A/N: M'kay, Chapter 27 is up! This is chapter number two of the Undine's Cove 1 Year Anniversary challenge!
M'kay, as a bit of a warning about this chapter. Blood. Lots and lots of blood in this chapter, as well as gore. I've tried to tone down the descriptions, but the character introduced this chapter might just push the limits of the T rating and toning it down too much doesn't have enough impact to get the sense of twistedness from this character. You have been warned, this is some of my sickest writing yet.
Now then, I'd like to thank M-anonymous, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, SaiyaStyles, GhostOfOnyx, MyDearWatson, lexlovesya, SarionFykren and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!
M-anonymous- I appreciate the reinforcement and it's good to hear that I'm writing Wilhelm and Varic well. But yeah, I'm the kind of guy who needs to be told this kind of stuff often if you can't tell from my musings. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
WaterDragonMaverick- Hm, yeah, I'd call her parents a touchy subject for Camille, but if she's asked about something about her, she'll answer since she doesn't have any dark secrets or anything. And yep, this mission is going to be very Jace heavy in terms of what all will be happening, so a lot about him is getting/going to be revealed in that mission. So I showed a lot more of his friendliness towards Camille as well, the two subjects being swords and parents. And yeah, if Org, the Second Seat on the Magic Council, believes that someone like Euclid is the one that dropped the hint, chances are that he was indeed the one behind the message, but as for what he intended, that's to be found out. And yep, Zain's brotherly instincts kicked into gear upon seeing Lynn in pain. And yeah, since Camille is the one to have had her history revealed the most so far, it's her history that gets light shone on it in actual chapters the most right now. And yep! Wilhelm gets horribly nervous around girls and I hinted at it during the last arc when his team was heading to their mission, as for this "Black Jack" he mentioned, you'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, that's a good comparison for Euclid, and yeah, Aurora still has moments where it all comes back to her, but they're few and far between. And yep, if Euclid is showing a bit of concern over the three of them meeting Myrick, it definitely spells trouble, but I wouldn't call Euclid evil necessarily, more like, Chaotic Neutral. Anyways, I agree with you for sure on Thunder Stone being better than some novels, although in certain cases I agree with this being better than some certain novels since I've been forced to read some pretty awful books…
WrittenWhim- Actually yeah, all three of those last missions do actually lead up to things later down the line so far, I can't say what exactly, but they do. And Salina's response… well… you'll just have to wait and see.
SaiyaStyles- Mmm… Considering what last chapter's scenes eventually lead up to, it's hard for me to really call the scenes filler, but they were very filler in nature. But I wanted to focus on character interaction and development more, so we could end up with more scenes like that in the future where the characters mostly just talk and get to know each other better. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
GhostOfOnyx- Well, accidents happen I suppose. But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoy the omakes so much. They're honestly my favorite things to write right now. But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter as well! And yeah, it can be a struggle to make everyone different from each other, but that's why I ask people to further expand on their character's personality for me and to give me feedback, otherwise I could end up feeling like I don't portray a character well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
MyDearWatson- Yep, we'll get to meet some of those people Jace knew soon. And I'm assuming you mean Fareth and Jezabelle since Light was in the first scene and I can't quite but feel like that mission will end up surprising some people in some way with how Euclid is involved. But anyways, yep! Quinn and Lynn have now both been introduced into the main storyline! And yeah, Wilhelm can't handle female company very well in actuality. Yep, Euclid has a lot to say and he loves hinting at people and events, in this case Myrick, and if Euclid thinks that those three would be killed if nothing is done, then I can't help but feel like "hard time" might be an understatement. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
lexlovesya- Yeah, a lot of stuff happened in the last chapter, especially since all three of those missions will have lasting repercussions either due to who was introduced or what will happen, some serious, some not as serious.
SarionFykren- Well I hope everything's all right for you now, and if they aren't, then I hope things get better soon. But anyways, I'm hope you enjoy the chapter!
FrozenBlast13- Yep, Camille cares a great deal for her family and she's been looking for a way to help Lynn for about 3 years now in the story. And it's not the bandages, but rather that cloth that restricts Lynn's magic, which you might note that Lynn doesn't have that cloth in any of the Historical Omakes that she's been in, so there's a story to be told there. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 27: Nightmare: Edina
A single girl sat in the midst of a warehouse, the metallic scent of blood heavy in the air along with the stench of rotting flesh. She hummed a cheerful tune to herself as she held something in her hands… a severed arm. The girl played with the fingers for a while before growing bored and carelessly tossing the arm to side, the limb landing on a pile of mutilated flesh.
"Hey, little girl," she called out, "I'm bored with your arm, gimmee something else," she demanded as she walked towards a small, unmoving body, "No shrieks? You bled out didn't you? Did you do that on purpose just to annoy me!?" she pouted, "That's boring though!" she continued to whine before slashing open the body's chest with a small blade, splattering blood everywhere.
This girl, who appeared to be about 16, stood at 5'5" with a thin build and waist, but an above average sized bust and pale skin. She had large, light blue eyes, a small round nose, pointed ears and a seemingly kind smile on her face, but her most noticeable features were the dark, upward curving horns sticking out of her head and the black, slender tail falling out from under her skirt. The girl had silver hair that had hot pink colored highlights in it that fell down to her mid-back while her bangs framed her face and were trimmed out of her eyes. She also had two, small pigtails that were held up behind her horns with black ribbons. She was wearing a short black, gothic Lolita styled dress that had large white frills, while the black portion of the dress had a thin, hot pink stripe that followed the edge of the black with hot pink diamonds shapes being placed slightly above the stripe at regular intervals. The corset part of her dress exposed some of her cleavage and her shoulders, and had three hot pink diamonds down the center of the front of it. Paired with the dress was a pair of white, disconnected sleeves that flared out around her wrists and at the top of them, and she also has black cuffs around the wrists of the sleeves that had small, hot pink diamond shapes on them. And lastly, she was wearing white knee-high boots that had tall heels that made her seem to be about 5'8" and they had black trim lining the top and a hot pink diamond shape on them just above the ankle on the front of the boot.
"Food!" a beast roared from the side of the room.
The girl, Edina Adelaide, looked over at it with disinterest, seeing the creature's body ripple in excitement, "You'll have to do for now," Edina muttered as she briskly walked towards the creature before placing a hard kick on its jaw, dislocating it as the beast roared out in pain, "You'll sit and you'll wait like I've told you to!" she shouted, "You lesser Nightmares are beasts bound to their master's orders. So sit like I've commanded!"
The Nightmare looked down at Edina. She looked human mostly, but those horns and that tail told it exactly what she was: A humanoid Nightmare. And that meant that it did indeed have no choice but to submit to her whims, its instincts demanded it.
"Looks like you understand," Edina smirked, "I'll give you something to tide you over then," she announced as she walked back to the small, unmoving body before cutting off its other arm and throwing it over to the Nightmare, which swallowed the limb in one gulp, "Be grateful I'm so kind," she chuckled before walking over to a corner of the warehouse, which housed a cage that was filled with young women and girls, "You all should be grateful too," Edina hissed lowly, smirking upon seeing them all flinch in fear of her, "Be grateful that I've taken an interest in all of you. Be grateful that a Nightmare has decided to cast her gaze on lowly cattle like humans!" she shouted as she slammed herself up against the bars of the cage, causing several of the women to shriek in fear, "I am the Nightmare of Giving in to Dark Desires and I seek entertainment," Edina said lowly with malice in her eyes as she opened the gate of the cage, forcefully grabbing one of the women and pulling her out before throwing her to the ground, "Do what you want, so long as you're willing to accept the consequences," Edina said with a kind smile before she turned to shut the cage and lock it again.
The woman who had been pulled out of the cage looked back at Edina in fear, but noticed that she had her back turned to her and that she seemed to be taking her time with the lock. She then glanced over at the Nightmare, which was busy popping its jaw back into place. The woman quickly swallowed a lump in her throat as she decided to quietly stand up and try to escape. She quietly tiptoed her way around the pile of flesh, hope welling up in her chest as she drew closer to the door. She slowly placed her hand on the door knob and began to turn it, only to see a splash of red fly up into the air from her hand as she noticed a blade sticking out of her hand, nailing it to the doorknob.
"I told you to do what you want, so long as you're willing to accept the consequences," Edina chuckled as she walked around the pile of flesh, "That means you must be willing to go through some of my most exquisite torture."
"N-no…" the woman pleaded, "No… Stay away… Stay away!"
"You brought this on yourself," Edina stated coldly as she slashed down at the woman, cutting her impaled hand clean off as blood sprayed into the air, the woman's scream echoing throughout the warehouse.
. : + : .
"So just how long have these notes been going around?" Alistar asked, sweatdropping as he looked at the bottom note, seeing that the so-called 'Master Thief' even signed his name.
"A few days now, I think," Aaron responded as he walked back into the storefront of his shop, "At first everyone thought it was a joke, but then we all got another note saying the same thing the next day, and then the next day and the next and so on and so forth," the man explained.
"And this guy is just leaving these notes without anyone seeing him?" Jewul asked.
"Ooh! He's gotta be a ghost!" Malon shouted, Willow happily bobbing up and down in the air around her head, "Nobody's seen him so he's gotta be!"
"How would a ghost leave a note?" Jewul questioned, giving Malon a curious look.
"Um… Wellllll…," the girl mumbled as Willow stopped bobbing up and down, "Telekinesis!" she suddenly answered, Willow happily cooing in response.
"But how's a ghost in so many places at once?"
"Uh…," Malon blanked, "It has friends? Hehe…"
"You always did attract the crazy ones," Aaron chuckled as he watched Malon try and prove her point.
"Yeah, it's a bad habit…" Alistar sighed, resignation in his voice as they continued to watch Malon try to convince Jewul that this thief was a ghost.
The group continued to wait until night had fallen, Aaron eventually deciding to get out of their way for when the thief showed up. Alistar continued reading the note left by thief to see if he could glean anything else from it, but as the light within the shop grew dim he made sure to have one of his masks handy.
'Beelzebub should be enough for a mere thief,' Alistar mused, 'But perhaps I should use Mammon since I assume that a thief would be fast. I suppose how I should act will be based on what she does,' he thought as he looked over at Jewul, who was now standing by herself with her hammer in hand now that Malon had used her magic to turn invisible, like they planned beforehand.
Alistar continued standing there in the dark, a deafening silence upon them until they all heard a rattling noise, like someone was trying to pick the lock outside.
"Come on!" the heard a man grumble, "Open!"
"Guess that's him," Alistar chuckled.
"Hehe, this should be fun," Jewul snickered, an excited look crossing her face at the prospect of a fight.
"Screw it!" the man outside shouted, "I am!" the bellowed before backing away from the door before running towards and leaping through the storefront windows, rolling on the ground through the broken glass before coming to a stop as he struck a pose "The Great! Marcus Shieeeelds! And no locked door shall stop my legend of master thievery!"
This 'Master Thief' was a leanly built man, standing at 5'9" with unruly brown hair that reached down to his shoulders and mischievous golden brown eyes. He was dressed simply, as he was wearing a simple pair of black pants, black boots, a loose white shirt and a long brown cloak that had a hood attached to it.
Alistar and Jewul merely stared in shock at the man, taken completely aback by this man's noisy entrance.
"This is a master thief?" Alistar muttered in disbelief, "I suppose he did sign his name…"
"What kind of thief makes an entrance like that?" Jewul questioned as she stared at the man.
"Fufufu," the thief chuckled, "The Great Marcus Shields always makes a grand entrance! It's the secret to my fame, on top of my dashing good looks."
"Fame?" Jewul repeated, "I've never even heard of you, and I'd say you're a four out of ten at best, but you'd look better with your face smashed in!" she shouted as she leapt towards Marcus Shields, swinging her hammer in a wide arc, the blow connecting with Marcus' side as he was sent flying out of the shop and into the building across the street.
"Owowow," Marcus grunted as he pulled himself out of the wall, "Well if I'm just a four, then three of me is a twelve! Multiplying Magic: Times Three!" he announced as two more of him appeared.
"Phantom Claw!" Malon announced as she appeared above Marcus slashing down on the one in the middle, "Ufufufu… You're quite funny, hopefully you'll survive this encounter," she muttered in a sinister tone, expecting the other two to drop down as well, only to see the other two Marcus' running off in opposite directions.
"Lucky for us, there is no original me with my magic!" they announced before stopping, "Multiplying Magic: Times Five!" they both announced as there were suddenly five Marcus' on either side of the street for a total of ten.
"This is troublesome," Alistar sighed as he stepped out of the shop, lifting an all-black mask to his face, "So let's get this over with, Mask of Amon," he announced as black lines started to appear on his body, "Dark Discs!" he shouted as he launched several discs of Dark Magic towards one group of Marcus', "I'll go after this group! You two go after the other five!" he ordered as he started chasing the fleeing Marcus'.
"You're not the boss of me!" Jewul shouted in retaliation, only for Alistar to ignore her as he ran off, "Grr…"
"Let's go!" Malon cheered, grabbing Jewul's hand as she pulled the girl behind herself in her pursuit of the other group.
. : + : .
Kimi sighed loudly as she took off her apron, relieved that 8-Island had just closed and Horace hadn't blown up the kitchen, although Ladon had slept most of the day.
"Thanks for looking after the restaurant while I was gone," Yajima said with a nod of his head, "Here's for a job well-done," he added as he handed each of them an envelope filled with Jewels.
"You're welcome," Kimi said happily as she took her envelope.
"That job went by quickly," Ladon muttered with a yawn as he stretched his arms out.
"That's because you slept most of the day," Horace explained.
"Did I?" Ladon mused.
"We'll be going now in any case," Horace stated as the three mages walked out of the restaurant.
"So how was your first mission as an Undine?" Ladon asked as they walked down the streets of Hargeon.
"It was… fun," Kimi answered, "But also stressful," she then sighed as she remembered the two male's antics throughout the mission.
"That's how it usually is, I think," Ladon responded before they heard something odd come from the air above them.
"The Great Marcus Shieeeeeeeeelds!" a man screamed as he fell from the air, landing on the ground in front of them face first.
"Well this is curious," Horace mused as he walked over to examine the man.
"Ladon! Horace!" they heard Alistar call out from a nearby rooftop, "The towns been overrun!"
"Overrun?" Ladon repeated, "With what?"
"With those," Alistar answered as he pointed at the man on the ground.
"This is most interesting!" Horace said happily, "I will be glad to lend you my help," he said with a bow before floating off to survey the town from the air.
"Another mission," Kimi sighed, "Okay, I'll help. Come on Mr. Voodoo," she said as she ran off into town.
"I'm awake, so yeah, I'll help out too," Ladon added, "Just point me in a direction."
. : + : .
"Great, we're here. The hell do we do now?" Styles huffed, still not happy at all with the prospect that he might have to fight animals.
"Did you listen to anything I said on the way here?" Arashi growled, "We have to explore the forest and find who or what is making the creatures go berserk. Now let's hurry and go."
"God damn human," Styles cursed under his breath, "Let's go Nina," he huffed as the wolf began trotting alongside him.
Yune merely stood there for a while longer, truly concerned about the situation, 'Are we really going to be all right?' she thought to herself before slowly walking after the two men.
The group walked deeper into the forest, hearing low growling and the occasional roar as they navigated the dark forest. A few times the group came across one of the forest's many giant monsters, but managed to avoid a conflict by laying low.
"Um…" Yune hummed, catching the two men's attention, "Are we going to be all right?" she asked nervously.
"You're with an S-Class on a normal mission," Arashi huffed, "We'll be fine."
"Keh, you probably can't put up that great of a fight, human," Styles growled, drawing a harsh glare from Arashi.
Yune gasped at seeing that glare again, "Stop!" she suddenly shouted, drawing the two male's attention back to her before things went terribly wrong, "That's what I'm worried about," Yune muttered nervously, "Please don't fight."
Arashi let out a sigh. He had never been the best at teamwork, which was why he usually always worked solo jobs. So to be thrown on a team with someone with very strong opinions like Styles, who hardly trusted anyone, was difficult for him to say the least.
Before Arashi could say anything though, they all heard a rustling noise as Nina started barking.
"A beast," Styles gasped, "Don't hurt it!" he demanded as he watched it leap towards Arashi, whose honed combat instincts took over at being threatened, the S-Class mage grabbing the monster by the throat and slamming it into the ground in an instant before he could restrain his own strength.
"Shit," Arashi cursed as he felt the killing intent roll off of Styles in thick waves.
"You… You killed it," Styles growled as he held out his scythe, ready to kill.
"Styles!" Yuna called out, "Arashi didn't mean to! He was just protecting himself!"
"Shut it!" the silver-haired man snapped, causing Yuna to flinch in fear before he turned his attention back to Arashi, "Humans like you, are the kind I want to kill most."
The S-Class mage returned Styles' glare with his own, "I figured this would happen in the end. It looks like I'll have to beat some respect into you."
"All I need to do is cut you once and your mine," Styles said lowly with sinister grin.
"Thanks for the strategy hint," Arashi grinned as Styles charged at him with a roar, swinging down his scythe as Arashi side-stepped the attack, "Aether's Vortex!" he announced as a swirling red vortex of energy appeared beneath Styles, sending him flying back before Arashi closed the gap again with Aether Surge, "Crimson Cannon!" he shouted as a beam of red energy was fired from his hands, sending Styles flying back even further from taking the attack at point-blank.
"Tch… Not bad human," Styles huffed as he wiped some blood from his mouth.
"You're human too," Arashi answered coldly.
"Not like you though," Styles growled, "Blood Magic: Blood of Essence!" he announced as his own blood flew into the air around him, taking the shape of different weapons before they flew towards Arashi."
"Aether's Radiance!" Arashi shouted as red energy flew out from around him in a wave, blasting the blood from the air, only to see Styles quickly closing the distance, his scythe already swinging down, "Chain Magic: Chains of Punishment!" Arashi yelled as a crimson colored chain shout out from his hand, attaching to Styles' scythe just in time from Arashi to pull it from the Blood Mage's hands.
"Damn you!" Styles roared as he swung his fist down instead, the blow connecting with Arashi's face as he knocked the S-Class mage down into the ground.
"That's enough!" Yune screamed, although the two men ignored her as they continued fighting, "I said that's enough! Artemis' Arrow!" she yelled as the bow made of magic appeared in her hands before she quickly launched an arrow at both Arashi and Styles, both finding their mark since the men were too engrossed in the fight to pay attention to her.
"The hell are you doing!?" Styles shouted as he stood back up from the girl's attack.
Arashi stood back up quietly though, finally having been snapped out of it as he realized what he was doing, "Thanks Yune," he said quietly before looking back at Styles, "The question is what are we doing," Arashi stated.
"What?" the Blood Mage asked as Nina trotted up to Styles, staring down Arashi.
"Two people of the same guild are trying to kill each other. In the middle of a mission no less," Arashi explained, "How does that make any sense?"
"Grr… But you-!"
"I know what I did. I acted on instinct, not purposefully," Arashi interjected, cutting off Styles, "If you want to settle this so badly, we'll do it back at the guildhall after we've stopped these animals from going berserk."
Nina looked up at Styles, the man looking back down at her, 'He's correct in that matter, you should settle this after the animals are back in their right minds,' he heard the wolf say in his mind.
"Fine," Styles conceded, "We'll settle this back at the guildhall."
Arashi and Yune both let out a sigh of relief at hearing that, the both of them were worried that it might take knocking him out to get him to stop, but their relief was short-lived as they all felt a wave of madness and hatred wash over the area, all of them quickly turning their heads to see a shadowy figure with a shard of a mirror hanging from their neck.
"HuMAnsss…" the figure hissed, "KiLL… DiE… dIE diE diediediediedie!" they kept repeating, as if they were a broken record before it bent backwards in an impossible way, "DIE!" it screeched before dashing towards them all at an impossible speed.
. : + : .
Ziv and Miriam quickly walked side by side, every few seconds one of them picking up the pace as they tried to walk faster than the other through the streets of Freesia Town.
"They've even made walking a competition," Jayne cried as she tried to keep up with the other two girls. What was even more upsetting though, is that this had been the case all day it seemed, the two girls had even made asking the mayor questions about the disappearances a competition to see who could ask more questions.
The three girls quickly made their way through town as they had been checking the various warehouses scattered throughout it since everybody else who had attempted this mission had always mentioned searching a warehouse before they disappeared, although the mayor was uncertain which one it was.
"Hey," Jayne called out, momentarily gaining Ziv and Miriam's attention, "Do you ever feel like you're being watched?" she asked, "Cause I've felt like that for a while now."
"I think you're still feeling spooked from that creep we saw in the train station," Ziv responded as she remembered the silver-haired man.
"Although we have seen that pale woman with the motorbike a few times now," Miriam mentioned.
"Well, there are only three warehouses left to check and I say we check out this one," Ziv declared, pointing to a nearby warehouse on a map.
Miriam's brow twitched in irritation before she pointed at a different warehouse, "Well I say we check out this one!"
Jayne sighed as she watched the two girls start arguing again, "Well if neither of you can agree, then we're going to this one! No arguments!" Jayne announced as she pointed at the third warehouse, the other two girls eventually agreeing since they weren't getting anywhere.
The three of them quickly made their way to the warehouse, opening the large door as quietly as they could upon arriving, only for the terrible scents of blood and rotting flesh to waft out at them.
"Hrk," Jayne gagged as she quickly ran away from the door, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground once she was far enough away from Miriam and Ziv.
'Burn…' she heard echo throughout her mind.
"No…" Jayne whispered, grabbing her head in fear as the voice echoed again.
"Jayne," she heard Ziv call out, "Are you all right?"
Jayne quickly snapped out of her trance after hearing Ziv's voice, "Huh? Oh… I'll be fine," she answered as she stood up, "I guess we found the kidnapper's lair, huh?"
Ziv eyed the girl warily for a moment longer before nodding, "I think so, and I'm guessing that a lot of people have died in there too," she responded while Miriam poked her head into the warehouse, looking up to see mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling, blood slowly dripping from them, turning the ground a rusty red color.
"The mayor said only young girls and women had been kidnapped," Miriam called out, "These bodies are mostly male. So I guess we know what happed to other people who tried to take this mission."
"Well let's investigate then," Jayne said, putting on a brave face as she walked past Ziv and into the warehouse with Miriam, Ziv falling in step as the three of them ventured further into the warehouse.
The three girls kept a steady, quiet pace as they crept along, deeper into the warehouse. The stench of blood and rotting flesh growing stronger as they went along. They suddenly froze when they all heard a piercing scream nearby.
"Let's go!" Miriam hissed as the three of them picked up the pace, the group eventually coming across a door, where they heard another scream.
"It came from in there," Ziv whispered.
"We've got to stop whatever's going on in there," Jayne urged as Miriam grabbed the doorknob and quietly opened up the door, revealing a young woman with horns carving up another woman's arm.
"I cut off your hand earlier," the horned woman said nonchalantly, "So I figured I'd carve you a new one," she explained as continued carving the stub of the woman's arm into a hand-like shape, "Now hold still!" she hissed as she stabbed a small blade through the hand the woman still had.
"That's…" Jayne muttered in horror.
"That sadistic little," Miriam hissed as she took a step forward into the room.
"Sun God's Bellow!" Ziv roared as she launched a roar of black sunlight towards the horned woman past Miriam, the woman looking over at the blast in annoyance as she let it hit her, the spell carrying her across the room and into the far wall.
"Ziv!" Jayne called out as the other girl quickly ran into the room towards the tortured woman.
"It'll be all right," Ziv said softly, tears forming in the tortured woman's eyes.
"Th-The others…," she muttered, her voice coming out as a hoarse whisper, "O-Over there… save them," she pleaded before she closed her eyes, having succumbed to her wounds.
"Rest in peace," Ziv whispered, "We'll carry out your last will."
"Did she croak?" they heard the horned woman ask from the far wall, all three of them looking over at her to see that she had no wounds, "Normally I would be upset, but now I've got three new human cattle to play around with."
"Cattle!?" Jayne hissed as she ran forward with Miriam to stand next to Ziv, "Humans aren't cattle!"
"To a human's point of view maybe," the woman responded, "But to a Nightmare, that's all you are. Cattle never see themselves as cattle."
"A… Nightmare?" Miriam repeated, "The heck is that?"
"Nightmares… Especially those of us of the Humanoid variety. We are the creatures created by our lord and master, Phantasm! We surpass humans in every way and our goal is the eradication of all human life!" the woman shouted, fervent belief clearly seen in her eyes, "And I am the Nightmare of Giving in to Dark Desires: Edina Adelaide! Now… Try and provide your superior with some entertainment," Edina said lowly, a sinister smile on her face before she vanished, appearing in the air behind Ziv and planting a hard kick into her back, sending the girl flying.
"Ziv!" Jayne shouted as she turned to watch Edina twist in the air to face her, "Light Shield!"
"Banshee Magic: Delta Screech!" Edina announced before letting out a deafening scream that had enough force to break through Jayne's shield and send her flying into a different wall.
"Night Slash!" Miriam announced as she slashed at Edina with her magic, the Nightmare letting the blow cut through her much to Miriam's shock.
"Electric Bellows!" Edina screeched as she released an electrically charged sound wave towards Miriam, shocking her as the third girl went flying, "Do you see the difference?" Edina asked as the claw marks on her body started to self-heal completely, "Humans can't match up to Nightmares, no matter how hard they try."
"Bullshit!" Miriam roared as she got back up and charged at Edina, "Night's Creation: Katana!" she announced as she began to charge towards Edina again.
"Sun God's Fury!" Edina heard Ziv announce from the far wall as black sunlight flew from Ziv in the form of several beams that were curving towards Edina.
"Light Beam!" Jayne shouted as she fired a beam of light from her hand towards Edina.
"Fun…" Edina said beneath her breath as she leapt over the beam of light, letting the first beam of sunlight hit her to that she could start twisting through the air to nimbly dodge the next few as Miriam closed in, ready to cut clean through Edina with her katana.
"Blinding Light!" Jayne shouted as she ran towards Edina, releasing a bright light that forced the Nightmare to close her eyes, giving Miriam an opening to slash the Nightmare in two with her sword.
"Eh?" the Nightmare gawked as she fell to the ground, "I was right… You three are fun!" she laughed maniacally.
"Edina!" they all heard a harsh voice call out from the entrance, everyone turning their heads to see a silver-haired man standing in the doorway, "Compose yourself," he ordered as he stepped into the room.
"Agni…" Edina growled lowly.
"Why haven't you let that Nightmare loose?" Agni asked as he pointed to the Nightmare that was obediently sitting in the corner.
"It's funner this way," Edina answered nonchalantly as her legs and outfit began to reform, the Nightmare standing back up much to the three girl's horror.
"How?" Ziv gawked as she watched Edina walk over to Agni's side.
"I told you. Nightmares surpass humans in every way and now that Agni's here you'll wish you died fighting me," Edina responded with a wink.
"Beast!" Agni called out, catching the monstrous Nightmare's attention, "Kill."
"Food!" the monster roared before charging at the three girls, only for a large boom to come from overhead as a figure shrouded in black fell from the ceiling, dropping onto the Nightmare.
"Soul Curse: Reap," the figure said lowly as she penetrated the Nightmare's body with her fist before the creature turned into a puddle of black goo, "Looks like I'm just in time," the person said as they stood up, revealing her to be a pale woman with brown hair and wearing a black outfit.
"Rhiannon Yates," Agni growled lowly, "So master was right, Euclid is playing both sides since he's sent you here."
"Euclid!" Ziv gasped, remembering the man from her mission into the ruins.
"No, Euclid didn't send me here," Rhia growled lowly, "I came here because there were Nightmares to be killed. Hey, Undine's Cove mages," Rhia called out, "I know you're not on the best of terms with my boss, but we have a common enemy here. So let's kill 'em."
"We can't trust her!" Ziv shouted, anger evident in her eyes.
"Heh, I agree but… We don't have a choice," Miriam huffed, "We'll die if she doesn't help."
"We'll fight with you!" Jayne called out.
"You three take that Edina Nightmare like you were then," Rhia stated, "Leave Agni to me."
A/N: And there it is! Chapter 27! I hope you enjoyed it.
So yeah, in my opinion, the winner between Styles vs. Arashi was Yune. But yeah, hopefully the scenes with the Nightmares weren't too terribly gruesome, I did tone them down a lot from what they were. Originally I had described a lot more of the torture and the state of the woman's body, but it would've forced me to change the rating to M for sure, but I still wanted to get across how twisted the whole situation was. Just know that it was really messed up and was not for the faint of heart to read.
Credits:
Edina Adelaide- Dreadburner94
"The Great" Marcus Shields- MyDearWatson
So yeah, The Great Marcus Shields has made his way from Thunder Stone to Undine's Cove because I absolutely love his character, so I had to get him for this mission from MyDearWatson.
Anyways, I'll have the next chapter up soon and don't forget to review!
Your host,
Dreadburner94.