Chapter 22! I don't own anything!
Kiryu and Lisanna carry an unconscious Mira to what was left of the main camp. They lay her down on a small bed and wrap a blanket around her. Not long after that, Levy arrived, somehow carrying Gajeel on her back.
"Are you guys okay-?" She begins to say but stops, noticing Kiryus arm. A tree limb the about the length of a ruler and as thick as rebar was sticking through his right arm. She also noticed his left arm was dislocated.
"Its alright. I'm about to pull it out. But for now, get him in a bed." Kiryu reassures.
As Levy does this, he finds a chair and motioned to Lisanna. "I'm going to need help with this."
"Wait, what?" She asks surprised.
Kiryu sits down. "I need you to pull this thing out."
Lisanna nervously takes a step back. "I can't! I don't know anything about that!"
Turning to where the back of the chair was on his right, he props his arm up so the limb was pointed up and out.
"It would be better to take it out so I don't lose my arm to infection." Kiryu says calmly.
The young, white haired girl nervously grabbed the limb with both hands.
"When I nod, pull it out as hard as you can." Kiryu says sticking the strap of his swords sheath in his mouth. She nods. After a moment of him bracing himself, he nods. Lisanna, using all of her strength, pulls the limb out in a bloody mess. Kiryu bites down on the strap and grunts with pain. Finding a wrap, some cloth, and some disinfectant alcohol from the wreckage, Lisanna begins to bandage the wound. When she poured the alcohol onto the wound, Kiryu winced at the pain.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" Lisanna began with a humble yet nervous apology but Kiryu shakes his head.
"No its okay. I should have been careful with that guy."
Lisanna smiles and finishes bandaging the gash and puts a sling on his left arm.
"Thanks Liz." Kiryu says happily.
Lisanna smiles. "Thank you for saving us when you did. If you hadn't shown up, Mira and I would've been in serious trouble."
She turns and walks to Levy, who was watching over Gajeel and Mirajane. Kiryu gets out of the chair and leans against a tree that was still standing.
I know she says I saved them, but why do I feel like I failed?
The two female wizards have a rather sad conversation while he was left to his thoughts, when Elfman carrying an injured Evergreen came out of the forest behind them.
"Big brother Elf." Lisanna says.
"As much as I hate to admit it…." He says, tears in his eyes. "We don't stand a chance against Grimoire Heart. They're way too strong!"
Lisanna starts to tear up, same as Levy.
"I'm a sad excuse for a man! I couldn't protect my sister or my partner from those monsters!" He says saddened by the events that had taken place throughout the day. Levy turns away and looks down at the unconscious wizards before her.
"Its time for us to come together." She says proudly.
"Levy." Says Lisanna.
"We all wanted to become S Class Wizards so badly that we let the trial drive us apart." Levy continued.
"I only know it was for a little bit, but everyone was thinking about themselves except for the guild. Well we can't afford to do that anymore." She starts to stutter over her crying. "Our enemy may be overwhelming, but we're the Fairy Tail guild." She looks up and the tears start to roll down the sides of her face. "If we put all of our strength, and our feelings together, there's no way they can beat us. Please everybody! We have to come together! I'm begging you!"
Kiryu, using his right arm to lean against his tree, clenched his fist.
She's right. Ever since they were chosen, they cared about nothing but taking out the competition. That's about to change.
His frown turned into a serious look.
"She's right." He says in almost a low tone.
The three wizards turn to him, tears still in their eyes. Kiryu turns to face them and begins to take off the sling.
"If we don't do something, then we won't make it back home."
He drops the sling to the ground. "I lost Fairy Tail once. I won't let it happen for a second time."
Lisanna stands up and looks at the dragon slayer.
"So I will fight. And I won't stop until we make it back home. Together."
"But Kiryu, your arm-" Levy starts to say.
He grabs his left shoulder. Using as much force as he can muster, he pushes his arm back into his shoulder with a loud pop. He grimaces for a second, then his blank expression returns. Kiryu rolls his shoulder to get a feel on his arm.
"I'm going to go find that exploding guy. You guys can decide what to do next. But I recommend one of you stay here with the others."
He walks past them, going towards the area where the one Seven Kin was. Lisanna looks at him surprised. Back when they were kids, he wasn't really as calm as he was now.
"Kiryu." She says calmly.
Kiryu turns to see her.
"Come back safely okay?"
Kiryu smiles slightly. "I will."
"And don't get too banged up. I would hate to pull more foreign objects out of you." She jokes.
"I won't." He turns away. "Stay safe."
The teen continued forward, preparing for the enemy he was about to face.
It had been about half an hour since Kiryu had left the camp. Deep in the woods of the island, he looks up and notices a thunderstorm has rolled in.
That's just great.
Kiryu pulls up his hood and jumps onto the root of a tree. Looking around, he had come across a meadow, a hundred yards wide and across, with small trees and waist high grass. There was nothing but silence. He knew something was wrong.
It can't be. I wounded those four Serpents Fist guys, could there be more?
While surveying the area below, raindrops started to fall. Soon it poured to where he could only see about twenty feet away. The rain soaked the hood that his hair started to stick to his forehead, covering part of his right eye.
I'll use this storm to cover my movements, and take out those Serpents Fist members one at a time. Even though I've never been one for subtlety, this will have to be the way to take care of these bastards.
Sliding down the side of the root, trying to not make too much noise, he lands in a patch of the knee high grass. Taking a knee he looks above the grass, still remaining hidden. He sees slight movement from different parts of the meadow. Kiryu counted and believed to be about six members hiding in the meadow. One had taken overwatch in one of the trees to his left. He had to be taken out first. There were two more several yards in front of the tree. One had hidden in the grass in the middle, probably trying to lure Kiryu out so that the overwatch could take him out. He would have to be taken out last. The last three had hidden in the tree line just outside the meadow to Kiryus right. They could be taken out after the overwatch and the two on his left were out of the way.
Alright. I hope this works.
Crouching down, he moves to the left, staying low and making small moves to keep himself moving and hidden. After a few minutes, Kiryu comes across a dried river bed just outside of the meadow. It was slowly filling with water due to the rain.
This river bed seems to lead all the way to them. I'll have to take it and find out.
Kiryu followed it. And, to his surprise, the river bed had led him all the way to the tree. Slowly, he climbs up the back of the tree. Below the canopy, the assassin waited with a crossbow aimed to where the ambush was supposed to be at. All of a sudden, a hand covers his mouth and Kiryu chops his neck, knocking him out.
That's one.
Below him, the two others waited for the signal to attack, but it wasn't going to happen. Grabbing the crossbow, Kiryu jumps down on top of one of them. The other was about to signal the others but gets a bolt to the shoulder with a follow up punch to finish him off.
That's three. Onto the next.
He tries the unconscious assassins to a tree, using vines from the nearby foliage, and begins to move on with the next part of his plan. Taking the same river bed back to his original position, Kiryu draws up his next plan.
The one in the middle of the meadow should be easy once I take the other two down. Now how do I do that?
Kiryu goes right, following the tree line. He snuck along it until a large jagged boulder the size of a magic mobile, that laid just to the left of the assailants. Crawling up the side of it, he gets an aerial view of the last three Serpents Fists. The two near the trees had gotten within reach of each other, while the one in the middle was scanning the area Kiryu was just at not too long ago.
Now's my chance.
Quietly sliding down the side of the boulder, Kiryu lands just behind the two. Before they could notice his presence, he grabbed them by their heads with each of his arms and slammed them into the mud. They struggled to get a signal to the last guy, but they were unable to do anything. After a few seconds, they pass out from not getting enough air. Kiryu ties them up around another tree.
One more.
The last assassin starts to look around.
He noticed that his friends aren't where they're supposed to be.
Kiryu charges. He wanted to get him when he wasn't paying attention. And with the way he was looking around wasn't going to help him with a sneak attack. By the time the assailant saw him, it was too late. Kiryu tackles him to the ground and puts his arms behind his back. The assassin struggles with no avail.
"You have ten seconds to tell me how many of you guys there are."
The assassin snickered. "I'm not telling you jack!"
"I'll say again."
Kiryu grabs the Serpents Fist members right index finger and breaks it like a twig.
"Aaaaaggggghhhhh!"
"How many!"
"There-there's twenty of us! That's all I swear!"
Twenty. So counting these guys and the four from earlier, that means there's ten more out there.
Kiryu chops at his enemies neck and knocks him out. He stands up and looks around him.
It doesn't seem that the other ten are here.
"Impressive." A voice says from behind him.
He grabs a dagger from the knocked out assassin and throws it at a nearby tree. It hits the bark with a loud thud and gets stuck.
Where did that come from?
Shifting out from inside the tree, the Seven Kin appeared, only the upper half of his body showing.
"We had heard of your combat experience, but nothing of you stealthily taking out your enemies. Azuma, member of Grimoire Heart and one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
Kiryu faces him, sword in hand. "Kiryu, Fairy Tail wizard. So this is where you've been hiding?"
"No. In fact I have been going about my mission. Just as they have." The wizard named Azuma says directing toward the assassins.
"Why are you guys here?" Kiryu demanded.
The wizard shifts out of the tree. "Grimoire Heart has our own agenda. While Black Serpent has their own."
"Which is?"
The Seven Kin wizard smiled. "Either capture or kill you, Kiryu."
Kiryu readies his sword.
"You guys have no business here. You hurt two of my closest friends, I can't let you get away with that." He says calmly trying to hide his anger.
"Two? Last I checked, I fought more than those two take over mages."
Kiryus eyes widen. His enemy takes a step forward.
"For example, that girl, the one they call the Sky Maiden. She was no match for me." He says rather confidently.
The teen grits his teeth. "You bastard!"
Wendy is just a kid, and she doesn't have much fighting experience.
Kiryu begins to move forward to engage his enemy. Azuma raises his arm towards the dragon slayer and a small orb blows up in front of Kiryu. Moving quickly he raises his sword and blocks the brunt of the explosion. The explosion blows the grass around them out of the ground, and all that's left is a muddy field. Kiryu raises his head. He was forced back by about ten feet.
That was close. This guy ain't pulling punches.
The enemy wizard lowers his arm and smiles menacingly.
"Things have changed, I think I should save Black Serpents reputation and take you out myself." Azuma says, getting into a battle stance. Kiryu holds his sword in front of him in a battle stance. "I'm afraid you're wrong."
Azuma gives him a confused look.
"You fight dirty. You've hurt my friends and used one as a hostage. And for that….."
Kiryus stardust began to radiate from his arms. "I'm going to kick your ass."
And chapter 22 is finished! Sorry its taking me so long to put these out. I've been rewatching the Tenrou Island arc so it's taking more time than I thought. Tell me what you guys think! Review!
