Tell me what you think!
The room was pitch black, the last explosive having knocked out the lights; but with Lisanna and Kagura's trained eyes they could navigate the darkness with little problem. Upon seeing Mirajane, disgust welled up within Lisanna; she looked away in hopes that her emotions would calm down. Eyeing Erigor on the ground, she watched Kagura search his unconscious body for the cursed flute. Soon Lisanna's senses flared upon sensing danger approach; pulling out a dagger she turned around, parrying a sword and face to face with Erza who was covered in scratches, ultimately unharmed by the last attack.
"So you finally show your face Tartaros" Erza growled, her eyes unable to meet Lisanna's own, the latter's face being obscured by the shadow of her hood. Lisanna remained silent, she turned to Mira slowly standing. Kagura managed to retrieve the flute which both Erza and Mira noticed; still in her satan soul, Mira lunged at Kagura, but Lisanna intercepted, kicking her in the stomach allowing Kagura the chance to draw her two swords to attack Erza. Seigfried up in a blocking position, Erza was surprised to be overpowered, her grip on her blade wavering against Kagura's tremendous strength.
"Our Master expects much from Fairy Tail; I hope you don't disappoint" Kagura's voice was stern, and though Erza couldn't see her face, she could tell that her opponent had battle hardened eyes.
"Disappoint? Is that what you care about?" Erza asked, she could see her hooded opponent smile.
"Do not misunderstand, I am simply a warrior who seeks a challenge to improve my skill" Erza could relate, her being a swordswoman she actively sought out strong opponents to better herself, but this was a different matter; she knew they intended to take the flute as their own, but the woman's words implied their intentions were much more than that, could they be testing their skills? Or could they be seeking something more from them, she wasn't sure but whatever it was she disapproved it, to risk the lives of thousands of people for the sake of their amusement, it was unforgivable.
Erza pushed away the twin blades before plunging her weapon towards Kagura; the hooded warrior leaned to the side, swerving and using the butt of one of her swords to strike Erza in the stomach. Erza reeled back kicking Kagura in return. The hooded warrior was quick to retain her footing before making a run out of the control room.
"Follow her!" Mira told Erza "Retrieve the flute! I will keep this one busy" Erza nodded, running after Kagura. Mira turned to her opponent, feeling great malice from her, they stood at each ends, neither one moving a muscle as if one twitch would instigate the fight.
Mavis having realized that Tartaros had finally shown their face was frantically speaking into the lacrima crystal.
"Everyone can you describe your foe to me?" she said, there was a flurry of voices as everyone tried to speak; after a while having realized what they were doing, they all fell silent with Erza speaking first, she was out of breath.
"I wasn't able to see her face but I can tell she's a skilled swordswoman" next was Sting.
"I can't see her face either but she is a spear user; she hasn't unleashed any magic yet, but I can guess she uses magic to enhance her fighting style"
"Same here, can't see her face; she does however use ice magic" Gray answered simply, Mavis could tell he was having a good time with his opponent, probably since he hasn't had a bout with another Ice mage for a while; ever since his fellow apprentice Lyon left Fairy Tail to seek his own path and his teacher, Ur who has been gone for four months on an S-class job, he's been urging a battle with another ice mage.
"It's dark where I'm standing, so I can't see much. All I can see is her using a bow for ranged attacks and a dagger for close quarters combat" Mira was the last to answer, her voice hushed. Mavis nodded processing the information.
"As you engage your opponent in combat, describe every detail to me; their attacks and their habits, and when you can, try to see what they look like, I need to know everything" she ordered.
"Understood" they responded simultaneously; Mavis paused, something suddenly occurring to her; she connected to Mira.
"What is your opponent wearing?" she asked, Mira raised a brow curious about Mavis' question.
"A white hooded cloak, why?" Mavis' heart sank at the answer; Lucy jumped at the First's distress.
"Is there a black wolf with her?" she yelled.
"A wolf?" now Mira was definitely intrigued, this was the first time she's heard the First sound this panicked.
"Yes, a wolf! Is there one with her?" Mira looked around, she couldn't see anything else, but she certainly sensed another presence looming around her.
"There is something moving around, but I can't be sure if it's a wolf"
"No I'm certain it's her now. Listen to me Mira" Mavis started, but she was met with static. "Mira? Mira? Can you hear me? You must get away from her as soon as possible!" there was no response. Mavis gritted her teeth, she started making her way towards the station but stopped when Natsu appeared in her path; he was chewing on a skewer, his nonchalant gestures annoyed Mavis, he knew why she was so distressed and he was rubbing it in her face; she glared at him.
"You had the Mage Killer within your ranks!" she screamed, Natsu shrugged his shoulders his signature grin forming once more; for some odd reason Mavis' anger was very appealing to him, he didn't know why her expressions in particular were so attractive, but he certainly enjoyed watching the many expressions Mavis made, from her smile to her embarrassment, from her sadness to her anger, he loved them all.
"So I do, what of it?" Mavis attempted to push pass him but Natsu was persistent in blocking her path. "Remember the rule, no direct interference" Mavis glared at him.
"To hell with the rules, you unleashed a vicious killer onto my guild members; I will not just stand by and watch them get killed!" Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder.
"No need to be so worried, I assure you that none of your guild members will be killed, I instructed my members to abide to that rule" of course the only reason he instigated such a rule was because he knew that Mavis' guild members would stand no chance against his own; if Fairy Tail were to be killed off then Mavis would be at a disadvantage, and if she was at a disadvantage then the game wouldn't be fun.
"Do you honestly think that will calm me down?" Mavis questioned.
"It's reassurance. I promise you Mavis that your member's will come out of this alive" Natsu continued to admire Mavis' reaction, her frown not leaving. "Or do you not believe your guild members are strong enough?" he urged her on, knowing that this comment would trigger something in Mavis.
"What? No! I fully believe that they are strong enough to win" she exclaimed.
"Then don't you think it is disrespectful to them if you interfere?"
"These are two completely different matters"
"Is it? Why don't you give them a moment to shine, and if you still believe that you need to interfere, I will let you go. But just remember that the moment you do, it is my win" clenching her fist Mavis was really tempted to punch Natsu in the face, something she was sure he knew as well, which only made her angrier. Taking a deep breath, she caved, despite knowing she was going to regret it later on.
Mira was unable to contact Mavis; her communication with the First was being jammed. She stared at the hooded woman.
"So it's just us two" the hooded woman kept quiet. "The quiet type huh? Let's see you keep quiet after this" lunging forward Mira's sharp claws bulleted forward, the woman leaned to the side dodging; her subtle movement was a little unnerving for Mira; the hooded woman turned around, walking away; Mira was about to call her out when she heard ferocious growling behind her, turning around Mira was face to face with a black wolf, it's glowing blue eyes were piercing and made her freeze up.
"I guess the First was right about the wolf..." she mumbled, Mira made a quick glance behind and realized the white hooded one was gone; Mira turned back and caught the beast by its fangs, stopping it from taking a bite out of her. With her immense strength she threw the wolf into a wall; the beast recovered and landed onto all four legs, lunging once more at Mira, this time she was able to dodge.
Mira backed away, circling around the wolf and making her way towards the doorway. She was distressed, the hooded woman was nowhere in sight and she wasn't able to tell where she could be hiding.
"Stop it with these games and fight me fair and square!" her voice left a distant echo and was responded with the wolf's snarl. Frustrated, Mira raised both hands.
"Soul Extinction!" sending forth a beam of dark energy, it hit the wolf forcing out a howl of pain, however rather than wounding the beast, it instead made it angrier. Bearing its fangs the wolf sized its prey. Mira however was more concerned about the hooded woman than the beast. If she wanted to win this fight, she needed to take out the wolf first and then focus her attention on the woman. Unbeknownst to Mira, the hooded woman approached from behind and stabbed Mira, her back and leg. Mira screamed, falling to the ground.
"You bitch! I said fight me fair and square!" Mira grasped her wounds while glaring up at the hooded woman. The wolf circled around towards the woman's side gently brushing against her leg.
"There is no such thing as fair and square in a fight; it's kill or be killed" the woman whispered. "Be glad that my Master instructed us that no Fairy Tail mage is to be killed, otherwise you'd be at the end of my wrath" Mira glared at her, before unleashing a powerful explosion sending the woman and wolf away from her.
Staggering up onto her feet Mira looked around, there was nobody around, in fact even Erigor was gone, he must have slipped away during their bout. With Mira's demonic senses she could hear footsteps of a male moving further away, most likely Erigor's, she could hear the soft steps of the wolf close by, but the woman was silent almost like she vanished. Her wounds were able to heal quickly thanks to her take over; taking a quick break she tried to readjust to the darkness and re-evaluate her tactics; her opponent used the darkness to her advantage, she would need to either exploit that darkness or bring their fight to a brighter area. Her thoughts were broken when four knives whizzed by her head landing in the console, five more from her left, then six from her right, they all missed her.
Mira turned to the doorway finding the hooded woman standing there and as if taunting her, the woman strolled away. Mira gave chase, the woman launched wave after wave of daggers towards her, Mira was able to avoid them as they hit the ceiling, floor and walls. They entered a small lobby before Mira retaliated.
"Darkness Wave!" dark energy washed along the ground towards her opponent, it hit her and smoke filled the area. A moment passed before daggers rained down from all directions, Mira countered by conjuring a hurricane of wind deflecting the daggers; as she stepped back from her last spell Mira was blindsided by the woman, kicked across the jaw, her arm was grabbed and twisted before being slammed onto the ground subjugated, Mira became disoriented.
"Are you the Hunter or the Hunted?" the woman's voice was eerie, the question itself was odd and Mira chose not to answer. The woman frowned, she pulled out a dagger and using the butt of her weapon struck Mira's sides; the girl held in her pain, her senses refocusing.
"I don't care!" Mira yelled, quickly building up energy beneath her, she blew up the ground; the hooded woman quickly kicked off Mira landing on the other side of the room, away from the hole and allowed Mira to fall into the sewers.
Crashing into water, Mira resurfaced, legs sinking into the murky water. Her opponent was too overwhelming, it was like fighting mist, always adapting and always untouchable; she needed to retreat and re-evaluate her tactics. Quickly making her way towards the tunnels, she suddenly heard beeping, her stomach sank and before she knew it, her escape route exploded. Mira covered her face with her arms.
"To be trapped like a helpless animal, how unsightly" the woman's voice echoed. "This is what it's like to be trapped, to be hunted" Mira could only glare at her.
"I have no idea what you are going on about" she shouted.
"Of course you don't, you never have" the woman's reply confused Mira and using her confused state, the woman launched a hook around Mira's waist pulling her out of the hole and hung her on the ceiling.
"Look around you; how will you make your escape?" she asked, Mira struggled to break free, but found that with each movement the wire dug deeper into her skin; she stopped before speaking.
"There are multiple ways to escape, the hallways, breaking through the ceiling, I can even break through the walls" her answer prompted a small laugh from the woman before she repeated her question.
"How will you make your escape?" this made Mira look around; that was when she noticed hundreds of gleaming wires scattered all around, all connected by the daggers the woman previously threw; Mira looked down, the same wires were set up ready to consume her if she fell. Ultimately she was trapped in a kill room; Mira carefully channeled magic into her palm needing to break free.
"I wouldn't move if I were you" the woman pulled on a wire tightening Mira's bindings drawing blood; Mira bit her tongue not daring to make a sound, if she couldn't break free then she would need to slip through.
There was a puff of smoke, Mira transformed herself into a small mouse, falling out of her restraints and into the sewers; maintaining her small form she slipped through the gaps between the wires. Once landing on the concrete that was paved on the side; Mira attempted to run but was met with an arrow landing in front of her, turning around another arrow blocked her path, six more followed imprisoning her. Mira looked back up, meeting the tip of an arrow pointed directly at her.
She was running out of options, and the only logical safe zone was where the hooded woman stood. A smirk formed over Mira's lips as she formulated her plan.
There was a stare off between the two, if one was to observe from a distance, they could probably see the dangerous situation the two have set themselves in; the first to make the proper move would be victorious. Mira leaped up transforming out of her mouse form and back into Satan Soul, towards the woman.
"Predictable" the woman said before launching the arrow, it released a cloud of smoke in Mira's face blinding her. Mira landed safely, recovering her vision and quickly looked around, the hooded woman was nowhere in sight, but like she predicted the spot was clean of wires; she glanced down at her stomach examining her wound, it was a deep gash and this sent shivers through her, only now realizing how sharp the wires really were. Looking around she tried to figure out how to escape; she was extra careful knowing that one wrong move would mean death. She hesitated at first but soon built up the courage to pluck on the wire; it vibrated releasing a soft sound to her ears, pleasant even, which was ironic considering their danger. She examined the wire with caution, observing every small detail to make sure it was safe to remove. A few minutes passed before Mira finally raised her claw, she touched the wire first, placing her finger over the surface; when she finally built up the courage, she cut it.
Like a domino effect all the wires in the room rebounded, slicing Mira into ribbons; she collapsed, in deep immeasurable pain, bleeding profoundly, she heard footsteps, the woman approached kneeling down and pulled out Mira's lacrima earpiece.
"I recommend you come get your mage; otherwise she's going to bleed to death" the woman said.
"What did you do to Mira!" Mavis' voice was heard, finally able to break through the jamming.
"Hurry up" crushing the crystal the hooded woman looked closer at Mira partially revealing her face; Mira's eyes widened with disbelief.
"Lisanna?" she gasped but didn't get to say anymore as she passed out.
Mavis gripped the bottom of her shirt, throwing a dirty look at Natsu who was now picking his teeth with his skewer; she continued to stare at him as if waiting for permission.
"Go to your mage, with her out of commission I won't consider it as interfering" he said. Mavis pushed passed him with Natsu grinning at her retreating figure. Lucy stood alone unsure what to do; she glanced at Natsu, nervous within his presence.
"Luigi right?" he asked.
"It's Lucy" her voice cracked.
"Ah, forgive me then Lily" he pointed towards Mavis' direction "You should probably go after her, she might need your help" Lucy frowned at him for getting her name wrong, but didn't need to be told twice to chase after the First. The girl ran so fast that she didn't hear Natsu's last remaining words. "So that's her daughter. I wonder how she would react if she found out how her mother died" his lips twisting into a sadistic grin.
Sayla along with Mystia and Rita approached Natsu, he flicked the skewer onto the ground; Sayla frowning picked it up.
"Natsu, what did I say about littering" she scolded, Natsu laughed sheepishly, apologizing; he then crossed out Mira's name from a list. He looked at Mystia and Rita; the latter looking a little disturbed having known what had just occurred.
"With Fairy Tail down one member, how do you think Mavis is going to pull off a win?" he asked.
"As long as Fairy Tail maintains focus on the flute and not let our members distract them, they have the chance to win" Sayla responded. "I'm sure Mavis knows this, at the moment she needs to understand our members capabilities before she pulls together a proper plan"
"What will you do then Master?" Mystia asked; Natsu shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows, our troops know what they need to do so I sort of want to see how this all plays out" was his answer
"Are you that confident Master?" Rita asked, Natsu grinned at her question.
"And you're not?" he playfully asked; Rita shook her head furiously.
"No, that's not what I meant" she said frantically, Natsu waved her off.
"I'm just teasing Rita, no need to be so stiff; and regards to your question, yes I do have that much confidence in our members" Natsu stretched his arms motioning towards the train station. "Shall we?" everyone nodded following him.
Sayla observed Natsu's movements, with the way her Master acted she had no worries, she's known Natsu for over three hundred years, having raised him as a child and continued to watch over him after becoming a demon herself, she had complete faith in Natsu and if he was confident she would be as well. Her maternal instincts however couldn't help but worry for her girls; they were strong, she had no doubt about that, but there was this feeling in her gut she couldn't shake away, something was going to happen, something big.
Mavis stood face to face with the Mage Killer, the latter walking away from her recent fight. Lisanna knew she couldn't win in a fight against Mavis, she was certain the only one capable of defeating her was Master E.N.D and that alone showed a measure of Mavis' power.
"What did you do to Mirajane?" Mavis' voice was stern and at the edge of lashing out; Lisanna however wasn't afraid, she replied nonchalantly.
"Nothing you need to worry about" as Lisanna raised her head Mavis was able to get a glimpse of her face. Her reaction was one would expect from someone who meets a dead person.
"Lisanna? How? How are you alive?"
"What do you think?" her voice cold and distant nothing like how Mavis remembered; though it has been eight years since she last saw her, Mavis remembered Lisanna to be a kind and warm child, the girl in front of her was the opposite, her eyes alone told all Mavis needed to know, she was filled with anger and hatred. Mavis' face twisted into anger.
"Why would you do this, she is your sister!" Lisanna let out a ghost of a smile, one that reminded Mavis too much of Natsu's own.
"My family is with Tartaros, I have no family outside the guild" her answer was enough to tell Mavis everything she needed to know.
"You've become a demon haven't you" Mavis questioned her. Lisanna tilted her head curiously; she's learnt a lot about the First Master, some from what Master E.N.D has told her, but most from her years of observing the immortal woman, the First Master is known to be very accepting of all species, in fact demons especially fascinated the woman and she has dedicated a lot of her time observing and investigating them; much of this influence Lisanna guessed came from Master E.N.D; as such Mavis' reaction to her transformation seemed unusual.
"You seem displeased" she said, Mavis squinted, clenching her fist, she needed to take a breath to calm her nerves, she was going to have a serious talk with Natsu once this was all over.
"Why would you give up on your humanity?" her question sparked a laugh from Lisanna.
"Isn't that the million dollar question" quenching her laughter when Fenrir approached rubbing against Lisanna's leg, she stroked his soft fur. "I chose to become a demon because I despise humans" she motioned to the ruined buildings. "Humans are brash and destructive, they know nothing about compassion for others and only think about their own kind" Mavis frowned
"No species is perfect" she countered
"But you do not deny my word" at this Mavis didn't say anything. Lisanna shook her head walking passed the immortal woman; on the way she eyed Lucy who had caught up, her very presence caused the green mage to freeze up. Lucy looked to Mavis and recoiled when the First slammed her fist against the wall cracking it.
"Dammit!"