Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
/ Crocus /
Apparently, I'm pretty famous at this point, Azu mused as she read through the international newspaper. It feels nice to read a newspaper once in a while since there isn't a such this as a "TV" or "The Internet" in this world for organizations to update viewers.
An imaginary light bulb flashed in her mind when she mentioned those two forms of 'extremely advanced technology', in the context of Earthland's progress at least. Maybe I can still access either of those things from this planet…
Materializing the old laptop she used during her time on Earth, she quickly altered its functions to make it so that it might be able to pick up on Earth's satellite signals, no matter how far away. The only thing Azu had to worry about was the fact that she was most likely not even in the same reality as that Earth - a parallel world of sorts, and that the magic of her current world might interfere.
Surprisingly, she was actually able to get a connection but realized that it was actually already over six years since she had left the Earth. Based on the date I'm getting from Earth, one day here is about 200 days there… Azu calculated. That's absurd, but I made sure that I didn't pass any time when I traveled here, leaving only the explanation that time passes differently in this different universe.
Seeing as to how I have a connection to Earth's Internet, I should check up on an old adversary… Azu thought. Nicola Dieu… It's been a while since I've battled her, but it never ends well for the planet as a whole when we do, so I guess that's a good thing overall. She hasn't been active lately. Ever since my 'disappearance', as the media puts it, she hasn't shown herself, committed crimes, and is effectively known to have 'disappeared' as well.
Well, it'd be no fun to just use what I call my 'Deus Explicatio' to find her, Azu reasoned. I'll just save it for later and hope that we don't end up destroying another planet…
\\ Flashback \\
I've only just gotten my magic from Egypt, but this research I've been doing sure is tiring, Azu thought to herself. A trip to Neptune really shouldn't hurt. Besides… It's only for a little while and then I'll return.
Riding through the atmosphere, she looked into space, gazing at the endless expanse of stars and galaxies. The winds whipped at her black attire, but the breeze that was far colder than anything even the Antarctic could manage didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, it was refreshing and a welcome break.
Without so much as a sound, a figure in a red dress appeared before Azu.
Looking up, Azu said, "So we meet again, Nicola."
"So we do, Azu", Nicola replied. Raising a handgun in each hand at Azu, she smiled and said, "I've been bored to death with my targets lately, so you're next on the list to take."
"... you get bored too easily," Azu replied.
"Well of course, how could a god not be bored by mere mortals?" Nicola replied dramatically, throwing her arms up.
"I think you'd understand things better if you just did something about your god complex," Azu replied, exasperated.
"Excusez-moi, what did you say?" Nicola replied in a deadly sweetness, quickly bringing her right-hand gun to Azu's forehead.
In one clean swipe, Azu materialized her swords and knocked Nicola's gun away from her head.
"I help the French government once, and this is what I get… Seriously," Azu commented. "I'll have to get back at them eventually for stealing my technology and research and not even bothering to keep it properly protected."
"Not if you don't leave this planet," Nicola added, no longer smiling with a false sweetness, but rather with a lust for battle.
"So be it," came her response.
Both flying at each other, Azu with her swords ready to slash and Nicola with her guns ready to blow through her opponent, they stopped thinking about their surroundings and solely focused on their battle.
Nicola's guns shot never-ending rounds of diamond bullets coated with a thin layer of graphene, the latter of which was the strongest material available to only herself and Azu, for only they could manipulate it in a way which it would actually be useful yet still retaining its ridiculous strength. However, the usage of such a material as they wished would still require a very durable base for it to be attached to, hence why Nicola used diamond bullets. Her guns themselves were made of reinforced steel and coated with graphene, made for blocking attacks.
Similarly, Azu's swords were made of a mix of steel, pure titanium, and a stabilized version of Wurtzite boron nitride, the latter of which was another of the strongest materials available to only the two of them. Although the composition of her swords shouldn't be possible, many rules no longer applied to the two who were now in the heat of battle. Eventually, even though it took months, Azu had figured out how to mix the three materials together into a single substance that could be used for her blades. Adding the final touch, she also coated her whole swords, blade and hilt alike, with graphene, allowing her to cut through or block virtually anything.
With each slash that Azu sent at Nicola, Nicola blocked with her gun and sent a shot or two at Azu, who promptly either cut the bullets or blocked them in any way.
For hours on end, neither could get a leg up on the other. Their reflexes were both incredible and practically inhuman, blocking and sending attacks one after another, over and over.
Even after an entire day of fighting without stopping, neither of them quit - always creating a new way of attacking, moving into new positions, and ultimately blocking their opponent's attacks, again and again. They were so engrossed with their battle that they failed to realize exactly what they were doing, so much so that they didn't realize that they were literally cutting apart and creating holes in the atmosphere of Neptune.
Eventually, they had traveled so many times around Neptune during their fight that they had sliced off a considerable part of its atmosphere, even revealing its core in a few places. Unconsciously, Azu began invisibly releasing her magic into a heavily concentrated ball, leaving it about a mile from where she was.
Slowly, Azu and Nicola were growing more frustrated that they couldn't win even in the slightest. In a full rage, Nicola shot towards Azu and pushed her back towards where the ball of magic was. Of course, neither of them noticed its presence due to how preoccupied they were, but after half a minute of sparring around it, Azu raised both swords and Nicola raised both guns, all heading to the same location. That location just happened to be where the concentrated magic was.
Upon impact from two swords and two guns blocking them, the ball of magic exploded violently, sending Azu and Nicola flying through space in opposite directions and disintegrating Neptune entirely.
Once she had recovered from her battle trance, Azu looked around, unaware of how Neptune had actually exploded.
Azu shot a mental message to Nicola, unwilling to meet her again and waste time on yet another fight: I hope you're satisfied with destroying a planet.
\\ End Flashback \\
Now that I think about it, God Serena kind of had the same personality as Nicola, Azu thought. They both even have 'God' in their self-given names, with 'Dieu' meaning 'God' in French.
Regardless of the past, it's about time that I get to work for today, Azu reminded herself. How about Vitium today? That little memory got me in the mood for some sins.
If I've learned anything from last time, it's that I should research what I need to before I actually go there, she thought as she remembered her experiences in Bosco.
{Vitium… Currently on a small island belonging to Enca far from trade routes… Currently present in a building with the entire guilds of Mot Spine, Black Cloud, and Zünder… }
Four in one go today? Azu questioned. Not bad, I guess, but I'm going to leave behind too much time to do nothing at this rate.
… On second thought, that sounds like a better idea. It seems like I'm practically addicted to sleeping now, although I'm pretty sure that I can't keep that up forever.
Looking up one last time before she left, she observed the sky.
Peaceful as ever, she thought as she disappeared.
Reappearing East of Enca's main island, Azu spotted her targets, all of whom were apparently in a massive castle.
Since there's so many this time around, I should make a way to make sure that they can't leave no matter what, Azu reasoned. It's too bad that I didn't bother to learn the Rune languages here, though. I'll have to see if just using English and that Wingdings font works out. Nobody here should be able to decipher that.
Flying towards the castle and landing on its central spire, Azu began writing in the air in the Earthen font. I look ridiculous and this magic is ridiculous, but I shouldn't be complaining. Most of what I do is in the style of "because I said so" anyways, so this sort of magic is practically perfect for me.
Finished writing her Runes of Earthen emoticons, Azu decided on opening the front door like a civil being this time around. It just happened to be the only door leading to the outside from the castle, which was bad architecture and security, but that would mean that only one party would be necessary to guard the entrances, seeing as there is only one entrance at all.
As she opened the massive doors slowly, she was met with several explosions to the face, which she promptly ate up as Fire Magic.
As the clouds of smoke from the explosions cleared, Azu calmly said a single word: "Zünder."
Not allowing another word from her mouth, the dark mages immediately began firing at her again. Some were using lacrimas and others were using their own magic.
Deciding that she might want to use the lacrimas for later, Azu wanted to kill only the mages.
To achieve said goal, she audibly mumbled "Absolute Zero." This caused all the mages and their surroundings to become frozen in ice. Just in case, it also meant freezing their blood, brain, internal organs and all those other vital parts so that there wouldn't be a chance of living.
The local Dark Guild is down, Azu counted off. Three more to go.
Picking up the explosion lacrimas left behind, she made her way through the castle to the main dining area, where the other three guilds currently were.
The door was, surprisingly, wide open. They're a bit too confident… And at that thought, Azu set the lacrimas to become massive grenades (without shrapnel) and threw them at high speeds toward the center of the mages.
Of course, they didn't affect the mages much given that they were all pretty strong and durable, even if all the lacrimas detonated at precisely the right times. However, it wasn't Azu's goal to injure them with the blast, but rather to get their attention.
"Looks like I'm crashing a meeting today," she commented smugly once all eyes were on her at the doorway.
It looks like the seven assassins represent the seven virtues as opposed to the sins, but why would they have a meeting between them? She questioned silently. Speaking of which, how do they even know these things since they were ideas created on Earth? And their names are even the Latin words for their respective virtues and sins nonetheless… This is just plain strange.
The 14 sins and virtues looked to the opposites among them - Luxuria to Castitas, Gula to Moderatio, Avaritia to Caritas, Acedia to Industria, Ira to Patientia, Invidia to Gratia, and Superbia to Humilitas - and faced Azu at their side. Closing their eyes, the pairs focused their accumulation of sins and virtues, stolen from lands far and wide, and turned them into pure magic. Forming silver orbs of swirling magic, they began radiating strong amounts of magic energy.
About 20,000 on the MPF for each silver orb. The sins and virtues working together seem to strengthen each other tremendously, Azu thought. Continuing out loud, "So I'm guessing the reason that your assassination style is so successful is that you take your target's resistance to temptations, their cares, their diligence, their patience… their sanity. It's two bird with one stone for you because they're gone and you gain more power. Very interesting."
Hearing enough, Superbia and Humilitas were about fire off their very potent magic when suddenly there was a blast of white light. When the light cleared, one of the members of Black Cloud was standing behind Azu, who herself had a spear sticking through her chest where her heart was.
"Well aren't you a fast one," she remarked, still slightly shocked that someone had been able to damage her so badly in such a short amount of time. As the black liquid she was known for poured out of her wound, she pulled the spear out like it was nothing and threw it back at the mage at twice the speed. It hit him in the center of his forehead, instantly killing him.
Finally turning her attention to the gaping hole in her chest, she whispered "Heal" to completely erase the wound from existence. With another whispered "Heal" for her torn shirt, she looked to her opponents to find them unmoved. The silver orbs of Mot Spine and Vitium in their combined powers had grown stronger, but the "real" concern lay in the back of the room.
Black Cloud, the guild full of Wizard Saint class mages in terms of magic power.
Let's see how they deal with God Serena's magic before they get the chance to face me, Azu thought, as if planning a game. Unfortunately, I have to actually shout for this magic because it already exists and, for some reason, requires shouting. I'll just have to play along.
Raising her right hand and having her palm face outwards, she moderately shouted "Sea King Dragon's Encircling Deluge!"
With what had initially been a tiny swirl of water in her palm, a massive whirlpool surrounded the entire guild. However, it was only a matter of seconds before she heard a firm "True-Ice Kamui!" from the guild master, covering him in armor of ice and allowing him to freeze the whirlpool almost instantly.
{Invel Yura - Guild master of Black Cloud}
Ironically, the guild master of 'Black' Cloud has mostly white hair, Azu internally commented. Also, he used magic just like the spell I named "Absolute Zero" earlier.
"Interesting, but let's see just how much you can freeze," she continued out loud. Before she could begin the next of her Dragon Slayer spells, Acedia and Industria leaped at her, silver ball between them.
They can fight without any weird chanting, but that's only to be expected of assassins, Azu mused as she readied herself.
Dodging an ever more powerful jet of silvery magic streaking towards her, Invidia with Gratia and Gula with Moderatio leaped forward. The spheres of magic the pairs had all produced were made up of raw emotions in eternal contradiction. If even a little of the magic hit you, you'd stop in confusion momentarily. If too much hit you, your brain would fry from the effects of the very strong and contradicting emotions.
Quickly, the rest of the pairs joined in, forcing Azu to dodge around deadly attacks one after another. Even if her brain wasn't entirely biological, she still needed her biological parts for it to function. If there was anything that she wasn't immune to, it would be emotion, so she was at a disadvantage. She might be able to handle certain emotions in excess, but there was no way for her to be certain for the time being and this was no time to take absurd risks.
Of course, it was no use for Black Cloud to just stand and watch, so only seconds after all the sins and virtues had joined in, they too joined the fray.
Instantly, one of them broke the sound barrier and hit Azu straight on, causing her to miss her footing. She was still able to dodge the swings from Avaritia and Caritas that were only millimeters away, but then got struck with a pillar of hardened earth in the leg, causing her to stumble yet again. This time, she ended up with a long sword, two daggers, and a burst of arrows to the stomach and a full hit from Ira and Patientia.
Due to Azu's modified body, which was heavily strengthened, the physical attacks only tore at her clothes and left some scratches and dents, but nothing threatening. However, the attack from Ira and Patientia caused her to collapse momentarily.
Taking full advantage of the situation, a curvaceous woman in a very revealing outfit faced Azu and said, "Command T: Expansion". As a result, the size of Azu's wounds increased, even through her modified body. The cuts became gashes. The dents became gaping holes in her flesh.
{Brandish μ - Second in command of Black Cloud}
Only as soon as Azu had established the woman's name, she was completely frozen over by Invel. As Azu lay motionless, encased in ice, the three guilds waited to see if she was really dead, unwilling to led down their guard.
In the meantime, Azu was busy trying to regain control of her brain due to the combination of wrath and patience she was given by the attack from Ira and Patientia. Luckily, she had received an attack from those two because she could convert some wrath into killing power and take the element of patience and translate it into the running out of patience. Turning the levels of wrath down a few notches until she felt stable again, she decided to try one more experiment but would leave it for just a little later.
Concentrating some of her magic power into scorching heat, Azu was able to break out of Invel's ice, only to realize her extensive wounds. With a whispered "Heal", her wounds were once again perfectly healed. Only an instant before everyone in the room resumed their attacks on Azu, she managed to put her hands in front of her chest together as if in prayer, closed her eyes, and shouted, "Pure Purgatory Dragon's Hypernova!"
The amount of power she put into the spell caused it to become explosive enough to completely erase the castle from existence and send a good deal of the dark mages flying into her Runes, unconscious.
Okay, so combining two of the Dragon Slayer Magics works, Azu mentally noted. What about three or more? It might get a little ridiculous to say in the middle of a battle, though.
Still under the effects of excessive wrath and a lack of patience, she turned to the remaining mages and said, "It's rather unfortunate for you that I was hit by Wrath and now also have a lack of patience thanks to the mage of the same name because it seems like a good time as ever to unload some of that rage where it belongs." Each word dripped with venom, causing some to flinch slightly.
Turning her eyes pitch black, Azu called out, "Crimson Cavern Wraith Dragon's Barren Earth!"
With that, the ground turned black and exploded with such force that many of the mages were literally torn apart by the displaced earth. The sins and virtues were still fully intact and Invel and Brandish were holding their own, but about half of Black Cloud was not as lucky. Their bodies laid mangled and bloodied across the area where the castle once stood.
Not allowing a chance for her opponents to recover, Azu raised her hands and shouted with her newfound wrath, "ELEMENTAL DRAGONS' BRILLIANCE!"
An explosion incomparable to the previous one occurred, blowing apart all the land within a mile of Azu, severing the very Earth itself. From the new cracks in the Earth came forth the images of the Purgatory, Cavern, Sea King, and Gale Dragons, representing the four elements. They flew straight into the sky a mile high and roared loud enough to cause a normal human to lose their hearing. Looking back on the ground below, all four of the dragons drew in a breath before letting loose on the land below them, demolishing everything in sight and creating a kilometer-deep hole with Azu in its center, still seething.
Unable to afford to take any more attacks, the seven pairs and the heads of Black Cloud made a desperately fast leap at Azu, only to be met with an even louder shout from her as they drew near: "EIGHT DRAGONS' ULTIMATUM!"
All that were near were blown away faster than they could process what had happened as the eight dragons erupted from the Earth, swirling around Azu. As they began swirling and spinning faster, the ground began to crack further and burst into flames. With each new crack, a new torrent of boiling water came streaming from within the Earth. The winds whipped, the clouds in the sky turned red and rained the blood of Black Cloud. Black and white lights fell from the sky as crystals and pierced through anything and everything below them. One after another, the crystals tore through the virtues, then the sins, and finally one managed to get Brandish. Invel could only manage to hide behind his armor.
Increasing her output of magic, the winds shredded the bodies of the already dead members of Black Cloud. The flames scorched the bodies of the virtues. The waters boiled the bodies of the sins.
The skies turned pitch black.
Not so peaceful anymore, are you sky? Azu questioned jokingly, half maniacally in her trance. Black with red clouds. Not bad.
Dragons still swirling around her, Azu looked at the barely alive members of Mot Spine and Vitium. Raising her arms, she gave a poisonous smile and raised her arms, shouting yet louder, "FALSE GOD'S FALL!"
Completely unleashing the full force of the spell, the 14 dark mages, among the most dangerous in the world, were dead. Their bodies were a bloody mess, but to Azu, it was a job well done.
Looking around, Azu found that Invel and Brandish were the only two still alive out of the four Dark Guilds initially present. Releasing the effects of the eight dragons, she turned to the two of them and spoke in a deadly tone, "For being able to survive all that, I'll give you a single chance to live by sending you to the western continent and you better not come back to this continent. You ought not to test my patience while I have none." And with that, she teleported them off to the western continent, terror still on their faces.
After a few seconds, Azu whisked the blood off of her and turned her attention back to the sky, which had now recovered and was back to its white clouds and blue background.
Just like nothing at all happened, she noted, smiling slightly.
/ Vistarion (Capital City of The Alvarez Empire) /
As Invel and Brandish appeared in Vistarion, they land merely feet before a black haired man wearing high-collared black robes with gold trim.
He looks to them and senses what powerful magic they possess, but his attention is diverted to their injuries and how they suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Questions can come later, but for now, I'd like you two to come with me," he said to the two heads of Black Cloud.
The two of them, sensing the man's power, decided that it would be best for them to follow.
Another continent, another chance, right?
Dark Guilds Left on the Hit List: 7