Chapter Thirty
Changing our direction slightly, we followed the yell. After another few short moments, we broke through the trees into a small clearing. There seemed to be dozens of Rune Knights scattered throughout the area, even when we were still running we came across them. I could hear the sounds of metal against metal, yells, screams, and more explosions in other areas of the forest. In the area in front of us, though, was where all my attention was. Nine people. Six fighting, one standing around not doing anything, one smiling maliciously, and the last being held in the air by her throat.
"Levy!" I know I probably shouldn't have shouted that we were here, we could have surprised them. I just couldn't help it, seeing my best friend like that, with no one able to help, despite how much I know the guys wanted to.
The man who was holding Levy by the throat looked to us and dropped her to the ground with a sickening crack in a crumpled heap.
"Look at that, new opponents for me, you can have one, too, Adrian." 'Adrian' looked over to us and just shrugged his shoulder, as if deeming us unacceptable, though, he did have the smallest of smirks on his face.
"Whatever, Beta, as long as it gives me something to do." Even Adrian's voice sounded agonizingly bored. The two made no move towards us even though the two clearly thought that they were the stronger group.
As we cautiously walked closer, I studied the two, along with the others. Adrian stood with a slouched posture, a disinterested expression plastered on his face, looking the epitome of boredom. His short, blonde hair was spiked towards the back and he had an unnaturally pale complexion. Though he looked so placid and calm, something seemed to scream that he was a force to be reckoned with. Beta, on the other hand almost seemed to be Adrian's exact opposite. He was freakishly tall, well above even Bixlow's height, he hadn't stopped his wide grin and creepy cackle since our presence was first noticed. He had long, straight black hair, with lightly tanned skin. They both could easily be considered attractive if it wasn't for the sadistic air that surrounded the two. Two of the others looked relatively the same, almost like copies of eachother, so they were probably twins and one each were fighting against Jet and Droy. The final one I couldn't see, though Gajeel seemed to be having a difficult time.
We had just crossed a quarter of the field stepping over bodies when Laxus spoke in hushed tones, "Kay, girly, I know that you aren't going to listen to me when I say not to go after that guy who had bookworm, so, Bixlow, stay with her. You guys have fought against eachother before, so you have an idea of how the other fights."
"That was a long time ago, and Cosplayer doesn't even have her keys anymore." Bixlow stated.
"She still has an idea of how you fight, and that's how she works best, working alongside other people to their strengths. Ever, Freid, I want you two to help out bookworm's cheerleaders. Whoever finishes up first, if you can, go fight with Metalbreath."
Though, it is a good plan, I don't know if that was a compliment that I'm good support or an insult that I can't work as the lead.
"Compliment, girly, just leave it." I heard Laxus say before my mind could question it further. I noticed the confused looks on Bixlow's and Freid's faces and the annoyingly knowing one on Evergreen's.
Freid and Evergreen broke away from us to go support Jet and Droy.
"Laxus, y'sure you want me to work with the Cosplayer on this? She really can't control her magic that well yet, and I don't know if I'll be able to cover us both if things get rough." I felt my blood boil at his words, though, I knew where he was coming from. If I can't control the lightning in a fight, he'd have to deal with our opponent and protect me.
"Just watch each other's backs. You both are capable enough that you shouldn't need to baby the other." After Laxus' words, he walked away from us towards Adrian, and Bixlow and I shared a look that had was both unsure and confident, if that makes any sense.
We were finally close enough that I could see Levy. She was hurt and bleeding, but was breathing. I let out a relieved sigh.
"So, you're the ones left for me." Beta's voice was loud and boisterous, "I'm almost disappointed." His laughter was just as loud as his words.
I felt annoyance tingle my skin at his words.
"Cosplayer, don't let his words get to you." Bixlow whispered over Beta's loud laughing. I looked over to see Bixlow studying Beta as hard as I was on the walk over, at least I think so.
It's so hard to tell what he's thinking with only his mouth and jaw visible.
"Try only using your whip and attacking him directly." Bixlow said after a few moments. I raised my eyebrow, and he seemed to notice, for he spoke again, "If you use the lightning magic too soon, he might perceive you as too much of a threat, and since you can't use the lightning to your advantage yet, we can't have him focusing all his attacks on you until we know what he can do."
"So you're wanting to have him focus on you until then?" I say quickly, I doubt Beta will let us talk much longer, judging by the annoyed look that is steadily appearing on his face. This doesn't stop me from looking at Bixlow like he's missing a few screws in the head with his plan.
"I know the magic I'm using forward and backwards, I'll be better equipped for whatever he sends our way." Bixlow spoke with a sense of urgency, probably also getting the idea that Beta isn't a very patient person.
"Fine," I sigh, "I'll stay back, but I ain't promising not to use that magic if I need to."
Bixlow stepped in front of me and forward towards Beta, his 'babies' have an almost ethereal glow to them. I put my hand to the whip at my side, lightly caressing the handle, now more than ever before missing my dear spirits who are cut off from me.
I could really use you guys now, I hope that you're alright, and that we'll see eachother again soon.
Shaking my head clear of the thoughts as I heard a crash where Bixlow was once standing. I took my whip quickly in my hands as my eyes searched for both Bixlow and Beta in the dust cloud. I caught sight of Bixlow jumping back away from Beta, who was moving at an unnatural speed. Beta was punching at Bixlow with his hands and arms looking like mere blurs. Bixlow was either dodging or using his dolls to block the fists.
I'm almost happy that he decided he wanted to be the one Beta focused on, but, what am I supposed to do? Beta's moving too fast for me to attack with my whip and I wouldn't be able to handle the speeds this guy is doing if he turned to focus on me if I used my lightning magic.
I saw Bixlow's jaw clenching, he was completely unable to attack because he had to put all his attention into his defence.
Dammit! I can't just sit here and do nothing!
I could feel the lightning dancing beneath my skin, just begging to be released against this guy.
No! I forced myself to calm down. Bixlow said no lightning until we know what we're up against. It isn't necessary that I use it now so I can't.
I looked to Bixlow again, willing him to give me a sign as to what to do.
It was at that moment that Bixlow stepped a little too close to the crater that was created at the beginning of the fight, I'm assuming by Beta. The side collapsed in, causing Bixlow to fall to his back with a grunt. Beta stopped his quick movements and, with his unnaturally sized grin, reeled back and went to punch at Bixlow. Bixlow's arms crossed into an 'X'.
I know this! It's his defensive move, the X formation.
The small totems went to their master's aid in an instant, creating a small shield between Bixlow and Beta's fist. Beta's eyes glinted in excitement, as if the dolls weren't even there. Beta shattered the center doll and Bixlow's eyes went large in surprise as he tried to figure out why. My eyes widened as I realized what happened, my mind went to the possibility of Bixlow getting hit by his attack and my whip was headed towards him in an instant. Bixlow barely had time to register what had wrapped around his arms and pulled him away from Beta, Beta's punch just missing his feet and hitting the ground, causing another loud crash. Bixlow landed on the ground a few feet in front of me. Once I saw that he was no longer in any danger, and Beta didn't seem to be attacking again, I allowed myself to relax a little as I took my whip from around Bixlow's arms.
What the hell happened!? Bixlow's X formation is strong enough to withstand Loke's Regulus punch, so why did it break when Beta punched it.
"Bixlow, have you figured out what's up with this guy?" I say, gaining Bixlow's attention for the moment.
"He uses a speed magic, though, he isn't very good with it." He started, still faced towards where Beta should be, looking for him. "It seems he can't use it around his entire body, so he focuses it into his arms. He has another magic as well. I think it's Shatter magic. It's a magic that's very close to Gildart's Crash magic, the only difference is that while it completely destroys what he touches it also causes a large explosion in its wake. He probably caused the explosion back at the council library."
"So why didn't he destroy your, um, babies earlier?" Would he take offence if I called them dolls?
"Well, I thought he had that magic when he first attacked, but then I figured he didn't when my babies weren't destroyed during his attacks against me before. Just now though, he went right through them without a problem, so I believe he can only use one type of magic at a time."
I've never heard of that before, usually when people have more than one kind of magic, they can use them at will. But then again, I never thought I'd be able to use lightning magic, since I'm a holder type mage.
"He was using his speed to try and hit me while I was moving so he couldn't use his shatter magic, but when I fell, he knew I wasn't going anywhere so there was no need to use his speed magic, so instead he used his shatter magic." Bixlow stopped looking for Beta and looked towards me for a few seconds, a grateful smile on the half of his face that I could see. "Don't know what would've happened if his fist connected. Guess it's a good thing we were paired up. Thanks, Cosplayer."
I was going to reply, but before I could, a deep wound appeared in my right shoulder. The pure unexpectedness of the wound, plus the pain, caused me to collapse to my knees on the ground. Bixlow was at my side in an instant.
"What the hell happened!? Your arm is bleeding!" Bixlow was very nearly shouting in panic.
"You need to calm down. I'm fine." Bixlow cut me off before I could say more.
"How can you say that? Your arm just split open for no reason and you say I need to calm down and that you'll be fine! Are you nuts?"
"Bixlow!" He stopped talking, his mouth was still slightly agape though in surprise at my shout. "It's healing already. Look."
And I was right. It had already almost completely sealed again.
"How?" Bixlow was dumbfounded.
"I'm guessing Laxus got hit in his fight."
"You get each other's wounds." His voice still held immense amounts of shock.
"Ya, but we also heal a hell of a lot faster, so it kind of evens out."
I looked behind Bixlow, and saw Beta still standing in the same spot that I pulled Bixlow from. He was looking at me with a peculiar look on his face. I knew he couldn't hear our words after Bixlow had stopped shouting, but that wasn't what I was thinking about.
Why doesn't he ever come towards us? It's almost as if he can't, or even doesn't want to.
"Come on, we've got a fight to finish. There's something I want to check out so keep him coming after you." I said as I stood up. Bixlow seemed to just remember where we were as he stood up as well.
Bixlow was walking towards Beta. Bixlow's four remaining totems floated around him. Beta was still unmoving, his eyes trained on me. Bixlow seemed to notice this, as he sent his babies flying towards Beta, garnering his attention. Beta used his speed to get away from the dolls at the last second and had spun to the side.
"She's not where your eyes should be." Bixlow's voice had gone deep and had added a dangerous edge to his words.
I heard Beta let out a low growl, "I'll look wherever my interest is, dammit. And right now, it's with her and her healing ability." Beta lunged at Bixlow, and with that the fight between the two had started up again. Bixlow was being all the more careful now that he knew the magic this guy had could destroy what he uses for his magic, only using his dolls to block when he knew that Beta was using his speed magic, using his amazing acrobatics to dodge and trying to get a hit in while Beta was between attacks, me all the while standing, observing, while getting injuries from Laxus for reasons unknown to me. At least this way I know the injuries he's getting aren't life threatening, and even if they were, they heal within minutes.
It continued this way for a few more minutes before Beta had focused his speed magic to his legs and ran at Bixlow and kicked him hard in the chest, sending Bixlow flying back towards me. I rushed to his side to see if he was alright.
Bixlow slowly sat back up, breathing hard from having his breath knocked out of him, a layer of sweat coating his face, dripping down along his jaw.
He's barely used any of his magic in comparison to his other fights that I've seen, and I can still feel so much magical energy in him, but he's exhausted. He can't continue dodging Beta's attacks like this.
"Bixlow, why don't you let me fight him for a while? I mean, I can use the lightning magic for speed, like earlier when I was trying to get to the library, and I can use my whip to try and keep him at a distance, and-"
"No." Bixlow's face was scrunched like he was squinting his eyes shut, "Not when you have no idea when you could get hurt. Look at you. You're covered in blood and you haven't even gotten into the fight. If Laxus gets a major injury at a critical moment in your fight, you're screwed."
I was about to argue that I could handle it when Bixlow spoke again.
"And if Beta gets close enough to use his shatter magic on you, you aren't only dooming your fight, but Laxus' as well, and he doesn't have anyone to cover him for those minutes that it would take for it to heal."
When Bixlow spoke of the repercussions on Laxus' end too, I couldn't bring myself to argue with him again. Everything he said was true, after all.
I nodded slowly, showing that I understood that I couldn't get involved. Bixlow sighed in a slow, apologetic way, knowing how useless I felt now. He placed a hand on my shoulder as he stood. I didn't bother to stand with him. And for the first time since this whole mess began, I felt completely and utterly useless.
Stupid Link spell! If I can't fight with this magic I get from it, then what the hell is the point of learning it. It's not even a for sure thing that I get to keep it after this damn spell wears off. I never even thought about the fact that I'd screw with Laxus' fight if I'd gotten involved and hurt. Dammit, I should have stayed back with Wendy, at least there I would have been of some use. I don't even have my keys to at least send someone in with Bixlow, even if it meant not being able to fight alongside them.
I felt another gash appear on my head just above my eyebrow, the blood flowing freely into my eye. I lifted my head to continue to watch Bixlow's fight against Beta, wiping away the blood once I felt the cut had healed. Beta didn't seem to be moving as fast, allowing Bixlow to take on the offensive, getting in more than a few hits.
Beta must be getting low on magic. My face scrunched in concentration as I thought of something. Beta hasn't stopped using magic this entire fight, which is normal considering it is a magic fight, but Master once told me something that goes against this.
No matter how great the mage, if they are using more than one type of magic, their magic will drain faster, especially when they aren't proficient in the magic.
It was part of the explanation he gave me back when I first started learning the lightning magic. And taking in the amount of magical ability that I had felt at the beginning, which honestly wasn't much, and the amount of times he's switched between his magic types, he should be out of magic by now, especially since his speed magic isn't very well developed. So why hasn't he?
Bixlow was getting in more and more attacks as I thought.
Going back to the multiple languages thing. Imagine how tired your mind would get if you had to write, or read, a letter where every word would switch to a new language.
My eyebrows drew together more as I tried to figure out why Beta hadn't completely drained his magic.
Right, because despite a person knowing all the languages, having to go through all of them every second would be exhausting for the mind.
I felt more cuts appearing on my arms, all very shallow, healing in seconds.
So, using multiple magics has the same effect on a person's magical energy. Is that why most people who know several kinds of magic usually only use one kind if they can help it?
He has magic left because...
Absolutely, it makes it easier on them, but it also helps to surprise an opponent with a different kind of magic when they aren't expecting it.
"Bixlow! Get away from him!" I hear myself yell before my thoughts could completely make sense. Standing from my spot on the ground, I get my whip ready to rip him away from Beta if he didn't listen.
Hello, Muses. Sorry this took so long to get up, my computer was being stupid and cutting out the internet every few minutes. Also, I'm having second thoughts about an idea I had for this story. As much as I liked the idea, I just can't get that particular part to go anywhere. I'm going to try and change it so it may be a while before I upload another chapter. Don't worry, I will not be abandoning this, even if I tear out my hair in frustration.
So, tell me everything you liked and didn't like, maybe even send extra inspiration to help me get out of this rut I'm in, and I'll try to be back soon.