"I wonder if Natsu and Lucy found Ruka" Erza thought to herself as she roamed the vast forest. She's been searching for a while now and hasn't seen a sign of the man.
"Gehehe" he was observing the knight as he sat by a branch from a tree, deciding if he should attack her now or later.
"So this is the famous Titania huh?" he jumped from another branch causing it to break
"Oh shit!"
"Who's there?" Erza snapped her neck to turn around and look at the source of the noise. He leaped from the branched and landed face to face with the woman.
"Titania, I'm so honored to be up against you. My name's Yuji" he flashed a smile as he curtseyed. His hair was auburn and it was scattered all over the place. He was wearing a coat, some white pants and boots.
"Where is your leader?"
"Someone's in a hurry, why don't we have some fun?" he looked at her and plastered a teasing smile
"Very well then" Erza hissed "Requip, Black Wing's Armor"
As soon Erza changed armors, she charged at the said man only to find herself going past through him (you know, like when you charge a ghost and you just get past through them).
"I'm right here, Erza" she turned to her left and saw the man now standing in there
"I see, you're a Doppelganger Wizard"
"Indeed I am, I can multiply myself as much as I want" he spread his arms widely and soon, dozens and hundreds of Yujis surrounded the knight.
"I see you like the hard way huh" her expression changed and her voice was cold, she shot a death glare at the man and sent chills to his spine
"Requip, Heavens Wheel Armor" her armor changed and lo and behold, the Heavens Wheel Armor. She summoned swords so that every Doppelganger has one pointed in front of them
"I don't care how many Doppelganger you can make, in any way you are just preventing the inevitable. Now you will tell where Ruka is or I'll just have to stab you and your Doppelganger" she threatened with those dead cold eyes.
Yuji stood there as sweat was now dropping from his forehead; he gulped for he knew that the woman was serious. What choice does he have?
Lucy and Natsu were now panting as they try to catch their breath; both are equally bruised and exhausted from fighting the man who continues to cancel out their attacks.
"It's no use Luce; we need to use our magic"
"We can't, he'll only use it against us" she was breathing hard, compared to Natsu she was getting exhausted. If only she can use her powers.
"It's better than nothing; let's just attack him at the same time"
Lucy nodded and brought out one of her keys "I summon the gate of the Scorpion, Scorpio!"
The gates opened and from the void, Scorpio appeared "We are!"
"Ready Luce?" they looked eye to eye and nodded as a signal
"Fire Dragon's – "
"Scorpio use – "
"Roar!" "Sandblaster!" the couple said simultaneously, both attacks were now headed for Ruka.
"Uh-oh" he muttered. He can nullify both the attacks but then he won't be able to copy either one of them, that's one of the limitations of Nullification-Stealing magic. It would be bad if that happens, so he did the one thing he could think of. Nullify one attack while receive the impact of the other attack, he chose to nullify Natsu's Dragon Roar
"Nullify, Fire Dragon's Roar" just as when he nullified it, he received Scorpio's Sandblaster and was thrown off guard.
"We hit him!" Lucy cheered
"Damn it, that hurt. No matter, at least I can now use the roar" he muttered to himself as he stood up supporting his left hand.
Lucy and Natsu are on guard once again as they saw the man get up.
"Don't worry Luce, I can eat the fire if he uses the Dragon Roar"
"Shit! I forgot about that" Ruka thought to himself as he regretted for his actions earlier. He was left with no choice but to use his dark magic even thought it costs his magic power to decrease highly.
He raised his hand in mid-air "Dark Force"
Natsu was now raised from the ground as soon as the words left his mouth. With the gesture from his hands, he threw him around and thrashes him, from trees to the ground to rocks.
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed as she watches her fiancé being thrown and hit around.
"Please, stop!" tears were now falling in her eyes as she begs the man to stop. Ruka dropped Natsu to the ground as he found himself panting from the magic loss. Lucy went to Natsu's aid when she saw him lying in there and not moving.
"I can't afford to waste any magic now, I can feel them decreasing" Ruka said to himself
"L-Lucyy" Natsu whimpered as he managed to open his eyes get up
"You'll pay for this!" Lucy took out a key from her belt "Open Gate of the – "
"Nullify!" Ruka interrupted as he didn't give Lucy the chance to finish her sentence. He didn't care at the moment which spirit it was, as long as he can use it against her.
"How ironic that you have to suffer from the hands of your own spirits" he grinned mischievously
"Key of the Canis Minor I open thee, Nikora!" he gestured as a spirit appeared from void.
"Whaat the? What kind of spirit is this?"
"Pu-puun!"
"And it worked! Third time's the charm!" Lucy exclaimed as her plan to summon Plue has once again, worked. Ruka lost it, his hazel eyes were now dark and had his jaw clenched
"Why you little" he cursed as he dashed towards Lucy who was unable to move and was surprised on how fast he was. He jumped "DARK WAVE!" and from his fist, a giant wave of darkness appeared hitting Lucy.
"LUCY!" Natsu screamed as he tried his best to catch up and block the attack, Lucy went flying over a tree and with a thump! She hit her head.
"Lucy!" he approached her as fast as he could. "Lucy, Lucy look at me"
"N-Natsu?" she said weakly as feels the world of consciousness slowly slipping away from her. Natsu smelled a pang of scent that he hated the most, Lucy's blood. With a jolt of anger, flames engulfed his whole body.
"HOW COULD YOU FUCKING HURT MY LUCY YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" he screamed as he felt his thumping. His skin was now covered with scales and his flames continue to overwhelm him.
"You will regret what you did for the rest of your life" he threatened with a cold voice and shot him a death glare
"Shit! I can't use my dark magic anymore" Ruka worried to himself, and in one swift moment Natsu was now in front of him and delivered sets of punches, and boy were they out of this world punches.
"You can nullify and steal magic but you can't take a fucking punch?!" Natsu hissed as he continues to attack the enemy. Ruka had no time to block his attacks and continues receiving them; he also couldn't nullify them well because he was using no magic.
"Try to fucking nullify these!" he growled "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash! Iron Fist! Dragon Roar!" the slayer attacked simultaneously giving no time for his enemy to cancel out his magic.
Meanwhile, with a little will power left, Lucy saw the love of his life fighting for her and once again saving her. As she slowly gives in to unconsciousness, his name was the last thing that left from her lips as her eyes were now tight shut.
"Natsu, wake up" the cat shook the man as he woke up from sleeping at the side of Lucy's bed
"You need to rest Natsu, you've been watching her for three days straight now. We can take it from here" Erza said as she tried to convince Natsu
"I can't. I won't leave until she opens her eyes" he pouted. Ever since they got back from the mission and Lucy was taken in the infirmary, the young mage never left her side.
"Besides, I want to be the first one she sees when she wakes up" a small smile appeared on his face as the thought excited him. And just like a spark, she was slowly regaining consciousness as she fluttered her eyes open
"Lucy!" Natsu said in glee as he stood up and had that grin of his back in face
When she saw the man that was standing in front of him, she couldn't help but wonder
"Who are you?"
End of chapter! Hope you liked it. From here, now the real story begins
Originally chapters 3 and 4 were just one chapter but I looked it over and decided to split them into two
Reviews are very much welcome! :)
P.S. the magic used against Lucy, Dark Wave, was really powerful. I looked it up on Fairy Tail wiki and if you're curious, go check it out :)
