This chapter's song is The Island Part 2 (Dusk) by Pendulum.
Surprise! I survived.
The second day of the Grand Magic Games is starting out with a challenge, like last time. In it are the people who weren't caught in the Hide and Seek game, as well as the remaining people who weren't beaten to a bloody pulp yesterday.
"Contestants for the challenge are: Morrigan, Noctus, Cobra, Orion, Ortelloth, Midnight, Racer, Eve, Jenny, Vidaldus, Nightshade, Sting, Erza, Mirajane, Obra, Millianna, Rogue, Rocker, Gajeel, Wendy, Sherria, Levy, Minerva, Arana, and Hibiki!" Jason announces, and I walk out onto the field. Decimus already arranged the plans for the challenge with Fukuro, who has a better understanding of magical physics than his partner. (63)
I carefully consider the arena's floor, wondering exactly how level it is. This was going to be a fun challenge to weave together.
In both hands, I hold a Destruction spell, ready to pour out ice on the stadium floor. Starting the spells, ice starts to slowly creep along the earthen floor, the last place to be covered is beneath my feet.
Luckily, Jason is keeping the crowd occupied with a running commentary on the possibilities, allowing me to focus on my task, making the ice as slippery as can be. Fukuro, once I give the signal that I'm done, scoops me up and flies me back into the stadium walls, safe and sound.
"Your task is to not slip, slide, or fall down." says Jason, as Fukuro sets me down and steps back, letting me dust myself off and thank Fukuro before having to hasten off to the private viewing box.
"Easy enough." say several of them, and I smile.
Jason speaks before the contestants can dismiss it. "This ice is so cold, you might get freezer burn, so to speak. If I were you, I'd keep moving. There will be people who can fly, to take anyone who is down out of the arena."
My Siblings understand the warning, though the others are understandably skeptical. (64)
Jason, though, doesn't care for their concerns, and counts down. "On your mark, get set, go!"
All the contestants are ordered onto the floor, and those with any sense will be calm and proceed as such.
Noctus, almost immediately, slipped in high heels, cursing as she went down, but her bag managed to hit Mira, knocking her down too.
As I watch, I can't help but look on as I consider how stupid that was. Eventually I can't contain it, and start laughing.
Bickslow looks at me like I'm half demented, before I explain, gasping out, "That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen."
He realizes, too, exactly what the fuck we just saw, and starts laughing as well.
"Orion's down. I repeat, Orion is down. And for a model, Jenny isn't exactly the most sure-footed, and forget about falling gracefully." Jason comments, looking at the events unfolding.
Morrigan's too busy laughing at Noctus to notice when Eve hits her, making them both fall down. As that happens, she doesn't even care, she's laughing too much.
Cobra's accidentally tackled by Sting, next throwing him off him while Sting yells "NO HOMO!"
Once Sting is airborne, the poison Dragon Slayer yells at him, "WHAT THE HELL, MAN?"
"Sting! I thought we had a connection!" Rogue yells at his partner, who looks guiltily at the Shadow Dragon Slayer.
Gajeel looks around confused, muttering, "Didn't someone just yell 'no homo?' Where is all this come from?"
"I don't want to toot my own horn, guys, but I knew that Cobra was gay." states Morrigan, making Cobra glare at her.
"I AM NOT GAY!" he yells, whilst being picked up by a flyer.
"Of course not, Cobra. Why would we think that?" comments Nightshade, still on the field.
"I mean, it's not like you spend hours picking out the perfect gift for Midnight. I mean, no, clearly, that's not a sign." Noctus adds in, all three of them looking at the infuriated Dragon Slayer.
This causes Nightshade to lose her concentration, slipping and falling on her ass, making Morrigan laugh. "You idiot." she remarks, laughing, from the stands where the flyer set her down. Orion is next to her, as is Noctus. On the other side of the stadium sit Mirajane, Jenny, Eve, and Sting so far.
Ortelloth, not even moving since she got there, is still calmly standing, although her face breaks into a smile at the joking. With a single stomp of her feet, she sends ripples through the surface of the ice, causing Minerva to trip and crash into Gajeel, Rocker, and Rogue.
"Go Ortelloth!" screams a girl who literally just appeared in the stands, already waving and dancing with pom poms.
"Oh, hey Kessie, what's up?"
"I'm cheering on Ortelloth! Go, big O!"
Ortelloth turns around to wave to her girlfriend, although she's probably more confused at her appearance, and is immediately hit by Arana.
Kessie grits her teeth and winces at the impact of her girlfriend. "She's… gonna be upset about that…. I know! I'll go get her an otter pop!" With a snap, Kessie disappears, teleporting away and back again in about ten seconds. (65)
"It's Midnight, Racer, and Vidaldus against the mages Arana, Wendy, Sherria, Levy, Hibiki, Obra, Millianna, and Erza!" Jason announces, and the three mages left on our side look amongst themselves, trying to figure out who would go next.
Too bad the choice is made for them, when Millianna pushes two of them down, Midnight and Racer. Vidaldus grabs her magic binders, pulling her forward and knocking both her and Arana over. They have the last trick, though, pulling back and pulling him over as well.
"And on the part of Vidaldus Taka, we have our next contestants and the match ups! The following contestants will not partake in today's matches: Wendy, Sherria, Levy, Erza, Hibiki and Obra!" Jason nearly screams into the microphone.
The last contestants standing leave the stadium to their seats, ready to support their friends and those fighting against my Family.
Jason calls up Vidaldus, asking him to choose which way the challenge will go, with him at the foremost or at the end.
"I'll go at the end! Rock n' roll!" he screams at the terrified announcer, Jason, who gulps and then nods at the write of the match ups.
Noctus is first, against Mirajane.
"Ugh, you're kidding me. I went second last time!"
"And now you're going first. It's a step up, wouldn't you say?" says Kessie, looking at her filed nails.
"How is she here?" Nightshade asks Morrigan.
"Don't ask that question." her superior replies, petting Hugo, currently situated on her knee.
"Why not?" Nightshade continues.
"You like being sane? Don't ask about Kessie." she concludes, not saying more on the subject. Nightshade warily looks at her Sister, who doesn't notice, playing with Ortelloth's hair as she pulls her head into her lap. Her girlfriend doesn't put up a fight.
Noctus, frowning like the little girl she acts like most of the time, looks calmly at the She Demon across from her, Mirajane Strauss.
"It's a shame they can't get me a real competitor." she states disdainfully, brushing off a spec of dust on her shorts.
Mirajane just narrows her eyes, the long pink dress she's wearing gently swaying in the wind. "You killed my brother. You aren't going anywhere."
Noctus focuses on her opponent again, and smiles. "I did? I don't recall."
The match begins, and both use spells, Noctus blocking out the light and Mira transforming into her Satan Soul form.
Mira roars, flying at Noctus, who simply pulls out a Darkness spell, making Mira spiral around in complete darkness.
Unfortunately, however, Mirajane has different ideas, as the demon woman tears through the spell without batting an eye, making Noctus sputter in surprise. Mirajane rams into her opponent, taking her into the other end of the already quite damaged stadium, slamming her into the wall. Not letting go, the demon woman, holding Noctus' ankle, twists around and smashing her into the same wall, just to the left.
With another heave, the demon woman hurls my Sister into the opposite wall. (66)
The she demon didn't bother to hurry over, merely deciding to walk to her prey, who was helpless against the strength of her power.
Noctus, however, has never been a quitter. Shaking, she stands, and brushes off some blood that's accumulated on her face from the hits she's already taken.
"That's not cute. That's not cute at all." Noctus says, trembling. A dark aura is radiating off her, and Mirajane pauses in her tracks, before smirking and continuing onwards. She's five feet from her opponent when Noctus takes a hesitant step forward, her magic swirling around her in the darkness.
Bickslow and I are on the edges of our seat, eager to see the outcome. As both of us being vampires, we can see perfectly in the darkness, and with Bickslow's ability to see souls, he can get a clearer picture than any of us.
"You killed my brother. I think you not being something you want is fair, don't you think? Like, alive." Mirajane says, gathering dark magic in her hands, forming it into a ball.
Noctus does nothing but take another step towards Mirajane, and another.
The girl is only three steps away from Mirajane now, and the demon woman releases her spell, unmistakably Soul Extinction.
Noctus doesn't even falter, not even seeming to notice the spell, continuing her slow crawl to the demon woman.
Looking worried now, Mirajane takes a step back, as Noctus takes one forward. The spell is still going, but neither are affected by it. Unfortunately, with spells like that, you just have to stick it out. Mira takes yet another recoiling step, as Noctus takes another forward one. (67)
Finally, Mira's fear takes over, as she moves several steps backwards, not just one, into the exact center of the arena. Noctus has disappeared into the darkness of the spell.
Something's tickling my senses.
I close my eyes, trying to hone in on the subject of the disturbance, and locate it.
It's Noctus, activating her more dangerous magic, and her other form is on standby. (68)
She must have been powering up a spell, because she emerges from the gloom of Soul Extinction to punch Mira in the face with magically charge hands.
Her umbrella is lying discarded where the dark spell of Mira's started, letting everyone know the seriousness of this, whether they will get the hint or not.
Noctus loves her umbrellas, especially the cutest ones, because they hide who she is, and who she thinks she is. Her motto is, "Once in darkness, you can't see the true nature of people. Only what they wish you to believe."
She learned darkness magic because she thought it was a nice additional magic for an assassin, and for the fact that she could use it primarily and distract people from her nature.
Noctus uses Death Magic, and she's damn proficient at it. More skilled than anyone I've ever seen; she told me a story once about first learning about it. She took to it like a fish to water, but even more so.
They need it to survive; to an extent, she did, too, but unfortunately, the people she grew up with did not see it in the same way. As a girl, she was innocent, sweet, and then her magic burst out of her, killing the entire population of a store she was in, including her mother. A tragic backstory, but, luckily, I was in the town that day. If I hadn't, I doubt she would have survived. Personally, she was raised alongside Nightshade, raise by her new Family. If anyone was going to win against the she demon Mirajane Strauss, it would be her. She's the most resilient, the most loyal person I've ever known.
And she's a fighter.
The punch sends Mira flying, crashing her into the dirt and sending her in skids. Slowly, the demon woman stands up, her aura radiating outwards and the darkness around her shimmering with magic. Noctus' power pushes and pulls the surrounding night around them in a hypnotizing manner, her power and natural talent with magic and the dark bending it unconsciously to her will with no effort or thought whatsoever. (69)
Mirajane makes the first move, nearly flying at her with speed, and my Sister merely dodges, tapping her opponent on the shoulder lightly, but still results in Mirajane getting launched into a wall, while Noctus ducks as her touch sends the woman flying over her head.
Such is the power of death magic.
The formerly cute as a button mage is radiating the darkest aura, and as Mira recovers, she switches from just her normal Satan Soul form, into her Ultimate Satan Soul, giving her a boost in magical power, as well as her rage factoring in to make her brutal.
Noctus didn't see the first hits coming, nor the next dozen or so.
A punch hits her square in the jaw, and Noctus goes flying, landing and rolling on the hard ground, getting dust and blood all over her normally pristine clothes.
Mira is panting, standing still where she landed the first punch on Noctus, and relaxes, chuckling as she walks towards the darkness mage.
Groaning, Noctus turns over, facing the sky and watching the sun come out, her spell of darkness not able to sustain itself any longer as she's using Death Magic now.
Mirajane smiles evilly as she struts over to Noctus' still body, picking her up by the neck and holding her up, so her feet cannot touch the ground. Then she starts squeezing, almost as if she wants to pop off Noctus' head.
"You killed my brother." she says, glaring at the person in her claws.
"You deserve to die." Mira continues, and the crowd is quiet as can be, no one making a sound. The stadium is filled with the sounds of Noctus choking, gasping for air. Mirajane is merciless, not letting her grip up for a second.
A moment later, she smiles, and is hit with a spell of Death, dust swirling up where the pair was before. The demon mage is cast into the wall of the stadium (70). She gets up, shaking her head to clear it, and looks over at where Noctus should be. Instead of something like a body, there's only a cloud of dust, kept going by the intense magical power being released there by Noctus.
With a final burst, it settles the dust, and there stands Noctus, in her other form, her final and most powerful magical defense and attack.
It's armor, black as night, covering the body of the mage on her back to the start of her thighs, revealing her guildmark of a black hand on her stomach, right where her belly button is. Also exposed is most of her breasts, and her neck. The armor covers her arms down to her hands, exposing the tips of her fingers like fighter gloves, augmenting her strength. Black boots come up to her knees, made of interlocking parts and enchantments, ensuring she'll keep her balance no matter what. A dark purple belt marks the end of the exposed skin area, and bands on her armored upper arms, both dark purple, gleam in the sunlight. A choker collar of black circles her neck, with a purple skull hanging off it, and her hair is unseen, under a helmet of black with dark purple outlines, spiky and intimidating. Two strands of hair remain down, a black and a white both.
Her eyes, however, are startling in their change. Instead of the usual golden orbs residing there, the formerly white part is yellow, and the iris is black. (71)
Mirajane, as well as the audience, are shocked at the transformation. Even a couple of people in our Family are surprised, though it's only the ones who haven't seen her like that before. (72)
Unfortunately for them, this gives her time to power up a spell, called Rigor Mortis, which paralyzes the people close to the caster. The range is about fifty feet, and at the center of the arena Mirajane cannot escape it.
As Mirajane attempts to rush her opponent, Noctus releases the spell, making Mira fall over and crash onto the ground, face planting with deadly accuracy.
The transformed Noctus, panting slightly from the spells and their drainage of her power, jumps up and slams onto Mirajane, a good ten feet away, but pushes her face into the dirt even more. Jumping up again, she slams down on her opponent's head, probably causing all sorts of damage.
A few more jumps, and Mira resembles an ostrich, but the paralysis spell is wearing off about now. However, this doesn't really matter, as the woman has her head buried in dirt and has boot marks on the back of her head, denting the armor plating of her ultimate Satan Soul form.
Rolling her over with a foot, Noctus kicks her a couple of times, before grabbing her by the hair and dragging her to a wall, slamming her head into it a couple of times before hurling her into the opposite one.
Struggling, Mira attempts to stand up, but Noctus is having none of it. Wings of black on her back bursting out of her, much like Mira can do, she flies at breakneck speed towards the demon woman, slamming her into the wall again, then spinning around and launching her into the air, where she speeds to catch up. As soon as Mira starts falling, Noctus dives from above, slamming her boot encased feet into the mage and driving her into the ground, rubble flying into the air.
A spell powers up in her right hand as her left grabs Mira and throws her up again, aiming and firing the spell like a gun. Hitting her, Mira cries out in pain, the only sound she's made since getting first hit.
Mira falls, hitting the ground and sending dirt out of it's natural habitat. Noctus steps carefully after shielding herself with her wings, picking up Mira with one hand, like she did not so long ago, and squeezing.
Everyone thinks she's just assuring her victory, but I recognize that. She's draining her life into herself, and it has to stop. She can kill someone in just a couple of seconds. There's maybe twenty, thirty even, before Mira's dead.
Ten seconds in, and there is no sign of stopping. Noctus has that look in her eye she gets when I've watched her kill- she wants to kill her. Needs to.
Not today, regrettably.
"Noctus! I order you to stop!" I Shout, making sure she hears me.
No reaction is given by the person who this is for, although the people in the audience are starting to look worried, as if this is serious.
I have no choice, and with a simple spell, my previously hidden draconian wings are out, letting me speed through the window, sending glass outwards everywhere. (73)
In a few moments that felt like eternity, I finally reach Noctus, tackling her to the ground and making her release Mirajane, who crumples to the floor in a heap, unconscious and probably drained of her magic. (74)
Noctus hits the wall of the stadium with as much momentum as I can get before I release her.
"NOCTUS, THIS IS YOUR LISTENER. YOU WILL STAND DOWN." I say to her, hoping to reach her in this state.
Unfortunately, I don't think that did it, as she just stands up with anger written on her face. She roars, and I sigh, thinking of anything I can do to make her remember herself.
"SIL REVAK RII RO AUS AAZ!" I Shout at her, with the meaning filling both her and me, cleansing her of the mindlessness of her other form, and exhausting her. (75)(76)
As the other form burns away, her skin almost bubbles in the sunlight, and Morrigan runs out, scooping up her umbrella and opening it for her comrade, covering her with as much shade as possible. The formerly cute outfit is now ripped, the striped tights with holes, her shoes not even present, her shorts barely there and her shirt as revealing as possible without showing her cleavage to the world. Hugo takes off Morrigan's cloak, covering Noctus with it.
Her Sister helping her up, she's barely conscious, although she does realize that she fought me, as the terrified look in her eyes makes them as wide as they can be.
I incline my head, indicating we'll talk later, and she rests her head on Morrigan's shoulder. I take flight after making sure that Mirajane is still alive, although the girl is heavily injured and I wouldn't do anything with those bruises for a while. (77)
As I take off, I hear Noctus ask, "Did I win?"
"Yeah, but you made me lose my bet with Vidaldus. I cheered for Mirajane." Morrigan replies, and Noctus doesn't even respond other than to nuzzle her friend's shoulder in either affection or indifference.
I smile, returning to the private box, aware that every eye in the stadium is on me. The crowd bursts into cheers and applause, hailing me as a savior and a person who is honorable, stuff like that.
That is…. I don't know how to feel about that.
Bickslow looks at me, shock and surprise written on his face with nothing else present.
"Why did you do that?" he asks, whispering, as if he can't believe it, and I'm turning good right before his eyes.
"It is much easier to build up publicity in a positive way than to tear down bad publicity with negative vibes, and I just helped on both fronts." I state, looking at my Mate, whose face almost immediately turns to a scowl. It seems he expected this. (78)
"Of course." he stands, walking over to the blood and refilling his goblet, taking a sip and feeling the cool blood, previously like diamonds gritting on the throat, go down as smoothly as warm butter pours out of a bowl.
I will my wings to return to their dormant state, but they won't go away, so I just give up and leave them out. My body can be as stubborn as my mind sometimes, and any magical augmentations or body parts that shouldn't exist are no less stubborn. Besides, they look cool and demonstrate my power. Not only do I have the ability to use an enormous amount of magical power, I can fly with little effort at all. (79)(80)(81)
He ignores me as I try and maneuver with these additional appendages, although it's kind of hard to, considering these things have almost hit him at least seven times. (82)
I sit in my throne, and wait for the next match start.
63- They weren't shared with anyone but themselves and I, who just now saw them. I'm on the field to construct it, nothing more. 64- Hey, I'm not allowed to give special advice to one group; it has to be general. And I've made sure it's going to hurt, although I hope it won't hurt too much. 65- Ten to one odds that she just stole that otter pup. She was supposed to get a pop, what the Sithis? 66- Thank Sithis she was wearing shorts today. 67- What we've got here is a matchup of people who are immune, for the most part, to each other's main powers. This is going to get interesting. 68- Her other form is not pretty. 69- The dark actually responds to her emotions, although it's really tough to determine what they are, even with her emotions not being anywhere near tightly bridled for a person in the Dark Brotherhood. I let it slide, mainly because I don't care enough as long as it doesn't interfere with her work. 70- This seems popular. 71- If you look closely at her in this form, she actually has skulls as pupils. Don't know how she does it. 72- I don't think that she even used this form when taking down Saber Tooth. 73- Mages were beginning to realize someone had to step in, but none of them, except mayhaps Morrigan, would be able to handle Noctus in reality, like this, and she had to save her magic for her battle later. They were, however, instrumental in keeping people safe from the glass. 74- There is a chance she won't be able to fully get her magic back, some of it permanently drained and the container in her body crippled. 75- Briefly translated for those of you not fluent in Dovahzul, it means, literally, Soul Sacred Essence Balance Suffer Mercy. Translated not literally, it means return your soul's sacred essence to balance or suffer my mercy. Which basically means I would've beaten her into the ground had her magic not done as asked. 76- Oh, yes, that was an extension of her soul. Most- scratch that, ALL magic is. It's basically a projection of a soul, and that's why there's such variety, and such difference in the people who use it. It's literally a matter of the heart, soul, body, and mind. The body is basically just a container. The heart decides what it wants, the brain channels it into spells, and the soul is fluid, allowing for willpower to factor in, in the case of endangered friends, or things you care about, et cetera. It's why willpower is important; your soul can literally ingest more Ethernano to give you a boost through your own willpower. 77- A long while. 78- Ridiculous. 79- Of course, not the only thing to fear about me, but it's something they know. The rest of the world shouldn't know about Mates or my weaknesses, et cetera. The power, they should know. They fear and respect power. That's why guilds are still here. 80- Well, and the government is too lazy and too busy to care about magical problems. Although it's actually a huge mess in Fiore. That king was horrid. 81- Oh, yeah, my Draconian aspects have gotten worse, or better, whichever perspective you look at. The wings can fully support me now. 82- Ignoring them is probably very dangerous. I will also not be held responsible for any accidental whacks to any part of the body.