"Ah, good work, Tobias," Aiden nodded in approval as Tobias walked off from the defeated Erza Scarlet and Heather. "It looks like he isn't just a waste of space after all…"
"E-ERZA…!" Cynthia's eyes widened as she say the motionless Erza on the lacrima screen. "N-NO..!"
"They knew what they were getting into when they came to rescue you," Adien replied to Cynthia. "Tell me…how does it feel knowing that everything happening right now is happening because of you?"
Cynthia's eyes widened a bit more as she moved her head to look up at Aiden, who was slowly pacing back and forth in the room, thinking of what he could do next that required Cynthia's power. "Yes, you. All because your friends cannot accept the fact that you're nothing more than a tool to be used, and you are in no way an individual of any sort." Cynthia flinched from the words as if they actually attacked her.
"B-But…" Cynthia started to object, but she couldn't find anything to say. She was just a tool being used, and the lives of her friends were in jeopardy because they didn't realize this. This is what Cynthia started to think.
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Jellal and Meredy were closing in on the tower. "We have to hurry..." Jellal said.
"Yes! That girl's body won't be able to take much more." Meredy nodded frantically in agreement. "If he fires a third time, she could really die from that! That's too much magic power for a person to be using all at once."
Jellal had a bad feeling in his stomach about something as well. He was worried about Erza and needed to help her as soon as possible. "We're almost there..."
It then felt like the entire area around them completely stopped. Not just frozen, but everything went still. Not even the clouds were moving. This caused Jellal and Meredy to come to a halt, looking around. "Now, what's the rush?" That voice came from a young man...no...a child? Someone young with black hair and green eyes, looking over Jellal and Meredy curiously. "Interesting...things are playing out a little differently this time..."
"Differently...? Who are you...!?" Jellal demanded to know. Whoever this was, they were standing in his way!
The boy looked at Jellal with a smile, while Meredy remained on the defensive. "Me? I am...Jikan Calium. The Master of Silent Sanctum."
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Gray, Lyon and Waiston tumbled across the snowy ground, their clothes charred, their body covered in intense burn marks from Maggie's lava, weakened slightly from the magic consumption they've done. "Damn…this girl just doesn't quit…" Gray said through heavy pants, unable to help but hunch over. Even with Lyon's help, they still weren't making much progress against Maggie, it felt like.
"At least we're damaging her…" Waiston replied with a faint smirk, looking over to the moderately damaged Maggie.
"You popsicles aren't as easy to melt as I thought you would be…" Maggie was panting faintly, but she did her best to hide it from the two ice mages, not wanting to show any sigh of fatigue around them.
"What sort of demon is she...?" Lyon said with heavy breathes.
"Demon?" Maggie quirked a brow at that, but then smiled. "Oh, that...you'll find out very soon."
"We need a plan." Gray told the others. As much as he hated to admit it, it didn't seem like they were going to beat Maggie alone on pure power. They had to get creative.
"Follow my lead then." Lyon said while standing up straight.
"Your lead!? You just got here and you think you're the leader!?" Waiston grumbled.
"Ice Make...Eagle!" Lyon threw his hand forward, a cyan magic seal appearing from his palm. From the seal, a flock of icy eagles spread out and began flying towards Maggie at high speeds, aiming to crash into her. Some of them did, but they just melted on contact due to how hot her body was. As for the others, Maggie turned her arm into a whip of lava and just began swatting them away with ease. She was walking forward, a mailcious grin on her face the whole time as the distance closed.
"C'mon, love. Is that the best you can do?" Maggie asked while clicking her tongue.
"Ice Make: Snow Tiger!" Lyon kept going, conjuring a gigantic tiger that pounced at Maggie. Its size was impressive as it tackled Maggie to the ground, attempting to bite and claw at her. Unfazed and unpleased, Maggie brought her fist forward, slamming it into the Tiger's chest. She sprang up and shattered it after, sucking her teeth in annoyance. "Is that all you can..."
Before she could finish, Waiston appeared on her left with his cheeks inflated. "Ice Dragon's Roar!" He parted his lips, exhaling a frigid blast of cold air and ice from his mouth. It did strike Maggie and she brought her arms up to block it. The damage dealt was minimal because of her body temperature.
"Did you really think that would work!" Maggie lunged forward, striking Waiston in the chest with her super heated palm. The strength crushed Waiston into the ground, and she lifted her heel to crush his skull. Before she could do that, however, Gray was coming in.
"Ice Make: BRINGER!" Gray had two large swords in his hands. He swung them at Maggie in an X formation, sliding past her after contact. He slid a few feet away, his expression tense as his sword already melted after the attack. "..."
"Come now." Maggie turned to Gray. "I'm not going to...grk...!?" She winced, feeling blood spurt from her side from the newly created wound. "How...!?"
"Heh..." Gray laughed with a bit of a smirk. "You haven't noticed it, have you? Despite how hot your body is, we still have an effect on your body heat! All we had to do we lower your body temperature and leave you susceptible to a hit." He explained. Lyon's distraction, Waiston's large cold air attack, and Gray's actions allowed them to finally get some solid damage on Maggie.
"Ice Make: Lion!" While Maggie was focused on Gray, she didn't notice Lyon coming. So he slipped in front of her, the lion head on his fist colliding with her cheek to send her stumbling backwards with a direct hit. "You underestimate the power of ice. Under the right circumstances, it can freeze anything!"
"Still certain you wanna take us on?" Waiston said while standing up. "We know how to beat you now."
"Know how to beat you?" Maggie felt so incredibly offended. Where did they get off!? "Beat me!? You pieces of bloody human trash thinking you can beat me? I'll show you how laughable that is!" She sucked in a breath and let loose a volley of ash in the ice wizards' direction, causing numerous explosions' that completely blinded them. The air started to burn from it as well.
"Shit...!" Waiston coughed.
"Ice Make..." Gray was going to try and blow this ash away with a fan, but he couldn't focus with all the ash in his face.
"Where is she...!?" Lyon looked around.
"One, two...Maggie's coming for you..." Maggie's eeiree voice echoed throughout the ash, putting all three wizards on edge. "Three, four...better lock your door...five, six...the clock begins to tick. Seven, eight...can't escape fate...nine, ten...WHY DON'T YOU DROP DEAD!" As soon as Maggie screamed this. a seal appeared under her feet, releasing a gigantic wave of lava that she rode atop. Gray, Waiston, and Lyon only saw it at the last second. They threw their arms out, releasing as much ice power as they could to freeze the wave. Of course, that didn't work. All they were able to do was lower the temperature of the lava as the waved crashed down on them, causing them to scream in pain as they were 'washed up' by the wave, all of them lying on the ground with severe burns.
"Ngh..." Gray coughed.
"D-Damn...what...is she...?" Waiston groaned.
"This can't be..." Lyon grimaced.
"Don't you see now?" Maggie clicked her tongue, drawing a knife from her waist. As annoying as these icepops were, they were nothing to her. "The difference in our power is clear as day. Coming to rescue that lil' girl...was nothing but a suicide mission."
"You don't...get to say that..." Gray coughed while giving Maggie a defiant stare. "We're gonna save Cynthia, NO MATTER WHAT!"
"Then you can be the first to die." Maggie said with a shrug, twirling her knife around before plunging it right into Gray's chest. Gray let out a cough and...his body shattered into ice. As this happened, Maggie's eyes widened and she glanced behind her, where the real Gray was. He was injured, but somehow, not as much as Waiston and Lyon. "W-...?!"
"Heh!" Lyon coughed. That was an ice clone of Gray, made stealthily by Lyon when Maggie used ash to blind them. The real Gray slipped away. Thanks to Lyon's skill in Dynamic Ice Make, he could create a clone that could 'talk' while Gray's voice simply carried to give the illusion he was weakened in place.
"ICE MAKE: GUNGNIR!" Gray threw his hands onto the ground, a gigantic spear of ice shooting towards Maggie.
While she was shocked, Maggie could easily avoid this. However, she was stopped when she felt something clinging to her legs. It was Waiston, suffering intense burns to hold her in place. "LET ME GO!"
"IF YOU INSIST!" Waiston said with a cheeky grin, baring the pain as he pushed Maggie forward with all his might.
Ice Make, Gungnir caught Maggie completely. She was trapped within the spearhead as it rose into the heavens. This was the same move that Gray used to defeat Ultear back on Tenrojima, but he knew with Maggie's ablities it wouldn't be enough. This was only the opening to the finishing blow. "LYON!"
"I know!" Lyon quickly crafted another Snow Dragon. This Snow Dragon flew into the sky, grabbing the spear head and breaking it off the icy length. "This is the end for you!" The Snow Dragon then proceeded to dive down towards the ground! Maggie was melting the ice she was trapped in, but it wasn't fast enough. There was a large explosion of ice when the Snow Dragon slammed into it, and not a sound from Maggie. The snow dragon shattered...and there were bits of lava scattered all across the area. Maggie was...defeated...
"We...did it...somehow..." Gray mumbled that last part. "That's what you get for messing with Fairy Tail!"
"I was the one who landed the finishing blow. Where would you two be without me?" Lyon said smugly.
"I was the one who made sure she was held down! That attack was so easily telegraphed the whole thing nearly failed!" Waiston said. And then they were all getting into an argument about who put in the most work. They were aware that they couldn't stay outside forever and had to rush back in...but what they weren't aware of were all the droplets of lava scattered across the battlefield were very slowly starting to pool themselves together...
.
"W-WHAT!?" Aiden slammed his hand into the wall after watching Maggie's defeat. "How the hell did they manage to defeat her!?"
Cynthia's eyes widened at Maggie's defeat, suddenly realizing that there was possibly hope. "Heheh…"
"What's so damn funny, child!?" Aiden turned to look at Cynthia, a deep glare in his eyes, but Cynthia seemed to ignore it this time around.
"It's just like I told them before…the best rivals make the best teams…" Cynthia started to chuckle lightly, seeing the faint ray of hope in this dark situation.
"What are you talking about…?" Aiden raised an eyebrow, speaking in an irritated tone towards the young girl, absolutely lost on what she was talking about.
"Heh…I told Fairy Tail and White Eclipse once…that even though they're the worst of rivals…when the time comes for it, they make the best team…Waiston and Gray just took down a mage of Tartaros with their teamwork…I was right…you messed with the wrong guilds…" Cynthia smirked slightly.
"Tch, we'll see about that! That worthless pile of ash has done more than enough for me, so I wouldn't keep that confident smirk if I were you…" Aiden replied, a small smirk of his own appearing. Lyon's appearance was unexpected, but it was fine...it angered him, but things were still proceeding smoothly.
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Mirajane and Elfman ran into Byron in a large dining hall like room, and the two engaged the mage in battle, only to find that Byron was easily able to handle both of the Strauss siblings with only little trouble. "Blood of the demon, huh?" Byron eyed the moderately injured Satan Soul Mirajane and the knocked out Elfman, smirking slightly at their situation. "You know, I expected the Demon of Fairy Tail to be a lot stronger," With that, Byron held his hand out, a heavenly light appearing as a blood red sword appeared in his hands. "In fact…my blade has been thirsty for your blood this entire time, Demon…" Byron smirked, making the gesture for Mirajane to move forward.
"I'll show you what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail…you hurt my friends, now it's time you paid the consequences." A magic circle appeared over Mirajane as she entered Satan Soul: Halphas.
"Oh, now this is gonna get fun!" Byron grinned, waiting for Mirajane to move forward, which she did. Mirajane's speed increased greatly due to her transformation, and she flew forward towards Bryon, pulling a fist back and swinging it forward.
Byron shifted his body to the left, just barely avoiding Mirajane's punch. "Oh, so close!" Byron then swung his blood sword at Mirajane's arm, causing a laceration over her arm, drawing blood just like Byron wanted. Byron grinned at his sword, then at Mirajane, who pretended as if the pain wasn't anything serious.
"What are you grinning for…?" Mirajane asked, gathering dark energy around her hands.
"Oh, I didn't tell you? This is my Blood Sword, the most powerful sword in my possession," Bryon started. "Whenever blood touches this sword, it absorbs it and gets even stronger…and I just attained the blood of a demon…" As Byron spoke, the sword in his hands turned a darker shade of red.
"Evil Push!" Mirajane threw her arms forward, unleashing the dark energy she was storing towards Byron.
"Heh, you're not worthy of this sword…" Byron held his right arm out, his shield appearing in his hands; holding it out just as Mirajane's Evil Push came in. The attack hit the shield, and it bounced right back, to Mirajane's surprise, striking her. But it didn't stop her, much to Byron's surprise. Mirajane slammed her fist into Byron's face, causing him to grunt. Before he could even regain his composure, Mirajane grabbed his arm and harshly swung him around before throwing him violently into a wall. "GAH!" He grunted, dropping his sword and shield in the process.
Mirajane then cupped her hands together, darkness swirling between her palms. "Satanic Blast!" She threw her arms forward, releasing an explosive blast of darkness at Byron. Byron was panicking because he wasn't able to reach his Shield in time, so he was hit directly and the explosion sent him flying into the air, noticeably damaged from Mirajane's power.
"Damn it!" Byron grunted, changing into his Gravity Suit so he could at least control his own flight path. Mirajane was suddenly much stronger than he expected! When she was in Satan Soul, he was dominating her and Elfman! This was a completely different level of strength! "I'm not gonna-!" Before he was finished, Mirajane flew behind him and gripped his skull, diving back down towards the ground while slamming Byron into it with such force a small crater appeared. "Ugh..."
"You broke into my home. You hurt my family. You kidnapped Cynthia. You've harmed my brother. Did you really think you were going to get away with that?" Mirajane was looming over Byron, the demon of Fairy Tail's imposing expression lingering above him. Byron didn't even get a chance to say anything, because Mirajane kicked him in the stomach and forced him to roll over after tumbling along the floor.
"Shit..." Byron winced. He looked at Mirajane, who stood over him and gripped his face, darkness beginning to swirl from his palms. He needed a way out of this situation...and then he saw it. He saw Horoki nearby, standing over Elfman with a smile. Mirajane was stronger than him. He had to admit that she won this fight, but...she had a weakness. A glaring one. "You...shouldn't take your eyes off me..."
"Huh?" Mirajane felt another presence in the room. She turned and saw Horoki standing near Elfman. Her eyes widened and she immdiately released Byron and flew towards Horoki. "Don't you dare!"
"GOTCHA!" Byron used his newfound freedom to cut Mirajane off, his Explosive Hammer slamming into her side. A powerful BOOM echoed out as an explosion sent Mirajane crashing through a wall. It was so sudden, the impact succeeded in knocking her out. "Got her."
"You looked like you were having some fun. But you have to leave some for the others." Horoki said while huffing a cigar.
"I wasn't worried for a second." Byron lied and picked up his weapons. "Besides, don't worry...I heard there are plenty of wizards to take out. You'll have your fun yet.
"I heard a Fairy Tail wizard was taken out not too long ago." Horoki replied, then looked back at the Strauss siblings. "Make those three Fairy Tail mages."
"And for us?" Byron asked.
"Well, from what I know it appears the only one to take a defeat so far is Maggie, that Lava mage from Tartaros," Horoki nodded.
"Hm, let's keep our numbers relatively high, eh?" Byron chuckled. "So, who's on our side again…?"
"You are so forgetful…" Horoki lit a cigarette, putting it in his mouth and blowing out a small puff of smoke before answering. "Me, you, Tobias, Kiora, Sora, Volt, Myu, Veronica, and Aloy."
"Oh, so we're pretty much set then?" Byron raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Wait…isn't there more Tartaros mages…?"
"They're busy at the moment…" Horoki replied. "I don't think they'll be able to make it to the party, but oh well, they're just missing out."
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"Dammit, now I've lost Mirajane and Elfman too…!" Warren said in a panicked voice.
"W-What's going on with them…!?" Cana's expression was a worried one. "I hope they're all okay…"
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Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla eventually stopped a split in the path, three hallways to go down. "Oh great…" Natsu groaned slightly, feeling irritated at the multiple paths.
"Can't we just fly to the top?" Wendy asked in an impatient tone, bouncing her leg up and down repeatedly as she attempted to sniff the air for Cynthia's scent, but once again she came up short. "Ugh…I can't smell her…"
"Where do we go then…?" Carla asked.
"I'll just pick a path and go with it!" Wendy nodded, starting to run off, but Carla held her back. "C-Carla! Let me go!"
"Not until you calm down…!" Carla protested, using all of her strength to hold the impatient sky dragon slayer back.
"Cynthia's in danger and she needs my help! How can I not be calm!?" Wendy asked, stopping for Carla's sake, crossing her arms and huffing.
"You're not going to get anything done by just roaming around this place! The first thing we have to do is find an elevator or something…"
"Not gonna find anything going this way…" Gajeel and Patherlily walked in from the path to the right. "It just brought me over here," Gajeel said, sighing. "I didn't even run into a mage…"
"So, not to the right…" Wendy calmed her senses, realizing that her worry was probably a reason she wasn't able to sniff out Cynthia. Wendy took a deep breath, closing her eyes slowly as she blocked out all the surroundings, focusing solely on Cynthia's scent. After a few minutes, her eyes shot open and she sprinted down the middle path. "She's this way…!"
"Wendy, wait!" Natsu sprinted after Wendy.
"Gajeel, aren't you going too?" Patherlily asked, looking up at Gajeel.
Gajeel shook his head slowly. "Nah…I'm gonna stay right here…I know something is gonna happen in this spot right here, and I wanna be ready. As for you three…why don't you check out the path to the left…?"
"But Natsu and Wendy need our help!" Happy protested, realizing that he and Carla didn't even bother to give chase to their respective partners.
"They can handle themselves," Gajeel replied. "Giehe…I think it might be a good idea to check over there, Lily, go with them,"
"Right," Lily nodded in response, and he led the Exceed Squad down the left hallway while Gajeel stood in place.
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Selene and Aira looked around a large corridor, Selene more on guard than Aira. "Hey…" Aira said with a slightly serious tone, looking over her shoulder at Selene.
"What?" Selene didn't look at Aira, as her eyes were focused on scanning the area in case someone attempted to attack the two.
"That shaking earlier…that was an explosion, wasn't it?" Aira asked, not bothering to look forward.
"Yeah…that was…I'm a little worried about what it was, to be honest…" Selene replied.
"Maybe we should go check it out…" Aira replied, looking forward now. "I have a bad feeling about it…"
Selene sniffed the air a few times before getting a lock on a scent. "That scent…that's…" Without saying another word, Selene grabbed Aira by the wrist and dragged her forward.