"This train…can…go fall off a cliff…" Cynthia groaned, shifting around uncomfortably.
"If that happened we'd all DIE," Luke commented.
"I'm suffering you DON'T UNDERSTAND," Cynthia retorted.
"I…have to agree with the little girl…" Heather groaned softly, resting her head on Luke's shoulder, unable to find the strength to move due to her shared sickness.
"D-Ditto…" Natsu nodded.
"How much longer is this ride going to take..?" Lucy asked, looking out the window.
"We're approaching the mountains as we speak," Magnus replied, leaning back in his seat as the mountains came into view. "Once we cross this rather long bridge, we'll be at the factory.
"Rather long bridge?" Wendy tilted her head to look out the window, noticing the train beginning to cross a large bridge that spanned about 500 yards.
"That's a long bridge…" Carla said to herself.
"So far, nothing bad has happened…" Lucy said. "I guess we're getting out of this one easy!" And just when Lucy finished speaking, about 150 yards into the train, it began to shake violently, the wheels on the train suddenly stopping, the friction from the metal wheels and the railing causing sparks to fly wildly as the train came to an abrupt stop.
"…You just HAD to say something…" Luke sighed.
"…I feel better!" Cynthia grinned, hopping up out of her seat, stretching, unaware of everything aside from the train stopping. "Let's go!" Cynthia walked towards the door, and opened it, only to see that there was at least a two-mile drop into an abyss waiting for her. "WAAAH!" Cynthia jumped back, panting heavily. "W-WHAT WAS THAT!?"
"The train stopped…!" Wendy gasped.
"I'm not complaining…" Heather said, sitting up straight now. "I feel much better…!"
"You know…" Magnus started, starting to put the pieces together. "If you were attacking a train…how would you do it…?"
"Me? Well, not that I've robbed a train before…" Luke started. "But, I would probably get it in a secluded area where no one could interfere…"
"And then?" Magnus continued.
"Easy. Attack it…" Luke's eyes widened as he finished that sentence.
"Here they come…!" Natsu said, springing up out of his seat.
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"Two on two, seems fitting enough," Diana said, casually adjusting her ponytail, not even caring much for what was about to happen.
"You ready, Orga?" Chelia asked as black winds started to faintly surround her body.
"Ready!" Orga smirked, black lightning beginning to dance wildly around his body with a fiant crackling sound every few seconds.
"We will allow you the first move," Blake nodded, crossing his arms.
"Fine by me!" Orga pounded his fist together, causing a crackle of black lightning. He then focused on Diana, since she was the one who seemed carefree about the battle, and reared his fist back. Orga then threw his black lightning fist forward towards the female, but, to his surprise, Diana easily caught the fist. This wouldn't be surprising to Orga normally, but the female in front of him hadn't taken her eyes off her nails. "What…?"
Diana yawned, simply, aiming a kick to Orga's side, the power behind it little, but the result; unbelievable. Orga slid back across the concrete, all the way back to Chelia and further, which was at least a 20 yard distance. "That was just a love tap."
"W-What…!?" Orga winced, looking at his side to notice the large bruise.
"A-Are you alright!?" Chelia asked, her eyes widened at the large bruise.
"…I'm fine!" Orga replied.
"My turn…" Chelia nodded, and then rushed towards Blake as she generated two spiraling black currents in her hands. . "Sky God's Boreas!" Chelia extended her hands forward, sending the black currents forward, now taking shape of a massive whirlwind towards Blake.
"Heh…" Blake watched as the incoming black whirlwinds raced towards him, though he was unfazed as the winds raced towards him. "Interesting…" Blake merely brought his forearm up as the attack consumed him. When the whirlwind faded, his arm was revealed to be bruised, and slightly cut, but that was it.
"W-What?!" Chelia's eyes widened. "How did he take that attack so easily…!?"
"My turn…" Blake smirked, bringing his hands to his side in a C formation, a white sphere forming within the space between his hands. "White God's…." The sphere grew to about the size of a basketball, which Blake thought was more than enough power. "Holy ray!" Blake threw his arms forward, sending multiple rays of godly light towards the two.
"White God!?" Orga's eyes widened as the rays came in; he and Chelia were forced to split off, Orga running to the left and Chelia to the right as they barely managed to avoid the incoming rays.
Diana appeared on Orga's side, a devilish smirk on her face. "Hey there, big boy," Before Orga had the chance to react, Diana slammed her fist into Orga's jaw, causing him to fly into a nearby building.
"Who are you guys?!" Chelia asked as she narrowly avoided a punch from Blake, using the close range to her advantage, rotating her torso while extending her arms out, creating a spiraling black wind that hurled Blake several meters into the air, also known as her Sky God's Dance. To increase the effectiveness of this assault, Chelia jumped into the air, raising her hands above her head as black wind surrounded them, aiming both of her fists into Blake's gut.
"Sky God's Dance…" Blake said aloud as Chelia moved in with the attack. Blake was harmed by Chelia's attack, but he didn't allow his body to move in the way Chelia wanted it to. He twisted his body while thrown into the air, regaining complete control of it without little issue. As Chelia aimed her fists at Blake, he merely stopped them with his forearm, the same one that was struck by the Sky God's Boreas; a smirk forming on his face at the girl's widened eyes of surprise. "Do not underestimate the power of the White God…" Blake said, rearing his free hand back as he clenched his fist, surrounding it in holy white energy. "White God's Holy Fist." He then slammed his fist into Chelia's stomach, causing her eyes to go wide and fall to the ground, holding her stomach as she writhed around in pain.
Orga rushed out from the building he was thrown into, coating his elbow in his signature black lightning, rushing towards Diana. "Lightning God's Elbow!"
Diana merely watched as Orga came forward, and leaned her body to the side, narrowly avoiding Orga's elbow. Not because the attack was coming in too fast, but because she was merely toying with the bulky god slayer. The smirk on her face never left as she brought her knee into Orga's gut, causing Orga to lean forward with widened eyes, spit flying out of his mouth. Diana then reared her fist back, and then slammed it into Orga's jaw, sending him rolling across the ground, stopping right beside Chelia. "Not as powerful as I was hoping for…" Diana sighed slightly, going right back to examining her nails.
"They are doing about as well as I expected them to," Blake said, landing on the ground and walking right next to Diana.
Chelia picked herself up slowly, panting heavily as she kept her arms wrapped around her stomach. "W-what's with these two…"
Orga stood up, swaying slightly as he wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, shaking off the impact. "I don't know, but I'm not going to let them beat me here." Orga placed his partially open palms horizontally away from his body; the palms facing each other, distanced away by merely a few inches. Tiny sparks of Orga's signature black lightning started to generate between his hands, growing larger and larger in semi circles. He then fired a similarly colored electric beam from his hands towards Blake and Diana. "120mm Black Lightning Cannon!"
"They clearly don't understand what they're up against…" Diana walked forward, placing her hand out. She "caught" the incoming beam of lightning, and closed her hand, causing the beam to vanish, leaving Orga standing there with widened eyes.
.
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Takeru bit his tongue, refusing to cry out in pain as Aloysius caused the magic in his body to explode every other second. Neither he nor Arc could find an opening long big enough to attack Aloysius, who had a twisted grin on his face the entire time. Takeru believed he found an opening, and he immediately formed a shadow katana in his hands and lunged forward towards Aloysius, only to be stopped short as a multiple magic circles appeared on Takeru's body. "Close…" Aloysius said in a mocking tone before snapping his fingers once again, causing the magic in Takeru's body to explode violently, causing a cry of pain to escape Takeru's lips. It wasn't common Takeru did such a thing, but if he did, he knew he was in trouble.
"This isn't good…" Takeru groaned, blood trailing down every spot on his body.
Arc was in the same situation, but in a much worse position than Takeru. Blood trailing down his skin, painting it scarlet instead of the normal color, wounds were open, and he was on his hands and knees. "I bet you think you have this in the bag..." Arc snarled as black wings spread from his back. He was tired of this and immediately lunged at Aloysius before he could snap his fingers again.
"...!" For once, Aloysius' eyes widened in surprise. Arc completely caught him off guard, and before he knew it, his face was grabbed harshly.
"Darkness Demon's IMPACT!" Arc revealed his magic at last; the Darkness Demon. His arm was coated in darkness and he slammed the Ace of Silent Sanctum into the ground, creating a large explosion from the impact. Aloysius grunted as he was thrown backwards, covered in noticeable bruises and scrapes from just that one attack.
"This..." Aloysius grunted, but he still had a grin. It had been far too long since anyone managed to even damage him this severely! No wonder his Rupture magic was working so strongly on Arc, this man was a literal monster! Aloysius allowed his Meteor spell to activate and he charged forward, deciding to try and play with Arc a little bit. But to his surprise, Arc met him before he could even take off.
"Darkness Demon's Claw!" Arc had darkness surrounding his leg, and he spun around, slamming that into Aloysius' face, causing the man to stumble back. But he was still grinning and flew into the sky, Arc pursuing him intently. They clashed in the sky, multiple shockwaves occurring from the intensity of their clash.
"...Gh..." Takeru grit his teeth, hating and lamenting this feeling of weakness he had right now. All he could do was sit and watch as these two fought!
Aloysius held his hand forward, a purple, ghastly aura swirling around his palm. "Ghost Fireworks!"
"Darkness Demon's Screech!" Just as Aloysius released numerous ghastly beams in Arc's direction, the Demon fired off a blast of darkness that collided with this attack at point blank range. There was an explosion in the sky and the two fell, landing harshly on the ground. Arc was still worse off due to his prior injuries, but he managed to close that gap between himself and Aloysius quite a bit. "Hah...hah..."
"You have this kind of power...and you aren't even a normal wizard..." Aloysius couldn't recall a time he was so bruised and bloodied within a short time. He still had the advantage, but he saw now that it could clearly slip at any moment. But then he felt something in his body weaken and snap, causing his eyes to widen and he fell to a knee. "W-What...!?"
"That's not even the depths of it." Arc snarled, his hands moving to the bandages around his eyes. Aloysius was weakened from the debilitating effects of his magic, and now, he was planning to kill him then and there.
"Arc, no, you can't do that!" Takeru grunted.
This was his opening. "I could kill you two right now…" Aloysius said with his grin widening. Whatever Arc was planning, Aloysius was going to meet it, however... "Hm…It appears you two have lucked out…My master is calling for me…" A heavenly light surrounded Aloysius, and he looked down towards the two mages. "We'll call this one a draw. Don't expect to get so lucky next time…Meteor…" With that, he flew off into the distance, leaving Takeru and Arc heavily damaged, with no one around to heal them.
"Bastard fled..." Arc growled, but he then fell to a knee. He took a lot of damage and Takeru was hardly any better. "Shit...we're too far to get any help..."
"I...have an idea..." Takeru said while forcing himself to stand. He couldn't let Arc die here. Arc was willing to put it all on the line to protect him...so Takeru had to do the same.
.
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Jellal returned to Meredy's side, the heavenly glow around his body fading. "The place is crowded with mages," Jellal said. "But, there was an opening in the back."
"We have to be careful…" Meredy said quietly.
"Right…" Jellal turned around…and that's when it happened; a large hammer slammed into him and Meredy, causing a large explosion that rocked the forest. Jellal and Meredy flew back, flying through several trees before hitting the ground, rolling on it for a few yards before stopping. "M-Meredy, are you okay?!" Jellal winced from the pain slightly, but he managed to stand up. Meredy stood up a few seconds later, gripping her arm while closing once eye, wincing.
"I-I'm fine…" Meredy said with a bit of a pained voice.
"Well, well, well…" Byron walked forward with his Explosive Hammer held behind his head, a smirk drawn on his lips as he approached the two independent mages.
"I didn't see that guy when…!" Jellal started.
"When you circled around our guild, looking for an opening?" Byron said, cutting Jellal off. "Interesting…" Byron said, raising his hammer. "I didn't think ya two were the types to rescue people…"
"W-What do we do now, Jellal…?" Meredy asked. "That explosion…"
"Notified the guild we had soon to be intruders? Yes, yes it did," Byron smirked, nodding a few times. "They should be here in a matter of…seconds." Right after that, a bunch of no name guild members form Silent Sanctum surrounded Jellal and Meredy. The two of them stood back to back, sweating at the numbers they had to deal with.
.
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The group of S class wizards and their partners made their way to a large, abandon castle. The size of the castle was thrice that of the current Fairy Tail building. Blues looked up at the building with a sort of admiration. "Whoa…this building is actually pretty big…" Blues said.
"No kidding…" Zalen said, eying every part of the castle that was in need of repair. "With a little work, this place could be…!"
"Settle down there," Daryan interrupted, quite rudely at that. "You can come back here on your own time. Instead, how about we focus on the job at hand, no?"
"I agree," Erza commented, looking over to the castle.
"So, we just walk in, grab whatever's inside, and walk out?" Gray asked, looking over to Erza.
"If that was the case, I wouldn't see why this is an S Class job," Bacchus replied to Gray.
"Well, we'll see why when we get there," Reve said, taking a step forward…pressing some sort of switch. Reve immediately drew his foot back when he felt the ground under it sink oddly. "What the?!"
"What just happened?" Erza asked, cutting her eyes at Reve.
"I pressed something…?" Reve said. A few seconds later, the worn down square tiles on the castle wall started to move up, revealing spherical drones that flew out from the walls, immediately firing down magical lasers at the group.
"Whoa!" Blues flailed his arms. "What's the about!?"
"I got it…!" Zalen threw his hands into the air, creating a large wall of steel, diamond, and wood, providing temporary cover for the group.
"Nice one, Zalen!" Reve nodded, giving the building mage a smirk.
"Nice going, gunslinger!" Gray shouted.
"Oh, yeah, blame this on me, cute," Reve scoffed.
"It is your fault!" Gray replied.
"Hey, cool your jets guys!" Daryan said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "I love a challenge, and this is exactly what this is!"
"Heh, lookin' pretty wild to me," Bacchus said with a grin.
"Zalen, how long can this wall hold?" Blues asked.
"With this heavy fire, I'd give it a few minutes before it starts to crack…" Zalen replied.
"So we have a few minutes to think of a plan…" Blues said, placing his hand on his chin.
"Water body!" Daryan said, looking over at Blues.
"Water what?" Blues blinked, having no idea on what Daryan was hinting towards.
"Water body! Can't your turn your body into water and deal with some of those drones!" Daryan said again.
"I don't know what Water Body is," Blues replied, giving Daryan a "e.e" kind of look.
"WHAT KINDA WATER MAGE DOESN'T HAVE A WATER BODY!?" Daryan face palmed. "Okay, new plan!"
Reve already went in however. With two pistols in his hand, he started to run forward, returning fire at the drones. Thanks to his quick eyes, he was able dodge the a few of the incoming laser, then rolled hard to the left, firing off his pistols with pin point accuracy, destroying a few of the drones. "This is easy!" Reve said with a smirk; however his smirk replaced itself with a somewhat surprised look as turrets appeared on the ground just in front of him, unleashing beams of magic in Reve's direction. "What the…?" Reve swayed hard to the right, narrowly avoiding a beam of magic that raced past his head, but the second beam of magic struck his chest, causing him to tumble back across the ground with a large burn mark on his chest. "Damn, that hurt…"
"Reve!" Zalen ran out from behind the cover, conjuring up a defensive steel wall large enough to protect Reve from fire.
"Guess we're going all out!" Bacchus grinned. "Wild!" Bacchus ran from behind the cover, finding himself immediately under fire from the drones, however this wasn't an issue for the Drunken Falcon as he swayed his body around the incoming lasers. Just then, a few more turrets popped out in front of Bacchus, but he wasn't even fazed, instead, he raised his leg, and stomped on the ground, creating a large shockwave that circled around the drunk, destroying the turrets around him.
"Kanso!" A heavenly light surrounded Erza's body as she changed into her Heaven's Wheel armor, flying above the wall Zalen constructed, only to be greeted by incoming fire from the moving spherical drones. Erza matched the drones by creating a multitude of swords, and threw them forward at the drones; each sword that collided with a drone caused a miniature explosion.
"I'm starting to see why this is an S class mission now…" Daryan said, watching the three S class wizards do their thing.
"Aren't you gonna do something?" Gray asked Daryan.
"Hm? Oh me? Well, they seem to have everything under control…" Daryan said, rubbing the back of his head.
"All talk…" Blues scoffed, then hopped out the cover along with Gray, both mages sliding their fist into their palms as two magic seals appeared in front of them; Ocean blue for Blues, and light blue for Gray.
"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray threw his hands forward, unleashing multiple ice lances towards any stray drones.
"Water Make: Lance!" Along with Gray, Blues threw his hands forward, unleashing watery lances towards any drones anyone else failed to hit. The lances seemed flimsy; however they were quite dense, giving them enough power to destroy any stray drones, and the turrets that fired at Reve.
"Water Make?" Gray turned over to Blues with a raised brow. "Who taught you that?"
"Who taught you Ice Make?" Blues asked in return, raising a brow.
"Bravo, bravo!" Daryan clapped as he walked from behind the cover. "We did great!"
"What do you mean WE?!" Reve shouted. "You just stood there!"
"You didn't need my help, obviously," Daryan replied.
"Even we helped…" Blues said quietly.
"Ah, details, details!" Daryan waved a dismissive hand as started to walk towards the castle.
"…I'm really starting to dislike this guy…" Reve groaned.
"I'm sure he'll be of some help…soon…?" Zalen said hopefully.
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Within a room of the very same castle, a mage with black hair, a suit, and a top hat scoured through a room, rummaging around as if he were looking for something. "Ah, come on...I'm sure there's something here of interesting that no one would miss..." The mage said to himself, continuing to rummage around the room like a thief.