Chapter 8
The next day was a sunny one, to Cascadia's dismay. She always fought better when it was rainy. More water. More precipitation. However, she knew there was no getting out of this fight. Why Natsu wanted to fight was beyond her, but she promised, so here she was.
Everyone was gathered behind the guild where there was a nice open field clearly used for training. It seemed as though the whole guild was gathered to watch, which was a bit unsettling.
Erza stepped up, clearly meaning to referee the fight, "The only rule I think we need to have is no killing. Everything else is free game. Agreed?"
Cascadia and Natsu both nodded. Natsu was raring to go. Cascadia couldn't care less. However, she did have her pride at stake, so she knew she needed to take this seriously. Now that she'd come out with her secret, she might as well go all out.
Natsu looked at Cascadia with gleaming eyes, saying, "No hard feelings when I roast you alive. Fire dragon roar!"
Cascadia, bored, looked at her nails, calmly saying without even looking up, "Ice wall." A blue wall of ice materialized in front of Cascadia, taking the entire bulk of the fire. When the fire receded, the wall still sat there shimmering, no sign of disappearing.
"Wha-?" Natsu said in disbelief.
"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Cascadia finally looked up, her silver eyes narrowed, "My ice is resistant to most fire. You're going to have to do better than that."
"How?" Natsu shouted, "Fire dragon wing attack!" Clearly not believing her, he began to fire more attacks at her. The attacks simply harmlessly hit the ice walls that kept appearing.
"Natsu!" Erza shouted, "Every defense has a weakness, even if she does claim her ice is fire resistant."
"I know that," Natsu looked at Erza, "you don't need to tell me."
"If you're done now," Cascadia said, "I think I'll make my move."
Closing her silver eyes, she murmured something before shouting, "Ice dragon secret art: sensory illusion." Suddenly, the field became covered in ice and the warm temperature dropped suddenly and drastically.
"What the heck?" Natsu yelled, "You have a secret art that only changes the surroundings? That's so lame."
"Think what you want," Cascadia said calmly, "it's your funeral."
"Whatever, I'll just melt this ice with you. Fire dragon roar!" He fired once again at Cascadia, the fire hitting her. "Ha, I got yo-…what?" The flame went right through her.
"It's an illusion," Erza muttered on the sidelines.
Natsu lifted his nose in the air, "If I can't see her, I'll try to smell her." After a few seconds, "There!" He swiped an attack in the direction he was sure her scent was, but yet again there was a miss.
"Natsu's nose failed?" Someone shouted, "That's never happened before."
"How do I defeat someone when all my senses have been screwed up?" Natsu muttered, looking around. He looked at Cascadia, or rather, her illusion. It shimmered slightly, giving away the fact she was truly an illusion. Where's the real thing? Natsu stopped dead, before turning around and firing a dragon breath behind him.
"What do you think you're doing idiot?" Gray yelled angrily, "You could have hit us, and she's not even over there….huh?"
Gray suddenly stopped when Cascadia screamed, the ice disappearing, and her illusion disappearing. Natsu had finally landed an attack on her. Cascadia shakily stood up, brushing her singed arms, "I'm impressed you figured that out so quickly. Maybe you really do have a brain in your head."
"Thank you." Natsu nodded his head.
"That wasn't a compliment, idiot." Gray yelled.
"I realized that if your image is shimmering, then it must be a reflection, so the real you would be opposite of you." Natsu said.
"That's sort of true," Cascadia said, "but not entirely. But I don't feel like sharing the entire truth as of right now."
"Doesn't matter," Natsu decided, "Fire dragon's brilliant flame!" He roared, firing another shot.
Cascadia dove, barely avoiding the attack. Just a little more time. She thought. She needed just a little more water before she could launch another attack. Natsu was certainly making that much more difficult.
"If I can't hit you with normal flames," Natsu shouted, "then let's try something a little more advanced."
"This should be good," Gray muttered on the sidelines.
"Shut up ice freak!" Natsu shouted before turning his attention back to Cascadia, who was grinning as though she had a secret.
"I can't wait to see those advanced flames you're talking about," Cascadia said.
"Crimson Lotus: Fire dragon's fist!" Natsu's fist lit up, ignited with his fire and ran up to Cascadia, throwing a barrage of fire enhanced punches. Cascadia barely had enough time to block the blow with her palms covered in her ice. However, each time he punched, there was an explosion and Cascadia knew something was different about this attack. Her ice alone wasn't going to save her. She needed to use a strong defense spell or she was toast…literally.
"Ice Rose: Dance of a thousand petals!" Cascadia shouted, sending a flurry of sharp, icy rose petals at Natsu, trying to break through his punches, which was quite difficult seeing as there were successive explosions coming from his fists. She managed to slow down his fists and even hit Natsu, but she knew it was over, she was running out of energy and even though Natsu clearly was too, his stamina was just so much higher that she didn't stand a chance.
"One more try," she muttered to herself, "Or I'm screwed." While trying to dodge his attacks by blocking his vision with the ice petals, she tried to focus on his feet before shouting, "Ice dragon's terrain!"
The ground turned to ice, causing Natsu to slip, ending the barrage of punches. However, Cascadia dropped to her knees, breathing hard. She was out of magic energy. Natsu attempted to stand up only to slip again. Just a few more minutes and the terrain will disappear as her magic was drained. It was over. Natsu won.
"You jerk!" Natsu yelled, slipping again, "I can't stand on freaking ice." He began punching the ground, cracking the ice. However, his flame suddenly went out. "Crap. My magic energy's run out…"
Erza stepped forward, "It appears to be a draw as neither side can use their magical energy again."
"I can still fight." Natsu yelled.
"Sit down." Erza yelled.
"Yes ma'am!" Natsu said, quickly sitting back down again.
"I make the rules. If I say it's over, it's over. This match ends in a draw. You should be satisfied, Natsu. You got to fight a strong opponent. No complaining."
Natsu leaned back, looking over at Cascadia, who was kneeling on the ground, panting. "She's not wrong, you know. You're pretty strong, Cascadia…for an ice user. Definitely better than that jerk Gray."
"Wanna say that to my face?" Gray asked angrily.
"With pleasure."
"Enough." Erza said, "It's over, so let's go back inside and let the two of you recover." Erza began walking towards the guild before stopping and looking over her shoulder to Cascadia, "Nicely done." With those words, she disappeared into the guild, followed by the other members.