Chapter 7 Marco vs Viper
"Come on! Let's do this!" Marco yelled.
Viper's eyes glowed red and hundreds of snakes burst out from under the walls.
"Heh heh." Marco laughed nervously "That's a lot of snakes."
"Poisonous Skin" Viper laughed as he threw his hands in the air "Strangle"
The snakes' skin was covered in a strange purple liquid. Then they all stretched out until they were 3 feet long each. That's when they pounced.
"Mind Dragon Barrier" Marco grunted as he struggled to keep the reptiles away from him "Burst"
The barrier exploded launching and killing the snakes surrounding him. But in the chaos Marco had lost track of Viper's location. "You're Hissssssstory!" Marco rolled out of the way as a blast of poison was fired behind him. "You foolisssssssh boy don't think you can hide from me." Snakes popped up it of the ground and flew up into the sky. "I have eyesssssss everywhere."
"I get it your a snake! You can stop hissing!" Marco yelled as he put up another barrier to avoid the incoming barrage. Some of the reptiles bounced off the barrier fell to the ground while the rest dug straight down to the lower floor.
"Don't mock me!" Viper snarled "I'll kill you!" "Camouflage" Viper disappeared in thin air and he slithered across the room silent and odorless.
Marco glanced about nervously feebly attempting to locate the snake man. He laughed nervously "Hey whatever happened to not wanting to kill me? Cause hoo boy I wish we could go back to that."
Viper appeared right behind Marco "No" and sent him flying to the other end of the room.
"Damn it" Marco grumbled "I couldn't even sense him."
"Of course you couldn't" The snake laughed "If you could it wouldn't be very effective camouflage."
"Yeah just keep talkin" Marco muttered "That way I'll know where to stay far away from."
"Hissss"
Marco stiffened and turned around to see that Viper's pet snake was glaring at him. Clearly unhappy about being blasted. "I don't suppose you could forgive and forget?" The snakes answer was to lunge at Marco's head luckily he was able to duck out of the way. "Guess not."
"Ahh Yes~" Viper said wistfully. "My lovely daughter Kiara. She did always hate being shown up by those younger then her."
"Daughter?" Marco asked, he then looked between the man and the snake. "I can see the resemblance. Looks like snake runs in the family."
"Ssssshe wasn't born a snake you idiot!" Viper yelled "She turned into a snake."
Marco sighed and shook his head "I'm going to stop listening to you. Your crazy might rub off on me."
"Me crazy?!" Viper asked "No I'll tell you whose crazy! That damnable fool Ricardio's crazy!"
"Ricardio?" Marco asked.
"Your the perfect fit..." Viper growled. "I'll grant you the status of the Snake on my high committee. But it was lies, all lies!"
"Are you okay?" Marco asked nervously he could feel the killer intent looming off the snake man hybrid.
"Just like this guild... lies all lies." Viper said crazily. "We said we'd have stayed together but then they go and abandon me. They leave me, they fight against me."
Marco knew that Viper was about to snap 'I've got to take a shot at him while he's distracted.'
"It's all your fault." He rambled. "If you and your damnable group didn't come here they wouldn't have lied. They wouldn't have!"
"You need to calm down buddy!" "Mind Dragon Cross Slash" Marco swung his hands in the shape of an x and two beams were launched.
Viper slithered out of the way with ease "Ssssse your not even listening!" He vanished and Marco was thrown across the room agian. Viper reappeared with his supposed daughter Kiara slithering up on his shoulder. 'He's too strong.' Marco thought 'But if I don't win this Pete and the others will... never mind I have to think of something quick.'
Ricco and the others heard crashes from upstairs. "Seems like Marco and Viper are fighting." He said.
"It appears that your friend is losing as well." Moray mused.
"How can you tell?" Sakura asked
"My magic allows me to manipulate all different types of waves." Moray explained. "This includes sound waves I'm able to hear everything that's going on up there and lets just say you shouldn't get your hopes up."
"Everybody shut up!" Yoro panted, being the only one with out a ranged weapon he created a suit of stone armor so he could fight at melee. "Another wave's coming!"
"Already?" Ricco asked "At this point we'll die of magic exhaustion instead of snake bites."
"Oyoi try to think positively." Moray said "At least you won't die a coward."
"That isn't comforting in the slightest." Ricco grumbled.
"Roku nothings working..." Nina complained "I don't think he has much time left."
"Don't worry about it." Roku said "Just focus on keeping him alive."
"Did you not listen to what I just said?!" Nina asked.
Marco grit his teeth as he rolled away from another one of Viper's poisonous blasts. "I can't see him..." Marco was swept aside by a powerful swipe. "Can't hear him, and can't smell him." Another slash sent Marco barreling into a wall "I can certainly feel him though." Marco shook his head. "That only leaves one option."
"Marco you need to pay attention." Cekos scolded. "This ability could mean life or death in a fight."
"So what?" Marco asked "Fighting isn't all that interesting to me."
"So you don't want to fight." Cekos said skeptically.
"Yeah that's right." Marco answered. "What's the problem with it?"
"Oh nothing, nothing." Cekos reassures. "It just confirms that you're a yellow bellied coward."
"The hell you say to me?! You want to fight!"
"No but I needed to prove a point." Cekos answered. "You may not be looking for fights but that temper of yours is bound to get you in trouble."
"So you're going to teach me how to control my temper?" Marco asked.
"No therapy is too much hard work." Cekos complained. "I'm just going to teach you to fight instead."
Marco sighed. "That's what I thought you lazy bastard. Well what are you going to teach me then?"
"A way to find someone who you can't see, smell, or hear." Cekos answered. "I'm granting you access to the Mindscape."
"The mindscape." Marco whispered. "I never figured out how to use it in training but it's not like I have anything to lose by trying it now." 'Besides my life' he thought morbidly. He placed his hands on his forehead in an oval formation where his third eye would be if he had one. "View" The world around Marco was tinted blue and he could visualize everything happening about half a mile away from him. This was nowhere close to how powerful this technique could be with Cekos' engulfing the entire continent, but Marco doubted he could ever get to that level.
Marco shook his head to focus on the task at hand. While he could hear his friends fighting off wave after wave of snakes downstairs he could also hear a pair of dark mages trying desperately to keep Pete alive. Marco shook his head again 'thoughts for later.' He rationalized. But still their thoughts were quiet, Viper's were not. While he may have been unfindable in the outside world in the mindscape he was an obvious target.
His Mind was unclear and voices yelled messages at different pitches and frequencies. The most common being hate, slaughter, Kiana, snake, betrayal, and Ricardio. All of which made sense to him except for that final name. But that's what the second part of the technique is for. "Enter"
Serpen's Fang base two years ago
Three people sat at the dining room table in the guilds giant mess hall. The first of which being Viper and next to him was a girl only about fourteen years old with bright blond hair and wearing an orange sundress. Sitting opposite to them was a mysterious figure in dark robes covering his entire body.
Viper cleared his throat. "You have something to say mister... Ricardio was it?
The figure nodded. "That is correct I've taken a certain interest in your skills but it seems you may have mistaken my messenger for an intruder. He was wearing robes similar to mine I believe.
The girl's eyes widened. "Father that was..."
"I know Kiara." Viper said. "I'm very sorry sir but we aren't a mercenary guild and we have no intreast in selling out our services. Nor do I intend to run away from my guild to join a cult we don't want to get involved in that sort of thing."
"Now Viper I implore you to reconsider you be the perfect candidate for the Serpent on my high committee. Ricardio's voice was more firm that time as if to say that Viper wasn't being given a choice.
But Viper remained firm. "I'm very sorry but the answer is still no. I have no interest in joining a cult of any kind. Certainly one who worships that monster Zeref. Now go! I've given you my answer.
Ricardio laughed. "I understand you just don't seem to know what kind of power your turning down. Here let me give you a sample."
A dangerous aura filled the air and Viper and Kiara stiffened in response it was then that they realized just how powerful the man they were dealing with was. Their body uses glowed and scales grew out of their skin. Their teeth grew into fangs and their pupils became slits. While Viper's transformation ended there Kiana's kept going on her bones cracked and her tongue blackened. Her legs molded together into a single long tail and her body shrunk down to a much smaller scale.
"What have you done?!" Viper demanded.
"There now isn't that better?" Ricardio asked. "Can't you feel the power flowing through you?"
"Power? I don't give a damn about your power! Turn us back this instant!" Viper demanded.
"Why would you ever want that? Can't you see the perks that this new life may grant you?" Ricardio asked.
"Perks?! I don't want any bloody perks change us back!"
"Fine I'll change you back." Ricardio sighed.
Viper glowed and his body returned to normal Kiara however remained as a snake. "Both of us." Viper restated. "Change both of us back." Ricardio stood up and turned to leave. "Hey where the hell do you think your going?!"
"It seems that I was incorrect in my judgement." Ricardio said. "I'll be leaving now I won't be doing you anymore favors."
"W-Wait!" Viper pleaded. "I'll join your committee just please turn my daughter back!"
Ricardio snarled. "You? I'd never allow a better like you in my inner circle."
Viper fell to his knees. "Wait! Please change her back! Give me back my daughter!"
Marco cringed as he exited Viper's fragile mind. This was the second step of the Mindscape spell. It was also a fairly simple procedure that can be most simply described as the victim's life flashing before Marco's eyes. After that the most prominent memories are quickly skimmed through until Marco finds the one the target will most likely dwell on the most. Amazingly this untrue process takes about two minutes for a trained psychic, but with Marco's photographic memory approximately forty five seconds are shaved off that base time. Marco grit his teeth as he prepared for the third stage of the attack.
'This is the worst part of it.' He thought 'Trapping someone in their own bad memories... it doesn't feel right. But it's not like I have much of a choice. If I don't do this now Pete and the others may die.' This was the part that was the most difficult to pull off. Luckily Viper's Mind wasn't very strong at the moment but that didn't mean the technique didn't require upmost concentration. "Entrap" Viper, who along with Kiara had been circling Marco suddenly froze in place and fell to his knees. He clutched his head and screamed as loud as he could. Kiara quickly slithered over to him in a feeble attempt to soothe her father.
"I'm so sorry about this." Marco lamented "But you leave me no choice. I won't get another chance like this so I have to use my most powerful attack.
"I don't think we can hold out for much longer!" Yoro said panicked. His armor was starting to crumble.
"I'm starting run out of ammo too." Sakura muttered.
"My magic power's running a bit low." Moray panted.
"Damn it this isn't how we die." Ricco muttered. "I won't let some dumb reptiles be the ed of us."
A large pink sphere appeared in Marco's hands. "This is my strongest technique so I need to put everything I have into it."
"Damn it Roku this isn't good!" Nina said. "His heart's starting to stop!"
"Well what do you want me to do? I'm not a doctor try CPR or something!"
"It's no good he only has about one minute left."
"Why didn't you say something sooner!" Roku asked.
"You said not to worry about it!" Nina shot back
"How much time does he have now?"
"50 seconds"
'I think it's finished' Marco thought, the orb he had created grew to about the size of his fist.
40 seconds
"It's now or never!" "Mind Dragon Cannon"
30 seconds
the orb was released and a massive laser of energy came flying towards the stunned Viper.
20 seconds
Viper's eye's widened as he snapped out of his trance but he still couldn't do anything about the incoming laser.
10 seconds
"No way..." Nina breathed.
"What is it did he die?" Roku asked.
"No his heart stabilizing He's going to survive!"
"Those brats must have defeated him..." Roku said disbelievingly. Pete started to stir "Never mind that we need to get out of here."
"Wait."
Roku and Nina stared at Pete in shock. "No way he shouldn't be conscious for at least another hour!"
"I heard... everything you said." Pete groaned. "But I still need to know... why did you save my life?"
"That's a bit of a complicated answer." Roku admitted. "So I'll have to start from the beginning."
"Oyoi" Moray let out a sigh of relief as every snake in the area died at once.
"Is.. it over?" Yoro asked
"Yeah I think so." Ricco said happily.
Sakura fell onto her back. "Thank everything I had just about run out of weapons. That's for your help what's your face."
"I think he said his name was Moray." Yoro corrected.
"Don't care"
"Oyoi" Moray sighed "I was once a very rich man."
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Ricco asked.
"Just shut up and listen." Moray said. "I was a very rich man but the magic council confiscated my families fortune. Apparently my father was a thief of some infamy and when the council discovered that our fortune was made in such a way they just had to get their greedy mitts on it, which of course left me homeless. That's why when I met Viper and he suggested making a guild with the sole purpose of knocking those bastards down a peg I'll admit I was interested."
"Oyoi I was foolish, I should have realized it sooner. Viper wasn't an emotionally stable person. I should have known I'd only be a matter of time before he snapped."
Sesor lay with Rauna, Guana, and Tauna on a grassy hill overlooking the castle. "Man I wonder what Hargeon's like." Guana/Red wondered. "That's where you used to work right captain."
"I remember you saying you were one of the best sailors around." Rauna/Yellow agreed.
"Yarharharhar! You'd be remembering right! Sesor the sailor never afraid ya take ye anywhere on the sea." Sesor laughed.
"But why did you leave Hargeon then?" Tauna/Green asked.
Sesor frowned. "Well ye see...I had a policy, I'd take just about anyone almost anywhere. I'd usually stay away from Bosco nasty business they've got over there and slavers weren't aloud on board either. But I'd usually have all sorts of people aboard me ship. Common folk and thieves alike. But the magic council only cared about that second part, I was branded a pirate and no one wanted me services any more. That's when I met Viper... he wanted to travel to an island called Hiori had some rare snake species he wanted to study. Along the way I told him about my plight and I was asked to join the guild."
"And you agreed?" Rauna/Yellow concludes.
Sesor sighed "I really shouldn't have but... he was so hopeful he only had two other members before I joined. It just didn't feel right to leave after that... but now we wouldn't be returning to a guild just an empty shell of what it used to be."
"My name is Roku Ikarashi my father disowned me at a young age..."
"Wait." Pete interrupted. "Before you said your last name was-"
"It doesn't matter" Roku interrupted. "I am nameless now, even if I wanted to I could not take my old name back. When I was fifteen there was an attempted robbery against my clan. A ninja by the name of Ryushi."
"Is that his real name or are you just making that up?" Pete asked.
"Real" Roku growled "But that's not important what is important is that while fighting him I used my family's sacred elemental sword and as punishment I was exorcised from the clan. I was dehydrated and starved when Viper found me in the woods so as thanks I joined his guild."
"My parents were traders of black magic." Nina added hesitantly. "They bid me in the woods when I was only five years old. Then they were driven out of the kingdom. I grew up hating the magic council so eight years later when Viper suggested to me a way to... at the very least inconvenience them I took it."
"Those are nice stories but they don't really explain why you helped me." Pete said.
"Two reasons one was that we realized how... unstable Viper was and that we didn't want him to claim another victim. Secondly." Roku smirked. "We know you were screwed over by the council as well Pete. Or should I say Pete of the Shadow dark mage at age eight."
Pete grit his teeth. "I am no dark mage."
Roku laughed. "Don't worry we won't tell anybody but I'd suggest you leave soon Viper may be out for now but who knows when he'll wake back up."
Pete scowled and looked away. "That's for the advice but we'll be fine. If the newbie could take that guy down I'd be much easier with five of us fighting at once."
"Whatever you say." Roku sighed. "Come on Nina were leaving."
"Oh don't you act all high and mighty." Nina scoffed. "Didn't you run away from your fight against him?"
"It was a tactical retreat! Get off my back women!" Roku yelled.
Pete clenched his fists. "It's still not over not even after seven years. I'm not a damn dark mage."