Chapter 34:
CRAAAASSSSSHHHHH! The magic Mobile slammed into the brick wall, crushing the front of the car and sending the three wizards flying through the front windshield in different directions. "OOOFFF!" Mason and Natsu groaned in unison as they landed a few feet away from each other.
"Ughhh…. My head….." Mason muttered as he picked himself up. The dragon layer quickly surveyed his surroundings to find he was standing in the middle of a hilly area with dark green grass and surrounding him were rows upon rows of gravestones. "No way…" He bent down to get a closer look at one of the head stones. "Where are we?…." Mason asked but his question received no answer. "Hey!... Huh?"
Mason looked over to find Natsu down on his knees with his hands over his head and his face buried in the grass. Mason raised an eyebrow at this suspicious activity. "Ummmm…. What are you doing?..."
"I'm hiding…." Natsu muttered sheepishly, his voice muffled by the thick grass.
Mason looked around for a moment, worried he'd missed something. Not discovering anything worthy of such concern he figured he'd ask again. "And just what are you hiding from?" Mason crouched down to ask.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK?!" The shivering Natsu cried back with tears in his eyes. "We're stranded in the capital graveyard being hunted down by an invisible scythe wielding monster!"
"You sure you're Natsu? You sure do cry a lot…." Mason said with a puzzled look on his face.
"YOU SHOULD BE CRYING TOO! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Natsu shrieked back as he hid his head behind the gravestone.
"I don't think I like you very much… Try not to die, I'm gonna go beat myself up…" Mason turned away from Natsu and gave him a wave as he marched off into the misty cemetery.
(Elsewhere)
"GAAH!" Edolas Brosnan shrieked as she was knocked back, sent crashing through three different tombstones. "Uuhh…." She groaned as she picked herself back up, despite her splitting headache her eyes were as keen as ever as she scanned the surrounding fog until she identified a dark silhouette. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" She roared as she fired a massive blast of golden light from her magic goggles. She didn't waste any time assessing the potency of her attack. Brosnan immediately began sprinting away, her goggles allowing her to easily traverse the foggy graveyard.
She came across a dead tree near the center of the cemetery and stopped to catch her breath. She placed her back up against the tree so that her blindspot would be covered as she rested her legs but unfortunately the old tree would serve for little in the way of protection.
"You know I always imagined I'd take you here one day. I just didn't think you'd be breathing when I did." Edo Mason called out, he had parched himself on one of the leafless branches over Brosnan's head. His ruby eyes almost glowing through the fog as he grinned maliciously. "Let me fix that!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Edo Brosnan fired another laser beam up at the reaper who easily kept out of the way, letting the blast hit the dead tree branch and causing the tree to quickly catch fire. Brosnan moved fast to keep herself from being burned as the tree was fully consumed within seconds, creating a pillar of burning red and orange light in the center of the cemetery that worked well illuminating the surrounding fog.
"Tch! Sloppy, sloppy! When did your aim get so bad?" Edo Mason taunted.
"Shut up!" Brosnan roared again as she fired another easily dodged blast. Her breathing grew heavy to the point of hyperventilation as the relentless pursuit by the known killer had driven her understandably panicked but there was something else there too.
"C'mon Boss…" Mason said with an ironic tone of voice. "You should relax. Take a seat!" Mason jabbed the bottom end of his scythe hard into the guild wizard's stomach. Knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to collapse into a sitting position. Then with a skillful spin of his weapon Edo Mason knocked the goggles from Brosnan's face and lifted her chin up with the flat side of his blade so that she was looking straight into her fearful eyes. "Awe, what's with that look? It's almost like you're not happy to see me again."
Brosnan responded by spitting a mouthful of blood into the reaper's eyes. "Gah!" He called out in disgust as he kicked Brosnan away before wiping his eyes clean. "That was just uncalled for…."
Brosnan had started trying to crawl away but she didn't get very far before Reaper leapt through the air and landed with both feet on her back. "Now! Where were we?"
"I said….." Brosnan muttered again before turning to look back at Mason with her goggles re-equipped, having recovered them when she was kicked. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She unleashed a massive point blank blast that completely enveloped Edo Mason and blasted him off of Brosnan's back. "Ha ha ha ha…." The guild wizard layed splayed out across the ground in exhaustion, her body covered in bruises and scratches, her clothes torn in places but still she wouldn't be allowed much time to rest.
"Youch…" Edo Mason called back with another sinister grin stuck to his face. His left arm was covered in a noticeable burn, for the moment at least. Mason's grip on his scythe tightened once again allowing white magic to surge through his body and quickly healing the burn on his arm. "That stung a bit.."
"Y-You… You're a monster…" Brosnan muttered as she looked on in fear.
"Monster? How could you say that? You're so cruel…." Mason feigned sadness for a moment before he turned and stared daggers back at Brosnan and hissed. "Whatever I am, I'm what you made me into!" Reaper spat back with venom that struck Brosnan like daggers through the heart as she recalled the last time the two had spoken.
(Flashback)
"HA HA HA HA!" Mason and Brosnan panted in unison as they rushed through a castle corridor followed by a legion of castle two managed to duck into a small hallway off to the side and found time to rest and refocus as the soldiers ran past them.
"Shit! End of the road." Brosnan muttered in frustration as Mason shook in fear.
"I told you this was a bad idea." The frightened Mason muttered back to his partner. "Boss…. What are we gonna do, there are too many guards."
"Damn…" Brosnan muttered to herself as she pulled a bag off her back and opened it up to find a pile of round blue jewels. "All this security for a lacrima stash?" It was then on further inspection Brosnan's keen eyes noticed something off about the lacrima and to prove her suspicion she slammed the jewel on the ground forcing it to shatter into a million pieces. "Glass! They're fakes! That means…."
"We were set up…" Mason finished, his turning even whiter than before.
"Did I hear something?" One of the guards called out upon hearing the sound of the shattering glass. "C'mon this way!"
"It's a trap! We've got nowhere to run!" Mason began rambling in his panicked state. "We're gonna die!"
"HEY! Don't say things like that!" Brosnan roared as she quickly scanned the area for an exit. "We've been through tougher situations, we'll get through this. We just need to focus on finding a way out of here!" Brosnan quickly scanned the hallway looking for some way for them to escape. Seeing no immediate exit she decided to rely on a gut instinct as a soldier torch light began glowing at the entrance of the corridor, she quickly pointed her goggles at the dead end of the hallway and blasted a hole through it which creating an opening to the outside. "C'mon!" Brosnan grabbed Mason by the wrist and began pulling him towards the makeshift exit.
The fleeing wizards were stopped dead in their tracks once they reached the edge of the hole Brosnan blasted in the wall and that's when they realized they were many stories above the ground. "We have to jump!" Brosnan decided.
"Are you crazy!" Mason argued back as he looked down at the ground way below. "We'll die if we jump from here."
"Look!" Brosnan pointed to a rooftop a few feet away which was close enough in elevation that they'd survive but they'd have to make the jump which was far from a certainty. "C'mon! Let's go!" Brosnan said as the palace guards were coming ever closer to capturing them. She swallowed her nerves and without a second thought she began bending her knees. "Follow me!"
"Wait!" Edo-Mason called out as he watched his partner leap through the opening. GULP! Mason swallowed hard, hesitating for only a moment longer before he began bending his knees in an effort to follow Brosnan but that second of hesitation would prove to be a fatal error as before he could launch himself the palace guards managed to grab hold of him. "Wait!... WAIT!" Mason cried out as the guards began to drag him away. "HELP ME! BROSNAN!"
(End of flashback)
"Daily beatings, days without food, water or a bed. I told them everything I could about the guild so the torture would stop but it never ended." Edolas Mason had cracked at this point frighteningly distorted smile curled across his face as he recounted his torture. His face telling Brosnan all she needed to know, her old partner had broken and there was no fixing him. "All of it YOUR FAULT!" He roared more viciously than ever before.
"Mason! You know I wouldn't have…" Brosnan tried to defend herself but her former partner interrupted.
"I suppose I should be thanking you though, if it wasn't for you I never would've found my REAL partner." He muttered to himself clutching his precious scythe, making it surge with power. "I used to be such a pathetic coward. Scared of my own shadow but now there's no reason to be scared! NOW I'M STRONG!"
Edolas Mason slammed his scythe blade into the ground, creating five sickle shaped energy blasts that cut across the ground in Brosnan's direction. "Gaah!" Brosnan cried as one of the blasts made contact, flinging her up in the air and making her slam back down into the dirt and once again knocking the goggles from her head.
"Gaaah.." Brosnan tried her best to crawl after her lost goggles but she was too weak to move and she was too late as Edo Mason crushed the goggles under his boot."...No…." She muttered. She was unable to stop the tears of despair from welling up in her eyes.
Mason once again lifted Brosnan's chin up with the flat side of his scythe's blade and looking into his one time friends now tearful eyes drained all the joy from his face. "Tears? Really? Well if you're going to start crying then I guess that means you're broken and we can't play any more." He said as he lifted his scythe over his head. "See ya never…"
"VANISHING FIST!" Before Edo Mason could delivered the finishing blow his Earthland counterpart appeared out of thin air delivering a punch imbued with magic power into his unprotected belly.
"Gaaahhh!" Spit came flying from Edo Mason's mouth as he was knocked back, crashing into a nearby mausoleum.
"Finally caught up with you guys." Earthland Mason declared as he cracked his knuckles. "Just in time too from the looks of it."
Brosnan struggled to her feet, her legs shaking as she pushed through her injuries to stay standing. "You saved me?"
"Nah… You're just lucky, you happened to be on the way." Mason remarked with a friendly smirk.
"But why?... He almost killed you the last time you fought…" Edo Brosnan muttered in disbelief. "You should be trying to save your friends. You don't even know me, why go out of your way to help me?"
"Because of Brosnan… The Brosnan from my world." Mason remarked with a serious expression. "You look just like her. How could I ever look my Brosnan in the face again if I left you to die."
"I may look like your Brosnan but I doubt I'm anything like her." Brosnan's eyes drifted to the smoking mausoleum where Edo Mason remained. "He's right, it's my fault he ended up like that. I shouldn't have left him behind but I ran, like I always do… I'm not worth saving."
"Yeah, you're right. The Brosnan I know would never leave a man behind." Mason agreed with a nod of his head.
"You're not going to disagree with me!" Brosnan cried back in disappointment.
"But I wouldn't say you're not worth saving…" Mason continued. "After all if you died your guild would miss you wouldn't they?" Mason shot Edo Brosnan with a familiar smile that brightened her spirits.
"Worth it or not doesn't really matter…" An eerie voice crept it's way out of the hole in the mausoleum as a hand emerged from the darkness. "Worth it or not neither of you will be saved!" Edo Mason roared as he emerged from the coliseum, his scythe crackling with magic power.
"You probably need to get out of here…" Mason muttered to Brosnan as he locked eyes with his evil counterpart.
"No way!" Brosnan limped forward with new resolve. "I'm not running! Not anymore…"
"I appreciate your resolve but that may be a poor idea." Mason commented as the Edolas version began charging an attack. "Crap!" Mason lept in front of Brosnan, firing a magic blast into Edo Mason's attack, canceling it out. "You don't have to leave but if you can't fight, at least take cover."
"Uh! Right!" The disarmed Brosnan followed orders and quickly hid herself behind a gravestone.
"Hey listen…" Edo Mason stood nonchalauntly as he gave Mason an uninterested look. "We've done this once already and to be honest you weren't much of a challenge so why don't you save us both some time and just lay down and die. I really don't feel like kicking your ass again."
"Oh trust me, this fight won't go the same way it did last time. I feed on negative energy and death, you brought me to an all you can eat buffet!" Mason declared as magic surged through his body. "I'm in my element and I'm stronger than ever!"
"Good for you. You're still gonna die." Edo Mason rushed forward swinging his scythe vertically but his twin leapt up over the blade swipe and forced his open palm directly into Reaper's face.
"Phantom Dragon Shot!" Mason unleashed a powerful, point blank energy blast directly into Edo Mason's face.
"GAAAHH!" Reaper cried in pain as his head was engulfed in smoke. By the time the smoke faded the nirvana scythe was already at work repairing the damage but Edo Mason looked significantly angrier now. "Damn BASTARD!"
Edo Mason Slammed his scythe down into the ground creating a wave of energy that flung Mason backwards knocking him through a gravestone and shattering it. Mason used this opportunity and with his telekinesis flung the jagged rock pieces back at his attacker.
"We've done this before." The frustrated Edo Mason growled and with a spin of his scythe he smashed the incoming rock shards into dust before leaping high up in the air. "Now die!" He roared as he prepared to bring his scythe blade down into Mason's chest.
Before his attack could hit though Mason phased his body through the ground to avoid the attack. When he re-emerged his face was covered by the shadow of his hood, his red eyes peering through the darkness. "Poltergeist!"
Four ghostly arms shot out from under Mason's shadowy cloak grabbing Edo Mason by both wrists and ankles immobilizing each limb and lifting him into the air. Mason's red eyes turned purple as he activated his Drive, a purple aura forming around him and the grip of Mason's ghostly hands tightened. "PHANTOM DRAGON CANNON!"
Mason stuck both arms out in front of his chest and brought his open palms together creating a bright ball of magic energy. "Fire!" Mason unleashed his magic, a beam of negative energy fired unprotected into his foe's torso. "Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!" After five consecutive attacks, burning a hole through his counterpart's clothes and leaving his chest scarred and burned, Mason's Drive faded as his magic reserves had been depleted.
Mason then slammed Reaper into the ground with his poltergeist arms before they too were dispelled. "Haaah haaaahh…" Mason panted following that flurry of attacks but knowing better than to expect the fight would be over that simply, Mason trudged forward to investigate. "Damn…" Mason muttered finding nothing where Reaper's body was left.
"HAAAAHHH!" Edo Mason reappeared behind Mason and immediately ran his curved blade diagonally across the Dragonslayer's back causing his flesh to open and spewing blood out like a geyser.
"Aaah ah…." Mason muttered as he stumble stepped forward, his eyes wide and his pupils small. His black cloak stained blood red along the back, Mason fell flat on his face and laid still and silent as he struggled to keep himself conscious.
"Hehe…" Edo Mason chuckled. "That looks like it hurts." He taunted as he stepped on Mason's back rubbing his boot in the wound. "And I doubt you'll be able to put yourself back together the way I can." As Reaper said that the burns on his chest began to fade thanks to his magic scythe. "Not that you'd have a chance…" The reaper raised his scythe to once again add another soul to collection but once again he'd be interrupted as a rock came speeding in like a fast ball into his face. "UGGH!"
"Get off of him!" Edo Brosnan called out, holding another softball sized stone in her hand.
"Gah!" Edo Mason grunted as he stumbled back off of Mason's back, the stone having left a nasty black eye on his face. "Grrrr! You'll pay for that!" The blade of his scythe became engulfed in magic like white fire as he prepared to attack.
Mason's senses returned just in time to see this and he was able to perfectly time a counter attack. With a spinning kick Mason managed to knock the scythe out of Reaper's hands and the second it left his grip the magic faded from the blade.
"GAAAHHHAAH!" Mason erupted in pain as the pain from his back injury forced him to his hands and knees.
"NO!" Edo Mason immediately dropped his composure and chased after his weapon and he was quickly able to get it back in his hands but that's when Mason noticed something.
'His eye…' The dragonslayer thought as he noticed his counterpart's eye still swollen and black. 'As long as he's holding that scythe he's basically invincible but if we can get it away from him then…..' Mason pondered to himself before a familiar grin formed across his face. "I think I've got a plan…."
(End)