Another daily update?! I am pumping this shit out! Anyway I'm sure you guys were expecting some training chapters, but not today! Today, we have a little something different.
It may involve everyone's three favorite side characters ;)
Also, I need to ask you guys something important. Please, please please pay attention to this chapter. if there is one side story that effects the canon of this story whatsoever, it is this one. It's very important for more than one reason, so please, just remember this stuff.
Enjoy!
It was moments like this Azzie wondered what she was doing with her life. As she watched Katsuchi and Tetsu argue over something trivial and now trying to hurt each other, she really couldn't find herself an answer.
"I told you not to touch my shit!" Tetsu roared, getting in Katsuchi's face. The Fire God Slayer did not back down.
"Then maybe you shouldn't leave your shit laying around so I get into it on accident!" he shot back. The two were ready to take each others heads off, and Azzie realized if she valued her home she should probably step in and defuse the situation.
"Come on guys, come off it." She said, pushing herself in between them. "This really isn't something to fight about, is it?"
"You hear me tell him, Az!" Tetsu shouted. "He never listens!"
"Maybe if you didn't leave important things lying around I wouldn't mistake it for trash and burn it!" Katsuchi yelled.
"Stop it!" Azzie said, now raising her own voice as well. "This is stupid! All he did was burn some of your leftovers! get the hell over it!"
"Yeah but...!"
"No buts Tetsu-sama! Get over it!"
"Thank you Azzie!" Katsuchi said, looking relieved. Azzie whirled on him.
"And who the hell do you think you are just burning up whatever the hell you want?!" She demanded, making him falter.
"Wha...!"
"I mean really Katsuchi-sama, have a bit more class than that!"
"Why the hell are you so mad about it?!" Katsuchi fired.
"I'm not!" Azzie shouted even louder. "I'm mad that I had to jump in and take both sides to such a STUPID FUCKING ARGUMENT!" Her words silenced both men, who just stared at her or the ground. Azzie huffed and pushed a loose strand of her purple hair behind her ear. "I need some air. If I come back and you two aren't made up, I'm not going to make dinner for a month." Leaving them with this threat, Azzie left.
Once she was outside in the fresh air and in the bask of the setting sun, she felt herself calming down considerably. She hated when she had to defuse a fight between them, because she could never take one side. Whenever she did as a child, it only escalated the problem. Azzie had learned right quick the only way to prevent the two God Slayers from going at it was yelling at them both.
She loved them, though.
Sighing as she reached a magazine stand, she stopped to look at the Sorcerer Weekly cover.
Reports Leaked! What really happened at Silverridge!
Grand Magic Games! Who's competing?!
Azzie hummed in interest and pulled out some jewel, giving it to the vendor in exchange for the magazine. Once she had it, she opened it to the first page and read the table of contents, finding what she was looking for. She flipped to the tenth page, which was the report on Silverridge.
Two months ago, the city of Silverridge inexplicably exploded. Every citizen was evacuated beforehand by members of the Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus guilds, who received prior notion of the threat and got the townsfolk to safety. However, just what happened at Silverridge? Why was it completely decimated?
Once again, it all apparently boils down to the Magic Council. Reports and rumors have said for years that the Magic Council had taken measures to ensure Fiore remained safe in a time of war, but the general public was unsure as to what exactly that meant.
Apparently, that means an entire city built on the premise of having an underground lab were Etherion based weapons, including an Etherion cannon with a systems lacrima to control the blast, were constructed.
According to the reports, the cannon was turned on and set to fire at an unknown location. It sustained damages during the launch sequence, which made the Etherion unstable and dangerous. It then exploded...
"Damn..." Azzie murmured, reading the article. "Makes you wonder what the hell they were thinking..." Shrugging as she thought about it, Azzie rolled up the magazine to carry it more effectively and turned to leave. She froze.
There, trough the crowd, stood a girl no older than thirteen, with white hair up in a bun.
Maya, from Devil Advocate.
Azzie turned quickly and avoided the girls gaze. She couldn't tell if Maya had realized she'd been found out, but she assumed not. What was Maya doing here? Azzie did not recall exactly, but she seemed to recall Ultear being the one who dealt with Maya. What exactly had happened to the younger girl that caused her to go missing?
Azzie smirked. She wasn't afraid of Maya, not in the slightest. Quickly putting up a dispelling barrier to protect herself from any attacks from the girl, Azzie continued on her way through town. Upon focusing, she could tell Maya was following her.
I need to confront her somewhere where she won't be able to harm the townsfolk... Azzie looked around her for an out, and decided on walking to a lesser traveled part of town. Taking a few turns here and there, Azzie soon found herself on an empty street. She acted innocent however, as if she did not hear Maya following her.
"You're such a foolish child, Maya-sama." Azzie spoke, stopping in the center of the street. "I mean really, did you honestly think I didn't see you?" Azzie did a one eighty and faced her stalker, who looked rather calm given her position.
"I'm not foolish, Azzie." Maya replied. "I knew you saw me." Azzie smiled.
"It's been a while," She said sweetly. "How are you?"
"Don't act like we're friends." Azzie frowned.
"I figured we were." She replied earnestly. Maya growled.
"Why the hell would I be friends with traitors?" Azzie rolled her eyes. Exactly what she expected to hear. Maya did in fact look pretty pissed.
"Are you really going to get hung up on that?" Azzie asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Devil Advocate is gone, Maya-sama. I betrayed no one."
"You betrayed me!" Maya shouted, tears in her eyes. "Icas! Taisho! Kronos! How...How could you? We were family!"
"If you honestly looked at those three as family, I pity you." Azzie stated. "Maybe you're too young to understand..."
"I understand well enough!" Maya screamed, voice changing pitches do to crying. "Kronos was basically your father! He saved your life! Gave you a home! And then you turned around and helped those Fairies defeat him! Why?!"
"Kronos-sama was as much of my father as Katsuchi-sama is interested in you." Azzie replied calmly. "He beat and punished us for practically nothing. He killed the one before you for basically nothing. He's a monster, Maya-sama. Do not beautify him." Maya's fists were clenched and she was shaking angrily.
"He still gave you a home, you bitch..." she whispered. "How...Why...?" Azzie sighed and looked towards the setting sun, trying to find words. If she could, she'd rather settle this without a fight. That was the last thing she wanted. After all, Maya was young and confused. She just didn't get it.
"Maya-sama..." Azzie started. "You don't have to act like he can hurt you anymore. He's gone."
"..."
"And besides, you're a free girl now. Why would you come here and start something when you could've done anything you wanted?"
"..." Azzie frowned as Maya insisted on staying silent. What was this girl playing at?
"Maya-sama, if you don't want to talk, just leave." Azzie turned to do so herself. "Go live your life. Don't try and live up to what Kronos-sama want..."
"I know what you are, bitch." Azzie stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't be referring to...that, could she? "I saw...I saw the reports. The files on the experiments. I know what you are."
By God, she was talking about that.
Azzie chuckled weakly as she started to feel faint.
"W-What are you...?" She tried.
"Devil Advocate wasn't supposed to be a Balam Alliance guild." Maya interrupted. "It was originally a code name for an experimental group under the Olympians..."
"Maya-sama..."
"The group was supposedly checking the effects of Demon Lord Magic on humans, and what happened to them upon the injection of said magic into their bloodstream."
...
Silence filled the empty street. Azzie didn't know what to say, how could she reply to that? As the sun set beyond the skyline of the town, Azzie laughed darkly.
"How the hell did you find out about that?" She asked, turning to look at Azzie over her shoulder. Maya stiffened.
"They were in Kronos' secret vault." She replied. "I saw them when I went to go look for any spare jewel I could use to get around." Azzie looked back in the direction she had been trying to go in before Maya stopped her, before she sighed and whirled around.
"Well, you aren't wrong." She replied. "That much is true. Devil Advocate was an experimental group, with Kronos-sama at it's head." Azzie looked down at the ground as the absence of the sun darkened the area round them. "And they were testing if a non-Demon Lord takeover wizard could be changed by the effects of the magic. Surely you remember Kronos-sama talking about obtaining more when we attacked Fairy Tail, right?"
"The plan..." Maya murmured. "When we went out to attack them after the crash...He said...!"
"If you see the demon, lure him here." Azzie finished. "That is no accident. He planned on using Damien-sama to power you up."
"What about Taisho?" Maya asked. "Just use him!"
"Not possible." Azzie replied. "Taisho's Lord locked off access to his demon magic when Taisho was is his human form, so it wasn't possible without insane risks." Azzie huffed from the long winded explanation, "Anyway, we were talking about the effects the demon magic had, yes?"
"...And it did, didn't it?" Maya demanded, making Azzie wince. "Have an effect, I mean. They found successful results, didn't they?! What are you, Azzie?!"
"I'm a normal young woman." Azzie replied.
"Bullshi...!"
"However, Every normal young woman has a dark secret" This silenced Maya, and Azzie continued. "So yes, Devil Advocate experimented on Demon Lord magic, and it's effects on humans." Azzie lowered her gaze slightly, glowering at Maya. "What they intended to do was see if they could create an army of mages as strong as a Demon Lord."
"..." Azzie took this silence as an excuse to continue speaking.
"Using Taisho-sama as a source, they extracted the demon magic from him and gave it to us. Icas-sama, Katsuchi-sama, Tetsu-sama, and myself."
"Why would they do that?" Azzie frowned at this question.
"It seemed to be backup plan, from what I remember." She said, trying to remember what she'd heard. "In case END didn't work as they planned...In any case, they took the four of us, just kids, and force fed us pure demon magic to see if it had any effects on us whatsoever."
"...Did it?"
"Of course it did. It nearly killed us." Azzie flinched as she remembered writhing on the ground after being injected with it. "It hurt like hell, but they kept going and going...Then, after about a month of constant tests, they tried us to see if we had improved any. We hadn't."
"...How is that possible?" Maya asked. "If you were injected with demon magic, then it should've helped you even if only a little, right?"
"What they wanted were soldiers as strong as one of the Twelve Demon Lords, so no, the little changes were not enough." Azzie rebuked. "The program was shut down, but we remained as a member of the Alliance under the code name due to our already existing strength."
"...Then what?"
"...Kronos-sama found out what really happened with us." Azzie replied. "The demon magic did have an effect on us. Just not the way anyone had anticipated."
"Which was?"
"First of all, Maya-sama, allow me to front this by saying something. No matter what, a living human can never use Demon Lord magic unless blessed with takeover, like Taisho-sama or Damien-sama." Maya nodded in understanding. "So theoretically, we could never be what they wanted from us. We became something different."
"...What is that something?" Maya asked. "What are you, Azzie?"
"Exactly as the guild name implies." Azzie replied, closing her eyes as a cold wind whipped around them. "I'm a Devil."
As the darkness set in, Maya did not say another word. Azzie remained stationary as well. She really didn't know what to expect from Maya, but it certainly wasn't the laugh she received.
"Don't kid with me." She said. "There's no way."
"You read the reports, did you not? You also said you know what I am." Azzie held her arms out, displaying herself for Maya. "I'm a Devil."
"What...How...But you said the experiments didn't work!"
"They didn't." Azzie replied. "They wanted mages as strong as a Lord, and that isn't what they got."
"...What did they get?" Azzie closed her eyes.
"Mages who's abilities get enhanced under extreme emotional distress."
Saying this, Azzie recalled her fight with Drake. When he'd cornered her on that ledge and started saying all that shit abut helping her, she'd snapped. The magic from the very earth beneath her had started to disappear.
That had been her Devil form. She hadn't completed it because she fell, but that fight would've gone way different had she managed it.
"That's one of the reasons we weren't what they wanted." Azzie said. "We could only access the abilities the magic granted us under extreme emotional duress."
"Than why didn't you guys do that against the Fairies?!" Maya shouted, the tears once again returning. "We could've won! Our family might not have...!"
"Because I'm the only one that knows anything about this." Azzie cut in. "The others, they don't know. Or rather, they don't remember."
"Why not?"
"Would you let a 'traitorous' person such as myself run around with that knowledge?" Azzie asked. "No? Exactly. Kronos had the memories of the experiments wiped so we didn't recall having the powers. The only reason I know is because Katsuchi-sama lit my head on fire once. Grabbed my head to dispel it and poof! it all came back."
"...God damn..."
"So, what now, Maya-sama? What happens now?" She got no response from her former comrade, so she turned to leave. "Do with that information what you will, I want to go home."
Leaving Maya alone with all of this information, Azzie went home.
Maya was alone in the darkness. Azzie had left her a few hours ago, but she couldn't comprehend her words.
"I'm a Devil."
Maya sighed and raised two of her fingers to her temple.
"Kronos?...Yes. It would seem that the power may still still reside within them even after Taisho's death. Stage two can commence."
Azzie woke up to a strange sound.
Screaming.
She bolted outright in her bed and looked around, but her room was empty.
"Please no! No!" Azzie jumped from her bed and didn't even both to get dressed, dashing from her room and into Katsuchi's room.
"Katsuchi-sa...!" Katsuchi was gone, his bed thrown everywhere. Azzie darted across the hall to Tetsu's room, finding the same result.
"Not my baby! Please!" Hearing the women once again screaming for mercy, she threw the front door open to find a group of men wrestling with a young woman, a small crying child in their arms. The mother was trying to get him back.
"Shut the hell up!" One man shouted, his hand glowing. An ice sword appeared there, and he raised his arm over his head to swing.
The ice sword had disintegrated before he had a chance to swing it.
"What the...!" Azzie's Dispelling Fist connected with his jaw, a satisfying crack punctuating the man going through the house wall next to them. The other men jumped at her arrival. Azzie turned to them and delivered another punch to a man's stomach, who doubled over in pain. Throwing his man into his approaching comrade, Azzie whirled to face the final of the four, who had what appeared to be a rifle.
"Hold it." he hissed. Azzie clicked her tongue.
"Standard issue military grade lacrima assault rifle?" She asked, the man jumping. "Seriously, who thought of using lacrima to power guns?" Snapping her fingers, the gun broke into a million pieces. He had time to stare at it in shock before Azzie drover her foot right into his nuts, causing him to squeal in pain and fall over. The young boy ran back to his mother, who cried and hugged him tightly.
"God bless you, Azzie-san!" The women yelled tearfully. "If...If you hadn't been there..."
"There's no time to thank me." Azzie said swiftly. "What's going on?"
"Th-These soldiers are gathering up everyone and bringing them to the center of town. I don't know why, but I saw Katsuchi-san and Tetsu-san going there already..." Azzie gritted her teeth with a nod.
"Alright, you get on home. Don't come out for a bit, I need to clear this up."
"O-Okay. Again...Thank you..."
"It's okay, really." When Azzie looked down at the small boy staring at her in awe (even though she was still in her pajamas), it reminded her of herself when she'd lost her family in a similiar situation. "You stay close to your mother, kiddo. Don't want to get yourself hurt." The young boy nodded quickly in agreement, and Azzie turned to run to the center of town. As she ran, she could the evidence of a struggle everywhere. carts of food overturned, buildings smashed, all of it. Once he got to the center of town, she saw it.
They were gathering all the townsfolk in the center of the park, all of them scared and confused. Men with magic and weapons alike kept them in line, more than one person getting a boot to somewhere.
And Maya was right in the center of it.
"Maya!" Azzie shouted angrily. "What's going on here?!" Maya looked over her shoulder, eyes cold with indifference.
"Nothing much," She replied. "Just going to kill everyone. No biggie."
"No biggie?! Your insane!"
"Oh?" Maya snapped her fingers, and one of her soldiers drove a sword through a man's skull. Azzie watched in disbelief. Had he actually...?"
The screaming of the man's family told Azzie it was no joke. The man was dead. She clenched her fists as she watched Maya kick his corpse.
"That was surprisingly unfunny." She said. "Maybe if we torch them..."
"You're insane!" Azzie screamed angrily. "What the hell is the matter with you, anyway?!" Maya sturned to stare at Azzie angrily as well.
"You helped kill my family, I'l kill yours." Snapping her her fingers, Two men walked forth with struggling figures with hoods on their heads. The hoods were ripped off, and Azzie's stomach turned.
Katsuchi and Tetsu glared at Maya, both struggling against the magic negating handcuffs around them.
"Let us go Maya, you prepubescent bitch!" Tetsu shouted.
"Now now Tetsu, the shows about to start!" Maya replied cheerfully, guns going to the back on their heads. Maya turned back to Azzie. "One step Az, and I blow their heads off."
"Don't worry Azzie!" Katsuchi shouted. "We can handle this!" Before Azzie could reply, a man was stabbed to Maya's right. Another was shot to the left. Azzie knew these people, they were people she'd spoken too, bought food from...And now...
"Stop!" Azzie screamed, dispelling a fireball aimed at a family of three. "This is crazy!"
"My my, Azzie." Azzie looked back at Maya, who was grinning smugly. "You moved." Azzie's eyes widened as the rifles behind Katsuchi and Tetsu reared back, bullets loading into the chambers.
"Azzie, look away!" Katsuchi shouted. She couldn't bring herself too.
"Azzie!" Tetsu yelled. "Don't look!" The barrels were pressed into the back of their skulls, the men waiting for Maya's command.
"Kill them!" Maya shouted.
"NO!" Azzie shouted.
The bullets never appeared out of the chamber, which meant Katsuchi and Tetsu did not die. Maya looked over in confusion, only to find the rifles melting in her men's hands.
"What the...?!
"Hah...hah...hah..." Maya whipped around to stare at Azzie, who was panting.
A white light exploded from around the girl. Maya watched as cracks began to appear in Azzie's face, which leaked more of the blinding light. The ground beneath her feet cracked and disappeared, and the girls pants had become angered screams. Maya giggled.
"It's just as Kronos said!" She shouted happily. "She really is a monster!" Azzie stopped screaming, and turned her pure white gaze on Maya. Before Maya could say or do anything, Azzie bolted towards her, white fist raised.
So wait...if this Devil form amplifies her Dispelling magic...
Azzie brought her fist down towards Maya's face.
And magic is a mage's life source...
Maya's thoughts could not be completed, as the strike from the Devil of Dispelling wiped all trace of magic from her body, killing her immediately.
Azzie shouted in surprised as she sat bolt right up.
How had she gotten back in her bed?
"Welcome back." Azzie turned to her left to find Katsuchi sitting on a chair stationed at her bedside, smiling at her. "You've been asleep for a few hours now."
"...Have I?" Azzie asked, he nodded. "What happened?"
"You killed Maya." Katsuchi replied, making Azzie tilt her head in confusion. "You don't remember?"
"N-No..."
"Well, it was certainly a sight to see." he said, leaning back in his chair with a smile. "Right Tetsu?" The Iron God Slayer bounded into the room, smiling.
"Damn right!" He shouted. "You got all angry and boom! You killed that little shit Maya, and then some of her men, and then you collapsed! It was pretty cool honestly."
"You got all angry..."
Azzie winced and looked down at her bed sheets. She'd lost control of her emotions. She'd released her Devil form. She'd never actually done it, and she didn't like the tainted feeling it gave her. Was this how Taisho and Damien always felt?
"Well...Alright." She finally managed.
"Hey Azzie, are you sure you're okay?" Azzie looked over at Katsuchi as he asked this question, his eyes laced with concern. "You're acting weird."
"...Just trying to remember is all." She replied offhandedly. She stared down at her open hands, trying to discern just what she'd done with them merely hours before. "Hey, guys?"
"What's up?"
"...Do you remember any experiments being done in the old days?" She asked weakly. Tetsu hummed in annoyance.
"Icas kept bringing something up, yeah." he agreed. "Apparently Kronos let him in on something he was doing with Taisho."
"I...see." So Icas had known. That didn't surprise Azzie whatsoever. Icas had been effected by the demon magic very badly. It turned him from the somewhat nice guy he was into a monster. "Well, whatever. It doesn't matter anymore."
"Right." Katsuchi agreed. "I think we should go get breakfast."
"You gonna eat mine again, Kat?"
"Fuck off Tetsu."
"Guys!" Azzie whined. "Stop fighting!"
"He started it!"
Hades grinned as he twirled around in his seat, reading the report from the returning soldiers.
"I see!" he shouted with a laugh. "So the death or transfer of the demon does not hinder the magic granted...Excellent, wouldn't you agree, Kronos my boy?" All he got as a response was the hissing of the rig that kept Kronos alive, so he continued reading. "This is good, very very good."
"What's next, Hades?" Kronos' altered voice came. It sounded much more mechanic. That was because his voice box had been wrecked by the Fairies, so Hephaestus made him a new one.
"Now?" Hades asked. "We wait. Not all the playing pieces are in place."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means I must wait now." Hades replied with a smug grin. "Now that I know the death or transfer of a Demon Lord does not cause those afflicted too lose their abilities, I can proceed without worry."
"I wish you'd stop being so god damn cryptic with me..."
"And I wish that steam powered body of yours didn't hiss all the time but shit, we don't always get what we want, now do we?" No response came from the half machine, and Hades laughed. "In any case, the plan is all good. You're excused." Hades watched the half-automaton leave the room with a smile. Knowing that his plan would go unhindered was nice, after all.
"Now all I need is that girl." he mused to himself, continuing to twirl in his chair. "Good old Etherious Nashi Dragneel."
Before you guys get on my case, this is somewhat of an extension of the EotW arc. It's good plot relevance, so it's good. And if you guys think I pulled this out of my ass, I didn't. Go back to chapter 84, and Icas mentions demon magic. he doesn't elaborate, but it's there.
And please don't bombard e with question about the Devil form, It'll all be answered eventually. With that being said, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! let's try and get ten!