A/N: Yo! Here we are with Chapter 16!
The OC submissions are still open for all of your information, see Chapter 15 for details and the Prologue for the OC Form. 3 Spots have been taken now, so up to 4 more will be accepted.
Alright, Day 2 of the 7 Day Challenge, July 2nd. Fortunately for me, I actually had this chapter partly written already when I remembered the challenge that I decided to do back in April I think, so a good portion of it was already done when I started work on Salina's Omake.
Anyways, I'd like to thank SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, QueenKazza, potentialauthor18, lexlovesya, ManhattanTheory, WrittenWhim, MyDearWatson, Hikari903278, and LightandDarkHeart for their reviews for the omake!
SaiyaStyles- Yeah I kinda just threw you all into the middle of it all by calling Salina by an unfamiliar name for most of the omake, but I'm glad that you liked it!
WaterDragonMaverick- We'll have to see about a Dragon Slayer's omake, but it would be the 7th of July... And yeah, Euclid is rarely wrong when it comes to knowing other people's business, so if he says something about someone else, you should take note of it. In which case, he is entirely right in saying that most members of Undine's Cove have lost something or are looking for something, and Salina falls into the category of loss, being her family and village. And you might've been able to notice, but Camille was completely against the bikini as Miriam was the person who bought it for her and forced her to wear it. Camille is really against getting into the water period to be honest. And you will all learn more about the history of the Cove at a later date. And yeah, she awoke to her magic that night, but was completely unaware of it at the time since it just seemed like a freak storm and then just like a ridiculous amount of luck saving her when she needed to restock on food and such.
QueenKazza- Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Salina had one of the worst birthdays ever, but fortunately for her, her magic awoke with her emotions of despair and saved her, even though she was unaware of it all since it just seemed like a bad storm. But yeah, I felt awfully bad doing that to young Salina, or Tsukiko rather, since I'm rather fond of little Salina myself. And yep, when she's drunk in the slightest, Salina tends to tell embarrassing stories of other people, whether it be of Lamia Scale or Undine's Cove. But yeah, the war band that attacked her village seemed to come with little to no reason, so it was a very mysterious event that Salina still ponders about to this day. And given the fact that out of all the members of Undine's Cove, Camille and Rayner have the most history with Salina, they were the most appropriate to have repaired the old umbrella, but don't worry, we'll see more of Jayne this week when I get to the final set of missions this arc in a few days.
potentialauthor18- Don't worry about it, I understand that real life can keep a person rather busy, but any and all reviews are appreciated. And yep, Salina Velvet is the Fioran name of Tsukiko Shiraki, but both Salina and Tsukiko have similar meanings, being 'Moon' and 'Moon Child' respectively. And for a bit of trivia, Berrubetto means Velvet, or is at least a way to pronounce it in Japanese since it is also Birōdo, which I somewhat hinted towards when Salina was trying to pronounce 'Velvet', which is the reason why she continues to use her Fioran name over her Encan one. And yeah, this challenge of mine will probably be a bit intense, but fortunately I prepared before hand a little bit.
lexlovesya- Yep, a chapter a day for seven days, so things will be a little intense for me. But I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed part 1 of Salina's Historical Omake!
ManhattanTheory- Yeah, I'd like to think that I sent you all on a bit of an emotional roller coaster with that one, but I'm glad to hear that you all liked it.
WrittenWhim- Yeah, a chapter a day for a week sounds like a bit of a stretch for me, but I decided to do it, so I shall. But I'm confused by your review kinda, since you said that you're "Wondering what all they have to do with her" and never clarified who/what "All They" are, so I'll just answer to the best of my ability of interpretation: the omake has everything to do with Salina since she was in every single scene since she was born as Tsukiko Shiraki. I probably completely misinterpreted your review...
MyDearWatson- To be honest, I had forgotten about the challenge until this past Sunday, which was when I started to write the omake and I had it done on Monday, so it sat around for a little while. But yeah, the first part of Salina's omake, like Camille's, is the saddest part, but yeah, she was a bit of a firecracker when she was a little girl, always beating up on all of the boys in the village. And yep, Salina's from Enca like someone else you know and yeah, that first umbrella was the one most important to her, so it really meant a lot for it to have been fixed.
Hikari903278- Yeah, everyone that Salina knew and loved were killed within the span of a few hours, on her birthday too, so sad might just be an understatement here. And yeah, just trying to imagine the exact emotions and thoughts running through her mind at the time is incredibly difficult and it isn't something that someone can really comprehend all that well. But yeah, depressing is a good word for a good portion of that omake.
LightandDarkHeart- Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be easy in the least, but that's why I got myself a head start. Anyways, I'm happy to hear that you found that first part of Salina's past to be interesting and there's still a lot to be said about her past since she has the longest history. Well then I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Credits:
Kieron Shamus- dreadburner94
Kyria Kessler- LightandDarkHeart
Styles Kaizu and Nina- SaiyaStyles
Kimi Kaizu- SaiyaStyles
I don't own Fairy Tail!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 16
"So what can you tell us about Kieron?" Kiyeda asked from her seat in the Magic Vehicle.
"He's dangerous," Gunther answered from his seat across from the two Undine's Cove mages while Rowena drove from the front of the vehicle, "He uses Wire Magic so don't let it touch you, or you'll be cut to ribbons."
"Is there anything else?" Kaiyo asked, sounding unimpressed by Kieron's magic.
"Hmph, as a matter of fact yes," the older man answered with a serious expression, "The things you should be most worried about are the 'gifts' from his master."
"Why? What are they and what's so dangerous about them?" the S-Class mage asked.
"I'm unsure about what they really are, but they look like some sort of shadow puppet," Gunther answered, "They should never be attacked from up close, unless you have a death wish that is."
"How are we supposed to fight something we can't touch?" Kaiyo asked, now realizing why this man, Kieron Shamus, was so dangerous.
"From a distance is the only option," Gunther quickly responded, "Although my shroud should be able to provide me with enough protection to fight them up close. So if either of you find yourselves up against the shadow puppets, get away from them or they will devour you."
"Devour?" Kaiyo repeated.
"You mean these things eat people!?" Kiyeda asked, now thoroughly worried about the mission.
Gunther looked at them in silence for a short while, a grim look crossing his face as he began to speak again, "Yes... These puppets... these living Nightmares leave nothing of their victims. They will devour everything, your skin, your hair, your bones, your clothes, weapons... We watched someone... Someone we both cared for... Get swallowed whole by those monsters," he explained, his expression turning to one of sorrow by the time he finished.
"So that's why you were so insistent on taking this mission," Kiyeda said softly as the vehicle stopped.
"Brother," Rowena said softly as she opened the door to the cabin, "We're close... see?"
"Any sign of Kieron?" Gunther asked as he got out of the vehicle with Kiyeda and Kaiyo.
"There's a large mass of the monsters at the bottom of the canyon," Rowena replied, "I think he might be leading them."
"We should try and get the drop on him them," Kaiyo suggested, an eager expression on his face.
"That could be dangerous Kaiyo," Kiyeda warned, "Neither of us really have that many ranged spells, or at least any that we can use enough times to take out that many enemies."
"You two at least have ranged spells though?" Gunther asked.
"Well we do, but their not suited to fighting this many opponents," the S-Class mage responded, noting the displeased expression on the older mage's face.
"Well I'll take the first shot then. You two try and take out any enemies that try and climb the wall. Rowena will keep us healthy," the raven-haired man said as his expression became serious, "If we get overwhelmed, I have an ace-in-the-hole that'll even the odds for you two, but you'll have to get away from me so that I can use it."
"Well best of luck to you then," Kaiyo said as a black bow appeared in Gunther's hand.
"Projection Magic: Kaladbolg II," the Projection Mage whispered as a sword with a twisted blade that resembled a screw appeared in his hand as he readied his bow, preparing to shoot the spiral sword like an arrow while he looked down into the canyon, seeing Kieron leading the horde of Nightmares through it.
Kieron looked exactly as Gunther remembered, he stood at 5'7" with a muscular build with a sandy complexion and messy, sandy brown hair and silver colored eyes. The man was unassumingly dressed as he wore a simple, button-up black shirt with tan khakis that were held up with a black leather belt that had a silver chain hanging off of it and a pair of black shoes.
Gunther looked over at the horde off monsters, the memories coming back to him. He had originally underestimated the black, jellyfish-like monsters. Their appearance made them seem like not much of a threat, but one alone was capable of wiping out a city if not stopped.
"Trace," Gunther muttered, "Analyze... Reinforce... Detonate," he continued as he released his 'arrow', the blade flying down towards the front of the horde of monsters, straight towards Kieron's head.
"Hm?" Kieron hummed as he saw the 'arrow' fly through the air, "An attack?" he asked himself as he lifted one of his arms, the wire that was attached to it coming to life as it intercepted and cut the 'arrow' in half, causing the two pieces to fly past Kieron and the horde as they impacted against the canyon wall and detonated, "Kill them," he ordered as the horde of Nightmares began climbing up the cliff.
"Here they come!" Kiyeda yelled as the monsters began their ascent, "Angel Knight..." the girl muttered as her topaz blue wings appeared on her back, "Prayer Circle!" she yelled as a magic circle appeared on the wall under a group of monsters, releasing a beam of light that caused several of the creatures to fall back towards the ground, "Kaiyo!"
"I know I know!" he yelled as he pulled his fist back, "Raven God Magic: White Mist Raven!" he shouted as he through his fist forward, sending out a wave of magic energy in the shape of a large white raven down the cliff, clearing a path straight down it as the Nightmares fell back to the ground.
"They're climbing back up!" Rowena yelled as she watched the creatures get back up to resume their climb.
"Well then we'll just send them back down!" Kaiyo shouted as he let loose another spell.
"Hmph... They didn't know the strength of their enemies," Kieron scoffed as he watched the three mages try to keep his servants from climbing the cliff, "These may be base Nightmares, but they're rather resilient," he noted as he watched Gunther punch a hole through one of the creatures with an arrow, only for it to regenerate.
"Shit... We're getting nowhere!" Gunther yelled as the monsters just got right back up to keep climbing every time they got sent back down.
"Have we even managed to kill one yet?" Kiyeda asked as she set off another Prayer Circle.
"No... they just keep getting back up and regenerating!" Kaiyo shouted as the monsters continued their steady advance, completely focused on the enemies in front of them.
"Brother!" they heard Rowena shout from behind them, "They're behind us!" she screamed as the three mages turned around seeing a large monster swelling up near Rowena as she scrambled away.
"Dammit!" Gunther cursed as he turned around to face the enemies they let slip behind them, "Rho Aias!" Gunther screamed as the Nightmare detonated, releasing a large explosion as a large, crystalline shield appeared.
. : + : .
"This is where the Golems were awoken," Edina announced as she stood in front of a large mining shaft that had signs all around it, warning people to stay away for their safety, "We still have many miners listed as missing, so if you could please find them as well..."
"You know that they're most likely dead though," Haru said coldly as she looked into the dark cave.
"I know... but please... If only to provide their families with a sense of closure," Edina pleaded.
"Look," Varic started, "If we find them, we find them, but we won't be dragging corpses out of the mine when there's something more important that needs done."
"I- I understand..." Edina mumbled in defeat, "I wish you all good luck," the young lady added as she began the walk back to the keep.
"That was a little harsh you two," Rakki chastised as the three mages began to walk into the mine.
"Yeah, well I don't like to take extra objectives when there's no reason to," Varic said coldly, "And like Haru said, they're most likely all dead anyways."
"But still!" the Exceed began to say as Light cut her off.
"That's enough Rakki..." the Dragon Slayer whispered, "I wasn't too excited to stumble around a mine looking for corpses either. I'd rather go in and get the mission over with."
"I understand," Rakki sighed, but she could tell that her partner was feeling a bit conflicted about the decision by the look on her face, 'You really want to do all that you can to help, don't you?' the Exceed thought as Light lit up her hand with her magic.
The three mages walked deeper into the mine, finding a few corpses strewn about as they went, fortunately for them, the golems seemed to kill though blunt force rather than through ripping and tearing, so the stench wasn't as bad as it could've been.
"I'll never get used to the stench corpses give off," Haru complained as she stepped over a corpse.
"We should just be glad that scavengers haven't gotten to them yet, it'd be really bad then," Varic added with a bit of thankfulness in his voice as they both followed Light through the mine.
"If you two think you've got it bad, just put yourselves in our shoes," the Dragon Slayer said with her voice sounding slightly off due to her plugging her nose.
"Oh, that's right, enhanced sense of smell. Man this has gotta reek to you two," Varic chuckled as they cleared the passage full of corpses.
"Wait!" Light hissed, "There's something ahead," she whispered as dozens of kobolds ran at them from the darkness ahead.
"Look out!" Haru shouted as she got ready to fight, only to be left dumbfounded as the kobolds ran past them, "What was that about?"
"Guys, there's something worse ahead," Light warned as they heard a rumbling, the cave shaking slightly as a stone giant came out of the darkness.
"Just one?" Varic asked.
"No... several," Light said in slight awe as more of the stone constructs appeared from behind the first to arrive.
. : + : .
Caleb and Horace continued their advance through the forest, having rendered several groups stubborn hunters unconscious as they went.
"How much more of this forest is there to search?" Caleb asked out loud.
"I imagine that we'll find the man soon," Horace chuckled as he floated behind the healer, "Hold on for a moment. It seems we have guests," Horace pointed out as a group of mages appeared in the clearing they were walking in.
"Twilight Ogre," Caleb said lowly, as if the name of the guild was a sort of curse.
"Hm... they seem as big of buffoons as I imagined," Horace said to himself as he observed the large group.
"Oi! Who're you callin' buffoons!?" a large mage carrying a hammer shouted.
"Hmph, they're not even worth our time," Caleb said coldly as he pulled his right hand out of his pants pocket as he reached into the pocket on the back of his coat.
"I recognize that mark Thibault!" a shorter mage yelled, "They're from Undine's Cove!"
"Undine's Cove?" the man presumably name Thibault repeated, "They took away a lot of business when they formed their itty bitty guild down in Hargeon! Oh Master Banaboster is gonna give us a huge reward for taking them down!"
"Tch, what disgusting people," Caleb muttered as he pulled his hand out from his coat pocket, letting loose a storm of senbon, striking all but Thibault in several of their pressure points, rendering them unconscious.
"Nice throw," Horace complimented as the Twilight Ogre mage looked on in shock.
"Your gonna get it now!" the enraged mage screamed as he charged towards the two men while waving his club around.
"Support Magic: Boost Pain Reception," Caleb said calmly as he cast his spell, side-stepping the mage as he struck him on the back of the neck, quickly rendering him unconscious due to his heightened sense of pain.
"You can definitely be quite fearsome when you wish to be," Horace observed, "It is an interesting trait for a healer."
Caleb took off his glasses for a moment to clean the dust off of them with a cloth while he took in Horace's observation, "One must be able to fight in order to prevent a tragedy," he said quietly as he put his glasses back on, "A healer can only treat the after-effects of one and even then... it'll never be enough for those left behind."
"Well said" the older man agreed, "It sounds as though you speak from experience."
"Oh you bet he does!" a woman's voice called out from somewhere in the woods.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Caleb demanded as a woman dropped down from a tree.
"Well, if you insist," the woman said in a sultry tone as she stared the two men down.
Horace looked the woman up and down as he made note of her appearance, "About 5'6"," he muttered, "Toned build, pale skin, larger than average bust, noticeable curves, long legs," he continued as he began to mutter about her hair, "Long silver hair, tied up in a high ponytail with a red ribbon, bangs framing her oval-shaped face, red eyes, almond shaped, two gold teardrop tattoos under them, and many piercings in her ears. Hm... I see, she must have a troubled past," he added as he began to describe her clothes out loud, "Black, sleeveless vest, plenty of zippers and a pair of fingerless gloves that go up to her elbows. Red bikini top under the vest, black cargo pants held up with a wide chain, which also holds a sword, a katana by the looks of it. Black leather boots, red laces, metal toes, and lastly a silver ring on her right, middle finger and a silver rose pendant."
"Wow, you're just as creepy as the boss said," the woman said in slight awe.
"No, I am merely observant," Horace countered as a large, black wolf with purple and red, cat-like eyes dropped down behind the woman.
"Kyria! I can't possess this wolf much longer! Some kind of magic is forcing me out!" the wolf shouted.
"Alright, alright, I guess we don't really need to kidnap the wolf when the doll seemed to do the trick all on it's own," Kyria sighed, "Just make sure that you get that wolf far away before you release it, Proclus."
"I know," Proclus grunted as he took off.
"Caleb," Horace said suddenly, "You should go and find Styles. Something foul is going on."
"Are you sure?" the healer asked, Horace responding with a simple nod, "Very well," Caleb said as he ran off into the woods.
"Your boss wouldn't happen to be a man named Euclid, would he?" Horace after Caleb managed to get a good distance away.
"Right on the money there," the woman responded.
"What does he have to gain from all of this I wonder?"
"It's simple really. I'll even tell you," Kyria smirked, "He wanted to see how your guild would react to all of this and it's been quite interesting so far."
"So he's running an experiment and we're the lab rats," Horace mused as his deranged smile broke out on his face, "Well then, as a scientist I can't allow him to look down on me!"
. : + : .
Caleb continued to run through the forest, still unsure of his decision to split from Horace, but he knew that the man wasn't an S-Class Mage for nothing.
'Sounds of fighting?' he thought to himself as he heard a scream.
"Styles!" a girl shouted as the young man near her shook what seemed to be a mutated lizard from his arm.
"Dammit... Filthy humans," the man, presumably named Styles, cursed as he used his large, black scythe to block an attack from another mutated beast, "First they take Mr. Voodoo from Kimi, then they try and take Nina... and now..." he growled, seemingly overcome with rage over the circumstances.
The man stood at an average height, about 5'10", with slightly tan skin and an athletic build. He had cold silver eyes, elongated canines, and pointed ears. Styles wore a black, hooded jacket over a black t-shirt with the hood up and a pair of white skinny jeans. He wore black, slip-on vans and he had a red jeweled amulet around his neck, as well as a pair of wireless, black headphones.
"Summoning Minion Magic: Fairy!" the girl, who was presumably named Kimi, shouted as a small fairy appeared, casting a healing spell on Styles before disappearing.
Kimi stood at 5'7", with a slightly lighter skin tone than Styles. She had a voluptuous build with a large bust and large, violet eyes. She had raven-black hair that was kept in a bob cut with her bangs covering her right eye, which were dyed purple. She wore a short black dress with a small purple Jacket and a white undershirt with a frilly black skirt. Kimi also wore black socks with a pair of black converse shoes, and she wore a purple choker around her neck. Lastly, she wore a purple belt, black and purple headphones, purple stud earrings, and she had purple lipstick.
"I can't believe they would do this to the animals," Kimi growled as she looked around at the animals that had been mutated by their enemy's magic.
"I just hope we're not too late to save Nina," Styles muttered as he got ready for another attack.
. : + : .
"Hey! I think she's waking up!" Jewul heard a slightly familiar voice call out.
"You sure? It looks like she's just thrashing around again to me," another male voice, one more serious, said.
"Ooh! Ooh! Do you think she's having a stroke?" an excitable female voice asked as Jewul finally opened her eyes, only to see Malon's face right up in front of her's, their noses barely a centimeter away from each other, "Are you dying?" Malon asked suddenly, startling Jewul as she crawled away from the other girl.
"The hell?" she gasped as she looked around, seeing Fareth, Jace, and Rave in what seemed to be an infirmary, but with no doctor or healer in sight, "Where am I?" she finally managed to ask, "What happened?"
"You challenged Salina to a fight and got your ass handed to you, that's what happened," Fareth answered with a tone of harshness to his voice, still upset that he was completely broke from the last mission and the repairs he had to pay for.
"You've been resting in the infirmary ever since," Jace finished as Rave nodded in affirmation.
"Oh! That means you're joining the guild now, right?" Malon asked happily, "After all you said: I won't work for anyone weaker than me!" Malon added in her best Jewul impersonation, Willow bouncing around in the air around her while making cooing noises.
"A deal's a deal I suppose," Jewul sighed, unhappy to learn that she had been beaten by Salina with relative ease.
"Alright! Let's go get you all signed up!" Malon cheered happily as she hopped off of the bed, Willow following her out of the infirmary.
"C'mon, I'm sure that Salina would like to talk to you some," Jace said reassuringly as he helped Jewul off of the bed, before following Fareth out of the small building.
A/N: And there it is! Chapter 16! Day 2 of the 7 Day Challenge is complete! 5 more to go until July 7th!
Okay, just one small note before I wrap this up. Those enemies introduced in the first scene are rather important in long term, but you'll learn more about them and what they are exactly in the future.
Please remember to leave a review!
Your Host,
dreadburner94.