mason's left. "I can hear your thoughts stupid! I know what you're going to do next, like a leg swipe!" Erik leapt over Mason's incoming sweeping leg. "Oh it was actually a fake out! You really wanted to go for a sucker punch!" Erik caught Mason's fist, inches before it reached his stomach. "Really, you almost had me there. POISON DRAGON GRIP STRIKE!" Poison magic exploded from Cobra's scaly hand, burning Mason's hand.
"AAAAAAHHHHAAAHHHH!" Mason pulled his hand back and desperately shook off the painful magic but a sizable burn had already formed on his skin. "GRRRR! YOU BASTARD!" Mason rushed back into the frey.
Erik smiled as he almost effortlessly dodged everything attack Mason threw at him. "I bet at this point you're regretting sending away those council wizards, especially since that bimbo with yellow eyes was dead the second Cubelios sank her fangs into her but don't worry I'll make sure you won't miss her for lon-Gooof!"
Mason struck Erik dead on in the jaw, shutting him up momentarily. "You wanna know something?..." Mason growled. "You can dodge read my mind, you can dodge my attacks and poison me all I want but none of it matters. You hurt Brosnan, now I'm gonna kick your ass…"
(Elsewhere)
VOOOOOMMM! Tyson's rocket booster arms blasted the three wizards forward as they soared over the forest. Brosnan at this point had gone completely unconcious.
"HEY!" Julia shouted over the sound of Tyson's jets. "SHOULDN'T WE TURN AROUND?! CAIT SHELTER IS BACK THE OTHER WAY, THEY'RE THE CLOSEST THING TO A HOSPITAL AROUND HERE!"
"WE CAN'T RISK THEM NOT HAVING THE PROPER SUPPLIES WE NEED TO TREAT THE BOSS!" Tyson answered as he scoured the horizon as he searched for something particular. "THE PLACE I HAVE IN MIND IS GONNA HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED INCLUDING SKILLED HEALERS!"
Julia looked down with concerned eyes at her unconcious commander before replying to the old wizard. "YOU SEEM TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! I TRUST YOU! THIS IS MY STOP, IF SHE DIES I BLAME YOU!" With that Julia leapt from Tyson's back and began to free fall down to the forest below.
"Good luck…" Tyson said to himself as he continued to fly forward, soon a gathering of blue and white tents came into view. "Finally…" Brosnan let out a faint sigh of relief.
Tyson gently landed in the middle of the campsite and was immediately surrounded by hundreds of rune knights. "Captain Tyson, we weren't expecting you. Welcome sir!" One of the soldiers said followed by a salute.
"ENOUGH CHIT CHAT! WE NEED TO GET HER TO THE MEDICAL TENT NOW!" Tyson screamed at the troops and he along with the fainted Brosnan were immediately escorted to the medical tent. Brosnan was quickly given a potion and hooked up to a magic lacrima, a device that carefully provides its user with the proper amount of healing magic, that way you don't need to rely on healing wizards.
"Good thing you got her to us when you did, the way she was going she had about two minutes left before the poison took her." The medic on board explained to the old wizard.
"So she'll make it?" Tyson asked, feeling a little more hopeful now.
"The venom isn't gonna kill her at this point but she is in a coma. How long it'll take to break is hard to tell. Three days, three months, three hours. It's hard to say but if she's as strong as people say she is then I have no doubt she'll be fine." Just as the Medic finished up his diagnosis, Lahar bursted into the tent.
"CAPTAIN!" He quickly ran over to the sleeping Brosnan to take things in for himself before turning to Tyson in anger. "How did this happen?!"
"One of the members of the Oracion Seis ambushed us. The Poison Mage, Cobra and his vicious beast of a pet ." Tyson explained. "Mason went out in pursuit of the culprit and I returned here to get the Captain proper medical treatment."
"Mason? So it's true, that reckless buffoon really did take with those Fairy Tail idiots. Way to throw another stick of dynamite into a forest fire. I for one am done with entrusting the fate of my country to these moronic amateurs." Lahar declared as he marched out of the tent. "Fifty fifth and fifty fourth platoons with me! We have a job to do."
(Back with Mason)
"GAAAAHHAAAHHH!" Mason roared as clocked Erik once more in the face.
"AHHAAAHH!" Erik stumbled back before catching himself and glaring back at Mason. "Dammit that hurt!" Cobra struck back but his attack surged with magic power, knocking Mason back a few yards. "Damn it, I don't know if you're smart or lucky or whatever but I can't hear your thoughts anymore. Your only thinking about that stupid girl! If I knew you were that into her, I woulda told Cubelios to go for the neck, spare her the suffering." Cobra smiled sadistically, but his face was soon met with another swift punch.
"She's not dead...:" Mason growled back.
"Oh she's dead alright." Cobra declared as he wiped the blood from his jaw. "And your batteries are so depleted you can barely stand. Once you drop dead, I'll bide my time and wait for your stupid little friends to wear out Zero or vise versa and then I'll sick cubelious on the winner and take control of Nirvana for myself. Brain promised me and everyone else in my guild that our prayers would be answered but he lied to us." Eriks fist began to shake as he reminisced over his betrayal. "If my prayers won't be answered then I'll make sure that no one else's will either, I'll use Nirvana to destroy everyone! This whole rotten country, reduced to ash! Everyone will know just how it feels to have their hope ripped from them!"
"You're insane… I'll never let a psycho like control something as dangerous as Nirvana…." Mason muttered as he struggled to keep himself upright. 'Damn it! He's right about one thing, I'm desperately low on magic power. You know what they say, desperate times desperate measures.' "FWWOOOOO!" Mason opened his mouth and began to inhale and before long streams of white magic began to flow into his open jaw. 'Ok Mason, just take what you need and don't go overboard. Think happy thoughts, like flowers or cakes. Just take the magic, don't let Nirvana into your head.' As Mason tried to remain calm as his body slowly began to change, once again charcoal colored scales sprouted across his face and all down his arms. "That should do it, no need to go overboard." Mason said before catching a glimpse of his scaly arms. "Oh…."
"Dude, what the hell is going on with your face!" Erik jumped at Mason's strange appearance. "That looks really gross…"
"You're one to talk Lizard Hands!" Mason threw back at Cobra.
"Lizard Hands? Is that really the best you got. If Natsu's dad was a dragon then I guess yours was a silver carp or something." Erik joked back, cracking himself.
"Whatever! Ready for round two?" Mason's hands erupted with magic power, one surged with his traditional purple magic and the other was charged with the white Nirvana power.
"Anytime Fish Face." Erik beckoned to Mason with two fingers.
"RAAAHGGG!" Mason charged forward swinging his purple fist at Cobra.
Erik blocked the attack by throwing up his arm to catch the blow, Mason then attacked from the other side but Cobra blocked this as well using his other arm. "Nice try. POISON DRAGON ROAR!" While he had Mason caught right in front of him, Cobra unleashed a point blank venomous spray all over Mason's face. "Haha! So much for Huh?!" Mason powered through the poisonous cloud and headbutted Cobra right in the jaw. "Ow! What the hell! OOOFFF!" Mason buried his fist into Eriks stomach.
"I'm all fired up…" A magic circle opened beneath Mason's feet and purple and white magic power exploded around him.
"Don't start talking like that flame brained idiot." Cobra said as he shook off Mason's attacks. "You fairy freaks really piss me off." Cobra shot death eyes at Mason before his giant snake slithered up next to him. "First thing I'm gonna do when I take over this walking dump is march straight to Magnolia and destroy the whole damn city starting with that embarrassment of a guild. Sick Em Cubelios!" The massive snake leapt at Mason who grabbed him by the jaw and tossed him to the side but he wasn't watching for the massive poison blast that blindsided him.
"Ack! Ack! Ack!" Mason started coughing up mouthfuls of crimson dust and his skin became even paler than before.
"Freaky magic scales or not you still have to breathe so no matter what my poison magic can still affect you." Erik said before he went over and kicked Mason in the stomach, knocking him down. "You can increase your magic power all you want but your magic can't protect you from the viruses that are slowly destroying your body."
"Gaah…." Mason pushed himself back off the ground. "My body doesn't matter, I'm gonna stop you! For the Boss!"
"Hah! Don't worry about her, you'll be reunited pretty soon." Cobra raised a poison covered hand and aimed it at Mason. "Farewell Dragon Slayer…" More and more magic power began to build in Erik's claw but before he could fire KABOOOOM! Nirvana itself began to shake as walls and buildings began to fall apart. "What the hell is going on?!" Cobra leapt onto the back of his flying snake before the ground below him fell apart.
"It's Nirvana…." Mason had taken to the sky as well once again making use of his boney wings. "My friends did it, they destroyed all six lacrima. Nirvana's falling apart."
"No way… They really beat Zero." Erik looked around and saw his plan literally crumbling around him. "Cubelios! Get us out of here!" Cobra commanded his snake to fly him the opposite direction.
"Not so fast!" Mason called out as he put both hands together. "PHANTOM DRAGON CANNON!" A spiral energy beam of swirling white and purple exploded from Mason's hands and straight at the fleeing Cobra.
"POISON DRAGON'S GUARD!" Erik made a cross with his arms and a wall of poison magic formed in front of him, blocking Mason's attack. "Not so HUH?!"
When Erik's poison wall faded, Mason was standing right in front of him with a glowing purple fist headed right for him. "VANISHING FIST!" Mason punched Erik dead in the face, sending him and Cubelios down onto a section of Nirvana that hadn't quite fallen apart yet. "That's for Brosnan…"
"Gaahhh…" Erik put a hand over his right eye as a stream of blood started to flow from it. "You're dead!" Erik growled. "Cubelios!" Cobra called out for his snake but Cubelios was busy watching the ground around it crumble, the massive reptile looked back at Erik with sorrowful eyes before taking off and flying the other way. "Cubelios…. Cubelios! Where are you going?!" Erik stood up and slowly began to limp over to Nirvana's edge not noticing the unstable ground he was standing on. "No! Please don't leave! Cubelios!" Erik cried out as the ground below him began to crack and crumble before it shattered.
"Woah!" Mason grabbed a hold of Eriks hand before he could plummet to his death. "This place is unstable. We have to go!"
"She left me…" Erik muttered he couldn't even hear Mason at this point. "My only friend…"
(End)
One more chapter in the Nirvana arch, who's excited? Please read, rate and review. Till next time, bye! ;)
