Author's note
Alright back for another one, and I am finally done traveling until August so I should be able to write a bit more now. Thank you to everyone who reads, and a special thanks to everyone who takes the time to review. Some of the questions you guys ask really force me to think about what these characters can and can't do which helps me flush out what can or can't happen in the future of the story. So I really appreciate it and it's always fun for me to talk about this story.
I also went a bit of a different route than I intended to with Kinzo and I'm a little torn about this chapter so any comments would be appreciated.
Anyway on with the chapter.
The Greyhound: Part 2, Old Demons
Chapter 16
"Ice-Make: Hammer!" Gray cried as he slammed a massive mallet into the stone floor, right where his opponent had been.
Said opponent just took a half step back and launched more birds, forcing him to dodge or risk taking another hit.
"Enough of this, Ice-Make: Geyser!" tired of the back and forth, Gray meant to end the fight in one move. Pushing a large amount of magic into the attack, he caused ice to burst out from under the masked man's feet. The jagged frost reaching several dozen meters into the air.
All was quiet.
For a couple of seconds, until the mound of ice shattered and his target walked out unphased.
The two stared each other down, waiting to see what the next move would be, and it seemed as though the action would continue.
But then they heard "Hey assholes!"
The two turned to the side, finding the foreign voice, and both were surprised by the sight.
"Ya, I'm talking to you two."
"Kinzo what are you doing here?" Gray asked, unsure why the assassin was on this island.
"I could ask you the same Gray." He shot back, before turning to the other ice mage. "And take that thing off Lyon. You look like an idiot."
The masked man just smirked, before removing his head covering, and showing off pale blue hair. It was indeed Lyon Vastia.
"Kinzo it's been a while. I would say I missed you, but I'd be lying."
"Not here to catch up Lyon, I just wanna know what the hell you and your little cult here are doing to Ur." he said while pointing to the robed people behind them.
"Ah, so you've already seen what's left of her. That must have been quite a shock to see her supposedly unmeltable form reduced to mere water. Hehe."
"You're making jokes? You're killing her, and laughing about it?" the edge in his voice was unmistakable.
Vastia seemed to pause at that particular comment, before continuing.
"I suppose I should clear the air, and to start, yes I am killing her. But you should understand why. Don't you remember that spell as well as I do? All of Iced Shell's users are still alive, trapped forever as ice. I simply intend to free her of that. I mean really, I'm doing her a kindness!"
"..."
There were so many things he wanted to scream at the fool in front of him for, but not now. He had Lyon talking, now was the time to gather information.
"How are you doing it? Iced Shell is supposed to be indestructible."
The younger boy could only chuckle.
"Ah, isn't that what's so wonderful about magic? If you look hard enough, there really is a spell for anything. This little number is called Moon Drip. By harvesting the natural magic power from moonlight I can create a spell capable of erasing other kinds of magic. Isn't it just ingenious?"
"Why? She gave everything she had for you, for us. So why would you do this?"
"Hm? Didn't I tell you already, I'm doing Ur a kindne-"
"Don't Bullshit me Lyon!" he roared, almost daring his old friend to finish that sentence.
"...Fine. My goal is to release Deliora and prove my own strength by killing the beast that even Ur couldn't defeat." He revealed.
His ego? He was hurting her to puff up his own ego!?
"...over something so stupid." He whispered.
He was already determined to put an end to what ever Lyon was doing here. But now, after hearing all that a kind of conviction came over him.
"You're going to stop all of this. Now!" The words came out as more of a snarl, which only emphasized his demand.
"Heh, as if I would take orders from some fool with no real power."
and that was strike 3, as far as he was concerned.
"... alright Lyon I can spare a few minutes. After all, I haven't had the chance to kick your ass in 6 years." His right glove was still humming with power from the spell Natsu had tried to set off, and he was just begging for the chance to use it now.
Gray had taken a bit of a back seat as his two childhood friends started speaking, but his anger was certainly still building as he listened to Lyon's reason for committing such an awful sin against their master. How could he do this to the person who had given her life to raise and protect them when they were kids?
Speaking of when they were kids. After Gray heard the way Kinzo started to talk he was reminded of all the times these two would get into fistfights. And as the silver-haired boy gave his last response, he knew it was inevitable. But this time Ur wasn't here to break them up.
"If you plan to get in my way, then you can die alongside her! Ice-Make: Snow Dragon!" As the boy spoke he formed a massive serpent with large chunks of jagged Ice acting like scales and teeth.
As it grew closer Kinzo jumped, raising himself just over the beast's head and clearing the attack. If he were fighting Gray dodging that move would have been game over for the ice mage. But this was Lyon, and Lyon was different.
The 'dragon' changed direction quickly showing that it was more than a simple sculpture. Much like those irritating birds his opponent liked to throw around, this creation was very mobile.
He spent the next minute just dodging the constant swipes, and nothing he hit the thing with was working. Just punching the scales only left a few cracks, and while his bullets could punch clean through, the holes would fill in with more ice in seconds. He could throw Natsu's fire at the thing, but he wanted to keep that in case of an emergency.
Another minute passed, "Heh, I knew Ur was wasting her time training someone like you. You can't even handle something like this!"... and after Lyon started taunting him he made his choice.
He decided to use one of his more… explosive tools to get rid of the pesky lizard and Re-Quipped an orange crystal into his hand.
Isaac Colt
Journal entry #243
Ethernano rich minerals have all kinds of uses. I have found them to be particularly useful in developing self-sustaining cores to use in my weaponry. However, there comes a point where a particular lacrima/stone has absorbed too much ethernano and therefore becomes somewhat unstable. If left alone the material will be fine but when disturbed or acted upon by an outside force (whether that be physical trauma, or a strong pulse of magic power) the outcomes can be traumatic.
Reports of large explosions while excavating new dig sites or mining are relatively common. These are likely the result of striking such 'overcharged' materials by mistake. The layman's term for such an item is Explosive Lacrima and while the name is accurate I find it to be rather crude.
Hades once asked me if such items could be replicated in a lab. His intention seemed to be mass-producing highly explosive lacrima for the sake of 'removing' future targets. I told him such a thing was impossible and that lacrima crystals would require decades or even centuries' worth of magic power to become that unstable. But the truth is, creating such material is quite simple. All one has to do is…
"Dad… you are seriously the best." he thought in admiration.
Squeezing the orange stone in his hand with enough force to form cracks, he saw its glow start to become more pronounced. That was his cue.
Throwing the ore out in front of Lyon, the only warning he offered was "I would block that..."
Lyon barely had enough time to wrap the ice serpent around himself before he was rocked to his very core.
He could feel himself being blown off his feet, but he didn't move very far. His back just slammed against his creation holding him steady but hurting like hell.
As he opened his eyes the sight had him questioning his opponent's sanity.
The front of his dragon was completely gone, it's ice fragments still falling from the sky. The back half was melting at an alarming rate. His clothing was scorched and his skin was bruised. Finally, his immediate surroundings were completely covered in smoke.
"He tried to blow me up."
Kinzo had completely lost it. "Shit-!" and Kinzo just jumped out of the smoke.
The explosion did exactly what he'd hoped for. Destroy that annoying hunk of frozen water, and disorient Lyon. The smokescreen was just a nice bonus.
From here his choice was obvious, close the distance.
Lyon always did suck at hand to hand.
Busting through the ash cloud he caught him off guard "Shit-!" he heard the boy cry. It was music to his ears.
Rushing up, he was within arms reach of his old friend. And the ice mage panicked, falling back on an old habit Ur had tried to train out of him.
Whenever he felt cornered Lyon always, ALWAYS tried to make birds as fast as possible. Throwing all caution, or any semblance of self-control out the window.
Kinzo planned to abuse that flaw in his fighting style.
Pushing forward he pulled a fist back, and waited. Waited just a split second for Lyon to start casting the spell.
Like clockwork, he felt the magic build and begin to release from his opponent's hand. And as the flying attack just began to take shape… he slapped the offending limb away. Pushing it just to the side of his body, he watched the frigid creatures sore right past him, harmlessly.
Seeing the shock and fear on Lyon's face probably made him a little too happy. But the boy had made a mistake, and now he was going to suffer for it.
Jab. his head snapped back.
Jab-Cross. Bloody nose, and bruised cheek
Shoulder check. He was tumbling backward
Grab the head, flying knee. Probably a broken nose.
Take a step back… and fly forward with a gut punch. The boy's torso collapsed forward.
Lead with the Upper-cut. His head flew back up.
And finish him with a right overha-
CRACK!
When it was nearly over, as he was about to put Lyon down for a dirt nap, something stopped him from delivering the final blow.
it was a ball... a crystal ball.
It had smashed against the side of Kinzo's head, stopping his combo.
Time slowed and before he'd even fully recovered from the blow he was looking to the left. Lyon, already forgotten.
Pupils dilated as he searched for his target. He knew that orb, he'd been hit by it often enough. Yet when he finally saw another person… it was Zalty.
The masked man who'd hired him?
It clicked, everything clicked. The reason 'his' personality seemed so familiar, why 'his' scent bothered him, the Transformation Magic. And then he remembered her words from the cell.
'I'll be seeing you soon Kinzo, I promise.'
His thoughts traveled to the things being done on this island. The things they were… she was doing to Ur. And he lost it.
"ULTEAR!" his screech surprised even himself, but his anger wouldn't be so quickly cooled.
'Zalty' just smirked and took off down the temple walls.
He made to chase, to fly after her, but a searing pain in his left shoulder forced him to stop. And not a moment later drop to a knee.
Looking over he saw that a thin spear molded from ice had pierced a hole through his shoulder, pinning him to the ground. And then he heard a voice behind him speak.
"Truly I must give you credit, I was almost finished there. But now I will crush you!" Lyon was beaten and bruised, but still standing.
Kinzo didn't bother responding, just growling as he turned his head to face the boy, and raised his gloved hand.
The air in front of him exploded, and his vision was covered in dragon's fire.
In the next three seconds, he had already snapped the spear holding him down and bolted. Desperate to reached the temple's edge. And by the time he took another breath he was diving towards the treeline to give chase to his target.
He flew down the side of the temple with so much speed he cracked the earth as he hit the dirt. Muscles and bone straining in protest, but he had no time for them. Pushing off in another burst of speed into the jungle, following the witch's scent.
Despite his rage and the ridiculous amount of adrenaline pulsing through his system, he could still feel the pain in his left shoulder. A literal hole having been punched through it. He was losing a fair bit of blood, but he could still use the limb… mostly. And that was good enough for him.
Taking a moment to think about his little scuffle with Lyon, he was very grateful to have Natsu's magic in that glove. And for saving it until the very end.
His mind briefly wondered how damaged the ice mage was from that assault, but stopped himself from caring when his shoulder started to burn again. He wouldn't concern himself with the bastard who tried to kill him and was trying to kill Ur.
Regardless he didn't have anymore time to think, because Ultear was right there. No longer disguised as Zalty, instead taking 'his' place was a beautiful time mage with a playful smile on her face.
"Oh, Kinzo, so good to see yo-!" SMASH!
He had been sprinting full force after her through the woods, and once he found her… he didn't slow down.
He crashed into her going as fast as he could, and the plain shock on her face was oh so satisfying.
Their bodies tumbled against the cold ground for some time. Until their momentum ran out, and he had her pinned.
"Your Own Mother!" he roared down at her.
Ultear was very happy with herself. Having just given away her identity by sucker-punching Kinzo with her orb, and enjoying his temperamental reaction.
Now she sat in silence about a quarter-mile into the jungle, just waiting. Waiting for her entertainment to arrive. And she was not disappointed.
There he was. Black hair pressed back as he ran, and an angry expression on his face. Oh, this was going to be so much fun.
"Oh, Kinzo, so good to see yo-!"
As she spoke something briefly registered in her mind.
"Wait, he's not slowing down!"
As he tackled her they started to roll. And as they rolled both fought for control. A top position would be best.
She struggled but at the end of the day Kinzo was physically stronger than her and casting a spell mid-roll wasn't exactly practical. When they finally came to a stop, her back was pinned to the ground and he was glaring down at her.
Charging in head first for a tackle had really caught her off guard. It was risky, vulnerable to counterattacks, and just all-around a gamble. The move was so out of character for him.
Normally he was the slow methodical type, not someone who runs in headfirst. She was expecting him to stop, and then they would have one of their normal conversations. She would mess with him, they might have a little fight, and then she would disappear.
That was exactly what she was expecting. So when he just rushed her, ya it was unexpected. And now she was in a bad position. Really what had gotten into him-?.
"Your Own Mother!" she heard him bellow from only inches away.
...ah that's what it was.
"Now now pet, you really shouldn't jump on people like that, I thought I trained you better." A taunting smile still on her face.
"Why! How could you do this to your own mother!?" my oh my, he really had a short fuse at the moment… Now was the perfect time to mess with him.
"Hmm? You're only interested in that old hag. And here I thought you came to see me." a fake pout taking over her features.
He growled, and she felt him using more pressure to push her into the ground.
"Answer me!"
That added force was actually starting to hurt and for a moment she thought using a spell would be the only way out of his grip. But then she felt something hit her kimono... It was blood, a single drop of blood.
Searching for its origin she, for the first time, noticed the state of his jacket. It was in tatters around his left shoulder, and just behind the torn fiber was a rather large wound. And there was her out.
"Why did I do it...? Hmm? Well, maybe I could let you in on a little secret." As his attention focused on her face, listening almost desperately for her answer, she struck. Launching her right hand up and pressing her thumb into his wound. Pain racked him immediately, and like 'magic' she felt his grip loosen.
Taking full advantage of his distracted state, she pulled on his arm. Shifting his body weight to the right. And with her right leg locked his left in place. From there all she had to do was push with her free leg and they were rolling.
Now she had his back to the ground.
Quickly pushing past his legs, she used her weight to hold his torso still and her arms to pin his to the earth. Looking down she found herself face to face with an even more pissed-off Kinzo.
"Oh pet, it seems no matter how hard you try, you just can't beat me." She mocked.
He lost some of his anger as she spoke and instead just held a neutral expression. "Will you tell me why, or not?" he asked, staring up at her.
She just grinned before leaning down and whispering in his ear. "You wanna know why I'm doing this? Why am I killing mother dearest? ...It's because I hate her and because she deserves it."
As he registered her words, the girl stood quickly. Releasing him from her grip and dashing further into the jungle.
Kinzo for a moment was stunned. She hated her mother? Why? Ur was one of the kindest people he knew. And despite just being thrown on her as a child, she seemed to genuinely care about him. And he knew Ur had cared for her daughter there was no doubt in his mind about that.
As his thoughts raced he felt her weight leave him and watched as she dashed further into the treeline.
As he stood himself, wincing at the pain in his arm, he tried to give chase still holding on to her scent. But as he took his first stride forward he felt a soft magic wave pass over him.
Alright so he knew she was keeping tabs on him now, the question was why. He prepared himself to continue chasing her scent when it struck him. He couldn't track her anymore, the trail was gone. Well gone was the wrong word, in actuality he could still smell her, but her scent was coming from everywhere.
He didn't understand what had caused the drastic change until he considered "The wave of magic, she's probably trying to throw me off… but how did she know I was tracking her by scent?"
"Oh pet, you look so confused. Are you wondering why you can't find me anymore?" her voice was coming from the left… but he didn't see her?
"Up here sweetie." Looking a few feet higher he saw one of her orbs floating in the air and heard her voice coming from the object.
"How did you know?" he asked her
"Hm? How did I come to know about your little quirks?" she teased "Well, after I lost you for the second time Hades wasn't very happy with me, So I decided to start digging up every possible piece of information I could about you. And I must say, you cover your tracks well. But even so, I managed to dig up quite a bit. Not the least of which were your strong senses."
Well, that was great, really the last thing he needed was this psycho knowing too much.
"And what else did you find out about me?" he questioned.
"Ah ah, you can't just ask a girl to lay all her cards on the table like that."
Growling again he decided to just drop the issue for the time being and moved on to a different line of questioning "Why would you hate your own mother?"
She seemed to be quiet for a moment, before responding in her same cheerful/taunting tone "Because she was heartless, but enough about her for now. I'm much more interested in you at the moment." she pressed.
"Don't change the subject, answer me about Ur-!"
"-November 2nd, X782. Bosco." Those words froze him. She couldn't know about that, how could she possibly know about that?
"Oh? Pet you seem awfully quiet."
"You're bluffing" he shot out
"Oh am I? November 2nd, X782. While in Bosco's capital you managed to assassinate one of Grimoire Heart's associates, Edward Brask. Found dead in his bed with a bullet hole through his skull. Hehe," she giggled before continuing.
"It would have been a clean job, if you hadn't woken up his 14-year-old daughter sleeping in the next room. Oh that poor girl, waking up only to find her father's corpse. And then being threatened to stay quiet by the Greyhound."
"I am very curious about what you said to her though. From what I gathered, she didn't last through the week. Local authorities found her dead in her room, suicide."
Gritting his teeth at the story he asked her "And your point?" It was hardly his fault that the girl couldn't handle what she saw, and he was not responsible for the things she did after he was gone.
"My point? Well, you seem to have this idea in your head that you're better than us. That Grimoire is a great evil and you're the cure. That we're some monster that needs to be slain and you're the hero ready to do just that. When that's not true at all. In reality, you're just like us. It doesn't matter who gets hurt, only that you achieve your goals, right pet?"
He glared a hole through the orb before saying "I've never claimed to be a hero, and I know a lot of the things I do are wrong but don't try to pretend that I'm anything like those demons. I am nothing like Hades, like Zancrow!"
"Are you so sure? August 12th, X781. While trying to gather information on one of the Masters of my slave guilds, Jackson Tore, you questioned his brother Troy Tore. A common citizen who owned a small bakery with his wife. When he couldn't tell you where his brother was you beat him, breaking 6 bones and leaving deep lacerations on his body. When he still couldn't tell you where Jackson was, you threatened his wife."
"In the end, the reason he couldn't tell you where his brother stayed, was because he just didn't know. Oh, poor Troy, he didn't even know that his brother worked with us but you still left him with so many scars."
Kinzo was gritting his teeth, trying to hold himself back. He did what he had to. He did what was necessary to fight back, and ya sometimes that meant innocent people got caught in the crossfire. But that didn't make him a monster…
"No, I don't have to defend myself! Not against someone like her! I am nothing like them!"
Ultear's voice rang out again "Now doesn't that sound just like something we would do?" she asked.
He sent a knife flying at the orb, shattering it on contact.
All was quiet.
Overhead a dozen new orbs formed, all of them projecting her chuckle.
"Hehehe, oh pet. Don't you know how this works already? You can't get rid of me that easily."
"Just shut up!" He was already tired of this. He wanted answers about Ur, he wasn't here to be cross-examined by someone working with a real demon-like Hades.
"Oh no pet, I have a rather long list here. We can't stop now." Why don't you tell me about this one? January 13th…"
Ultear found herself very entertained as she rattled off every black deed Kinzo had ever committed. The scores of innocents he'd hurt.
Seeing him squirm as each event was brought up made her smile. And the way he seemed to shrink in on himself as he remembered each date was so telling.
This boy was an enigma when she'd first met him. He seemed to be a picture of indifference, drive totally by logic, and in complete control of his emotions. And after finding out about everything he'd done she thought he was just another heartless assassin who just so happened to be young and dislike Grimoire.
But then they spoke in his cell, and he mentioned Ur. No not just mention he was pleading, desperate to know how they were related. It was easily the most emotional she'd ever seen him. So when she brought him to this island, she decided to see just how 'heartless' he was.
And from what she could tell he cared far more than he would normally let on.
Yes he was a hard and seemingly emotionless man on the outside, but if you knew how to push the right buttons you could get a whole range of reactions. Irritation, fear, anger, regret, surprise… And Ultear was getting very good at pushing those buttons.
That being said even she was taken off guard when he just turned tail and ran.
She'd been enjoying his guilty expressions when he finally snapped and started running. But he wouldn't be getting off that easily.
Not when she had so much more to say and an army of Orbs to send at him.
At some point he ran, he just started running. Not wanting to hear about every mistake, every failure, every time he hurt someone who didn't deserve it.
But she chased him and forced those memories back into the forefront of his mind.
"March 8th two children found dead, thought to be collateral damage from one of your fights"
"July 24th a housing complex caught fire after you detonated explosive lacrima to escape capture. A total of 42 people were found dead."
"October 17th. You destroyed a slave guild in Iceberg but failed to realize they held captives underneath the compound until after you had already burnt it to the ground. Fifty-seven innocent victims died of suffocation due to being trapped underground with no oxygen."
"See pet, we aren't so different."
Silence
He didn't know how far she'd chased him, how long he'd been running, but by now he didn't care. She was gone.
As his thoughts raced he searched for some kind of relief. God, he needed these thoughts to stop. To go burry themselves back in his subconscious where he'd left them... to just shut up.
Sleep seemed to be the only way to get the job done, if he could just pass out then maybe it would all go away and his guilty conscience would shut its fucking mouth.
As he rested his back against a large tree the only things on his mind were the pain in his shoulder, and the voices he remembered hearing.
He recalled many of the events Ultear had brought up. But the most damning things he could remember were the things she couldn't know about... What they sounded like before dying.
The sounds racked his brain. The way so many had cried out to him for help or mercy. And he'd done nothing. Whether it was because he couldn't help them or didn't care to, he wasn't sure.
It hurt, it hurt to realize what he'd done, that he was acting like a monster. That he was acting just like Hades.
It was one thing to tell Makarov that he was fine with 'acting like the Devil' if it meant winning in the end. But while he had said those words part of him didn't believe they were true.
He thought he had made his peace with this life. That he was ok with all the collateral damage and ruined lives, but clearly he wasn't.
No matter what he did, he always considered his actions to be necessary. Because he was trying to stop a greater evil. He didn't think he was a good person, but he at least thought he was better than Grimoire. But that wasn't true.
He could believe that lie while he was alone, but the moment someone pressed him on it, his defenses started to crumble.
As sleep finally took him and his mind went dark the last thing he heard was the most damaging.
"See pet, we aren't so different."
Author's note
And done.
Ok, so I added some context to Kinzo's fight against Grimoire Heart, showing off a bit of the collateral damage he caused and the people he hurt unnecessarily. Still a little uncertain about adding in that kind of stuff because it's a double-edged sword. It could either be 1) a great chance to display the psychological effects that kind of trauma/guilt can have on a person or 2) I could write it poorly and it might take away from the story in the future. So I'm open to suggestions if I should focus on this kinda stuff in the future for character development or if I should kinda back off of it.
Anyway hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to ask questions or leave comments in Reviews. Alright, that's all from me, have a good one.
Magic
1) Metal-Make Magic like ice make... but with metal
2) Speed Magic (Potential energy magic- p.s. I made this up so you won't find it on a wiki... I think.) so any time you see Conversion Leap (speed boost) or Kinetic Decay (stealing something else's speed and trapping it in place)
3) Telekinesislifting things with one's mind etc.
4) Re-Quip no armor just items/weapons
Tools
1) His Revolver- Iron Maiden (two types of ammo revealed. Puncture rounds and Flashbang rounds)
2) The rings his mother gave him - can be molded into other objects and when spun together replay a recorded message.
3) The magic absorbing metal - He can choose to make his weapons out of this or other kinds of normal metal (iron, steel, etc.)
4) The Eye of Talionis - replacing his right eye, it allows the user to see magic (Ethernano)
5) Isacc Colt's journals - three journals belonging to his father
6) metal woven into his hair - this will not play a major role for most of the story but I may as well mention it so people don't forget.
