Chapter 53: Book Covers Are Deceiving

A/N: Hello there people! Here we go! First shout out to EliXY and sashaXmafuyuFOREVER for the reviews! I decided to give you guys a tentative schedule for the fights, so here you are: (Question Marks are a Surprise)

Karr vs. Richard-Monday/Today

Mern vs. Cobra-Tuesday/Tomorrow

Rogue vs. Sting-Wednesday

Break-Thursday

Rai vs. Lyon-Friday

Gōsuto vs. Erza and Jellal-Saturday

Break-Sunday

Nena vs. Jura-Monday

Esoj vs. Gajeel and Gildarts-Tuesday

?-Wednesday

?-Thursday

Juvia vs. Gray-Friday

?- Saturday

Natsu vs. Laxus-Sunday

I clearly want to kill my brain but I am super excited to do this! We are so close to the end I can taste it! It tastes like fire and pumpkins so it tastes amazing! The pumpkins part is true but I don't actually eat fire… Natsu does though! Right enough babbling, on with the punching and spells! ENJOY!

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(Karr POV)

I land on the roof and see where exactly Richard was and see that he is in the room farthest away from the rest. 'It's a pretty big room, so that is not good for me as Richard likes to use more ranged attacks than close ranged ones. I'll need to be moving a lot or his liquid ground will get me quickly. I don't want to be caught in that, it'll be a big ass mess if I do. I have a job to do, don't want to be the one who fails to do it, or else they will call me dirt since I'm as old as it… Fuck I'm old.'

I ran to my room's hole and jumped down, free falling down a tunnel made of pure earth and I thought, 'Fuck, this place is made of pure earth. This is bad, I'm gonna have to use some serious magic to negate his advantage. I might even have to use THAT technique.' I touched my special necklace and felt each of the beads on it and knew I was ready for anything.

I finally entered the room and landed with a crash into the ground, and had to stretch my back out since I had back problems. I feel the bones of my back crack and pop, going back into perfect alignment. I looked and saw Richard looking at me and he asked, "Who are you? A fellow follower of the doctrine of LOVE?!"

I blink at the man who was once called 'Hot Eye' and was a member of one of the most powerful dark guilds in the world and asked, "Are you Richard, a.k.a. Hot Eye?"

He straightened up and asked, "Yes. Richard Buchannan, although no one calls me Hot Eye anymore, instead they call me the prophet of LOVE!"

I sweat dropped at his ridiculousness and sighed, telling him, "Name's Karr, the Wild Knight. Or 'Wild Knight Karr', as I was once known. Come now, you must know who I am."

He looked at me and scratched his head and said, "Karr… the Wild Knight… Hmmmm. Nope, don't know anyone by that name, were you ever part of a guild that I would know about? A guild about LOVE?"

I clenched my jaw and glared at him, "YES. I was once part of Quatro Cerberus back in the day. BEFORE Goldmine joined and became the master. Then I became a council bounty hunter." I said every word tensely, annoyed with this youngster and his love crap, I had never ever wanted to knock someone's teeth in more than right now.

"AH! Wait! Yes I've heard of you! You are known as the 'Wild Knight' because of your unique magic! A combination of 'The Knight' and of animal soul takeover magic, right? All based on the bead on that necklace you have, am I correct?" He asked and I blinked, surprised by how much he knew and simply nodded at him, "Hmm, I know of you from my time in Oración Seis. None of it is very good, you were a brutal bounty hunter and never missed out on a bounty until Zeref became active again. You do not know the meaning of LOVE! I must show you what the meaning and power of LOVE is! Liquid Ground!" He yelled and suddenly the ground beneath me became liquid.

"Fuck! Requip: Bird Soul!" I yelled and a bead on my necklace glowed and a set of armor appeared, and it had bird like qualities, even set with wings that were encased in chain mail but were still as light as a feather. I flew high above the ground and swirled around him, waiting to see what he would do. I waited a moment more and just decided to stop waiting and take the fight to him instead, grabbing this armor's weapon, a lance, and flew right at him.

I put the lance ahead of my head and kept flying at an extremely high speed before, he yelled, "Liquid Ground: Wave!" A wave of his liquid ground came up right in front of me and I flew straight into it. 'Wow. Just wow. How did I fall for that?' I mumble yelled, "Requip: Elephant Soul!" and another armor appeared and it was absolutely massive. Like an elephant, my armor was massive and I broke free of the liquid ground wall. My tusks, yes the armor had tusks, swung forward and almost hit Richard, but he just jumped back a bit. I yelled, "Requip: Dog Soul!" and my armor changed again, this time I looked like a dog. I now had a helmet, and the sides were long like ears and I had a special weapon, brass knuckles that had long blades on every knuckle.

I smirked at him and charged at him, but he just kept yelling "Liquid Ground!" causing me to have to move and try another way. 'Damn, he's too fast with that move. Hmmm, there is always the get faster idea, but that will drain some magic to hold that type of technique for a long period of time. But I got a job to do, and I will get it done. I guess there really is no choice then, gotta do it.'

I jumped back a bit and took a bead from the back of my necklace and popped it in my mouth, then I swallowed it whole yelling, "Body Change: Jaguar Soul". I then began to glow again and this time instead of an armor just appearing on me, my body morphed into a jaguar like body. I could still stand upright, but hands became more like paws with metal claws on them, and my feet did as well. I had a helmet that covered most of my face except for my mouth, where long fang like protectors came down from the helmet protecting my mouth.

Richard looked surprised by my new look and I smirked. I got on all fours and in an instant I pounced and was on Richard like a moth to it's flame. I swung upwards with my claws and Richard could only dodge, but I didn't stop and I kept clawing away at him, forcing him back until he had nowhere to go and I nicked his cheek. I saw a chance to land a bigger blow as he looked surprised that I got him so I brought both of my paw like hands down in an X formation to try and get him but he merely caught both of them with his own hands. He looked down at me and yelled, "Liquid Ground: Quick Sand!"

The ground beneath me quickly began swallowing me up and he let go of my hands, as he didn't want me to have an anchor to high ground as I sank. I tried to get out of the quick sand but was stuck in there, and also was stuck in this form. 'Fuck. I knew the body change idea was foolhardy, if I swallow a bead I'm stuck in that form for at least three minutes. It's only been two, maybe two and a half. I better pray that it's been two and a half or else I wont survive this, come on! Body Change: Release! …Nope no good. Not yet.' I look around and can only see just above the high ground and I curse myself, 'Goddamn it! Why must I be so damn short? Fuck! Body Change: Release! Body Change: Release! Body Change: Release! Body Change: Release! Body Change: Release! Wait, yes! Time's up!' I felt my body go back to normal and felt the bead return to my necklace, recharging a bit from being used so heavily. 'Definitely can only use that technique two more time at least, maybe three if I push it a bit. Time to get out of here.'

"Requip: Pterodactyl Soul!" I yelled and a new set of armor appeared on me, this time it was like the bird armor but was bigger and sturdier. My wings were bigger and I had a helmet on that looked like pterodactyl's head, set with the long thing sticking out behind it. I looked at Richard as I flew out of the quick sand and he looked… bored? 'Fuck you. You getting bored? Well why don't I show you some fun then!'

I flew down at him and before he could use his liquid ground, I strafed left used my long wing to slash at him, connecting with his rib cage. But he was unfazed and merely turned his hand position towards me and yelled, "Liquid Ground: Crash!", then I knew I was fucked. The ground spout up at me and crashed into me, washing me away like it was a wave in the ocean. I went flying away, being carried by the wave to the far end of the room where Richard followed me to. He caught up to me and yelled, "Liquid Ground: Crusher!" The ground the sent me up high, and then another wave of liquid ground, this time from the ceiling as everything was made of earth, and it crashed into me from above, crushing me. I was being slowly crushed, the force of the two waves slowly turning me into a two dimensional stick figure.

I struggled for a moment before just deciding to change armor, and yelled, "Requip: Gorilla Soul!" My armor morphed again and expands, now big and stronger than before my armor allowed me to have some breathing room from the waves. Then the waves disappeared and I fell to the ground and landed with crash, making a loud thud sound as I did. Then Richard was upon me again, punching me even harder into the ground, and yelled, "Liquid Ground: Restrain!", and I was held down to the ground by his liquid ground completely unable to move.

Richard got up and looked at me, before asking, "What is your full name?"

I blinked at him and hesitated before answering, "That's none of your business, Lover Boy."

He scoffed at me and said, "I don't think you're in any position here to not answer my questions, especially since if you don't, the ground will just eat you whole. Your choice, I really do not care. My message of LOVE will not reach your hardened soul. You wasted your energy, and didn't even have a chance to fight me seriously, nor will you have the chance to." Then held up my necklace and I knew I was fucked, 'He must grabbed it when he punched me, damn him!' then he continued, "I am glad that you understand what my message is, pure unadulterated LOVE! But know that I would give you five minutes before the restraint I placed on you crushes you. Yes, the restraint is constantly getting tighter and will soon crush you. It will not kill you, but it might crush your windpipes. But answer the question and I will release you and just knock you out instead of crushing your windpipes."

'Wow, for a man who preaches about love so damn much he can be pretty cruel. Well, it looks I have no choice now.' Richard waited a moment longer before he sighed and turned to leave and I said, "Strauss, Karr Strauss the third."

Richard stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at me in shock before asking, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me, my name is Karr Strauss. And no, I'm not the parent of any missing children who belong to a certain mage guild we all know. I am actually their uncle, their father was my brother. But you see, I never even knew my brother had any children. Never knew until a certain trio of children came along and made themselves famous, my nieces and nephew. Imagine the pride I felt, being there uncle. Imagine it! But then imagine what I must have felt when I read about a little punk ass excuse for a dragon slayer, supposedly betrayed by one of them and the proceeding to kill her in revenge. Feel like shit, that's what. So what would any man do when presented with this situation? Why they would get their revenge and do so in a legal way of course. Now how could a man do this? Well for one they would need to work for the council, and two they would need to be either a bounty hunter or a magic enforcement captain. Then they would need a mission for this and the kicker of it all? They would a need a solid partner, am I right partner?" Richard tensed as I finished my last little piece of my planned rant, and as a sword stuck out from his gut.

"You talk too much." My partner said and I scoffed at him.

"Yeah, but I needed to make sure he didn't see you coming, since I only saw you when I was flying around earlier. Anyways, how did you get here so quickly? Didn't you fight a dragon slayer?" I asked him and now he scoffed.

"That might have been a challenge before I killed Lawhn, now it was way too easy. I'm telling you, I could take Esoj right now if I wanted to." Mern said and I laughed with him.

"Don't underestimate him too much, he still hasn't shown us his full power just yet. Now come on, we still have a job to do. Oh, and you didn't kill him right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Nah, just did enough to knock him out cold, missed all of his vital organs. He should be just fine." He said and I nodded.

"You know, he thought he had me all figured out. But all he did was look at me like I was just a old, worn out book cover. Well, he just learned book covers are deceiving." I said and Mern groaned.

"Fuck you and your puns, honestly." He said and I shrugged, following him we both left the room and left Richard lying there like a pile of dirt, bleeding out into unconsciousness.

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A/N: Whew! What a surprise that was! I called it! Oh wait… I wrote it! Hahaha I'm a silly bitch when I need my sleep. Well I hope that plot twist came out of nowhere for everyone and I hope you understand that his magic should have given it away. Surprises are still oncoming as well, but tomorrow will not be one, instead a short fight followed by some background on their mission, so hang in there! Remember! READ AND REVIEW, OR FAVORITE OR FOLLOW EVEN IF YOU SO PLEASE! ADIOS!