How reckless.
As I enter the small castle where Lucy is being held, I find the main room to be littered with people. Only three people are standing, and the rest appear to be battered, bruised, and even scorched in some instances. By process of elimination, my guess is this is the work of the fire dragon slayer, as I seriously doubt Lisanna nor Erza would resort to instant destruction. But that aside, I can't argue with results, and Natsu was sure to deliver in that category.
Though, instead of being smug and triumphant in victory, the pink haired dragon slayer is looking ahead, not paying any heed to the tens of people he obviously beat up. It's admirable really, he uses his power as a tool to protect the people he cares about, it isn't something that consumes him. Especially now, after executing such an overwhelming force, only to ignore that strength for the benefit of his friends says a lot; he must really care about the people in danger.
"This way!"
Natsu yells before darting through a stone passageway to the right, probably following his nose. Not wasting a second, Erza charges after him, followed by Lisanna a moment later. However, she stops short of the opening her guildmates went through. I can only assume she turned around when she noticed I haven't moved.
"En? Is everything alright?"
She asks, sounding confused and concerned. I saw it, I definitely saw movement. Even if he is very subtle and sticks to the shadows, I saw unmistakable movement in the furthermost corner of the room.
"Go. Help the others."
I say, not turning away from where I'm looking. That's what he wants me to do, he wants me to look away so he can move and gain a positional advantage.
Placing my right hand down, I firmly grasp the handle of my blade, causing the wind to cyclone around me and my target.
As the wind intensifies, I hear Lisanna's footsteps patter away quickly. I guess she trusts me. I let my mind and the wind share a will, as I push the injured people scattered on the ground to the side, thereby preparing a clear battlefield.
"I remember your shadow."
Says a muffled voice, unmistakably belonging to Ukel.
"Not many have the capabilities to surpass my power."
Slowly, he steps from the dark cloak of the shadows into the center of the room.
"And while you may assume your capabilities are above mine, know I was ordered not to use my full strength back during our first encounter." Thinking back, he did seem a little restrained in our fight, but it looks like he's pulled himself together since then.
"I have been authorized to use the maximum extent of my strength."
Ukel sure talks a big talk, though I suspect his vocal efforts are little more than a distraction. He should know I am aware of everything within this cyclone, including his shadow behind me.
"I am Ukel, the master of the shadows."
His shadow goes for a quick stab, using a blade of pure darkness. Before the small dagger makes it's way into my heart, I spin to the left, narrowly avoiding the blade. During my dodge, I fully unsheath my steel sword, which doubles the winds intensity.
As I stop moving, Ukel and his shadow approach each other, stopping beside one another.
"I am En of Fairy Tail."
I say, readying myself by lowering into a defensive stance.
"I will not let you harm my guildmates."
I hold my blade before my face, ready for anything Ukel tries to pull.
He scoffs, before jumping into the air.
"Shuriken."
He calmy yells as both he and his shadow throw separate blades made of darkness. Allowing the wind to push me to the side, I narrowly avoid the blades, as I hear them whiz past me. Even while in my cyclone, he is almost faster than me. I have to stay alert.
"Blade."
Ukel says, which causes two shadowy daggers to appear, one for him, one for his shadowy doppelganger. Ukel is already one the ground when I slide to a halt, which is on the exact opposite side of the room from where I started. As Ukel remains crouched on the ground, his shadow lunges at me, blade first. I sense it though, since the shadow is moving through the air. Seeing the small opening, I side step the shadows strike, and immediately charge at Ukel. As I begin to swing upwards, I see I am now slicing a shadow. He's fast.
"Bola."
I faintly hear Ukel say from where the shadow attempted to lunge at me. Only as I pass through Ukel's shadow, do I realize my error, or at least Ukel's prediction. A shadowy rope quickly wraps around my ankles, tightly binding them together. No sooner does the dark bola finish securing itself, do I begin falling to the ground, face first. Quickly using the wind, I barely manage to spin myself around so I land on my back. Good thing too, because I bring my hands up to catch Ukel's wrist, as he pushes to pierce my chest with his shadow dagger. I have to use both hands to hold back his armored arm, but I keep my sword in my right hand. He accounted for the possibility of my block, and has another play.
"Shuriken."
He says complacently, as his shadow sprints over to our right. before leaping through the air. As he does, a single, shadowy blade begins careening through the air, headed straight for my exposed neck. I focus the wind around me, concentrating on manifesting a wall of wind. The shuriken of darkness simply hits the wall, and bounces away. Since the follow up attack didn't work for him, I notice a ever so slight and brief moment of thinking, which I use to push his armored body. Immediately, I slice downwards, cutting the shadowy bolas, therefore freeing my legs. Jumping to a stance, I focus the cyclones force and transfer it so it pushes Ukel into the air. He didn't have time to react, so now he's airborne. Seeing the chance, I jump to him, using the wind to further my movements, and intensify my swords lethality. Placing two hands on the handle of the blade, I swing right, horizontally, hitting his chest. Transitioning that swing into another, I slice diagonally downward, making sure to slice the chest. Now, a swing straight upwards, the blade slices along the lower stomach, up along the chest, and up Ukel's face.
Now, it's all or nothing.
Bringing my sword up, I hold it overhead and focus almost every ounce of wind on it. With this much force, the steel blade would cut Ukel clean in half, vertically this time. Now that my blade is literally glowing with power, I take a risk. Using whatever wind isn't amplifying my blades power, I allow the wind to spin me.
I let go of my sword.
Now rotating mid air in a bicycle kick, I center my right foot, firmly tensing it up. I extend my leg as I continue to flip backwards. My leg passes through where Ukel was, which means I've won.
As the center of my foot meets the end of my blades handle, I kick the sword with considerable force, provided by the wind I used to initiate this mid-air back flip. Even though the wind dissipated the second I let go of my blade, I didn't need it.
My sword is sent flying ting through the air, as I finish my flip and land on the ground, face first. Almost perfect…
Sighing in my near badass moment, I slowly get up. I get on my feet, and turn around to see a beautiful scene; Ukel with a sword in his chest. Looks like I kicked it right through him, making a Ukel-shish kabob. He's not getting up from that.
Normally, my sword wouldn't be able to penetrate Ukel's black armor without the help of the wind, so I had to weaken the integrity of the chest area. After that, I just had to be accurate in my aim.
Ukel falls to his knees, obviously not enjoying his new chest piercing, as I walk over to retrieve my blade, feeling uneasy without it. Placing a hand on the handle, a light cyclone stirs up as I'm about to pull the blade out of Ukel.
"How did you… win?"
Ukel asks quietly, sounding impaled and injured. I look at my blade, figuring there is no harm in telling him.
"You use shadow magic, so you can create a shadow mimic to fight alongside you. Not only that, you and your shadow can swap positions at will. However, during our first encounter, I saw there is a minimum of 2.12 seconds where you must wait between swaps. So it was a matter of predicting a swap, and using the 2 second window and catch you off guard. It's how I beat you the first time."
I explain calmly and quietly.
"However,"
I add.
"The real reason is this."
I roll up my right sleeve, past my shoulder. On display is my red branding, the remainder of the only thing I can safely call real; my guild emblem.
"As long as I have this, I can not lose."
Dropping the sleeve, I turn back to Ukel, looking him in the mask. Really, there is only one reason I answered his question.
"What are you doing with my guildmates?"
Ukel coughs, then gasps for air, before saying.
"Fear not, only one of them will be sacrificed, and their passing serves a much greater purpose."
At the mention of them dying, I throw Ukel down, pinning him to the ground.
"Who? And where are they?"
Ukel coughs again. I don't care about this "greater purpose" crap, but I am ready to kill Ukel. However, he is the only source of information.
"At first, we thought we could suffice with the magic energy of a dragon slayer, but then we were presented with someone with more potential. It's funny, though her strength doesn't compare to a dragon slayer, she provides more, intangible resources."
So it can't be Natsu, and since it obviously isn't Wendy and/or Lucy, that means it's either Erza or…
I slam my hand around Ukel's neck, though it doesn't do anything because of the armor.
"You figured it out? It's funny, you probably thought I was seeking revenge when you noticed me, but I was simply isolating the target. A takeover wizard will surely give us what we need, her destruction will bring about a promising way to harvest her and her spirits energy."
I've had enough. I reach over and quickly pull out my sword, before holding it to Ukel's neck.
"Where, the fuck, is she?"
I yell, now worried about losing Lisanna.
"You can watch her die down that hall."
Ukel says condescendingly, before being replaced by a shadow. Right now, I don't care about him. Natsu and Erza went to grab Lucy and Wendy, so they are oblivious to what's happening.
Standing up, I begin sprinting down the hall Ukel referenced. Whether or not I will ever admit it, I do actually care about Lisanna. I didn't want it to happen, but something about her, something about her made me smile for the first time in three years; she is the first person I have cared about in three years.
I refuse to lose that.
And then...