Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Hey everybody! Sorry for the long update. Job applications have been destroying me slowly. But I hopefully will have more free time to write now that the school year is pretty much over. Anyway, please enjoy!
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 70
"You call yourself a Half-Dragon? Don't make me laugh! I'll show you what a real Half-Dragon can do!" Nikolias roared as he took to the skies and shot towards the fast approaching Half-Dragon. The Half-Dragon was much larger, but Nikolias was much faster. As the Half-Dragon swung at him in an attempt to tear through his chest with its claws, Nikolias ducked under the attack while shrouding his fist in shadow. "SHADOW DRAGON FIST!" he exclaimed while swinging his fist upward into the Half-Dragon's jaw. The blow connected with a loud crack as a few of the Half-Dragon's scales flew off. Seeing his opponent disoriented, Nikolias wrapped his tail around the Half-Dragon's neck, pulled it forward until it was parallel with the ground, and shrouded his clawed feet in shadow. "SHADOW DRAGON FIERCE KICK!" Nikolias drove both of his feet into the Half-Dragon's back while releasing his grip on its neck. The Half-Dragon went crashing into the ground, but it quickly recovered and flew off to regroup. Nikolias roared and followed after it.
"Nikolias is incredible," Christina breathed. "He's fighting that Half-Dragon so well all by himself when all of us combined could barely touch it."
"Niky's incredible alright," Gracie said. "That's why I'm okay leaving it to him. He'll destroy that thing while we take care of Jarvan."
Jarvan was watching the fight between Half-Dragons with a grin. "Come to think of it, this works out beautifully! I can see how my Half-Dragon stacks up against the real deal. And once the fight is over I can look to improve my project based on my observations. This will only make my weapon more desirable!"
"You won't be able to observe much," Gracie said. "You'll be too busy trying to save your worthless hide."
Jarvan looked at her. "Oh no, we won't be fighting now. I have a battle to watch."
Gracie charged towards Jarvan. "And I say differently!"
"Sorry. I can't play with you right now," Jarvan said and snapped his fingers. "This should keep you thoroughly entertained for a while, though."
Gracie tightened her grip on her blades. "This asshole is pissing me off." Suddenly, a strong wind lifted her up and pushed her backwards. She gave off a surprised yelp as she landed on her bottom back with the group. "What the hell? Was that you Wendy?"
Wendy shook her head vehemently. "No, I didn't do anything I swear."
"Then what the hell…?"
"That would be the handy work of my darling Sky," Jarvan said. "Come on out, Sky."
The strong wind collected beside Jarvan and spun in place like a twister. After a moment, the twister began to darken and take shape. Before long, a girl appeared. She was perhaps nineteen years old. She had icy blue eyes and long, flowing, grayish-blue hair. She was wearing a baggy gray shirt that concealed her assets underneath and blue shorts. She stared blankly at the Fairy Tail group. "I await your orders, Master Jarvan," she said in a cool, breathy voice.
"Who's this now?" Cliff asked. "Another kid?"
"Yes, she's another one of my treasured experiments," Jarvan said. "Well, her and her sister." He snapped his fingers once more and in a small burst of flames a second girl appeared on the other side of Jarvan. This girl was the same height, build, and approximate age as Sky, but her appearance was far different. Her eyes were orange like wildfire and she had short red hair. She was wearing a red tank top that clung to her petite body and green shorts. She mimicked her sister and stared blankly at the Fairy Tail group. "Meet Ash."
"I await your orders, Master Jarvan," Ash said blandly.
Cliff spat off to the side. "You really are sick putting children through experiments like this. Where'd you find these ones, Jarvan?"
"They were homeless and had nowhere to go," Jarvan shrugged. "I took them in and gave their lives purpose again."
"By making them into dolls?" Cliff asked. "What kind of purpose is there in that?"
"Dolls? They are no dolls. They are weapons who will aid me in my ambitions. They couldn't ask for anything more."
"I'm sure they would love freedom," Gracie said. "Why not let them think for themselves and see what happens?"
"They can think for themselves," Jarvan replied. "Isn't that right, ladies?"
"Yes, Master Jarvan," Sky replied.
"You are our savior. We owe you so much," Ash said.
"Without you, we would have died years ago," Sky added.
"You call what you're doing living?" Natsu shouted. "You're helping this bastard destroy the world!"
Ash's hair burned brightly as her eyes turned completely orange. "How dare you speak ill of Master Jarvan!"
The wind whipped around Sky violently as her eyes turned completely blue. "You shall pay for such disrespect!"
"Look! They're changing! What are they?" Wendy asked.
"Yes, these two girls have been scientifically altered to allow their bodies to change their composition," Jarvan explained. "My beloved Sky can become one with the air and my beloved Ash can combust any part of her being at will."
Gracie gritted her teeth. "So you just take in people and alter them how you see fit?"
"Yes. That's how they repay their debts to me; by helping me create the best weapons I can," Jarvan said.
"But I see you left these two girls their emotions unlike Xeeval," Gracie snapped. "So what gives there? You need them to feel love for you in your lonely, revolting life?"
Jarvan waved his hand. "Nothing of the sort. Erasing emotions is a troublesome task. It's a last resort if you ask me. Xeeval was an exception because he didn't see me as a savior like he should have. He didn't see me the same way as all of the others."
"What do you mean he didn't see you as a savior?" Erza asked.
"I offered Xeeval incredible sums of money to test an experiment," Jarvan began. "The results were more than I could have hoped for. I had created my first scientifically altered human who was stronger and faster than anyone. He was perfect. However, there was a side effect; he had an insane blood lust that he despised. He saw himself as a monster. He wanted to hide, he wanted to die, he wanted to disappear and erase himself from existence; that's how disgusted he was with himself. But I couldn't allow it. I couldn't allow the perfect soldier to have a nervous breakdown and commit suicide or something. So, through a series of incredibly rigorous procedures, I erased his emotions from his being to make him a truly perfect killer."
"No wonder he didn't see you as a savior," Gray snapped. "You ruined his life!"
"Xeeval was a fool," Ash said. "He was too blinded by his desire to aid and live happily with his pathetic family to see that Master Jarvan had made his life better."
"Master Jarvan gave him power and he spat on that incredible gift," Sky said.
"Anyone else getting fed up with these two air heads?" Gajeel asked. "I'm about ready to pound on 'em."
"One of them controls wind and the other controls fire," Erza said. "With Natsu and Wendy on our side, we have the advantage."
"Plus we have numbers on our side," Cliff mentioned. "There are only two of them."
"Oh by the way, Cliff," Jarvan called out, "I have a nice surprise for you."
Cliff raised his sword. "Is that so?"
Jarvan nodded. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you would show up again. I prepared a nice little gift for you for just such an occasion to thank you for your service." He snapped his fingers once more.
From the wreckage of the house stepped out a young man with light brown hair. He was wearing a black tank top and jeans that showed off a less than outstanding physique. He wasn't overly muscular at all and if anything he looked fragile. There was a standard long sword slung over his shoulder in a basic leather holster.
Cliff took a step back. "You're shitting me. Cahill?"
Cahill stopped beside Sky and gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Hello, Cliff. It's been a while."
Cliff tightened his grip on his sword. "Since when did you start fighting? That was never like you."
"A lot has changed since you last saw me, Cliff," Cahill said. "22 years is a long time after all." Cahill looked towards Jarvan. "If it's alright with you, Boss, I'd like to take care of Cliff and his band of traitors myself."
Jarvan nodded. "I suppose that's alright. Sky and Ash, you two will deal with the other ten."
"Yes, Master Jarvan," Sky and Ash replied simultaneously. With that, Sky, Ash, and Cahill all took off for their opponents.
Cliff and his men charged Cahill. "You're still far too green to have any hope of winning such an uneven fight."
Cahill unsheathed his weapon as he ran. "Well you're right about one thing, Cliff." He increased his speed and ran into the mass of Cliff's men, avoiding countless strikes as he went. With each dodge, he swung his sword at one of Cliff's men and dealt a critical blow. He leapt out of the crowd and spun around to face the backs of his opponents. "This is an uneven fight, for you have no chance against me."
Cliff turned around to see at least half of his remaining men lying dead on the ground. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he clenched his jaw. "How…How did you do that? You didn't take a single scratch."
Cahill spun his sword. "Are you impressed, Iron General?"
Cliff and his remaining forces charged once more. "Don't think a stroke of luck will save you!"
Cahill grinned. "A stroke of luck? That kind of hurts." Once again, Cahill dashed forward into Cliff's group, ducking and dodging every attack while slashing through them. One by one, each and every one of Cliff's soldiers fell to Cahill's blade, leaving Cliff and Cahill alone. "This is far from luck."
"All my men," Cliff breathed in disbelief. He couldn't believe that Cahill had just slain all of his comrades. He gritted his teeth and thrust his sword at Cahill, but Cahill leapt away before it could land. "You're not the same as you used to be. What the hell happened to you, Cahill?"
Cahill pointed to his eyes. "The Boss gave me the gift of enhanced sight."
"My God. You let him fuck around with your eyes?"
"The Boss made my eyesight better. It allows me to predict movements and strike with precision."
Cliff clicked his tongue. "You really would do anything to be useful to that monster wouldn't you?"
"The Boss is no monster. He saved me," Cahill said.
"He didn't save you. He used you!"
"Shut up!" Cahill shouted as he charged Cliff. He swung his long sword at Cliff's neck, but Cliff quickly moved his sword to block the blade's path. "I should have figured that you wouldn't go down as easily as the others. You were one of the best after all."
Cliff pushed Cahill back. "Damn it, boy, come to your senses!"
Cahill held his sword at the ready. "What makes you believe that I'm not thinking clearly? I owe the Boss everything, so I decided from the moment he took me in that I would do whatever I could to be of use to him."
Cliff ran at Cahill. "I guess I'll have to slap you awake!" He swung his sword with incredible speed across his body at Cahill. However, Cahill easily ducked under the attack and diagonally swung his sword at the opening Cliff provided. Cliff saw Cahill's attack, but his momentum kept him from being able to block the strike. He felt the cold steel slice through his right bicep, causing him to hiss in pain. He tried to counterstrike, but Cahill dodged the attack and leapt away. Blood ran down Cliff's arm as he held his large sword in front of him. "Damn it."
"Don't forget, Cliff; I know you and your tricks," Cahill said. "For example, I know that your sword isn't light."
Cliff winced as his arm strained to hold his sword up. "Little shit."
Cahill charged once again. "I'll finish this quickly out of respect for you."
Cliff readied himself as Cahill began his assault. Cahill's attacks were quick and aimed for critical points of his body, so Cliff was completely focused on blocking. He managed to block most of the strikes, but at random times Cahill would follow up with an incredibly swift secondary attack that would leave behind a shallow cut on his arms, legs, and torso. Before long, just gripping his sword was becoming difficult. 'Damn it. I won't last long like this. I never would have expected he'd be this skilled. Is it really just from his eyes?' With a loud cry, he swung his sword horizontally, forcing Cahill to leap away. As soon as Cahill had backed off, he let his sword rest on the ground while he panted.
Cahill rested his sword on his shoulder. "You've gotten pretty old if that's all you've got."
Cliff chuckled. "Hey now, I'm in my fifties. I ain't that old yet."
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something and now is the best time for it since I'm going to kill you soon," Cahill said.
"Have you now?"
"Why did you betray the Boss and fake your death?" Cahill asked.
Cliff sighed. "Look kid, if you haven't figured out by now the kind of madman Jarvan is then I can't help you. He's a sick old man whose goal in life is to make others suffer so that he can prosper. He didn't care who it was that got in his way or how they were dealt with as long as they were taken care of. Do you even comprehend how much innocent blood is on my hands and the hands of everyone who has ever worked for that psychopath?"
Cahill shrugged. "It's so like you to say something like that. Well thanks for answering me. It's been eating away at me ever since the Boss told me you faked your death 22 years ago. Now I have closure." He lifted his sword off of his shoulder and took a fighting stance. "Now I can kill you with a clear conscience. Make sure you say hi to Blaine and Jewel for me."
Sky was the first one to make a move. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared into the wind.
"Where'd she go?" Mira asked. As soon as she asked the question, she felt a strange force slam into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and pushing her to the ground. "What happened?" she coughed.
"Are you alright?" Gracie asked just as an invisible force slammed into her back, shoving her forward. "Okay, where are you? Stop hiding!" she shouted at the wind.
"You can't hope to defeat us when we're fighting together," Ash said as she casually walked towards the group. "With our powers combined we will destroy you."
Natsu lit his hands on fire. "Give it your best shot!"
"Sky!" Ash called out. "Let's start with Combination Sigma!"
"Right," came a breathy response from Sky that echoed on the air.
"Prepare yourselves everyone!" Erza called out. Everyone nodded and stood at the ready.
Ash spat towards the Fairy Tail group, sending out a small ember from her mouth. The small ember was picked up by a sudden strong wind and flew into the Fairy Tail group. As soon as it landed on the ground it exploded, causing the Fairy Tail members to fly into the air. As soon as they were airborne, a rapid gust of wind rammed into each of them in quick succession and pushed them back into the ground forcibly.
"Damn, that hurt," Gracie groaned as she pushed herself up to her hands and knees.
"We have to be more cautious," Erza said. "Their ability to coordinate their attacks is clearly very high."
"But how can we stop Sky when we can't see or touch her?" Lucy asked.
"Wendy could try eating the air," Natsu offered.
Wendy nodded. "I'll give it a try." She stood up and began inhaling the air into her small body.
"That won't help you," Ash said.
As Wendy continued to take in the wind, Sky suddenly appeared in the air in front of her. She swung her leg at the small Dragon Slayer and landed a kick to the young girl's face. Wendy cried in pain as she was sent tumbling away and Sky once again disappeared into the air.
"Wendy!" Carla cried as she ran to her.
"See? I told you," Ash said.
"So Wendy can't stop Sky from becoming part of the air," Levy said. "What now?"
Wendy sat up. "I think I can force her to take a solid form, but as soon as she's drawn in close she retaliates."
"We should try again, but this time we'll be ready to stop her," Gracie said. "Feel up to it, Wendy?"
The small girl rubbed her sore jaw, but nodded. "Yes!" She got to her feet and began inhaling the wind once more.
Ash giggled. "You think you're the only ones who can change their game plan after seeing what an opponent can do? Think again. Sky! Combination Beta!"
"Right," came Sky's breathy reply on the wind. The wind around the Fairy Tail members began to spin around and around like a tornado. The winds became so violent that Wendy began to cough from all of the dirt that was being picked up.
"Are you okay?" Christina asked.
Wendy kept coughing. "I'm fine."
Ash spat another ember at the tornado. As soon as it was consumed by the wind wall it exploded, causing intense flames to spread and circulate within the tornado. Before long, the Fairy Tail mages were trapped in a vicious vortex of fire.
"Natsu, do something!" Lucy begged.
"Right!" Natsu exclaimed as he began to draw the flames into his mouth. "These flames are nothing!" He continued to draw more and more flames into his open mouth, but the flames never died down. After about a minute of seeing no progress, he stopped. "What the hell?"
"The fire isn't disappearing!" Happy shouted.
"What could be keeping them going?" Panther Lily wondered out loud.
Erza pondered the situation. "Normally Natsu would have no problem eating all of this fire. So what could be keeping the flames alive?"
"Ash must be behind it," Gray said. "She's probably fueling the fire with more of her spit."
Gracie wiped some sweat from her brow. "Sky can become the wind. She's incredibly fast and evasive. Ash can combust any part of her being at will, which includes her spit. She's the power behind the duo. Wendy and Natsu can consume the wind and fire respectively, but the wonder twins have ways of countering them."
"Do you have a plan?" Mira asked.
Gracie giggled and winked. "You kidding? Piece of cake! Now here's what we're gonna do."
Nikolias caught up to the Half-Dragon with ease. "You're not getting away that easily! SHADOW WHIP!" He extended his right arm as a shadow tendril shot forward. It wrapped around the massive left forearm of the Half-Dragon.
Upon feeling the shadow tendril wrap around its forearm, the Half-Dragon turned to face Nikolias. It yanked hard on the shadow tendril, forcing Nikolias towards it. The act caught Nikolias off guard and upset his balance. He didn't have enough time to recover before the Half-Dragon slammed its massive fist into Nikolias' head, sending him crashing to the ground. It roared as it flew after him.
Nikolias got to his four feet and shook his head. "I guess those huge arms aren't just for show. They pack a lot of power." He looked up to see the Half-Dragon nearly upon him. He leapt backwards just as the Half-Dragon crashed into the ground, sending large chunks of earth flying in all directions. He skidded to a stop and collected black fire in his jaws. "SHADOW DRAGON INFERNO!" He released a jet of black flames that engulfed the Half-Dragon. He ran forward on his four legs as shadows danced around him. "Now to finish this! SHADOW DRAGON…!"
A sudden blow to the face interrupted him and sent him somersaulting backwards. He managed to stop his momentum by digging his claws into the dirt and spat out some blood. He narrowed his eyes. "You're kidding me."
Standing there with glowing golden eyes was the Half-Dragon, completely unaffected by the bath of black flames that surrounded it. It roared at Nikolias as it dropped to the ground and charged with incredible speed.
Nikolias snarled at the Half-Dragon. "How can he be unharmed by that?" Shadows enveloped his right claw as he stood on his hind legs. "SHADOW SLASH!" He thrust forward his claw as a stream of shadows barreled towards the charging Half-Dragon.
The attack pierced through its left shoulder, but the Half-Dragon was unfazed. It never lost speed and it never showed signs of pain. It tackled Nikolias to the ground as the two rolled around, trying to bite and slash each other.
"Damn you're heavy," Nikolias groaned as he fought against the larger Half-Dragon.
The Half-Dragon pinned Nikolias' arms to the ground, roared, and bit down into Nikolias' left shoulder.
Nikolias roared in agony as he tried to escape the Half-Dragon, but the creature's jaws were too strong. He couldn't pull himself free. "Son of a…ow! Let go!" Shadows engulfed his fists. "SHADOW DRAGON FIST!" He threw countless powerful punches that connected with the Half-Dragon's chest. Scales flew off with each attack, but the Half-Dragon wouldn't budge. Instead, it dug its fangs deeper into his flesh. "Alright then. Try this!" He gathered shadows in between his claws. Once he had a large orb, he grabbed it with his right claw and pressed it against the Half-Dragon's chest. "NEVERMORE!" An intense blast of shadows hit the Half-Dragon point blank with so much power that it forced the Half-Dragon to lose its grip on Nikolias' shoulder. The large creature went flying into the air as Nikolias rolled onto his feet. He hissed as his wound began to close. "Damn that stings."
The Half-Dragon adjusted itself in the air and roared at Nikolias with bloodied fangs. It then flew back down towards Nikolias.
Shadows danced around Nikolias as he roared at the Half-Dragon. "That's it. I've had enough of you. Time to end this! SHADOW RUSH!" He shot into the sky like a black rocket heading straight for the Half-Dragon. He crashed head first into the Half-Dragon's thick body, causing it to fly backwards through the air. He then collected an orb of shadows in his right claw. "SHADOW DRAGON PULSE!" He fired the pulse after the Half-Dragon. It collided with the Half-Dragon's body before discharging a powerful wave of shadows that pushed the large creature into the ground.
Nikolias flew to the ground and landed a few feet away from where the Half-Dragon was beginning to rise. "Now it's over." He slowly inhaled deeply. "ENDLESS NIGHTMARE!" he breathed as he slowly exhaled, releasing a thick black haze from his mouth. The haze wrapped itself around the Half-Dragon as it began to breathe it in. "Enjoy your descent into madness."
The Half-Dragon's eyes suddenly snapped open. It leapt to its feet and swung its massive claws at Nikolias. Nikolias was completely caught off guard as the attack slashed through his chest. Blood sprayed from the wound as Nikolias fell to his knees. The Half-Dragon followed up by swinging its large tail at Nikolias' head as if it were a ball on a tee, sending Nikolias flying backwards. He crashed into the ground, coughed up blood, and struggled to his feet. "Impossible," he rasped as he pushed himself up. Blood was dripping from the wound and into the dirt as the Red Eye worked to heal it. "He was completely unaffected by Endless Nightmare? That's never happened before. It's a sure thing! Unless…" He turned his head and glared at the Half-Dragon. "You don't have a soul, do you?"
The Half-Dragon roared in response as it charged its target.
Nikolias couldn't wait any longer for his wound to heal. He turned his body to face the Half-Dragon and roared. "Don't worry. I'll end your suffering right now!"
