Broken Fairies

by EnergyMageFrea

Light Magic has won over Dark in the battle to decide the Balance of the world, but shadow has never settled so thickly over the Fairy Tail Guild as it has now, and that darkness does not seem to want to leave. Is it possible, after all the evil and the pain suffered, lived through and triumphed over by the Guild- that Fairy Tail has finally broken? {Fourth Story in Series!}

28. Chapter 28- Depths

Chapter 28

Depths

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas

.:+:.

Earlier-

"Chase...!"

Aisha's voice cracked, purple eyes wide and glittering in fear as she stumbled back a few paces, barely keeping her feet after the Energy Mage pushed her quickly to the side. Doing so saved her being in the path of the sword headed her way (though barely), but instead put Chase in its path instead.

Edryd had darted forward quicker then ever, a blur and nearly impossible to track. Aisha had still been reeling too much from the Vaide appearing out of nowhere to even begin to try and move out of the way, and Chase knew it- so he was faster, and he didn't hesitate even a moment.

Chase swept his hand up as he pushed her out of the way, light blue Magic following his movement and erecting a half-formed wall between himself and the incoming blade. It was enough the sword sliced through the Magic and bounced off slightly, instead of cutting through Chase's flesh, and Edryd shifted as he stepped to the side and expertly brought his sword back in toward himself, steady.

"... So you will not abandon her, even with threat to your own life, hmm?" Edryd grumbled lowly, his eyes catching Chase's as the Energy Mage backed up a few paces, defensive and still stuck in a place between the Vaide and Aisha behind him. Chase settled Edryd with a steady stare, resolution clear in his face and instantly ready for whatever Edryd had in store, and not for a moment hesitating in his actions.

"Not a chance." Chase replied lowly, "It doesn't matter to me if you and I have a 'quarrel' or not- as long as you keep trying to hurt Aisha, I will never leave. I will not back down against you, not in a million years."

Edryd grimaced at the words, shifting his sword in his hand and eyes narrowed to slits.

"... How incredible it is the level of loyalty you can squeeze from so many people, Lady Celene." Edryd muttered coldly, his flinty eyes darting toward Aisha and she stiffened underneath the look. "Truly... How is it you can have two Ilaen's willing to die for you like this? Loyal in the face of death at the hands of a Vaide... Needlessly throwing their lives away?" Edryd asked lowly, his tone flinty and cold and Aisha swallowed at it, and the memories that came with the words.

"There's no 'squeezing' about it." Chase replied instantly, saving Aisha any attempt at a response and Edryd looked over slowly, eyes narrowed still as he settled his gaze on the Energy Mage once more. "Aisha doesn't manipulate people into doing things for her, or anything of the kind. She doesn't earn the loyalty and love of people because she forces it from them- loyalty isn't something that can be bought or forced." Chase grumbled, his blue eyes flashing. "My being here standing against you is a choice I make willingly. I'm protecting her because she means something to me, and I care for her deeply. I will never let you lay a hand on her, and I will never stand by and let anyone hurt her because she is important to me, and my loyalty to her is genuine- as is anyone else's who choose to give it to her." He muttered lowly and Edryd only glowered, his agitation slowly rising as he kept steady with the Energy Mage's gaze.

Chase adjusted, taking a single step forward and to the side, planting himself just a little more between Edryd and Aisha, while also closing the distance between himself and the Vaide ever so slightly. His blue eyes flashed, steady and calm despite everything as his gaze locked with Edryd's, and the man remained still in his spot for a few moments more, listening but still guarded.

"You're not unreasonable Edryd, otherwise you wouldn't care about having a quarrel with me- you'd fight me just as willingly as you want to fight Aisha." Chase murmured lowly. "I can feel that you don't want to hurt me, not really. Your emotions are clear and calm and collected when your attention is on me... As where when you look at Aisha, or think about her- it's overwhelming anger, and hurt. I get the hurt, and even the anger- you loved your brother deeply, so I understand what losing him did to you... But I don't understand you wanting so badly to harm Aisha, or even kill her." Chase grumbled lowly and Edryd's eyes flashed, while Aisha swallowed slightly, shooting Chase a warning look he never saw.

She wanted him to quit. To stop talking, to stop defending her- it was only going to rile Edryd up, damn it...!

"Oh really? And why is that so hard to understand?" Edryd muttered sharply, the steadiness of his voice breaking for a second as Chase seemed to grimace at the reply just faintly. Edryd raised his sword, pointing it straight at Aisha though his eyes remained locked to the Energy Mage for now, but the anger seething behind those yellow eyes was clear as day- not that Chase needed to see it, he could feel Edryd's anger and hatred easily enough, and his hurt too... deep-rooted and heavy, and something that had been festering for so, so long.

"She is the reason my brother is dead." Edryd hissed, his teeth gritting slightly as he said it. "She is the one who dragged him into her illegal enterprises, she is the one who had him trying to steal Barren away from a Noble Family, she is the reason that Lord Nirav was sent to hunt down the thieves. She is the one who roped him into her service and she is the one who forced him into all of it- she is the one he died trying to save. She was supposed to be cut down that night, not Ranath." Edryd growled lowly, his anger rising faster and faster with every word- and behind Chase Aisha flinched further and further at every one, her eyes falling shut and hunching against it. "If she had never been brought here as a slave all those years ago, Corielain would never have found and named her as Noble. If she had never been here and Named, she would never have met Ranath at all- he would never have become her Ilaen, and he would not be dead now! If not for her and her meddling, and her incessant challenging of traditions and law and ritual passed down through centuries, tch-!" Edryd snapped, his eyes blazing now as his eyes broke from Chase again and latched to Aisha, icy and cold.

"If not for her, he would still be alive! She should have been the one who had a Druhma called for and completed, not Ranath!" Edryd snapped hotly, the sheer venom in his voice making Aisha flinch quite a bit this time around as she seemed to guard herself slightly, violet eyes trained to the floor. Chase swallowed slightly, aware of the flash of ache and guilt that hit his back from Aisha and grumbling internally at it, and the comment of Aisha should have being the one to die- but he kept his cool and just kept a steady gaze on the Vaide.

"It isn't all on Aisha, Ranath made his own choices." Chase muttered quickly, "He could have chosen to stay out of everything, and he could have chosen not to-"

"Do not speak of him as if you know him!" Edryd cut him off quickly, those yellow eyes snapping to Chase again. "He was her Ilaen, once he became that he did not have any choices of his own- his duty to her is to do as she asks, without question! Ilaen do as they are ordered to, there is no alternative for-!" Edryd snapped,

"I don't care if he was an Ilaen or not, that doesn't make him mindless!" Chase interrupted this time and Edryd stiffened, his jaw clenching in agitation. "Seriously, do you honestly think Aisha forced him into being her Ilean? That he didn't have a choice to turn her down if he really wanted to?" Chase hissed, taking another step closer to Edryd and shaking his head furiously. "No! Aisha offered him the job and he took it willingly, don't pretend like she forced him into it- he had a choice!"

"And what the hell would you know about it?" Edryd muttered lowly, "You were not there, you have no grasp of anything that went on."

"Aisha told me everything that happened." Chase grumbled, Edryd huffed.

"Oh, and I suppose you must think everything she told you is the truth, hmm? That her version of the story and all she told you was the correct version? The absolute view of things?" Edryd grumbled hotly, "Please don't be so naive- she lies for a living, that was always her role here and it continues to be even after all this time having left Adgnei."

"She didn't lie." Chase replied lowly,

"She always lies." Edryd repeated in a hiss, but Chase shook his head.

"She didn't lie, I know she didn't."

"Tch, and just why should I take your word for it? She had half of Adgnei wrapped around her finger before she was chased out- forgive me if I doubt your judgement on a woman you're so clearly hopelessly enamored with, like all the rest. You couldn't even begin to tell if she lied to you." Edryd muttered,

"Yeah actually, I can." Chase shot back lowly and Edryd stiffened, looking further agitated with the persistence. "I can tell when people lie to me- I feel it, every time. Guilt or panic when they do it, or a desperateness too. I feel it when people lie, and I can feel it when they're being genuine- people's Energy and emotions don't lie." Chase grumbled, "And I know for a fact, that everything Aisha has ever told me about what happened to her here in Adgnei, and between you, and Ranath and everybody else- all she has told me was the truth. I know it was the truth, because I felt everything- all the pain, and the sadness, and the regret that she felt and lived through while she was here. I felt her pain and every shred of her emotions just as intense and raw as they were when everything happened to her. I've felt how badly she's hurting and how deeply her regret goes- I know everything she told me was real, and that is how I know it was the truth." Chase hissed lowly,

Aisha glanced up quickly from the ground, her violet eyes glittering in the dim and quiet as she stared at Chase's back, and Edryd remained similarly fixed to the Energy Mage's resoluteness as he talked, and how steady he was as he recanted it all- even under the deadly glare of the Vaide, with his sword still pointing threateningly and the MoonLight Mage.

"You're right, I didn't know Ranath- but I know him well enough because of everything Aisha has told me. She knew him just as well as you did, she cared for him and he cared for her- you have to know that, Edryd." Chase kept on, "It was his choice to become her Ilaen, he did it willingly because he cared about Aisha! And everything he did afterward for her wasn't out of some stupid obligation for being her Ilaen! He made his choices and he helped her because Aisha meant something to him- everything he did was because he wanted to do it, not because he'd been manipulated or forced into it!" Chase hissed, his blue eyes flashing. "And that night against Nirav was the same way, he fought for her and he protected her of his own accord- he fought and died protecting Aisha because Ranath loved her!"

Aisha stiffed at the words, an icy flash of pain rushing through her at the words, and Edryd even flinched slightly, the anger in his face faltering for half a second in something almost agonized. His sword in hand dropped half an inch as he seemed to hold his breath for a second, and Chase pressed on, his expression softening a tad when he felt a deep and terrible ache start to throb off of the Vaide.

"I know you know that, Edryd." Chase murmured, "You knew him, you knew how he felt, you had to have... I know you cared about Ranath, and I know you loved him too. I know losing him hurt you badly- I get that. I know what it feels like to lose family." Chase mumbled, "But it's because I know you cared about your brother, and so much so you've been harboring this for years- I don't understand how you could still want Aisha dead." The Energy Mage murmured softly, "Ranath died keeping Aisha safe, the last thing he did was make sure she didn't get killed." Chase murmured lowly,

"Do you really wanna destroy the thing that he loved that much? The one person he was willing to die for, and did give his life up for? Do you really wanna kill her, even though that would be undoing the last thing Ranath did? And killing the person he loved that deeply...?"

Edryd's face hardened again not two seconds after the last of Chase's words, his yellow eyes narrowing to slits and flinty once more as he settled the Energy Mage with an icy, deadly stare, before slowly settling that stare on Aisha instead.

"Are you going to let your Ilaen do all the talking for you?" Edryd muttered lowly, "Do you have nothing to say for yourself? No words of your own? Are you content with letting your Ilaen regurgitate all you've told him and let him believe?" The Vaide muttered lowly and Aisha grimaced, her eyes glittering and stiff under the stare- and for once, not quick to counter, or stand firm against it.

Chase grumbled under his breath at the shift in focus, adjusting again to try and get more between Edryd and Aisha- to try and get Edryd to focus on him again. He'd been getting somewhere, he knew he had, but as soon as Edryd looked at Aisha all that rage came back in no time at all- and with it, his sense of reason seemed to fade too.

Edryd noticed him moving though and his sword raised back up the little bit it had fallen, pointing straight at Chase and forcing the Energy Mage to a quick stop. "You have said your piece, and I have listened. I do not wish to hear anymore from you- so kindly keep your mouth shut, and stay exactly where you are." Edryd hissed lowly without ever looking Chase's way, and Chase swallowed slightly at the words. "Do you intend on sticking to silence?" Edryd pressed again of Aisha, his voice just as low and just as flinty still. "Just as you did, those four days we sat there? Where I had to find out Ranath had been struck down by a Keistae, and not the person he was sworn to?" Edryd growled and Aisha grimaced, her eyes darting downward and away from him and his expression twisting further as Chase bit the inside of his cheek, his head turning just enough to glance over his shoulder toward Aisha, and his heart twisting at the amount of guilt and regret that came off of her so suddenly.

She didn't say anything, she looked like she intended to, but the words didn't come and it was just silence for a moment or two- and Edryd quickly grew utterly furious with it.

"Say something, damn it!" He snapped, his voice loud and shaking suddenly and both Chase and Aisha jumped at it, wide-eyed. "Explain to me your version of events, try and make me understand what happened and why! All this time I've been stuck with the stories told by Nirav and Seyre and all those in Banore- but never once have I heard anything of it from you! Tell me now, before I collect my due, and you have only the Gods to bend knee to and ask for leniency!" Edryd snapped hotly and Aisha sucked in a sharp breath of air, her fists clenching at her sides and violet gaze gleaming.

"What the hell do you want me to say to you...?!" Aisha snapped hoarsely, stepping up and passed Chase entirely, though the Energy Mage tried to move and keep her back even despite Edryd's threat from before. "I tried to talk to you and explain things to you so many times after it happened Edryd, don't try and pretend that I didn't...! I stayed here in Adgnei for nearly a year after what happened with Ranath, and that whole time we did nothing but fight each other...! I stayed and I tried to keep working, to keep trying to make a difference, to help...! I stayed here and I tried everything I could to keep going, to keep working just so it wouldn't have been for nothing- even if he wasn't here anymore and every single day I couldn't stop remembering that night...! I stayed here even though he was gone and I knew it was my fault... Tch... I stayed, but couldn't stay here and not keep trying, not when Ranath died protecting me... Not... Not when he told me he didn't regret it, and that all the work we did was all worth it, even when he knew that he was gonna...!" She hissed shakily, breaking off abruptly and swallowing hard against the terribly painful lump in her throat now.

"... I... I stayed here and I tried so hard to keep going, to make it worth it, and I did it even though you were making my life and everyone else's lives a living hell!" Aisha snapped, "You... You knew everything I did wasn't just out of spite and trying to muck with tradition! I wasn't going around butting heads with the Nobles and the Middle Caste for no good reason damn it, I was trying to help people...! The Lower Caste and the Barren who are so abused here in this Gods-forsaken country and no one bats a damn eye at it...! I was trying to help them, Ranath was trying to help them- that's all we were ever trying to do...! But after he died you made it impossible...! You turned a blind eye to the shit that goes on in this place because you got so absorbed in blaming me!" Aisha snapped, the shakiness of her voice fading as she quickly grew a bit firmer, though the pain underneath every syllable remained. Edryd frowned deeply, still angry, and shaking now for it- but listening, and why wouldn't he?

He'd asked for something other than silence-

Aisha let out an angry growl, her fists clenching harder at her sides and steady as hell now despite how awful she looked- all covered in blood and wounds and clothes torn, and with hardly an inch of Magic left. Her hand swept out, motioning toward the burning city down the valley and where the air was laced with booms and echoes and screams and mayhem still, her teeth gritting as her eyes flashed.

"Do you even see what is happening right now?!" Aisha yelled furiously, "This is a war! The city is burning, the Kullui are wreaking havoc and cutting people down in the streets with no order or reason- Barren, Lower, Middle and Noble Caste alike are being slaughtered and killing each other and for what?! You all forced Frea to open that Gate and let out the Magic in it, but did you have any clue what you were messing with?! You idiots have torn open rifts into a different reality and the Souls of the Damned are overtaking the city, possessing the Kullui and using them to murder and destroy- everything is falling apart, you've unleashed a hell storm of insanely powerful and volatile Magic and sheer evil! For what?! What the hell could the God-King have told you this was for that would make you think for even a second this was something you should do?! How many people have died already for this?! Called into Okeal to work on this damn Project and then never seen again?! How much shit have you all put Frea through for this?! Forced her into, had her screaming and have that Tower collapse?! How much more has to happen for you to understand that you've let it go too far?!"

Aisha stepped up one more time, eyes blazing and temper now too as she locked gazes with Edryd and he simply watched, expression utterly neutral and unwavering.

"You've let yourself get so caught up in trying to stop everything I try to do, you didn't even pay any attention to what was going on! You just let everything keep on as it was even when it clearly wasn't gonna end well!" Aisha hissed, "You were never blind to all the terrible things that happen here, Edryd! You never went as far as Ranath and I did trying to stop everything, but you didn't just ignore it! I know you hate a lot of what happens here, even if you won't challenge tradition or the God-King directly! And I know that there is no way in hell you've done all of this and not felt it was wrong!" Aisha snapped, "You went after and took a named Energess against her will, and you did it on Drennios' damn word, even when you knew doing that goes against everything you believe in! There was no justifiable reason to take her, or to lay a hand on her, or force her into opening that damn Door- you know that, Edryd! Above everything else, and your anger at me and your need for revenge, you have to know all of this went too far! You could never just go along willingly with any of this shit and not feel that it was wrong, damn it! How the hell could you keep letting yourself get so caught up in your anger at me that you let so much go unchecked?!" Aisha snapped hotly, Edryd just grimaced slightly, the neutrality gone for half a second as he seemed to grumble under his breath. His eyes dropped closed as he took in one, long, low sigh, and then slowly opened his eyes again, his face hardening and icy rage sparking off of him with an all new fervor- and way too quickly.

"... I gave you a chance to speak for yourself, and you decided on a lecture." Edryd muttered lowly and Aisha flinched at it, her anger dying off in an instant under the glare and the sheer venom in Edryd's voice. His grip on his sword tightened, steadiness seeping into every inch of his demeanor and shifting ever so slightly.

"What a truly poor decision."

Chase stiffened at it too, an icy pang of fear racing straight through him with the sheer potency of the emotion from the Vaide- and more so when he settled that utterly deadly stare on Aisha.

Shit-!

"Aisha!"

Chase's voice cut off abruptly, the Energy Mage moving nearly as quickly as Edryd did in the next instant- one moment the Vaide standing where he was and the next directly in front of Aisha, his sword swinging out- with Chase's arm sweeping up, a wave of pale blue moving between Aisha and the sword. The sword cut straight through the half-way formed shield, but bounced back slightly even still, though Edryd expertly readjusted himself and continued on his straight path forward.

The little pause was enough Aisha started to move, her own Magic appearing as she backed off quickly and swiped out at Edryd, a wave of silvery-white and pale blue on a beeline for him. He simply sidestepped and spun, his sword flicking upward as he did so and cutting through her Magic with the same ease as it had with Chase's. Aisha hissed, eyes wide and heart skipping a beat as he darted forward quicker than she could keep track of him.

He's faster than he used to be-

She ducked down, barely missing his sword and cutting it so close a few strands of her silver hair were sliced off. Her eyes traced the strands in air for only a few seconds before her gaze locked with Edryd's, the Vaide readjusting again and already poised and ready to strike. She didn't even have time to try and regain her balance, she couldn't move backward fast enough, and her heart sank.

- He's a better fighter than he used to be...!

"Energy Whip!"

Pale blue whipped out and wrapped around Edryd's sword arm, Chase jerking the Energy Whip around Edryd's arm and his aim sideways- with just enough time that he missed Aisha, though only just. She stumbled sideways, backing off as quickly as she could while Edryd's other arm moved, deftly producing four small disks from one of the pouches on his belt and flicking his hand in Chase's direction. He wrenched his arm and his sword free in the next instant too, the blade swiping upward through Chase's Magic and severing it with absolute ease- but Chase hardly noticed it, he was instantly wary of the disks headed on air toward him. Chase jumped back, trying to keep his distance while simultaneously sending his Magic toward the four disks to try and destroy them- and he managed on two, but the last couple evaded the blasts of Magic he'd sent out with a quick jerk in air and streamed forward ever faster. Chase stumbled, struggling to course-correct and dodge the incoming Gravity Wells for a little bit longer, just enough he could break them apart too.

Aisha stiffened, coming to an abrupt halt as her heart skipped a beat, a flash of fear rushing through her when she looked back for Edryd where he has been, but he wasn't there.

"Chase!"

Chase heard Aisha yell, and he felt the panic and the fear flash from her heavy and sharp- but it was not nearly as sharp as the pain that ran across his side in the next instant.

Edryd's sword dug in, tracing quickly across his left side and wearing a scarlet line through his shirt, before the blade left his flesh and Edryd came to a halt behind the Energy Mage, sticky red blood spattering against the grass as the Vaide's sword glowed dimly. Chase's breath caught in his throat, cringing under the hit, his hand quickly moving to cover the wound and blood trickling through his fingers instantly.

"I need you to stop meddling... I did warn you what would happen if you were persistent on standing in my way." Edryd grumbled lowly. Chase grit his teeth as he tried to whip around face Edryd despite the wound, but only ended up being forced down on to one knee as the two discs the Vaide had thrown activated, and gravity fell slightly heavier on top of the Energy Mage. It wasn't enough to throw Chase into the ground, no, but it was enough that he couldn't possibly stay on his feet, and moving would have been harder than hell and next to impossible even without the wound, and certainly not with what Pestilence brought with it. Chase could feel the Magic of the sword sweeping through and over him right away, sickness and negative Energy that held quick and fast to his whole being- but he hadn't a clue what it was exactly or what it would do, only that it wouldn't be good.

"I know you feel this involves you, and I can understand that belief- but this is entirely between Lady Celene and I... For that, I am afraid, I have no choice but to incapacitate you completely." Edryd mumbled, glancing backwards toward Chase and briefly catching the Energy Mage's eye. "I do apologize, but you've both given me no choice." Edryd murmured lowly, and Chase's eyes narrowed, Edryd looking away from him again and lifting his sword in a ready stance, his feet twisting slightly to the right and back toward where Aisha was.

Chase hissed, trying to push himself back on to his feet to try and stall Edryd again, stop him from continuing his attempts on Aisha- but the minute he sucked in a breath of air that was meant to steady him, he choked on it. He sputtered, his lungs suddenly feeling like they were on fire and filled with water, his body quickly adopting that fiery sensation on top of being pushed down by the gravity wells. He hunched in on himself, bending over and racked with cough after cough, raspy and harsh and every attempt at catching his breath made the sputtering worse. He felt himself trembling, weakness spreading quickly through every inch of him and making it nearly impossible not to hit the ground entirely- his hand met the ground to prop himself up, but every cough threatened to break that little stability and send him crashing downward.

Aisha went rigid, her ears ringing with Chase's suddenly ragged breathing and how quickly he seemed to fold over, his body shaking terribly suddenly and all the color draining from his face in an instant. He was sinking further and further down, quickly losing any semblance of balance or composure as he struggled to keep himself sitting up or even just breathe-

Her heart stopped, her eyes going wide in terror as Chase sucked in a sharp, shallow breath of air- and the next cough he let out ended in smears of crimson splattering against the grass and his hand.

"C-Chase...!" She hissed,

"Don't pay him any mind now, Lady Celene- you have your own life to worry over."

Her eyes were ripped away from Chase by Edryd, the Vaide now suddenly right beside her, eyes hard and sword swinging toward her.

"Does this feel familiar yet? You still standing, while your Ilaen falls in your stead?" Edryd hissed lowly, the sword carving a path through air straight for Aisha as she hissed, her Magic flaring quickly to try and put up some sort of barrier.

"Shall history repeat itself tonight, Lady Celene?!"

There was a terrible ring of metal clanging against her Magic, the pale blue and white shattering as the edge of the sword struck hard and fast against it, and then straight through. The little bit of resistance was enough Aisha moved back far enough to avoid the blade, the edge of cutting through the Dyann around her shoulders instead and causing it to fall loose around her waist. Aisha grit her teeth, jumping up and backward, kicking her leg up in the middle of the back-spring so her foot would catch under Edryd's jaw. He narrowly avoided the hit by backing off, and Aisha didn't pause as she landed down on her hands, her Magic blazing as she slammed her palms into the earth, white-hot specks of Magic appearing dotted over the whole area around Edryd. Aisha hissed, eyes blazing and heart racing in her chest as she poured her nearly every bit of Magic she had left into the spell.

She had to stop this fight, right now-

"Starfall Field!"

The earth lurched, the specks of Magic detonating with a fierceness that made the whole area tremble- but she didn't let it detonate entirely. She cut the Magic off as soon as it got anywhere close to where Chase was, landing back on her feet again and frowning as she lost sight of the Energy Mage and Edryd both, the debris and the dust blocking any view of them at all.

- she needed it to have been enough, she needed Edryd to have at least gotten scathed by that attack. She couldn't waste time fighting him, not with Chase somewhere on that other side struggling to breathe and coughing up blood.

She saw a glint of light to her left and her hopes of it ending right then were dashed, she quickly moved back and swung her hand up. A wall of Magic shaped like a crescent moon propped up between herself and the incoming swipe of the sword, her violet eyes locking with Edryd's icy yellow ones.

"Half-Moon Ward!"

The sword hit the shield and only managed to wear a slice into it, instead of breaking it. Aisha lift her hands up over her head, her expression hardening and holding her breath against the pounding of her heart and her churning stomach.

She had to finish this, she had to quit acting like a scared idiot, stumbling around and not able to take care of this herself-

"Moonlight Rays: Strike Storm!"

Beams of blue struck down hard and fast from a sky still swirling in black and covered in Jynx's Magic Circle. Edryd's eyes left her, darting up to the incoming attacks and grimacing at them, his free hand already digging in one of the pouches on his belt while he tossed his sword up and caught it again, directing the blade in the opposite direction. Be brought it and his arm above above him, runes flickering to life across the band on his wrist and producing a Guard between him and the Magic. The beams pound against the wall of the Guard with a series of thundering booms, but they didn't make a dent against it and burst apart on contact without ever getting close to hitting the Vaide. Edryd pulled his hand back out from the pouch, his eyes darting quickly from the Guard and toward Aisha as he swept his hand forward toward her.

Aisha sent off a quick couple blasts of Magic, destroying two of the Gravity Wells he'd tossed out toward her, and ducking nimbly underneath a Collar he'd tossed out too. She growled, gritting her teeth and swiping upward, an arc of Magic slicing through air toward him lightning fast, but he was just as quick to sidestep out of the way and advance again. Aisha's teeth grits further as her eyes flashed, her blood roaring louder in her ears and heart pounding faster too.

She needed this to end, she couldn't keep fighting him like this, not with Chase- shit!

Her eyes dared break away from Edryd for a split second, quickly searching for the downed Energy Mage and heart sinking to find him collapsed now on the ground, sputtering and coughing into his hands slowly being covered in more specks of sticky scarlet. His whole body was shuddering, his skin pale and heaving for air his lungs couldn't seem to catch- and her breath got snatched away in another flash of fear rushing through her at the sight.

Shit, Chase-!

"-Damn it Edryd, I don't have time for this!" Aisha snapped hotly, her eyes snapping back toward the Vaide.

"Oh? And just what do you think we are doing, that you don't have time for?!" Edryd snapped back, less heatedly and more icy cold- he was back in front of Aisha again and swinging his sword around, with Aisha only barely dodging again, and haphazardly sending another wave of Magic at him in retaliation.

"Playing out your fucking vendetta damn it!" Aisha hissed, jumping back again and stumbling as she put up a Ward and he cut through it, causing it to explode. She winced as she was thrown back into the ground, struggling to roll back on to her feet and out of the way of the next swipe of his sword.

"If you truly think this is for nothing but a vendetta, then perhaps I shouldn't be wasting my time sparring with you!" Edryd snapped back hotly, "I suppose I cannot be surprised you're so blind to what this really is- given you chose to chastise me when I asked you give your version of events, instead of face the reality of what happened that night you and Ranath fought Lord Nirav!" Edryd growled, his sword coming toward her again with more fervor and anger this time around, and missing by only an inch.

"What reality?!" Aisha snapped back hotly, her Magic flaring and enough so she pushed him back, sending him sliding across the grass and halting for a moment. "Do you really think I don't understand what happened that night...?! I can't ever forget it, it's haunted me every step I've taken every single fucking day!" She hissed, "I know what happened Edryd, but what the hell is talking about it now going to change?! Nothing I could tell you is going to fix anything, or make it better, or mean a damn thing...! I can't... I can't tell you anything that will make up for it, and I can't do anything either! Fighting about it still after all this time is useless..!" Aisha snapped, her voice breaking a little at the end there, though she did everything she could not to let it.

"Tch... do you really think killing me is going to make you feel better?! Do you really think going through every detail about that night right here with you, is going to make a difference...?!" She hissed and he glowered, his grip on his sword growing tighter in agitation. "What the hell do you want from me Edryd?! Really-?!" She yelled and his shoulders hunched, anger bubbling faster now and yellow eyes blazing.

"Honesty!" He shot back coldly, cutting her off abruptly and Aisha stiffened slightly at the way his voice seemed to tighten when he said it, just a tad. "I want you to speak the truth- the full, complete and honest truth, for once in your life! I want you to say it all, to not withhold anything, and not hide behind your self-righteous thoughts and emotions for once! I want you to lay before me every detail, and as you do I need to know that you truly understand what happened- I want honesty, and I do not want your lectures or your chastising, damn it!"

Aishe faltered, her eyes flashing and bristling slightly when Edryd's voice trembled a bit, his eyes falling to the ground and shaking his head in agitation.

Honesty...?

"...tch... But I should know better than to think you capable of such a thing..." He hissed lowly, "... You deal in nothing but lies, and deception, and hidden truths- of course you cannot face reality... And you certainly cannot speak it out loud... So fine, I am done trying to give you time to mull through it... I have no patience left for this." Edryd grumbled lowly, his shoulders sinking again as he looked back up slowly, his eyes deadly cold and expression suddenly as emotionless as his eyes. Aisha felt a shiver run up her spine, her heart skipping a beat at just how dangerous he looked.

The Vaide's hand swept up, quick and much too fast for her to even register it or react- she couldn't shake off the chill that had suddenly fallen over her, and in the next instant something heavy and cold snapped around her neck. She yelped, stumbling back at the force of it colliding with her and slamming into the ground, the Collar instantly cutting her Magic off and leaving her utterly powerless.

Chase sucked in a harsh breath of air that he choked on, sputtering further still as he cracked an eye open at the sound of Aisha's yelp, and the feel of her Magic fading to nothing so quickly too. He could not see her clearly for how terribly his vision had blurred as Pestilence's Magic took full effect, but he knew instantly she'd been Collared, and now she had no Magic left at all to fight with against the man so hellbent on doing her harm. He did his best to try and push himself back up, but there was no strength left in his arms, and the Gravity Wells still hampering him down made it impossible to even push himself up just a little.

S...shit... I need to move...

"Out of respect for your Ilaen, I will not force him to suffer days until his life finally ebbs away- not as Ranath had to suffer." Edryd muttered lowly, Aisha's quick attempts at trying to pick herself back up coming to an abrupt halt at his words, her head snapping up quickly to look at him again. Edryd took a single step sideways, his hold on his sword tightening, and Aisha's blood went cold when Edryd's eyes moved from her and locked on to the trembling Energy Mage still sputtering and gasping for air. Aisha immediately started stumbling to her feet, all thoughts on the Collar and her lack of Magic lost in a wave of sheer terror.

No-

"There will be no Druhma to be called on his part, I'll end his life quickly before dealing with you. Two Ilaen's dying in service of you is more than enough, your circle of lives lost in your service ends tonight, Lady Celene!"

"DON'T!"

Edryd didn't hesitate, not even as Aisha's voice rung on the air loud and panicked- he swept straight forward, resolute, steady, and entirely focused on the sputtering Energy Mage. He swept up, sword raised and thrusting it forward toward the downed Fairy Tailer, straight at his center as Chase struggled to sit up a little and try to save himself. He would make it quick, clean- over in an instant, so there would be no days of struggling for air and slipping away hour by hour. He grit his teeth as he struck forward, anger and rage and hurt all boiling inside of him and he couldn't keep the memories of those few days away- just the mention of that Druhma brought it all back, and a feeling like absolute hellfire swept through every inch of him. He had to hit something, he had to lash out, and going after Aisha in a constant game of try and dodge was only infuriating him more.

This needed to end, he had no patience left to dodge around with her, and hold out some little hope that- Gods damn it.

He plunged the sword down in a haze of overwhelming anger and frustration, years of bundled up rage and hurt now bubbling over faster than ever, he couldn't help himself- just being here and seeing Aisha had him over the edge faster than he wanted to admit, and he couldn't keep himself calm for it... not even when he wanted to.

Not even if he wanted- tch... No more of this-!

Edryd faltered though, the sword stopping right in the middle of the thrust and his heart dropping into his feet when the blue eyes of the Energy Mage before him were suddenly replaced with yellow ones, a ghostly visage of a man with Edryd's own face, hair, eyes, everything- suddenly standing there in his way, Pestilence's tip sinking into the ghost's chest before Edryd could stop himself. The tip of the sword hit something solid, a metallic clang followed by a sharp hiss of pain- but Edryd hardly noticed it at all, his eyes were fixed on the ghost now suddenly impaled by his own hand, and who had appeared with no warning, or reason... there was no possible way.

There couldn't be any possible way, and still... the words of the girl who's Magic was now hovering over every inch of Adgnei came to him again. He'd heard her call to arms of Adgnei's people and her pleading they stand fast against this chaos soon after he left the confines of the Palace. He'd heard her as clearly as any in the city had, and he'd paused to listen to what she said in it's entirety.

He had no reason to believe anything she had said, he had no clue who she was, or any reason to believe her when she claimed to be the 'Mortal Embodiment of Soul'- and still there had been some strange amount of wisdom and authority in what that girl had said. She spoke with no hesitation and no uncertainty, her words weighty and dire and yet so sincere- and her Magic above their heads? It was stifling, and old, and great- she was someone of Power, as she said, and even if he did not fully understand... and she must have meant what she'd told them. About all of it, the Souls of the Damned, the corruption of the Kullui and by what means. He'd felt the sudden wind stirred by her words, and he'd felt the warmth and energy it held and the way it seemed to thrum in his very core. Edryd had felt the pressure rising, the air laced with Magic and the wind thick with it, warm and dancing, full of voices and whispers too far off to make out what they said... but there, and alive.

But the warmth was come and gone as quickly as it came, the whispers gone to- right up until that very moment his eyes locked with yellow ones exactly like his own, and the world seemed to halt on that moment. And right then her words came back, and ten times heavier than the first time- because it couldn't be possible, and yet there he was, staring at someone long, long gone.

'Fight for your home, for those you love, for your lives, and fight to remain true to yourselves. Do not back down, give it everything you have and know- all those you lose here tonight, and all those you have lost before are here now, standing with you.'

He hadn't dared to really put any stock in those words until right that instant, and now he was frozen, reeling as his heart lift and broke all at once.

"... R... Ranath..." Edryd mumbled shakily, his voice barely above a whisper and inaudible to anyone but himself and the ghostly visage of his brother. The ghost's yellow eyes flashed, unperturbed by the sword in his chest as he shook his head once, his expression weary, and his mouth falling open to say something Edryd could not hear... but he understood what words left the long-since dead Ilaen's lips anyway. He knew, he could hear the voice in his head, though it certainly couldn't have been there... and it was a voice he knew so well, and yet never believed to hear ever again.

Edryd swallowed hard, blinking once just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and instantly the visage was gone- leaving only what it was that his sword had knocked into, and the Vaide stiffened, his eyes glittering to find it was not only the fading image of Ranath who had suddenly placed themselves between his sword and the Energy Mage.

Aisha hissed, trembling slightly and out of breath, bent down onto one knee and arms held out on either side of her- shielding Chase behind her and not moving even an inch, not even when Edryd's sword pressed hard and fast against the metal of the Collar around her neck, and was the only thing keeping her flesh from being ripped open. She swallowed, her violet eyes locking with his and still unflinching, she wouldn't move, not even if she had no Magic, not even with the Gravity Wells trying to push her down, and not even if he would cut through her trying to get to Chase- she would not move.

Chase hissed, his breath catching again, strangled and harsh, his blue eyes dazed and glittering as he grimaced at how quickly she'd put herself between him and the blade- and where it was now just an inch away from her neck.

"... I will not... Let you kill him..." Aisha hissed, her voice broken by her elevated breathing, both from fear and her mad-dash to get here in time- and because she hesitated to move even a little, or breathe too hard- not with the sword where it was, and how quickly it might slip. She was pinned and powerless and she knew it, one movement from him and she was dead- she knew it. And though he seemed to have faltered there for a moment, she knew better than to think she had any options, or even much time... All that was left at that moment, was to try and do as he wished... Even if in the end it didn't sway him.

She had to try, not for her sake, but for Chase's... And maybe for Ranath's and Edryd's too.

She took in a slow, controlled breath of air to try and steady herself- but hell if her body would stop trembling. She pushed on anyway, her lips pulling down at the edges painfully.

"... You want honesty, Edryd? The full truth, nothing held back... No lecturing...?" Aisha mumbled softly, Edryd's attention on her focusing quickly as she started talking as he watched her, straight-faced, him and his sword immovable.

"... It was my fault, I know that. Ranath's death was entirely my fault... I might not have dealt the blow, but it was my doing... I am the one he came back for, I am the one that started the chain of events that lead to it... And I am the one who was too weak to hold my own against Nirav... And I am the one that Ranath jumped in front of, to spare my life... Even if it meant losing his." Aisha hissed, her face twisting slightly more along with her voice. "... I am the one who lead him into every bad situation we had to face... It was my work, and my want to fight... I dragged him into all of it, and even if I didn't force him- I still dragged him into it, because I knew he would follow me anywhere... And I let him... I let him get dragged into it, and I should have tried harder to keep him safer...tch...to... Keep him away from all of it... I should never have risked him... E... Ever..." Her eyes dropped as she sucked in a sharp breath of air and moisture pecked at the corners of her eyes as her voice broke for half a second.

"... B... But... I couldn't keep him away from it... I couldn't... Keep myself from... Bringing him into all of it... B...because... Because I needed him..." Aisha hissed through gritted teeth, "... I needed him... I... I tried so hard to cut people out, to be on my own after it, to not rely on anyone... B...but... I can't... I'm not strong enough to be on my own... I can't do anything by myself, I can't even fight on my own without... Tch... B... because I'm not good enough... I need someone... And he... Ranath... I loved having him with me through it all, through every little shitty thing, through every little win, everything... I can't stand on my own, and I know that... I needed him, so I dragged him along every step of the way... And he ended up dead because of me... I... I couldn't stand the thought of being... On my own again... So I... I called the Druhma because I was afraid of losing him... I couldn't stand the thought of not having him... E...even when I knew... He was in so much pain... And he tried so hard to... To... Damn it..." Her voice broke off painfully and she swallowed hard against it, her eyes gleaming as she looked back up at Edryd again, a line of tears spilling down her cheeks.

"... I am so sorry, Edryd..." She told him softly, her voice shaking terribly as the Vaide stiffened ever so slightly. "... I am so sorry... I should never have pulled him into any of it... It's my fault, everything... It's all on me... I never wanted him to die, and I am so sorry... He was everything to me... And I know how much he meant to you... I am sorry I took him from you..." Aisha stammered, swallowing hard again and stiffening when the tip of the blade scratched against the metal, making her halt for a second before going on. "... I am so sorry, for all of it... I know the fault lies with me, I understand that, and if you really feel the need to kill me... Then fine." Aisha hissed, her voice steadying slightly and her countenance too as she looked him dead in the eye, suddenly almost steely. "But do not kill Chase, he doesn't deserve to die." She grumbled lowly, raising herself slightly and just to be a little more in between Chase and the Vaide. "Do not condemn him for making the mistake of following me, and do not condemn him for his loyalty, or his kindness toward me either... He is the one person after all of this time who has cared for me as Ranath did... He is the only person in this world I have loved just as much as your brother." She hissed lowly,

"Ranath did not deserve to die for loving me, and for my loving him... He did not deserve to die for his selflessness, loyalty, and care- Ranath did not deserve to die for any of that, and Chase should not have to die for it too."

Edryd stared, his expression utterly unreadable, not moving a muscle even as Aisha locked eyes with him, not even as her tears kept coming and yet some sort of fire igniting in her under the regret and the pain... She was Magic less, beaten, bloody, and kneeling before him, utterly at his mercy- and still defiant.

Chase sputtered, his coughing ceasing for a moment as he grimaced, trying to pick himself up and hating her willingness to throw herself away if it spared him. He knew she meant it, she was resolute and her emotions didn't waver for even a moment, he hated her for being so quick to give in to spare him, even though he knew she did it out of selflessness- but he hated it more he hadn't any strength to try and stop her.

"... A... Aisha... Y... You ca...n't..." He managed to stammer out breathlessly, only to end up coughing again and Aisha stiffened against it, her stomach twisting painfully at the sound.

She wouldn't back down though, this was the only way out and she had to- it was far passed her turn to be the one putting her life on the line for him. He'd done it so many times before now and he'd saved her a hundred times more, pulling her out of that dark pit she'd fallen into after losing Ranath. He was the one thing that had brought her back to the top and made it possible for her to live, to feel, to care, to open up... And to truly love, where she didn't think she ever could again.

She was not going to lose him, and let the world be robbed of someone so utterly good.

"You wanted honesty Edryd, and now you have it." Aisha grumbled lowly, pushing forward a fraction of an inch and the sword tip digging a little deeper into the collar, her tears still spilling down her cheeks in silence.

"That is the truth of what happened, and I know the fault is mine- kill me if you have to, but don't you dare touch him again...!"

Edryd's face twisted, his teeth gritting as she snapped the words next, and he pulled the sword back swiftly and raised it to strike, the stone around his neck glowing faintly along with the blade. He swung out, straight at the Moonlight Mage who still did not flinch even as he readied to hit her, though her eyes shut instinctively as he swung out, the blade whistling on air. Chase jerked himself up off the ground in a last ditch effort, his hand reaching out for her just in front of him and lungs screaming for air as he held his breath.

No-!

Sticky drops of scarlet met the air in the quake of Edryd's sword, Pestilence's edge striking across Aisha's skin, cutting a thin slice across her right cheek.

The cut was shallow and quick, the sting of pain following it just as fleeting as the contact of her skin with the sword, before the swing finished and Edryd let his hand and Pestilence with it drop at his side.

Aisha's eyes snapped back open in shock, her heart skipping a beat and stunned, a thin trickle of blood sliding down her jaw from the cut as she watched the Vaide wave his free hand in air, the Gravity Wells deactivating and dropping to the ground with soft thumps. Edryd's eyes dropped, his hand moving up to tap lightly against the stone around his neck, a screen filled with numbers and lettering appearing in front of him as he quickly read through the information, and Aisha just kept staring, completely paralyzed... Chase behind her panting still and struggling for air, but also thoroughly confused.

Aisha's hand lift tentatively, prodding at the cut and the blood lightly... It was just... A small little... Cut...?

"... W...what the... Hell...?" She mumbled breathlessly, "... But... Why didn't... You...?" She asked, her eyes still stuck to Edryd as he waved the screen away, his face unreadable still but suddenly a little... Worn.

"... I do feel a want to kill you, and I even planned to truly act on it... Up until just a few minutes ago." Edryd grumbled lowly, his eyes not meeting hers just yet as he shook his head slightly, his attention on the ground instead. "... I have been holding on to my rage for a very long time now, and I've wanted to harm you in a way that would match what I have been feeling... Even when rationally, I do understand killing you will likely do nothing to make me feel better. It's a hollow thing, vengeance... I know that, I always have. But even still, every time I have ever thought of you, seen you, or even heard your name mentioned- I feel nothing but rage, and that anger toward you has made it very, very hard to try and see things rationally, or act as such." Edryd sighed, "... All of this time I have been willing to go along with just about anything, if only to get a chance at causing you harm, in one way or another... You were not incorrect, I have allowed myself to let things get out of hand, but I have not been unaware of how wrong all of this is... This chaos, destruction, and harm." He mumbled, his attention casting slightly toward the looming figure of the Palace, and then the burning of the city far below.

"... I would have preferred to go without you lecturing me about it... But I am not above admitting this was all a mistake... I know I have to take a step back from the anger I feel toward you, but it is not easy... For now though, I have no choice but to." Edryd murmured softly, and Aisha's eyes went wide. "... In being rational... I do concede that your Ilaen made several good points... I know Ranath wishes I won't kill you... It would be insult to him, and his sacrifice... And to his love to you, as well... So I will not kill you, despite my feelings." Edryd mumbled, Aisha's eyes flashed.

W...what...?

"... In accordance with what my brother wants, I swear that I will not take your life." Edryd murmured steadily, "And from here on... I will be more wary of letting my emotions overturn my better judgment... But do not take this as forgiveness, Lady Celene. I do not forgive you, and things between us have not been resolved." Edryd went on, his tone dropping at the end as he finally looked her way and their eyes matched. "I am taking a step back in lieu of more pressing concerns, but this is not settled... This was but a start, and nothing more." He warned lowly and Aisha grimaced at it, Edryd waved his hand at her, gesturing toward the cut on her cheek. "I have given you 24 hours before the effects of Pestilence activate." He told her simply and she stiffened at it. "The sickness it will bring will not kill you, but I promise you will not enjoy it." He grumbled, and she hissed under her breath at the assertion... What kind of hell had he planned for her in 24 hours time...?

And what was with this sudden change in... in everything...?!

"In the meantime however, you have 24 hours to continue with what you will... Perhaps if we are lucky most of this chaos will have settled by then." Edryd kept on, oblivious to the look on her face and instead replacing his sword in it's sheathe. Aisha meant to question the Vaide further but Chase's shaky hand falling on her shoulder diverted her attention entirely.

She whipped around, heart racing anew and reaching out for him quickly- he was up and sitting on his heels now, wheezing and shaking badly, but with the Gravity Wells no longer in effect, he'd managed to push himself close enough to reach her. Aisha's hands shot out toward him, steadying him and eyes glittering like mad as she felt how warm he was underneath her touch, and how rattling his lungs were in his chest.

"... Chase...!" She hissed quietly, the Energy Mage leaning into her arms heavily and coughing a few more times- which earned a pained groan from him soon after, Aisha's eyes immediately darting from his pale face to the thick smear of scarlet across his side from the sword wound that had been left there. She frowned, swallowing hard as she helped support him for a bit, him doubled over slightly and her hand landing on his back gently, "... Shit... Just... Try and breathe in slowly if you can..." Aisha mumbled quickly, Chase coughing again but the fits seemed to have slowed drastically since first getting hit.

Edryd blinked, his eyes casting sideways toward the pair bent over on the ground in front of him and letting out a low sigh. He felt the anger bubble still inside of him as he looked at Aisha, though he quelled it for now, as he said... The image of the ghost of Ranath a few minutes before still coming back to him over and over, and the whispers and wisps of his voice in his head.

Edryd's hand fell into one of the pouches on his belt, pulling a small vial out and quickly dropping it beside Aisha and her Ilaen in the torn up grass and dirt. Both Fairies jumped slightly at it, Aisha's eyes gleaming as the familiar hue of the liquid and both her and Chase looking up at the Vaide questioningly.

"The worst of the symptoms should fade in a few minutes, though afterward you'll still feel quite frail." Edryd explained quietly aw he caught Chase's eye. "I chose a sickness with symptoms and effects that only last for a short time normally, and sped it up so it would hit you faster to keep you occupied... But it is not a fatal illness, not for someone as young as you." Edryd mumbled and Aisha stiffened at it, "It will still be a bit of a blow to your immune system though, so I suggest you take that to help get you through the rest of this... It should heal that wound enough so it's not a bother either." Edryd mumbled with a flick of his hand toward the vial it Cure-All he'd dropped beside the two.

"... W... What the hell was all that about him suffering for days then...?!" Aisha snapped quickly and Edryd grimaced slightly at it.

"A lie, and one made out of frustration." He replied flatly, "I meant what I said about not wishing to harm your Ilaen, and I never intended to... But your constant chastising brought me to the edge." He growled lowly, making Aisha stiffen slightly at it, her annoyance sparking brighter- Chase wilted slightly in her hold, a rough, shaky breath escaping him as he shook his head a bit.

"... Ai...sha... It's fine... I'll be okay..." Chase managed to grumble between harsh breaths, quickly trying to save her yelling anymore lest it spark another fight. "... I'm feeling... better... it's getting easier to... Breathe... It's not worth... It to... Keep arguing..." He mumbled and she frowned at it, but took the hint and kept her mouth shut. Edryd stayed quiet too, his eyes moving away from the pair again and frowning to himself as he looked up toward Okeal. For a few moments it was quiet, the raspiness of Chase's breathing fading gradually as he stopped shaking so much, and Aisha gently prompted him to take the Cure-All, the rough breaths fading to near nonexistence soon after, and the skin around the wound closing up almost halfway.

"... I did not wish for this..." Edryd said at length, surprising both Aisha and Chase out of the Moonlight Mage starting to tie a bandage made of a torn piece of her Dyann over Chase's wound. "... I had doubts about opening that Door from the beginning, and more so about carrying out Drennios' orders... I did not want to harm the Energess, nor intend it... But I ended up doing harm regardless... And I allowed more harm to come to her afterwards, without attempting to stall it..." He sighed, glancing back slowly toward the Fairy Tailers. "I am sorry." He murmured softly, his hand raising as he snapped his fingers and the Collar around Aisha's neck unlatched. "Last I saw of the Energess she was in quite a bit of pain, and the Collar the God-King had made was harming her more than I could have imagined it could... I should never have put it on her, I apologize..." Edryd mumbled, Chase stiffening at the words and frowning deeply at the thought of his old Mentor in that kind of agony.

"... And I apologize that I did not try and intervene in her being used to open the Gate as well, it was nothing but evil..." Edryd kept on, earning a grimace from Aisha now too. "... More so at the moment however, I apologize that I cannot get you past the Barriers into Okeal." Edryd murmured and both Fairies blinked in tandem with one another.

"... What?" They asked simultaneously, and Edryd's shoulders sank.

"I have been barred from entering." Edryd murmured, "Shortly after the Door opened I tried to get Drennios away, and out of the middle of what came pouring out of it... But He tossed me from the Palace altogether, and transported me outside the Barriers confines. I attempted to return, but to no avail. I am stuck here on the outside just as you are." Edryd murmured lowly,

"Tch.. Shit...!" Aisha snapped hotly under her breath, "Damn it... We're just going to have to wait on Seyre to find a way to bring the Barriers down..." She muttered lowly,

"How long is that gonna take...?" Chase asked quietly, and Aisha stiffened at the question.

"A number of hours, at the least." Edryd answered for her and Chase frowned, "Perhaps less if the King's Ilaen were to assist, but I am not sure where he is- he might have been buried in the rubble of the tower, for all I am aware." Edryd grumbled lowly, shaking his head slightly as he glanced away from them. "... I will not waste my time waiting for your Keistae to meddle with Barriers, Lady Celene... For now I will go into the city and destroy the Kullui your Master of Souls have said are being corrupted. The sooner this mayhem comes to a close, the sooner things can be settled for good..." Edryd told Aisha coolly, casting her a sideways glance, steady as can be and so utterly neutral now, and she bit her cheek at the look.

"... If I were you, Lady Celene, I would hope to the Gods that all of this is dealt with before your 24 hours are up."

---

Present-

"... What the hell...?" Bixlow mumbled, his eyes darting around them to take in the new surroundings.

The room was vast and stretching out on all sides, the roof far, far above their heads and dotted in glass that showed the dark and hazy night outside. Pillars of stone dotted the perimeter, trailing ivy crawling up their lengths and the walls, the walls themselves painted to mirror a wood or forest of some kind. It was clean and neat, and the floor was cut into dozens of sections all around, massive pools of water lying near level with the small pathways winding around each of them- and all pools lined up to create one single, larger pathway up the middle. The water rippled gently, the surface disrupted in some of the more outlying pools along the edges by small fountains and waterfalls being let in through spaces carved into the walls. It was chilly, and smelled of moisture and few growing things, and the pools themselves stretched down deep... Deep down into pitch black with no chance of seeing the bottom.

Evergreen's arms wrapped around Frea's shoulders firmly, holding the Energy Dragon Slayer to her chest and keeping her steady, partway in her lap as Evergreen spared a few quick glances around.

They'd been dropped closer to one end of the room. Across the long way a huge, heavy-set and shut door was standing silently on a half-circle of stone free of any other pools of water- much like where they were. The space they were on lead further up to some stairs and a platform pushed against the wall, lined by freestanding columns on either side and shouldering another door, halfway hidden by dark drapery pulled in front of it... It was not the door that caught their attention, though.

They stiffened, instantly on edge and Bixlow and Freed on their feet, stepping forward to place themselves in front of Evergreen and Frea. Evergreen held Frea closer, protectively so as the Thunder Legion's eyes landed on someone.

Someone, a stooped, thin figure standing at the edge of the platform and the top of the stairs, covered from head to foot in dark robes that were ripped and shredded all over. They could not see the figure's face, it was hidden by a hood, but they did see the pale skin, and the slow drip of blood down their arms, speckling the otherwise clean stone flooring.

The figure hissed, their hands balling into fists and shoulders growing rigid as they lay eyes on the Fairy Trailers a dozen feet from where they stood. "... Tch... Four was much more than I intended brought to me." The figure grumbled lowly, their voice cold and hissing. "... I expected perhaps my Ilaen would be clinging still to the Energess... However I see not him, but three puny Fairies instead..."

The Thunder Legion felt their hearts skip a beat, their eyes flashing in the dim of the room and their blood running cold.

... His Ilaen...? Talarr...?

Then that would mean... This person is...?

"... I don't have a need for you three, begone from my sight at once." The figure muttered lowly, extending a bloody hand toward the Thunder Legion, sending drops of crimson in a cascade to spatter against the floor. They stared, their minds whirling and frozen, staring.

This tiny... Fragile looking person... Is... The King...?

They felt their breath catch in their throat, urgency and panic ramming into them in the course of a single second. They saw the figure's eyes flash under the shadow of their hood, cold and flinty.

God-King Drennios

"The Energess and I have things to settle."

...

It all happened so fast

Freed's sword swept out, light glinting off the edge from the Runes suddenly written and brought to life. They spread outward over the perimeter of the room, sticking hard and fast to the walls and decimating the writing that Drennios had begun to activate under the Thunder Legion's feet- unraveling the Transportation Sigils the God-King immediately tried to use to send them from this place, and destroying His attempts at separating them from Frea once more. The God-King let out a low growl at the action, not missing a beat even under Freed's incredible reflexes.

Freed and Bixlow hit the floor hard, blown backward by a wall of invisible force born of a simple flick of Drennios' hand, the quick barrier Freed tried to throw between them shattering in a mess of misshapen rune fragments on air, and Bixlow's Tiki Dolls wrenched apart and scattered in all directions of the massive room. Evergreen held tighter to Frea, the force churning up wind in all directions and snatching her glasses away in an instant, she hissed, her eyes flashing gold as she locked her gaze straight to the God-King, searching for eyes she could not see in a hasty attempt at trying to stop any further movement from Him by having His whole body turned to cold stone... but she saw no eyes, and even if Drennios' had met her gaze where she couldn't see, nothing happened.

Evergreen's heart dropped at it, a flash of fear racing through her as the light of her eyes faded, and Drennios' hand swept her way before her mind came up with a next move- she swept her hand out in reaction, her Magic flaring as several bright bursts of gold swept out toward the God-King.

"Fairy Machine Gun!"

Drennios simply flicked His hand again, another wall of force tossing her attack backward, splatters of blood hitting the floor at the God-King's feet from His still bleeding arms. Drennios' hand came up again, pointing three fingers directly at Evergreen next, a bracelet on His wrist glowing muddy red.

"I said begone." Drennios hissed lowly, Evergreen stiffened, eyes flashing.

A red-hot beam of light shot from the top of the bracelet, headed directly toward Evergreen and whining as it tore through air.

"Dark Ecriture: Reflect!"

A line of Runes came to life in front of Evergreen and Frea, erecting a wall between them and the incoming blast- to which it bounced back as soon as it made contact. The blast moved straight back toward Drennios, still whining on air, the noise earsplitting as it bounced off water, stone, wall and floor alike. Drennios didn't budge even an inch as the blast came back, the floor surrounding Him just glowed white with runes that had previously been invisible, a thing see-through wall raising into air around Him and easily guarding against the blast that had been send back.

"What a nuisance-" Drennios hissed, His voice cut off near right off as His head tilted up toward the figures moving over His head, chattering and glowing green.

"Alright Babies, Baryon Formation!"

"Yes! Yes!"

The whole of the room washed out in sickly green, Bixlow's Tiki Dolls circling in on each other and firing off a blast of their own that rivaled that of the one the God-King had sent Evergreen's way. But still the God-King did not move, the incoming attack did not seem to interest Him at all. The runes around his feet and the wall they brought with it them were still glowing, and the blast crashed against the Barrier harmlessly- though Drennios' attention had snapped left instantly. Bixlow had rounded on the God-King, immediately on his feet after being thrown and darting over the floor on a beeline. Drennios flicked a hand again, another wall of force sweeping out toward Bixlow, but the Seith Mage was more prepared for it this time and easily dodged, and just kept on cutting the distance between himself and the God-King in seconds time.

"Hey, you've gotta a key for me, huh?! The one that goes to that collar ya put on Frea!" Bixlow called out toward the God-King, smirking slightly in a little flare of his usual mannerisms, but sounding not at all pleased. Drennios growled, sending out another few walls of force but Bixlow jumped about nimbly, his Tiki Dolls reappearing at his sides to act as footholds to dodge with. "Maybe you should just hand it over before we have to really lay into ya, yeah?!" Bixlow called,

"Dark Erciture: Slay!"

Drennios stiffened, His attention leaving the advancing Bixlow as something struck out two inches in front of His nose, a line suddenly carved into the marble and straight through the line of Runes around him and the Barrier they created. There was a blur of green, Freed now suddenly not three feet from where the God-King was and at the end of that line carved into the stone and marble flooring, sword raised and right eye glowing a dark, sickly, almost demonic purple.

Drennios' attention snapped back around as Bixlow swung forward, his hands landing on the God-King's shoulders, the Seith Mage flipping over the smaller's head and dragging the God-King backwards with him. Bixlow pulled the God-King off His feet, slamming Drennios' back down into the floor as he landed, leaving Drennios stunned and pinned under Bixlow for a moment. The Seith Mage quickly threw the God-King's cloak open, searching for the key among the folds of fabric before Drennios had the senses to retaliate- and when Drennios did begin to try and throw the Seith Mage off, Bixlow's searching halted for half a second. Bixlow flicked his visor up deftly, his eyes flashing green and tongue sticking out as he looked straight down into Drennios' face, the God-King's hood slipping as He began to struggle.

"Sorry, but I think it'll be easier if you just give me the key yourself huh? With a little prompting of course!" Bixlow hummed, his eyes burning brighter as he activated his Seith Magic completely, and locked eyes with the God-King for the very first time.

Bixlow stiffened, his heart skipping a beat, his Magic rising and doing nothing- just as Evergreen's hadn't.

The eyes looking back at him were cloudy and hazed, sunken into a thin face with skin as pale as death. The God-King was thin and frail, with dull lavender hair falling haphazardly around a face so gaunt He looked like nothing more than a skeleton- a thin face, so pale- but a young one too. Drennios must not have been much older than Romeo, and those cloudy, unfocused, and unseeing eyes locked with Bixlow's, completely milky white and not an iris or pupil to be seen.

"... he's blind...?!" Bixlow hissed reflexively, Evergreen and Freed catching the shocked words and stiffening for it. The God-King's thin lips curled,

"How dare you touch me?!"

Bixlow was wrenched upward, thrown backwards and off of Drennios by another wall of force. Bixlow's grip around the God-King was lost, his hold on the cloak doing him no good as the whole thing tore and was tossed away along with him. Freed was thrown once more too by the wall of pressure suddenly ignited off of the God-King in a terrifying wave, both he and Bixlow landing hard, skidding backwards across the marble and splashing through some of the shallower pools of water at the other end of the room. The backlash of the force was enough even the pillars were cracked, trembling under the beating and the water being thrown up, spattering against the walkways and frothing. Evergreen and Frea were rammed into as well, Evergreen doing her best to shield the downed Dragon Slayer from the hit but losing her hold on her regardless. Evergreen's body bounced against a pillar, the woman yelping at the impact and skidding back through the now soaked marble walkways.

Frea hit the floor hard, her body smacking painfully against the slick stone and rolling- the impact jolting her instantly out of the dark throes of unconsciousness and snapping her into the waking world in the most harsh and disorienting way imaginable. She yelled, her voice breaking off in a strangled cough as the breath was driven from her and her body slid to a halt, every inch of her person suddenly on fire and her right shoulder raging with a hellfire so fierce it had her mind spinning so, so fast. She curled in on herself, her breath catching in her throat and fangs gritting so hard they threatened to crack and she didn't notice it. She couldn't think, everything was spinning, and dark, and blurry- there was a terrible booming ringing in her ears and she couldn't get rid of it, or the haze over her head.

She didn't understand what the hell... Where... Where am I...?

W...what... Is...? Tch...

... E...everything hurts... I...

... I... do...don't...

"Frea...!" The Thunder Legion hissed, their hearts dropping into their stomachs at the harshness of her voice and the awful thudding of her broken body against the stone. She curled in on herself, shaking and her breaths adopting a raspy, painful tenor they could hear easily as they bounced off the stone and water. All three of them were quick to try and stumble back to their feet, but Drennios was faster now and utterly full of rage.

The God-King swept both arms out, His arms full of gashes and slices torn into His pale skin, and sending another flurry of His blood to spatter against the floor with the movement. The Thunder Legion were knocked back again, their bones rattling as another wave of force rammed into them with tenfold more power than any time before it, their already beaten and aching bodies cracking the stone as they hit the ground again and they yelled at the pain. Drennios' hissed, unseeing eyes somehow locked to them as He swept his arms down, Runes blazing to life around the whole of the Thunder Legion and an invisible weight like a million pounds falling down atop them, pushing them further into the stone and making it impossible to move, or even really breathe. Bixlow's Tiki Dolls slammed down into the ground hard enough the wood cracked in several places, they too just as pinned in place and trembling with the effort of trying to move even an inch.

Drennios' blank gaze latched to Frea next, snapping His fingers as the runes etched into the Collar around her neck glowed again, and her entire figure suddenly jerked off the floor and dragged across toward Him, the Collar Transporting her from her place on the floor to directly before the God-King in the blink of an eye.

"Shit...!" Bixlow hissed under his breath, panting slightly and immediately trying to get up- Evergreen and Freed did too, but none of them had any luck. They couldn't lift themselves off the floor, the air was much to heavy on them and struggling against it was making breathing even harder.

Drennios stooped, bending down over Frea as His hand snapped around the Collar on her neck, hoisting her up roughly with a sort of ease that should not have been possible from someone so thin and frail looking- and certainly not with the state of His arms. But Drennios did not seem to feel the pain from the rips scored into His flesh, His attention was on one thing only and His lips curled as He brought Frea's face within an inch of His own. The Energy Dragon Slayer hissed at being lifted up, the Collar pulling painfully against the burned flesh around her throat, the rest of her body heavy and hanging limply. Her arms instinctively tried to lift and reach up for His hands, but they wouldn't do as she wished... She hadn't the strength left to try, every little movement hurt, every inch of her hot and throbbing, broken... Hell, she could hardly get her eyes to open, and what little she managed didn't really account for much. Her vision was much too blurred, her world tilting this way and that sickeningly, and she could hardly focus on that face just in front of her.

Her mind was still reeling, her thoughts fractured and scattered every which way, and still in dark corners hampered by the terror of the Fall and what she'd done... She knew somewhere in all the whirling of her thoughts that the nightmare hadn't been real, and that she'd been in Talarr's workshop, right...?

... The Thunder Legion was there...

... I think... Maybe I can smell them... Feel... Their Energy Signatures...

... But where the hell... Are we...?

...what... What is going on...?

The pressure on her throat got a little worse, the Collar being pulled up another inch higher, and that little inch making it all the harder to keep breathing, her throat burned terribly at the weight of her body pulling down against the metal. She hissed, the sound shaking as it came passed her teeth and eyes glittering, unfocused still as she tried to hard to make sense of... All of it.

"Let her go...!" The Thunder Legion snapped hotly, but they were ignored altogether. Frea hardly heard them around around the sound of her struggling breaths in her throat, and Drennios' own voice as He pulled her closer, uncaring of the way her lungs were starting to scream for air she could not get.

Freed grit his teeth, his hand shaking as he struggled to drag it across the floor and trace Runes into the stone, the weight making it a painful and terribly slow endeavor.

"Now Energess." The God-King hissed lowly, "You and I will return to the Tomb and finish what we started- you will open it again, and this time there will be no one there to meddle or interfere."

Frea's gaze flashed dimly, her silver eyes opening a fraction of an inch more and still far too dazed- but she heard most of it, though her mind was slow to put together what it meant.

... Open... Tomb... This...

... N..no...

... This... Drennios...

... I can't... I...

... We can't... Go back there...

Her eyes dropped again as she tried to mull through it, fear trickling in quickly along with panic the longer she struggled to get any proper amount of air. Drennios' expression twisted as her attention failed to really settle on Him, and He jostled her roughly, earning a sharp yelp of pain from the Energess in the process, her world spinning all the more terribly now, but the pain doing away with some small fraction of the confused daze she was in.

"Do you hear me, Energess?" Drennios hissed furiously, "You managed to seal it up again for now, but I will not let it remain closed any longer- you will remove the lock you put on that door, and cease your incessant defiance. That Door will open, I will finish my Rite." He hissed lowly and Frea's eyes fluttered open and closed several times, struggling to stay focused while her throat and lungs seared. She heard Him that time, the words registered on her fractured mind and she hissed, shaking her head weakly.

"...I... I can't..." She sputtered breathlessly, and Drennios jostled her gain, pulling up harsher on the collar and earning a strangled gasp from the Energy Dragon Slayer.

"I said enough with your defiance, you stupid girl!" The God-King snapped hotly, "Did you not have your fill before?! You don't have a choice in the matter, I will force you to do as I wish- resisting it does nothing but cause yourself pain, you damned fool!"

Frea's breath hitched again, shallow and quickly getting shallower the longer He pulled up on the Collar. Her silver eyes flashed in the dim, her face twisting as her hands managed to lift halfway, but a painful crunch of bone in her shoulder stopped it there. She bit back at the yelp she almost let out, her eyes matching with the unseeing ones of the God-King.

"... I...ca... Can't..." She repeated again, the words breathless and still so very painful. "... I... I di...dn't... S... Seal it... Jynx... S...sealed it...n..not me...a...and even... I...if... You... T...tried to force... It open... A...again... It...w...won't... I don't... Have...any...thing... Left... ..." She hissed, her words catching further as her lungs screamed louder than ever for air she couldn't get. Her eyes dropped all the way again, her vision long since darkening at the edges and being overtaken.

"... I... I'm... Spe...nt..."

Drennios halted, hands shaking around the collar and pale eyes staring straight at the Energess, His lips pulling further and further into a nasty snarl with every breathless word to leave her lips, and what it meant. He hissed, low and rumbling, His fingers tightening further around the collar as if doing so would keep the pieces of His plan from falling out of reach.

He could feel her shaking, hear the struggling of her breaths and her body... He felt no Magic, only weakness and pain, and He knew she was right.

Utterly spent

He shuddered, angry and bubbling in rage- He let go of the collar abruptly, Frea instantly thudding against the floor with a sharp yell of pain, the Energy Dragon Slayer sputtering for air and shaking terribly with the fit of coughing that came with it. The God-King paid her no mind, He stepped back, hands still shaking and blood dripping to the floor without end as He stood utterly still, lips pulled into a twisted snarl.

"... Months of work..." Drennios muttered lowly, His voice absolutely seething. "... Months of work... Hundreds of resources, dozens of workers, all spent... My city burning and my Palace defiled... All of it... For the Door to be open for but a few moments..." He shuddered again, His thin fingers curling, hands clenching tightly into fists and blank eyes staring straight downward toward a floor still being speckled by the blood falling from His shredded arms. "... I could feel them, all their Power filling me... All that Magic... All those lives... Hundreds and thousands, all filled with unbelievable strength... I was supposed to have them all... I was supposed to usher them into this world, house them... Use them to right the wrong in this country, to destroy everything I needed, and consume all that would dare oppose me..." Drennios muttered furiously, shaking more and more by the second in quickly rising rage. "... I was supposed to contain everything that came forth from that door... I had them, I felt them in my very essence... But that bastard ripped me away, and now... Tch..."

The God-King's fingers dug so tightly into His palms wells of blood were coming up to mix with the rest of the scarlet liquid.

"... I am empty again and the Door is shut... The one person able to open it, rendered useless...!" He snapped lowly, His teeth gritting so hard they threatened to crack. He shook His head hotly, ripping the black Dyann from around His neck and shoulders and tossing it aside angrily. The Thunder Legion's eyes widened, a flash of light catching their eyes as the God-King tossed the Dyann away. Their hearts skipped a beat, for half a second catching sight of a key fastened to a necklace around the God-King's neck, before Drennios turned His back on them and Frea hotly.

"Fine then, I no longer care for this mortal coil! I am done, do as you will!" Drennios snapped, His voice raising and yelling now to someone (or many someone's) that they could not see... But they did feel the air shift, a million unseen things suddenly flooding the room, thrumming with so much energy and power it was palpable. Bixlow went rigid, eyes wide and flashing under his visor- the world around him was suddenly dancing in shadows and terrible things of the most evil nature. Dancing and swirling faster now with the God-King's rage-filled voice, brimming with a power and strength that should not have been possible, and one that was almost choking.

"H-holy shit...!" The Seith Mage stammered breathlessly, Evergreen and Freed wide-eyed and frozen when even they saw the shadows in the room begin to sway and take form. The whole room was getting quickly darker, terrible silhouettes of things crawling over floor and wall and water alike, hisses and whispers igniting on the air and roaring lowly in their ears.

"... W...what is... That...?" Evergreen stammered,

Frea stiffened, her coughing coming to a quick halt as she felt the chill suddenly take over the whole room, the air buzzing and so full of energy and maliciousness it had her heart skipping a beat.

There were hundreds of them

"Let them all burn, tear this city to the ground, take them all!" Drennios yelled to the dancing shadows and the storm of bodiless voices and screams. "Consume every soul in this city- take the whole country! Drag every last one of them into the throes of Hell along with you!"

The God-King whipped around after having walked a few paces, His hand swiping out in Frea's direction. The water in one of the nearest pools suddenly shifted, something springing up from it's depths.

"Take them, and start with her!"

A chain shot forward, wrapping itself around the Collar on Frea's neck, the Energy Dragon Slayer's yelp of surprise cut off in an instant as the chain jerked her backward across the marble floor, and then dragged her down below the waters surface and out of sight.

"Damn them all!"

"FREA!"

---

Something changed

Among the constant fighting, and mayhem, and chaos raging through every inch of the city- the murder and despair on a high, and bodies continuing to litter the cobble streets no matter how hard the Adgneins or the Fairy Tailers fought... Something changed. The air was rumbling, a thousand times more than even before when the Seleyn had begun her work- and this time it was heavy, and suffocating, and so very, very cold.

People stopped dead in their tracks, a shudder running through every single living person in the city. The servals even stopped, hissing and backs arching at things only they could see, the wolves growling lolwy to figures only avabile to their eyes as well- a world suddenly filled with terrifying figures now bustling and brimming with more power and fervor than ever.

But they all saw the shadows darkening, taking on forms and moving of their own accord- they heard eerie, chilling shrieks and whispers winding around them. Their skin crawled as shadows and invisible bodies pressed closer to their own, fingers grabbing and pulling even though they weren't there.

The Salmellion in Banore and all the other Sacred Houses, and all over the streets filled with battles- they buzzed loudly, vibrating where they floated, jagged black Magic darting off them like wanton electricity. They seemed to suck in the light, adding to the growing darkness trickling over all of Adgnei and quickly into the hearts of those wounded and terrified on the grounds. Even the Fairy Tailers found themselves shaking, their feet stuck to the earth, hearts stalling and breathless.

It was like all the world was caving in around them, and any attempts at standing against this ocean of dark and evil was impossible.

The Kullui let out shrieks and roars, inhuman and rattling as their mechanical bodies were suddenly overcome by those swaths of shadowy figures. They bent in on themselves, their features twisting and many of them suddenly slamming together- molding in a mess of metal and stone and circuitry and creating massive, looming, monstrous things. Things that towered over all their heads, stomped the crumbling buildings into dust, and downed an entire street of fighters in single swoops.

Talarr and Seyre's frantic typing against screens in the base of Okeal's winding floors came to a shuddering halt, all light suddenly washed out and the machinery and Magical tools keeping the Barriers alive suddenly going haywire. Gray, Juvia, Shae and Corbynn were suddenly thrown backwards, the wave of Kullui they had been holding fast against now suddenly turned into something huge and way too powerful.

The Keistae in the city called for people to hold steady, their words falling on deaf ears- and seemingly now all the sudden, not even the Gods heard their pleas. The Fairy Tailers got pushed back, Samuel's plan- which had held for hours now- suddenly crumbling as they all were forced to run. They hissed, bleeding and out of breath, beaten in too many places to count and only barely managing something of a perimeter around Banore and a few other Temples. Even S-Class Erza and Mirajane found their attacks having so little effect on the meshed together Kullui Doll Monstrosities. Edryd's quick dispatching of the Kullui Dolls where he found them came to a sudden and decisive halt too.

Master Makarov and Saint Balthan were rendered suddenly unable to do much but remain on the defensive for the people trapped away behind them. Sentinels against a storm and an evil now suddenly so much bigger than even them... Bigger than all of them.

Something changed in all but a heartbeat, and suddenly they were losing

Everything that had been tilting on the precipice for hours on end, was now suddenly tipping over the edge, and plunging them all into the depths of complete and unrelenting Darkness.

Jynx felt it long before the Kullui began to manifest into terrible things, she felt the chill and the heaviness, and saw the sudden wash of black among hundreds and thousands of souls suddenly flooding every corner and amassing a new energy and power out of nowhere... She knew they were being egged on, bolstered by something she could not see nor hear. She knew how quickly those battling in the city were losing her hold- just as quickly as her world was being flooded in dark beings and souls and the light ones were flickering out around her.

Her constant attempts at closing the rifts torn into this reality that wer dotted around the city had been slow, but she'd been managing it. She'd closed so many already, cutting off the access to this world being abused by the Souls of the Damned, and still continued to push back against the flood still pressing against the barriers between worlds. She'd sealed so many already, but now any progress she was making was stalled.

There were terrible things pounding against her attempts to keep them back now, truly awful, and very ancient things- things trapped in the Crossroads for an eternity or more and that would turn this world on it's head if they managed to break passed her. She could not let them through, but they were strong, and grew all the more fervent with this sudden rise in power and energy from the ones already escaped. It was taking all she had to bar them underneath all the pushing and pulling going around, and all the evil and darkness taking hold.

She hissed, her head bowing slightly and arms shaking as she stood before the largest one of those still open, hands held out against the torrent of thick shadow swirling between an ancient gateway. There were screams and roars muffled through the barrier of purple and red she'd erected in the gateway, massive things pounding against it and making her flinch more and more as the seconds went by.

She could not let them through... She could not let things spiral so far, she could not let those light would left in this city be overtaken. So many had already gone, so many people were already dead and drowned in the Reach. So many, all of them terrified from their quick and violent deaths and still tormented as they were tapped here, wandering in a city of souls, and being pursued by those that would consume them entirely.

She was supposed to ferry them to the Crossroads, not leave them here, trapped and hunted... She could not let it continue.

She could not bend, damn it

Something rammed into her barrier so hard she got knocked backward a step, her hands shaking harder now as she quickly pushed back and held it- but only just, and she growled furiously under her breath, red eyes blazing.

What use was she, here in this city full of souls, if she could hardly keep any of those truly Damned souls back?

What use was she, if she couldn't mend these rifts? Stop those that had already escaped, and keep the light ones from being snuffed out?

She growled, forcing a step forward and thrusting her hands with it harshly, her Barrier pushing in against the rift roughly.

What use was she, as the Mortal Embodiment of Soul- in a city filled with thousands and millions of powerful souls- if she bent, and she failed?

What use was she, if she failed while standing in the center of the one place on earth to which the very essence of her Magic and her Being rested? The place where all of Soul stood, now locked away behind a door she'd Sealed by her own hand?

This one place where everything about her life, and her existence- actually had meaning?

She stepped forward again, eyes narrowed and growing steadily more resolved, her teeth gritting in effort and concentration.

She felt anger in her center for all this death and destruction, and the senseless harm that had been done. For all the lives lost and the torment befalling the new ones as they remained trapped here. She felt anger for what had been forced upon the innocent lives in this city, and whose world's had been turned over by the wicked deeds and wants of a few. She felt anger and hatred toward the God-King and His grasping for something he had no right to- and anger more still at how willingly he must have been to throw all of these lives away. She felt that same hatred and rage toward the Souls of the Damned running rampant, corrupting and destroying as they went... And she felt anger and rage for herself for being nearly useless against all of it. Useless and without strength enough to simply end any of this all on her own.

But more than any of that, she felt true and unbridled rage burning white-hot in her soul for what had been done unto the single person in this city who had already suffered more than any one person should. That same person who had stood hard and fast against an immeasurably powerful dark wizard, and had not faltered- not like Jynx was now, and she hated it.

Jynx pushed forward again, her Barrier bending inwards in the same instant something else tried to ram against it. It let out a pained roar as her Barrier made contact, and the dark light spitting from the entrance hissed, retracting even further. Her Magic Circle spanning the sky over the whole of the city burned brighter, the lines reaching down from it's edges to the ground spinning ever faster. The earth began to rumble, the air quickly doing the same and the dancing shadows and dark souls that had taken a firm hold of everything began to waver.

What use was she, if she couldn't stand hard and fast against this Darkness in the very place her Magic thrived? Just as Frea had when she faced the Black God?

The one place in this reality where her dominion should have been absolute?

The souls in the city could feel her power rising, her own soul blazing and becoming quickly and utterly resolute. They felt her determination, and her fire, and they felt her control and her Magic growing stronger and stronger by the second.

They felt her will and it was unyielding

"Do not give in!"

Jynx's voice rose, high and clear and easily heard all around the city- cutting straight through the new wave of fear and panic and snapping people to attention just as quickly as her Magic seemed to be tripling, and then more. She was yelling, her words projected and amplified in her rage and her rise in Power, her focus digging deeper into the very pits of herself and further still- to this place and this essence of Magic connected so fervently to her being.

This was power she had never felt before, nor believed herself capable of- but it was here and she reached for it, and grabbed tight. She held hard and fast to it, her senses opening up and power rushing through her, and she let it.

This was her power, her Magic- this was her place, and she would not let it be corrupted any longer.

No more

Her voice raised higher, her Magic, will and determination rising along with it- and when she spoke her words struck straight into the hearts of all those living, and into the very core of every single soul in this city stacked atop a kingdom full of millions of them, old and new.

"This is your city, do not let the Damned take it!"

Jynx slammed her hands forward again, Magic spiraling up around her feet and growing in diameter with each turn, raising up around her in waves and growing brighter. The rift before her shuddered, the ruins it held to groaning under the pressure on both sides, but she stepped forward again, the other rifts still not sealed around the city being drowned in a new wave of her Magic pouring down from the sky.

"This is your home, you must stand tall in defense of it! Do not let the Damned consume you, nor drive away your hope, nor your light! They have no right to be here, do not let them take anything from you!"

The streets shook, the buildings rattling and the suddenly pitch black Salmellion jumping with a new fervor, the black fading to muddy brown and swaying every which way as it seemed the darkness and the color seemed to go head to head for control. The shadowy figures shrunk back, Magic and life seeping into the air, warmer than it had been the first time she'd spoke, and so much more powerful.

Jynx pushed back one more time, her Magic reaching an apex and the Magic Circle over the city blinding. The strings attached from it to the ground pulsed, the earth rumbling as Jynx clapped her hands together, and every single rift slammed shut with a boom.

The Fairy Tailers and Adgneins stared, stunned slightly at the wash of red and purple Magic that rained down over them, the Magic Circle over the city bursting into a flurry of particles. The Seleyn didn't pause even an instant as she finished with the Rifts. Her red eyes swept up toward the sky and she raised her hands upward with them, her Magic still thrumming around her, still going, still not done.

The people on the ground jumped, yelling in surprise and shielding themselves as the thousands of Salmellion within Coriisette suddenly exploded- the glass shards and Magic trapped inside quickly rising up into the sky to join Jynx's Magic. The particles of Magic raining over the city shuddered as the Magic from the Salmellion's melded with it, creating a thousand new orbs of light in a brilliant rainbow hue against the dark of the sky.

Those in the streets stared, eyes wide and awed at the display of Magic over their heads- for those few moments all fighting in the city staggering to a pause even as the Kullui and the horrors they'd become seemed to falter, shaking under the pressure of the Seleyn's Magic and Will. A shocked ripple spread through every street and every person, fixated on the show of Magic and the feeling of it on the air- it was stifling.

"... This is... Jynx's Magic...?!"

"... Since when did she have so much Magic...?!"

"... Incredible...!"

"... So much... Power..."

The murmurs cut off, the thousands of balls of light hovering over the city suddenly moved, streaming downward toward the earth at lightning speed, the air vibrating under their might and the Kullui screeching as they drew nearer. The orbs ripped through the bodies of Kullui all over the city, splintering them into bits of wire and machinery, and snuffing out what sentience they'd had but seconds before. The balls broke down into Okeal too, the Barriers around the palace doing nothing to keep them out as they swept though the halls, rendering many of the Kullui there as nothing but piles of debris. The figures made up of shadows were burned away, the orbs bursting against them and chasing the darkness back further- they were there burning bright and then gone in the next second, but the feel of their power and energy remained even as the light faded to nothing.

"Holy crap...!"

"... She just... Took out so many...!"

"... Master of Souls indeed..." Saige mumbled under his breath, his orange eyes trailing slowly around the little remnants of light still left, but more so he was focused on the way the air was moving and the whispers dancing around them.

To turn the tide like that so quickly, especially when everything had fallen so fast into a pit of overwhelming evil and shadow? It was incredible, and something of a like that was so far even beyond him- he might have been a Wizard Saint, and good in his own right... But little compared to the likes of someone like the Seleyn, or any of the other Mortal Embodiments.

But here especially on the land that housed the Tomb of Soul- not even the Energess in all her power could compare.

Jynx huffed, her eyes glinting and dropping from the sky as she lift her hands up to her sides, a Magic Circle amassing under her feet and her Magic streaming from the edges of it, quickly heading out into the city.

"The Rifts are Sealed, but this is not over!" Jynx's voice came again, just as loud as before- her eyes stuck straight ahead but her attention everywhere else, and on all those in it. Everyone snapped to attention again, their shock on the Kullui that had been suddenly ripped apart diverted at the sound of her voice.

"Even with the Rifts Sealed there are still the Souls of the Damned on the loose, they will continue to wreak havoc as long as there are vessels for them to possess!" Jynx went on, "I will banish the Damned as quickly as I can, but you must keep fighting! Destroy every Kullui Doll in this city, give them nothing more to take over!"

Everyone stiffened slightly, their awe wearing off quickly as the Seleyn's words hit home.

"She's right, we still have more to do, Brats!" Master Makarov huffed,

"Push on, do not relent until this completely over!" Erza called,

"We'll tear these stupid Dolls up good!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Don't forget there are human Kullui among them too, be on your guard!"

"Got it!"

"We've got this guys, we can finish this!"

"We get done with these assholes and then we can head up to the Palace!"

"Hell yeah, those Barriers better be down by the time we're done!"

"Focus! The faster this battle is resolved, the safer everyone will be- those in the Palace included!"

"Right!"

The streets filled with noise, the Fairy Tailers leading the charge back into the thick of the battle with a newfound vigor- one fueled by the incredible feats of Magic in Jynx's part, and the fact that now they could begin to see some sort of end to all of this. They were that little bit closer to this being done with, and with it- getting what they'd come for in the first place.

And they were not the only ones to race forward with new energy- the Adgnein's did too, Barren, Middle Cast, Lower, Thieves Guild, and animal too. The servals jumped forward, followed closely by wolves and wyvern, snakes and all manner of creatures that called this place home just as much as the people did.

Aisha blinked, Chase beside her out of breath and wheezing slightly- though he'd stayed on his feet and kept going ever since they'd moved back into the city along with Edryd. They'd jumped into the fight, giving it their all along with the rest of the Guild, and they didn't let up even though their bodies felt ready to fall apart.

Aisha stood now at the edge of Banore, paused for a moment outside the line of Runes that Saige had drawn and made a Barrier with, her violet eyes watching the mass of people dirty and bloody, in all different clothes and Castes, from two different countries, and the animals too- all of them fighting with everything they had. Beside her Chase watched too, blue eyes glittering and quiet.

... Everyone, working together... Helping... Even the animals... All united against one thing...

Her watching was interrupted by the heavy thud of one of the blended together Kullui Monstrosities suddenly rushing up the street toward them. She stiffened, Chase following her lead and the others near them doing the same- Lily and Moon among them, and having been out here in front of Banore helping people in looking for sanctuary. They all tensed, ready for the fight with the looming and malformed Doll, what little Magic they had left flaring- but they never got any further than that.

Something rushed passed them all, several things actually- in a blur of heavy, lean bodies about half the size of a train car, their fur smooth with scales running down the top of their backs and along their sickle tails. The four charged toward the Monstrosity, long faces bowed, their two long, twisting horns on their heads pointed straight toward the enemy. Two of them thrust their horns straight upward into the Kullui, easily pulling in opposite directions and pulling the Doll nearly in half. The other two jumped, sinking their teeth in and wickedly sharp hooves tearing the Doll into further pieces. They landed back down with grace, the Doll rendered nothing but a pile in all but a few moments- and so easily defeated by those four beasts... Those four huge, and legendary beasts.

One a silvery-lavender hue, another jet black, the third a multicolor of dark russets and reds and the other light-coated, tans and golds- all of them with piercing yellow eyes as they turned back to those standing in shock outside of Banore's gates, riveted.

Aisha's jaw fell slack, her heart skipping a beat and completely starstruck- just as the other Adgneins were along with her who had seen the beasts work. For them to have left Banore was unthinkable, they hadn't done so for as long as anyone could remember- but for them to fight?

"The... Aiyin..." Aisha stammered breathlessly, her eyes locked with the yellow of the one with the russet fur, unable to look away though everything in her told her to do so. The other native Adgneins felt the same, they knew they should avoid their eyes, lower their heads- these creatures were powerful, and revered, and needed to be respected- but they couldn't look away.

"... Impossible..."

"... They're fighting too...!"

Saige paused, quite shocked himself with the sudden appearance- he knew well what these creatures were, and he could feel the power they held... But he never expected to see them in person, least of all in the middle of a war.

Aisha stared, the russet Aiyin's gaze remaining level with hers for what seemed like so long. The noise of the world around her faded, silence falling for the time their gazes remained fixed, before the Aiyin looked away and the noise came rushing back in.

All four Aiyin moved forward, lining up with a dozen feet between each of them before the Fairy Tailers and just inside the confines of Saige's Barrier. They bent their heads slightly, golden-white light coming to life around their hooves and spiraling around their horns. Magical Pressure flared from all four, easily rivaling that of the whole Guild combined. Their Magic moved in tandem with each other as it grew, bubbling up around the whole of Banore and encasing everything and everyone in it in a dome of near heavenly light. And the Aiyin remained standing where they were, immovable, eyes locked straight ahead, while everyone else stared, reeling.

"... They put up... A Barrier..." Chase mumbled breathlessly, his blue eyes reflecting the light of the Magic. This Magic felt old, and deep... Powerful too, yeah... But it was... So pleasant.

It almost reminded him of how calm and soothing Banore felt upon first arriving in Adgnei, and his eyes widened in shock when the thought occurred to him- Was I... Just feeling their Magic... That whole time...? Is that why Banore was so... Full of energy...?

Their Magic was just... At that large a scope...?

... And now it's ten times that...

Moon and Lily's eyes gleamed, their focus on the fight fading for a moment along with everyone else's. Saige let out a small breath, his orange eyes flashing as he waved a hand in air and the Runes and Barrier he'd erected faded entirely- he had no reason to keep them up, he doubted anything those creatures didn't want coming in would manage a way inside now.

"... It would seem Adgnei itself has chosen to take a stand." Saige murmured quietly, causing Aisha to jump slightly at the sound of his voice a bit to her left. "There will be so much to mend after all of this, so much broken... But this is hope at least, this will not completely destroy this country, hmm?" The Saint murmured quietly, his eyes trailing toward Aisha and she grimaced slightly, her eyes finding the Aiyin again.

"... No, it won't be destroyed." She mumbled quietly, her eyes flashing.

"... But nothing is ever going to be the same again... Not after this..."

---

"FREA!"

The collar jerking her backwards snatched her breath away... But the icy cold sensation of the water engulfing her on all sides made her lungs seize. Her mind that had been previously struggling not to tip over into unconsciousness was wrenched from the haze and into a state of full blown, deadly terror. Her eyes snapped open, heart racing as the wave of fear surged through every inch of her, snapping her completely awake into full focus.

She was being pulled down fast, down into sickly black depths as the light above her head quickly faded to nothing. She was so far down in seconds, the water was crushing her, cold and suffocating, the pitch black swallowing her up on all sides.

N-no!

She struggled instantly, her broken body hating her for the movement but the pain didn't make a dent against the terror and the panic. Adrenaline rushed through her veins on an ultra-high, the constant dragging downward and the futility of her trying to pull against it doing nothing to help. She pulled, her arms raising and hands wrapping around the collar, pulling as hard as she could and constantly even as her wrist and shoulder burned white-hot in pain with every tug... Every frantic, uncontrolled, terrified tug.

No no no no...!

She couldn't see the light of the surface anymore, everything was pitch black around her, the water so heavy and so very, very cold, and she just kept being dragged under. Further and further into some deep dark ocean with no bottom-

N-NO!

Her heart leapt painfully into her throat, her stomach flipping, what little sense she had left over the terror to hold her breath shattering. She coughed, her lungs sucking in air out of pure instinct, only to fill with water, icy cold and heavy in her chest.

She couldn't breathe, every attempt just filled her lungs more and more- she was suffocating, she couldn't break free, she couldn't... She...

I... I'm... D...drowning...!

N-not... Not again...! No, no... P...please...!

She could smell death and decay heavy on her mind, stepped deeply into the water and dancing across her senses on a repeat. She could feel the hunger of the water as it dragged her ever further down into the pitch black, her lungs aching for air, and burning with the water she kept sucking in without wanting to. Drowning over and over again-

She was in the Reach again

N-no, please... I can't be...!

I can't...!

I C-CAN'T BE HERE AGAIN...!

She coughed again, the little bit of air left in her water-logged lungs rising fast away from her into the black. Her eyes flashed in the dim, the sound of her heart pounding frantically in her chest nearly drowned by the roaring of her blood in her ears, and the terrifyingly heavy silence consuming her on all sides. Silence in a world of nothing but pitch black that she was sinking ever farther down into... Trapped, drowning, alone.

P-Please...! N-no...!

...p..please... Don't...!

Her eyes dropped halfway, her fingers numb around the collar, her arms quickly following suit as her struggling faltered, but her heart kept pounding in her chest.

... I... I don't want to be here...

... I... I... Can't...

... Pl... please...

---

Hello!

Thank you so much for sticking with me (and bearing with me a very long chapter!)!

I appreciate all you readers so very much, I know updates have been slow, but I am trying! ;w;

The next two chapters will wrap everything up in Adgnei, and then we will move on. It will be full of lots of angst and fluff though, so look forward to it I guess?

(Also forgive me another cliffhanger XD)

Thank you for reading! I will do my best to get the next chapter out faster than the last!

In the meantime I will do my best to Update 'Slain Among Ice and Fire'!

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