Frosted Hearts, Broken Armor
A/N: The Tower of Heaven is well underway, and the game is just beginning. The race is on to see who will defeat Jellal and stop his dastardly plan from succeeding. With the Fairy Tail mages assembled, there is very little that could stand against their combined might. Too bad the game was rigged from the start.
Make sure to comment your thoughts, I love hearing reactions to my ideas, both positive and negative.
Lucy was getting tired of running into weirdos as her opponent.
She remembered almost getting sold as a slave when she first met Natsu and, on her first outing as a Fairy Tail wizard, fighting against a Vulcan that possessed Macao and perved on her. Then on her first real job, she ran into that creep Everlue who used to hold Virgo's key. And before today, she was kidnapped by the weird Frenchman Sol, and the leader of Phantom Lord, Jose.
Now she could add gothic, mind controlling, hair wielding, rock star to her list, and that was the strangest by far.
After Jellal taunted them on the speakers that his plan was to sacrifice Erza, the group was then magically separated, leaving Lucy and Juvia on their own to fight their opponent Vidalus, a member Trinity Raven that was part of a dark guild called Death's Head Caucus. Despite their rocky start, the two of them managed to settle their differences and defeat their foe with a unison raid.
"Juvia, I'm heading on ahead." Lucy says after taking a moment to rest from their fight. "If I know anything about the rest of my team, they're probably heading up to the tower where Jellal is."
"But Lucy, what about the Etherion cannon?" Juvia warns. Before Jellal separated them, he also mentioned that the Magic Council was currently debating whether or not to fire on them with their magic satellite in space, destroying the tower and everyone within, giving their presence in the tower a time limit. "If you're going, Juvia will go with you."
Lucy shakes her head. "No, I'm glad to see that you're honest about helping us, but you spent too much of your own magic while you were possessed, I only summoned Aquarius, so I still have plenty of mana left. Besides, something feels off about this whole situation. How does Jellal know what the Magic Council is talking about right now? How is he going to use Erza as a sacrifice if this place is gonna blow up? Even if he does revive Zeref, whose to say that the Etherion won't just kill him again? There's something more to this and Erza's gonna need all the help she can get."
Juvia pouts but accepts Lucy's plan. "Okay, but please don't tell my darling about what happened here. I don't want him thinking I'm some kind of floozy because of another man."
"I really don't think you have to worry about that." Lucy remarked with sweat on her face. Juvia then headed down to escape the tower. "But first, I'm gonna need some new clothes. Juvia kind of wrecked my dress, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna fight Jellal like this." Lucy gestured to her torn dress and makeshift top.
That's when Virgo pops up out of nowhere. "Don't worry, princess. I have just the thing." Virgo then pulled out an outfit that made Lucy's eyes sparkle.
"Oh, mommy likes." Lucy sang, her mouth drooling.
Ur was getting annoyed.
She had honestly felt useless recently, with her failure against Gajeel's kidnap attempt on Lucy, and her getting distracted by Ultear and letting Erza get captured didn't help her mood much either.
Currently, she and Gray were running through the tower, trying to find everyone else and reach the top of the tower.
While the two of them were running, Ur and Gray started talking about Erza and her past.
"Wow, you really attacked a little girl while she was crying?" Ur joked. "I can't believe I raised such a heartless student."
Gray chuckles. "Yeah, I was a huge shit back then. I at least had the sense not to fight her when she was like that." Gray then frowns and gets serious. "But when Erza first joined, she was actually kind of a loner and didn't interact with us much. When I caught Erza crying that day, she said that being around people made her uncomfortable, but she was crying all by herself. I guess knowing what I do now, she was thinking about her friends here. She doesn't cry when she's enjoying herself at Fairy Tail, so I'm gonna make sure that she's coming back with us."
Ur smiled warmly at her pupil. "Geez, you've really grown a lot after all these years. I guess me dying was the best thing for you, otherwise, you would've never joined Fairy Tail."
Gray grimaces at Ur's words. "I don't know about that. It still hurt a lot to lose you, and it took a long time for me to get over it. Besides, don't sell yourself short. Even though I've been a part of Fairy Tail for so long, I've never forgotten your teachings."
"Well, as long as you keep me in mind, I'll be happy." Ur laughs while slapping Gray on the back, causing him to stumble for a bit.
When Gray reorients himself, he then poses a question that had been bothering him for a while.
"How much did you know about my Devil Slaying magic when you found me?"
Ur stopped in her tracks, Gray doing so right after her. "Oh, yeah. I forgot that you figured that out." Ur rubs her neck and sighs. "I guess I should explain a bit."
"I had many adventures back in my day and some of those adventures would have me going through ruins and such. One day, I found a journal in a ruin that seemed very old, and in it was the ramblings of a man who had Devil Slaying magic. The longer the journal went on, the more obvious it became the man was becoming more and more obsessed with demons and it went on for a while, but only a few entries are the ones that are relevant to you. It was clear that his sanity was almost completely gone, but in the journal, he explained that he had nothing left to attach his soul to this world, and that he forgot the faces of those who were close to him, leaving him without even their memory by the end, and it seemed like he planned to take his own life in madness and despair.
"So, when I found you, a young boy with the mark signifying your power as a Devil Slayer, and his whole family eradicated by a demon, I had to make a choice. I could have killed you then and there to spare you the same pain that man felt, not to mention that those with demonic powers are persecuted by many because of their violent nature. Instead, I decided that the only way to keep you from sinking into darkness was to be a brighter light for you. I took you in and trained you so that when your full Devil Slayer powers awakened, you would be ready and have a good emotional base to stay sane.
"Unfortunately, you ran off to fight him, so I had to use Iced Shell to seal away Deliora, otherwise you would never stop and get yourself killed." Ur concluded. "After that, the rest is history."
Gray was stunned, taking a moment to speak after what he just heard. "S-so am I just doomed to go crazy one day?"
Ur flicks him on the head in annoyance. "No, idiot! I just explained it a second ago. As long as you have friends, you'll be fine. Besides, never forget what I said to you before I died." Ur hugs him and whispers in his ear.
"I'll seal away your darkness."
"U-Ur, I-" Before their conversation can continue, they hear a loud scream from up ahead. "That was Happy's voice, something bad must've happened to Natsu to make him scream like that."
The two of them then rush off, finding that the pathway they were on leaded to a room full of hanging birdcages. The two of them drop down to find an injured Simon and Happy staring at-
A man with an owl for head that was currently ingesting the top half of Natsu.
Lucy would later retract her statement of only fighting weirdos when she heard this story.
"What the hell is that!?" Ur shouted as the birdman took one last gulp, devouring Natsu's entire body.
The owl man, Fukuro, took a moment to gloat in his victory. "Now that I have devoured such delicious prey, I have also absorbed his power!"
Happy, distraught at the loss of his father figure, flew straight at Fukuro, but the birdman simply blew an orange wave of fire at him, shocking everyone.
"Happy!" Gray shouted as he leapt to catch the fallen cat. "Damn it! This guy absorbed Natsu's strength and magic!"
Fukurou (now with a pink tuft of hair to show that has absorbed Natsu) shoots a wave of flames from his fist to hit Gray, who can't use his hands to activate his magic as he was currently holding Happy.
Before the inferno reaches them, Ur jumps in the way of those flames and summons a shield of ice to block the flames. "Man, you still need help after all these years, huh? Well, let your old teacher in on some of this action while you sit back and watch."
Gray argues with his teacher. "Master, wait! If we work together, we can-"
"Please," Ur interrupted. "I don't need your help to handle a chump like this. I've fought bigger, badder, and weirder enemies than feather-face here, so this'll be quick. Besides, it wouldn't do to have us both waste energy on this guy."
"Hoo-hoo-hoo! Whoooo are you?!" Questions the cannibalistic owl man as Ur prepares to fight him. "I usually try to avoid fighting women, seeing as I am a warrior of justice and all!"
"Oh, so you're some kind of hero, huh?" Ur's hands surround themselves in an icy aura as she gives her foe an eager grin. "Then I guess you can call me the villain."
Erza found herself in a predicament.
Currently, she was trapped inside the pocket dimension of one of Sho's cards, as he was too worried about Erza to realize that he stood no chance against Jellal, especially in his hysteric state.
Eventually, they reached a room with only a bridge and a Cherry Blossom tree in it, the flowers of the tree falling off in a beautiful display. Standing in their way, was the final member of Trinity Raven, Ikaruga, a woman with pink hair in a kimono and wielding a very long sword.
Before Sho could even make a move to attack, his body went numb and fell to the ground.
"Sho! Sho, what happened, answer me!" Erza shouted from the card as it fell out of his pocket.
"Ah, you must be Erza-san. I would never have guessed you would be hiding in there." Ikaruga then took a stance and slashed at Erza inside the card.
Erza immediately reacted, summoning a sword to block Ikaruga's invisible attacks as they managed to go through dimensions and reach Erza.
When Ikaruga's attack ceased, Erza took that moment to break herself out of the card as the dimensional barrier was weakened from her opponent's onslaught.
Erza took a moment to glance at Sho who was knocked unconscious from Ikaruga's slashes.
"Don't worry about him, I only sliced his nerves." Ikaruga explained. "My sword can slice through whatever I want, so simply aimed for his nerves without causing him any pain, he'll be fine after a while. I'm sure you're grateful for my hospitality with your friend."
Erza had no words for the anger she felt towards this woman and immediately requipped into her Heaven's Whell armor and flew high in the air, sending an army's worth of swords flying at her.
SCHWING
In an instant, they were all destroyed, along with Erza's armor as she crashed to the ground in pain.
"As a sword user myself, you and Yami Sukihero always interested me in how you were known for using blades. I would have loved to face the so called 'God of Destruction', especially since Yami-san is a native from my homeland of Hino, but since he is not here, you will have to make do."
Erza got up from the ground in just her blouse, her face one of fury. "I did not come here to face you, nor do I care about your opinion of my swordsmanship. Move."
Ikaruga simply smiled. "Ah, yes. That look is what I was looking for. I wanted to see your warrior spirit in action, so don't disappoint me too soon."
Ikaruga swung her sword in a circle around her, the sword somehow catching fire before she then shoots the flame out at Erza. "Mugetsu Style: Garuda Flame."
Erza immediately responds by requipping her Flame Empress armor to withstand the flames.
"How incredibly dull." Ikaruga comments. "Did you think I wouldn't expect you go for the most obvious move? Besides, even if you're in your Flame Empress armor, that's not enough to protect you."
As if to prove her right, as soon as the attack ended, Erza's armor shattered once again, leaving her upper body unguarded.
'Damn it! She keeps attacking me before I even have the chance to land a hit!' Erza goes through her armors in her head before settling on the next one to try.
"You seem to have forgotten something." In a flash of gold, Erza appears in her Flight armor. "You're not the only one who can use speed as a weapon."
Erza moved faster than the human eye could see, causing Ikaruga to have to block her attack with her drawn sword.
"You've finally managed to get close, Titania. Now, can you manage to move faster than my blade?"
Erza then delivers a flurry of slashes with her blades, but to her dismay, they were all blocked by Ikaruga, who kept a cool smile on at all times. Erza, infuriated at Ikaruga's cool attitude, increased the speed of her attack to no avail.
While going in for another slash, Erza tried to sweep her opponent's feet from under her, but Ikaruga sees through her ploy. Using her sword's sheath, she spins it around her body to knock it onto Erza's foot with the grace of a dancer, catching Erza of guard and once again slashing her weapons and armor to ribbons in the blink of an eye as she is blown away onto her back.
"The more this goes on, the more you disappoint me." Ikaruga chastises. "I bet you don't even know why you're losing. It's not because I'm too strong or you're too weak, no it's much more simpler than that."
"You're afraid."
"Preposterous!" Erza growled at her as she rose up from the ground, her skin also bleeding from all the slashes and cuts she received from this fight. "There is nothing in this tower that scares me, least of all you!"
"Who I said I was the one that you feared? You do not fear me even though I'm besting you, nor do you fear this tower despite what it has done to you, you don't even fear the idea that you may die here. You fear the one who set this twisted game in motion."
"You fear Jellal."
Erza does not react, instead choosing to hang her head down and try to ignore her. Ikaruga simply continues to monologue.
"In my homeland, there is a saying that all warriors abide by. 'A warrior leaves behind the past and future when they step into the fires of battle. Everything is stripped away by the cold steel of blade, until there is nothing left but your bones.' You are too focused on what comes next that you've lost sight of the present. A blind man could fight better than you are right now."
'She's right.' Erza grits her teeth as she comes to the realization that Ikaruga was correct about her. 'I've been so obsessed with Jellal that I was just viewing her as an obstacle in my path. She is my opponent right now, and that is all that matters.'
Erza stumbles back to her feet, surrounding her self in an aura of gold. "What trick are you going to pull next?" Ikaruga mocks. "It doesn't matter how many armors you use, I can destroy them all instantaneously."
To Ikaruga's shock, the outfit that comes out isn't any kind of armor at all. Instead, Erza has her hair in a ponytail with her chest covered in nothing but bandages to maintain her modesty. On her lower half all she has are red hakama pants with fire patterns on them and she wields a single katana.
"Is this some kind joke?" Asked Ikaruga. "I admit I'm flattered that you're using my ancestor's weapons, but I don't think ordinary clothing will help you against me. Giving up your biggest strength is not brave, it is foolish."
"I've never been strong." Erza countered. "Ever since I've left this tower, I've been the same scared little girl that feared showing others her heart, lest it be cut in twain once more. That's why I took to wearing armor, to protect me and my heart from pain, to conceal the weakling that I truly am. But now, I realize that I can't use my armor to protect what is truly important to me. So, I will take your words to heart, and give you some words of knowledge from a man from your homeland."
"Right here, right now, I will surpass my limits and defeat you!"
Ikaruga smiled as her magic power began to grow. "Yes, this is it! A true test of our skills that will leave only one left standing! Alas, the sweetest roses bloom the quickest, so why don't we finish this in our next move?"
A red aura surrounded Erza who simply nodded in response, both warriors taking their stances as one of the pink petals falls from the tree, the women both staring unblinkingly into each other's eyes.
The petal falls to the floor.
SCHWING
And both swordswomen leap at each other with their swords drawn.
Despite feeling like hours passed by, the two clashed for less than a second, both combatants focusing all of their senses on this one move.
However, one of them saw something the other didn't.
CLANG
The two fighters fall to the ground with their backs facing each other, complete silence in the air as it waited for the victor to be revealed.
"I-I can't believe… you really did it…"
CRACK
Erza's sword breaks.
"…Even the strongest warriors… can spend their whole life having… never achieved it…"
CRACK
Ikaruga's sword shatters.
"…But you did."
FLASH
In a burst of red light, Ikaruga's body falls to the ground, as the winner was made clear.
This day, Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail made history by activating Ether Flash for the first time in her life.
Back in the bird cage room, things were looking dire.
For Fukurou.
With his newly stolen prowess of flame magic, he expected to defeat an ice user in no time flat.
He was dead wrong.
The owl headed man was currently flying away on his jetpack to escape the volley of ice sculptures being thrown at him by Ur. An icy thorn grabbed on to his ankle out of nowhere, slamming him down onto the roof of a birdcage.
Fukurou got up to see an army of frozen insects flying at him. He countered by spitting out a sea of flames from his mouth to melt them but finds that there are too many of the icy creatures as they emerge from the flames and crash into him.
'H-hoooooooow is this happening!? I absorbed the flame powers of Salamander, so I should be able to melt this woman's ice with ease, but there are simply too many of them for me to melt them all!'
The birdman is given no time to think as a frozen tree emerges from underneath him, shooting him into the air. He activates his jetpack to reorient himself and lands on another cage.
'Where is she, anyway?! These attacks keep coming from every angle, I can barely even keep up! I lost her in all the chaos of these attacks, but she's creating so much!'
"Hey, where are you looking, birdbrain?" Fukurou looks up just in time to witness Ur's form falling down on top of him, wielding an icy axe in her hands as she swings down on him. The owlman tries to meet her attack with an fiery fist, but finds himself hopelessly outmatched as Ur wins the power struggle and slams him into the ground.
"Ice-Make: Leviathan Axe. One of my favorite spells whenever I want to fight up close and personal." Ur gloats as Fukurou shakily gets up from the ground. "You know, I have to thank you for this. I've been feeling kind of down on myself for a while, and a good bad guy beatdown is exactly what I needed as a good pick-me-up."
"I-I am not the villain; I am a warrior of justice! The dragon's flames now burn in the name of justice and will scorch all evildoers!" Ur simply rolls her eyes.
"Buddy, let me tell you, those flames of yours are nothing to compared to the person you stole them from. I've had baths hotter than the campfire you're making." Fukurou responds with a point-blank blast of fire, enveloping Ur's entire body in it.
"Hoo-hooo! How do you like that you dastardly fiend? You shall soon burn in the pits of hell for your misgivings!" Fukurou cheers in victory before realizing something as his attack ended.
Ur was not burned.
At all.
In fact, his entire attack had been turned into ice of all things, framing Ur in a beautiful display. "H-hoooow is this possible!? You froze my flames of judgment? The only way you could do that is with-" Fukurou stops as he comes to a sudden realization. "Of course, that's how you managed to launch so many attacks from all those angles!"
"Oh, so you finally figured it out didn't you?" Ur teased as she put her hands together in her signature stance. "Well, doesn't matter, I'm gonna need you to spit out my friend now. Mana Zone - Ice Make: Arctic Florance!"
Fukurou could only watch helplessly as he was surrounded by icy plant tendrils that came out of thin air and grabbed onto each limb, before stretching him out by pulling on all four limbs. The birdman cried out in pain before being pelted by a barrage of frozen petals that cut his skin until the pain becomes too much, and he finally passes out after spitting out Natsu.
"Ugh, what happened?" Natsu moaned as he recovered from being almost digested. "I feel like I was on ten train rides."
"Natsu!" Happy cries as he flies up and rubs against the Dragon Slayer's face. "I was so worried about you! Please never get eaten again!"
"Don't worry pal, next time someone tries to eat me, I'll just eat them instead!" Natsu, like always, says the stupidest things with the utmost confidence.
"Hey, lizard-breath! Try not to cause problems for us again, cause next time I won't be around to help you." Gray, like usual chastises Natsu's reckless attitude and the two but heads.
"Enough!"
Ur gets in between the two of them and immediately stops the argument. "Normally, I'd leave this to Erza, but since she's not here, I'm gonna have to step in. I need you to stop antagonizing each other, and work together! I'm gonna go back with Simon and Happy while you two go help Erza."
She is met with refusal from all three men at her plan. "Boys, always so headstrong and brash." Ur moans. "Look, I'm sorry Simon, but you're nowhere near strong enough to fight one of these guys, and I'm willing to bet Jellal is stronger than all three of them combined. I understand wanting to help your friend, but if you go there you will just be dead weight."
Simon grunts in frustration, but ultimately accepts that the situation is out of his league. "Now, for dumb and dumber here."
Gray and Natsu open their mouths to refute her.
"I'm not clarifying which is which."
They both close their mouths.
Ur sighs. "Look, you two have known each other for years, and have fought probably a hundred times, not to mention your Slayer training, right?" The two rivals nodded in agreement. "Then I'm sure that the two of you know each other's tactics inside and out. I've only been a part of this team a short while, but I know you two have a deep friendship with Erza, and I'm sure that neither of you are willing to endanger her life because of your rivalry, am I right?"
The two Slayers frown begrudgingly agree. "Then, the two of you better put your big boy pants on and go save your friend. Also, if Lucy is even half as nice as her mom, she's also rushing to help Erza, and I'd feel better if you two were with her."
Before the two groups split off, Ur has one last pep talk for the two frenemies who are visibly uncomfortable at their impromptu team up. "Look, I can tell that you're still upset about working together, and I get it, I actually didn't work well with others back in the day either, but Lucy told me that Erza said that if the two of you worked together, then you would easily defeat her. So, why don't the two of you prove her right?"
Ur's words succeed in inspiring a feeling of confidence in the duo as they head off to rescue their teammate.
Erza couldn't describe the feelings she had while running through her childhood prison, but if she had to guess, it was a combination of two things.
Anxiousness and ecstasy.
After defeating Ikaruga and making sure Sho was okay, Erza went ahead to the top of the tower where Jellal awaits her, still feeling the high of landing an Ether Flash.
Despite the fear and pain she should be feeling, Erza has never felt so strong in her life. Erza realizes how Lucy's skills started to grow so much after fighting Jose. She feels like she's grown immensely from just that one battle.
Erza stops as she reaches the top floor. 'This is it.' She thinks. 'Behind that door is the one behind all of this, Jellal.'
Erza reaches for the door, but pauses, the gravity of the situation all coming back to her. She takes one last breath and steels herself before opening the door. 'There's only way this can end. Only one of us can walk away from this, and it's going to be me!'
Erza walks into the room where at the center of it is Jellal in a dark blue hooded cloak. He is sitting in a throne with a chess board on the table, each representing a player in this 'game.'
Jellal looks up with sinister smile on his face as he looks at his old friend. "It's been so long, Erza. How unfortunate for you, I've already won."
Maaaaan, I am so excited to show you guys next chapter. I've been building up to it for a while, and a lot of changes that I've been seeding for a while will finally come to the surface at the end of this arc, and it will be one to remember.
This chapter however, had a few things in it I want to go into a bit more, so I guess I'll talk about that.
First, I'll talk about the fight between Ur and Fukurou. Now that she's fully recovered from being an ice sculpture, she can finally fight at full power and show off some of the skill that made her considered to be a Wizard Saint. I liked giving her Mana Zone as a way to show the level she's at compared to other characters.
Also, this chapter Erza achieved the legendary feat of Ether Flash in her fight against Ikaruga. I told you that I was gonna use it on other characters, but I bet you didn't expect it so soon. I decided to make Ikaruga from Yami's home country since I thought it would add a bit more to the fight. Now that Erza's risen to a new level, can she defeat this specter of her past, or is her defeat written in the stars.
Another change is the characters heading to the top of the tower. Most obvious change I feel is the removal of Simon from the ensuing battle. Keeping him alive is going to change the motivation of another swordswoman later down the line, and I have plenty of plans for her.
Natsu will have backup this time though, in the form of his 'best friend' Gray Fullbuster. The two rivals are said to have the potential to rival the S-Class of Fairy Tail, but will that be enough to match against a Wizard Saint's brother.
Finally, the last addition is one Lucy Heartfilia joining the fray against their fearsome foe. That bit with Virgo at the beginning is just a hint towards me giving Lucy a combat outfit so she can wear something more suited for battle. I am not hating on Lucy's various outfits in canon, I love all of them, I just wanted something cooler for her to wear. I'm thinking of changing Yuno and Asta's designs too so they're not just wearing their peasant clothing until the timeskip.
On the note of changing things, I want to give Team Natsu an actual team name. I went to the effort of giving Team Black Clover a name, so I feel like I should do the same for them. It's a bit harder because there isn't one unifying theme around them, but I plan to unveil it during the Battle of Fairy Tail arc, so feel free to give suggestions if you have any.
Next Time: Heaven's Falling Down