Hi guys ! I hope you are all good. I'm back for a new chapter for this fic. I hope you'll like it.
Also, i might already have said that, but i'm gonna switch between 2 fic now : this one (with the two version french and english) and a One Piece one (also with the trad). So the delay between the updates for this fic is gonna be a little more longer than before, but i'll try to update each fic every week. So stay tuned and check my profile for my updates.
Enough chit chat, let's go !
Oh ! I don't own Fairy Tail !
Chapter 5 : The temple of the sun !
- " I am really sorry. "
- " That has to be the 183rd time you apologize, Rogue. We understand that you're sorry. "
In this beautiful morning, our 4 mages and the Exceed woke up quite a while ago now, because they had to meet the Strizer at 10 am outside the city. But as things were right now, the 3 girls of the group, mainly Minerva, were more occupied with complaining about Rogue, who since yesterday, didn't stop apologizing. Rogue whose face was wrapped up in bandages and for a really special but understandable reason. Indeed, the day before, when the dragon's parts found themselves exposed to the 3 mages eyes, the reactions were mainly vocal, shouts in particular, but also physical, mainly with an extremely beautiful Lucy Kick that Rogue took dead on, right on his face, throwing him back in the hot springs. These bandages were thus a reminder of this masterful blow which had left one great imprint across his face. But Rogue, mortified like never in his life by those events, the exhibition of his parts and Minerva's accidental groping, had spent the evening apologizing every 2 minutes and had begun again when the day rose again. He did not want to let this incident tarnish his reputation by making him look like a pervert, but its never-ending excuses began to irritate the girls, mainly Lucy.
- " Not but really, I swear to you that I had no intention of…" Rogue began again, beginning an umpteenth apologizing session, before being interrupted by Lucy, who couldn't take it anymore.
- " I swear to god that if you apologize one more time for what happened yesterday, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll land on the Moon ! " Threatened the blonde, giving a dark look at Rogue, who took a step back.
- " Ah, uuh sor … "
- " Roooogue. "
- " … I said nothing. "
- " That's better. "
This small scene now finished, our 4 mages and their frog dressed Exceed returned to their walk, focusing once again on their task. The fight against the second of those Strizer, a guy who had defeated Orga and Rufus at the same time. The battle will be rough, but they really had no other choices but to get to it. After several minutes of walking, they arrived in front of the abandoned temple where their opponent had made an appointment with them the day before. It was a stone made building cracked and covered with greenery which let them guess since how long it was in dereliction. They entered the building, reaching the open roof court, and remained shocked by the sight in front of them.
As opposed as the outside, the inside was clean and shone as if it had just been built. The stones had retrieved their white tint and golden decoration were put here and there, statues, weapons, engravings, etc, shining thanks to the sun, the rays hitting them directly thanks to the roof-less arena they were in. At the end of the arena, a big golden buddha statue was put in front of some sort of altar with a simple pillow on which a man was sitting cross-legged, in full meditation. Rogue recognized this posture, to have seen him(it) the day before(watch). It was about their opponent. The latter, feeling the presence of the ages, opened his eyes and addressed the newcomers.
- " Well, it would seem that you are all there. Very well. " He commented, getting up from his pillow, revealing his clothes. Which seemed to limit itself to a kasaya, some kind of robes similar to the one that wore by the Buddhist monks, of ochre color.
- " Before beginning anything, could we know more about why you want to test us ? Your buddy, the one our friends met last time, wasn't very talkative on this matter apparently. "
- "…"
In front of this silence, the mages exchanged look, trying to understand the reasons of this mutism before keeping on with the questions.
- " … Uh, could we at least know your name? " Asked Yukino, trying to obtain an answer out of this character, apparently victim of a mutism as sudden as unforeseen.
- "…"
- " Well, if he doesn't want to speak, we aren't going to wait for him to give the signal to begin. " began Rogue, taking a step when suddenly…
- " I regrettably cannot inform you of our reasons for testing you. "
Rogue was violently cut in his momentum by the answer, brought out of nowhere by the Strizer whereas Lucy was more capable of answering about this sudden change of attitude.
- "WHAT THE HELL WITH THIS DELAY ?! "
- " I am Xun Liang, Strizer of the sun. "
- " I'M GOING TO KILL HIM ! "
- " If such is your desire, I wish all of you good luck. I have the feeling that you will need it. " commented Xun, a small challenging smile on his face.
- " The sun? That explains Rufus and Orga's state. He probably used a light powerful enough to make them roast on the spot ! "
- " Indeed. Well, because you seems to be in a hurry to finish it, we better begin quickly, right? " With this, the mages got in position when suddenly …
- " GAAAH! "
Xun had disappeared in a blink of an eye to re-appear in the middle of the group of mage and had struck Yukino just under her breast with the palm of his hand, sending her to crash in one of wall of the temple. Others hardly had time to react that they were already struck too, being sent to the ground.
- " How he can be so fast? " Wondered Minerva, not managing to understand how he had been able to move so quickly without any noise.
- " My powers alone should answer this question. " said Xun, as if he was giving a clue.
The mages were frozen by this clue before the answer was found, and by none other than Frosch, strangely.
- " If his powers are the ones of the sun, that has to be the speed of light! " Proposed the Exceed, this revelation made the stress of the mages rise a few level. They had already faced fast opponents, but there it was completely different. How could they face a guy moving at the speed of light ?
- " Indeed, the light and its speed are my weapons. " Confirmed the Strizer, shaking his head. " But if it can reassure you, I do not really move at this speed. I did not reach that level of control yet. "
- " Level of control ? You speak about your powers as if it was not yours at the beginning. " Commented Lucy, frowning, trying to understand. Xun, realizing that he had just revealed one rather important information, sighed before resuming.
- " I was not supposed to reveal this to you, but indeed. All of us Strizers have, in our world, inherited our powers, or rather, we were chosen to receive them. We are still in training, if we can say it like that. "
The eyes of the mages opened wide hearing this revelation. Those guys didn't mastered completely all of their powers and they were already capable of taking them 1 on 4 ? The next fights suddenly felt like they'll be much harder than they thought. The mages group up again, facing their opponent who removed his kasaya, revealing that he wore a sleeveless vest gilded with black drawings, revealing a quite well developed muscled body and an ample black pants with some sorts of slippers.
- " I think it's time to spice things up a little. Are you ready ? "
Without even expecting any answer, he disappeared once again, striking Yukino once again in the same way as earlier but the result was not the same. While last time Yukino had collided with a wall, this time, she passed through it, breaking it in the process, under the surprised looks of the other mages who tried to strike Xun in reprisals but he had already returned to his starting position as fast as he had left it.
- " But what's going on? He hit her exactly in the same way, why is it so powerful all of a sudden ? " Asked Lucy, who had rushed to help Yukino, who was still conscious but suffering greatly.
- " As time goes by, my power gets closer to its peak. When it will be the case, your chances of victories will be reduced to nothing. "
" The source of his power? Peak? *sigh* If only he could speak normally, that would be simpler to understand. " Sighed Minerva, shaking her head before raising her eyes towards the sky. And it is there that she understood.
- " The sun! " shouted the brunette, drawing the attention of the other mages. "His power increases as we approach noon ! "
- " which is the moment when the sun is at his highest. " noted Rogue, understanding what it meant. " Then we should beat him and fast. Because if he becomes more and more powerful as time goes by, that is going to quickly become uncontrollable. "
Xun looked at the mages and once he had chosen his target, he used his speed to throw himself on her when suddenly, he was to throw to the side, struck in the face by an unknown strength. When he got up, he noticed that the unknown strength was in fact Rogue, who had intercepted him in his rush thanks to his dragon instinct.
" The Dragons Slayers instinct is sharper than what we thought. Managing to get me in spite of my speed is a not an easy feat. "
He got up but the mages didn't wanted to take any risks, immediately counterattacking while the Strizer was still unable to fight, beginning with Frosch. Taking his human shape, he threw himself on the warrior of light and threw his 2 feet right in his face sending him to the ground, in the line of fire of another mage, a stellar one to be exact.
OPEN, GATES TO THE GOLDEN BULL AND SCORPION ! TAURUS ! SCORPIO !
Both spirits appeared at Lucy's side, the bull grasped his axe Labrys and the scorpion getting in position for their combined attack. Seeing that, Xun tried to escape, but faced an obstacle which he hadn't planned.
OPEN, GATE OF THE SCALE ! LIBRA !
The spirit of the scale appeared and used her power to control the gravity around Xun, nailing him on the spot, rendering him unable to evade what was coming.
SANDSTORM AXE ALDEBARAN!
The sand of Scorpio gathered around the axe of the bull spirit, which then unleashed the accumulated power of their attack and several cyclone of sand crashed down on the Strizer, which took the blow without having time to escape. When the Strizer got up, he was pretty beat up, but still ready to fight. But Minerva decided to add insult to injury.
NIEL WIELG MION TERSE ELCANTEUS YAGDO RIGORA!
Xun was then struck by an eruption of light arising from below him, a statue with intricate design surging with the energy. The explosion was so powerful half of the temple was destroyed, which intrigued the brunette.
- "Strange. YAGDO RIGORA should be more powerful than that."
- "I might not be immune to light attacks, but I have enough knowledge about it to know how to counter them"
By pronouncing those words, Xun had got up, his body beaten up by the series of attack, but still ready to fight.
- "If my speed is not enough anymore, I think that something else should do."
Little by little, his body took on an aura of light which took little by little the form of a lion, his hair pushing until formed some kind of mane, the light around his hands forming some sorts of claws.
SUNLIGHT LEO !
- " I don't see why taking the appearance of a big shiny cat is going to help you. "
His opponent did not answer and moved in to attack and Lucy was able to notice that this appearance was more useful for him than what she believed. When Yukino tried to reuse the powers of Libra to stop him once again, the gravitational power had no effect anymore and he keep on with his offensive, getting rid of the spirit of the scale without breaking a sweat then heading for the white haired mage, striking her with his claws. Although they didn't cut as much as they looked like, they were super-hot and the wound was overly painful for the poor stellar mage.
- " But why? Why does Libra's magic didn't work ? "
- " When I'm in this mode, it's almost as if I was made of light. I am for the most part untouchable. "
This revelation frightened the mages. They already had difficulty in facing him and now they weren't going to be able to even touch him anymore ? While the group re-formed around Yukino, to help her getting up, Rogue began thinking about the situation.
" It's becoming unmanageable. We are nearing noon, which means nearing the peak of his power. He is already fast and now we can't even touch him. How we can eat that guy ? His light is going to allow him to get through everything we are going to throw at him … Wait … Unless … "
Xun began to rush without warning the group of girl but was, much to his surprise, suddenly stopped in his run, in spite of his light dress. He quickly realized why he was suddenly blocked. Rogue, covered in shadows, had just caught him bare handed, or rather shadow covered handed.
- " The shadows and the light cannot mix. It is one of the only thing which the light cannot mend with. Your lion of light is not going to help you any more, from now on. "
- " Maybe, but I have many other ways to fight you. "
With this, his dress of light disappeared and he step back. his hands began shining and pointed them towards the mages.
LIGHT BLAST!
Beams of solar energy shot out of his hands, easily evaded by the group. At least, it is what they thought. The beams bounced on the golden decorations on the walls and came back to struck them from behind. The burns left by the beams were so intense that blisters appeared on their skins almost immediately. But somebody was missing. While Xun tried to spot the one who was missing, he felt a presence behind him but regrettably for him, he didn't react fast enough. 2 blades slashed him on his back, leaving 2 wounds forming a cross. Recovering fast, he threw himself on his aggressor, namely Lucy, wearing the Star Dress Cancer and fought with the stellar mage who turned out to be an opponent worthy of his time. But regrettably for Lucy, the sun had kept moving through the sky, now just few minutes away from noon, meaning that the power of Xun increased once again and quickly, she was overwhelmed by her opponent, who took advantage of a breach in her defense to counterattack.
LEO SUN JAW!
He threw a mass of bright energy shaped like the head of a lion at Lucy, the animal opening its mouth to bite on Lucy, sinking its fangs in the mage right side, who was at the same time throw back on a few meter away. While Xun got ready to land a fatal blow at Lucy, he was interrupted by Frosch who threw himself on him but too quickly for his taste, he could not evade it, receiving a furry rocket in his stomach, pulling all the air out of him. All eyes turned towards Frosch and everybody, with the exception of Rogue, was surprised with what they had before them. The frog-like suit had changed color, the pink having been replaced by some kind of bright gold.
- " What is that? Since when did he know how to do that? " Asked Lucy, turning to Rogue, pride written all over his face.
- " When Frosch understood that he had not the same physical capacities as Lector, he learnt to use magic. In this particular case, the magic 'Magic Dress' that he learnt allows him to literally cover himself in different kind of magic. In this particular case, light. "
Satisfied with his explanations, they returned to Frosch who, in his human shape, was using its magic to move almost as fast as his opponent, enough to be able to fight, but he was quickly overtaken and floored. While getting up, the Exceed heard his partner.
- " Frosch! Do the thing ! "
Whereas the other mages didn't understand what Rogue was talking about, Frosch agreed and got back into his original form, just standing there, just in front of Xun who rushed towards him.
- " No, Frosch ! What are you doing ? Go away ! "
But Yukino's shout did not made the Exceed move, the latter just gazed towards the Strizer, which raised a light covered hand, ready to bring it down on Frosch when suddenly, he stopped, as if he was frozen on the spot. His eyes were locked into the Exceed's one, who looked at him with big eyes and an innocent smile. Xun seemed to hesitate, and it got worse when the eyes of the cat began to moisten, filling with tears, as if he was about to cry (As in the omake ' Welcome back, Frosch ' when he admits to Gray that he is lost). The girls looked at the scene, without understanding the logic behind this attitude, when Xun lowered his arm, raising his head to the sky.
- " Oh, Lord. Is it allowed to be so cute ? "
SHADOW'S DRAGON SLASH!
Without having time to understand what was happening, Xun was struck right in the face by Rogue, hands coated with shadows, sending him crash in the statue at the end of the temple.
- " Well done Frosch. You nailed it. "
- " Fro think so too ! "
" What the hell was that ? " thought the girls, not knowing what to think of what they had just seen.
Getting up, Xun began laughing slowly, bringing incomprehension in the mages eyes.
- " It was a good idea to use this aspect in a fight, but it is a little too late for you, regrettably. "
To support his words, he raised a finger towards the sky and the mages raised their head to understand what he meant, and what they saw made them understand what he wanted to say.
It was noon.
All of a sudden, Xun's body exploded, releasing a power and a light of such an intensity that the mages were send back several meter away and found themselves gathered on the same spot. Xun raised his hand towards the sky and absorbed the surrounding light. As he gathered the power, his body shone more and more and a bigger and bigger mass of energy formed between his hands and it took little by little the shape of a lion's head. Rogue threw himself at him, trying to stop him but he got through him, as if he had crossed …
" A mirage. He can also create mirages ? Shit. "
ZENITH LEO: SHINING SUPERNOVA !
A little farther, Xun unleashed the power of his attack, an enormous mass of light shaped like a lion dashing at the mages before exploding, a discharge of light and a so powerful heat that half of the temple was destroyed, the mass of light could be visible miles around. When the light subsided, Xun was surprised. The 3 girls and the cat had certainly taken damage, but a lot less than they should have. The explanation about it had a name: Rogue. He was standing in front of the girls, arms outspread, having used his own body to protect his partners. In doing so, his body was covered with burns and he was barely conscious.
- " ROGUE! "
Frosch and Minerva shouting seems to re-engage the motor skills of the mages which rushed at the Dragon Slayer and when they reached his side, Minerva used her Territory magic to transport them somewhere else. But they were simply in one of the temple room, trying to buy some time to think of a strategy, even if it wasn't what they were talking about right now.
- " Why did you not sent us back to the guild, Minerva ? " asked Yukino, worried for his friend.
- " YOU THINK THAT I ENJOY SEEING HIM IN THIS STATE! " Roared Minerva to answer the question, the 2 other girls having a backlash in front of so much aggressiveness before Minerva recovers. " We cannot leave and let this guy escape us. He assaulted Rufus and Orga, and now he almost killed Rogue. We have to make him pay for what he did. Sabertooth reputation is at stake, here. "
- " Are you sure that this is not because of your feeling for Rogue ? " looking at the angry, although red, brunette, Lucy kept going. "Anyway, we need a plan to finish that guy. "
- " The main difficulty, it's that ability to change into light. We have nothing to stop him when he is like that. " precised Yukino when a hoarse voice was heard.
- " No, there is a way. " Turning their head, the girls saw Rogue, who began to wake up, although he was still suffering a lot from his wounds. " My shadows were able to stop him, you will need me. "
- " Also Rogue, there is a thing you can use against him, because he is not immune to light. "
Rogue agreed, understanding what Frosch wanted to say.
- " Yes but we would need to prevent him from moving and at the same time make a diversion. Over and above the fact that I also need Sting to make that thing. " Rogue wasn't very optimistic, when Lucy spoke again.
- " Hum. I believe that I have an idea. "
/- Meanwhile-/
Xun was still in the center of the temple, observing its surroundings. He knew that the mages were not far and he expected to be attacked at any time. Staying on his guard, he then heard a shout.
SAND BUSTER!
Turning his head, he saw Scorpio shooting an enormous swirl of sand towards him, which he stopped without too much effort. But when the sand disappeared, he was attacked by 2 Minervas, one on each side.
"Gemini for an offensive so simple? I am disappointed."
To rest his thoughts, he stretched both hands towards both Minervas, eliminating them by shooting laser which pierced them. As he expected it, one of the 2 Minerva disappeared but what appeared in its place was not what he was expecting. It was not Gemini, but Lucy in Star Dress Gemini, having used the same kind of power as the twins. Before understanding exactly what was happening, he felt something on his back. Looking behind him, he saw Frosch in his human form hanging on his back, his suit having changed color, now black.
- "What you are doing is not really useful you know."
- "Fro doesn't think so too."
Suddenly, Xun felt its body becoming much heavier. He guessed that it was the spirit of the Libra, that he saw beside Yukino, but he wasn't worry at all, this gravity manipulation easily avoidable for him. But somebody was missing and when he saw him, he thought he was hallucinating. Because right next to Rogue stood… Sting.
- "You need Sting's Magic?" Asked Sting, addressing Rogue. "No problem, piri piri!"
Xun understood then. It was the spirit of the Gemini, which had just taken the appearance, and thus the powers of Sting. "Two spirits AND a Star Dress? She has much more skills and magic than what we thought.". Gemi and Mini then made something which surprised Xun: they offered their magic, or rather the Light Dragon Slayer's one, to Rogue who absorbed it and shortly after, his body was covered in what seems to be black scales on his right side and whites on the left. In the same way as Sting when he uses the mode White Shadow Dragon mode.
BLACK LIGHT DRAGON MODE!
The quantity of magic seeping out of his body was so intense that Xun knew he had to evade whatever was coming. Taken by Libra's gravity, he tried to change into light to escape, as he did earlier, but he realized that something was preventing him from doing so. And then he remembered of the black clad Frosch, which was always stuck on his back.
" He covered himself with the power of the shadows to prevent me from running away." realized Xun, who now understood the real objective of their plan. And it was at this moment that he knew : he was fucked. " It would seem that I have no way out. Well done. "
With this, Rogue rushed at Xun, who was released by Frosch, the Exceed putting himself out of harm way, but not leaving the Strizer enough time to escape.
BLACK LIGHT DRAGON'S ROUGH SILK!
Thin beams of lights and shadows shot out from everywhere, piercing Xun everywhere on his body. Within a few moments, Xun was covered in gashes and collapsed on the ground, his eyes rolled upwards and blood gushing out of his mouth. The mages, seeing Xun's, presumed dead, body, exchanged a satisfied smile, which only last for a small time when they saw Rogue, who fell to the ground, succumbing to his wounds.
- " ROGUE! "
Minerva and Frosch threw themselves on the Dragon Slayer, the brunette looking for his pulse.
- " His pulse is extremely weak. He needs to get treated as quickly as possible! " Exclaimed Minerva, drawing to her the fearful eyes of the other girls.
- " We have to get him back to the guild, and fast! " Exclaimed Yukino, before Lucy tried something.
- " LEOOOOOOOO! "
The spirit of the lion, when he heard his owner's shout, appeared by her side, dropping the womanizer act he was about to use when he saw what was happening.
- " Leo, Rogue is going to die if we don't bring him to the guild as quickly as possible. Can you make us pass through the spirits worlds ? "
Leo had a short moment of hesitation but since it was an emergency, quickly shook it off and agreed.
- " No problem. Grab me and don't let go. "
The mages and the Exceed did as they were told, being sucked up towards the spirits world, heading to the guild, leaving behind them Xun, who after some moment was dragged outside of the temple by another strange looking guy.
- " Well, it would seem that these mages know how to surpass themselves and made up good plans when they are in a pinch. It's good, but when comes the time to face me, it won't be enough. "
Ok, here we are. I hope you like this chapter. You might have already noticed it but I'm trying to give a bigger role to the Exceed, so they can be more useful to their partner. I hope you like that idea. I'll spend the next week and week-end working on my One piece fic, French and English, and then I'll get back to that one, so stay tuned !
See you later !
Next time : returning between confession and nervous breakdown ! Holyday to de-stress. Not.