Chapter 222

The Relentless Chimera

I couldn't help but stare blankly at the cloaked figure as I finished processing what she said before responding.

"You want to kill me? Well, that's a new one. Normally, people just want to capture me or something," I couldn't help but snark. "But why would you want to kill me? Last I checked, this is the first time we've met, so I can't recall ever doing anything to you."

"It's not a matter of what you've done," the cloaked girl spat. "It's what you're going to do. So do yourself a favor and die with dignity."

She quickly pounced, raising her claw, and lunged at me with a swipe, and I quickly jumped back to avoid it. But as I did, she swung around and followed up with a roundhouse kick. Having no time to dodge it, I crossed my arms to defend and blocked it. However, the force behind it was enough to send me back before managing to skid to a stop.

"Look, lady, I don't know what your problem is, but I'm not just going to sit back and let you kill me," I said. "If you're looking for a fight, you got one."

"But, even with what I said, I can't afford to waste any time right now," I thought. "I have to find and locate the others. I know I shouldn't worry too much, but I can't help but be concerned. Not to mention, I get the feeling this girl ain't going to let me go just like that. Therefore, I'll have to try to catch her off guard by knocking her out or immobilizing her. At least then, I'll be able to question her."

I made water envelop my hands as I came at her swinging, only for her to jump backward to avoid me. As she did, she held out her hands from behind, and in a quick flash from her left, it changed into a claw similar to her right. She dashed toward me and swiped at me multiple times while I blocked and parried the blows while counterattacking.

Then, as she swiped with her right hand, I moved to the side, avoiding it, and closed the distance while swinging with a fist toward her midsection. However, she elegantly bent back into a handspring before swiftly coming back up and kicking me again right at my hip, sending me to the wall.

She held her hands at their sides again, and her right hand briefly flashed as it changed again. This time, it grew in size and morphed into the shape of a giant fist made of stone. And before I could even react, she lunged at me and swung.

I quickly crossed my arms to defend, but as her fist barreled into me, the force sent me crashing through the wall as I was launched through it. I bounced on the floor, landing on the ground face-first. As I coughed from the blow and spat out some dirt, I recognized what the girl was using.

"Is she using Take Over? If so, it's just like Elfman's Beast Soul."

As I got up while wiping my chin and looking up, something shot out from the hole in the wall at incredible speed. I instinctively moved to the side to the left in time to dodge the girl's incoming claw, which had now changed into a paw, managing to scratch my cheek as she shot past while landing a crouch.

Looking at her, I saw that her other hand and feet had also changed into paws. She was even sporting a tail.

"So, she is using Take Over magic. That looks just like one of Lisanna's Animal Souls! But why does she have something like that? Did she copy it from her somehow?"

"Tell me. Who are you?" I demanded. "And how is it that you know Take Over magic?"

"I don't have to answer to you," replied the girl. "All you need to know is that you'd be wise not to underestimate me."

She dashed toward me, appearing to be attacking, but as I got ready to defend, she shot past me in another direction, disappearing behind some rubble. Then, she started moving around the area rapidly like a speeding bullet, darting back and forth while I stood firm, trying to keep my eyes on her.

Then, I suddenly felt her shoot past my right side, barely missing my hip but lightly scratching it. After that, while sensing her coming from my right, I bent back to avoid her, only to have my shoulder nicked. I didn't feel pain or anything, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

"So, she's trying to overwhelm me using her speed? That would be a viable strategy, but…"

I then sharply turned around in time to see her coming towards me.

"Now, I got you! WATER DRAGON…"

But as I took a deep breath to unleash my breath attack, the girl planted her feet and jumped into the air, and as I looked up, she had changed her paws into giant wings. While in the air, she gave them a mighty flap, creating a sharp and strong gust of wind, kicking up dust.

"Did she just predict me?!" I thought as I shielded my face.

Then, as I looked up, a giant stalactite hurtled in my direction, and reacting quickly, I used a Flowing Fist to break it. However, as I did, the girl suddenly appeared with her right arm, now a giant muscular black arm, and gave me a strong punch with it right in my midsection. The blow's speed and force made my breath catch in my throat as it blew me back and slammed into a stalagmite, which cracked from the impact.

"She instantly switched to a different partial Take Over three times consecutively! That's an advanced move, according to Mira!"

I pulled myself out from the rock, wiping the spit from my lips as I glared at my opponent as she stood there.

"Well, well. You certainly caught me off guard," I said as I dusted off the dirt on my clothes. "And here I thought that you'd be some Take Over copycat. No pun intended."

"Spare me your insults. If you're trying to provoke me, your skill is sorely lacking," the girl scoffed. She paused as she looked up. "Speaking of which, since you seem to know about Take Over Magic, let's see if you can recognize this one."

Her body began to glow bright violet as a magic circle appeared beneath her, her cloak dancing in the air. Then, as the magic circle enveloped her body, her hands changed into jet-black claws with golden gauntlets, a large, stocky, metallic-like tail came out from the bottom of her cloak, and a pair of black bat-like wings sprung from her back.

She then took a familiar stance, bringing her hands together as a dark sphere-like vortex of magic formed in the space between them.

My eyes widened in shock. "No way! That's…!"

"SOUL EXTINCTOR!"

While uttering the spell's name, the girl unleashed a massive blast at me. Immediately, I used Aqua Jet to launch myself into the air to avoid it while clinging to a stalactite as it shot past, scorching the ground before blasting the wall into the distance, causing the entire cavern to shake as dust blanketed the area. But I was too shocked to even notice.

"No doubt about it! That's definitely Satan Soul! That, along with that spell she used, are all Mira's! But how the heck does she know them?!"

Then, from the dust, another powerful blast erupted in my direction, forcing me to jump away from the stalactite as it was destroyed by a bright explosion. Just as I did, the girl leaped out and nailed me right in the gut and then spoke out the name of another familiar spell.

"EVIL SPARK."

I was then assaulted by a powerful surge of electricity, eliciting a scream of pain as my body convulsed before I was smacked again in the cheek, hitting the ground.

As I lay there, I could taste the iron of my blood on my lips as I pulled myself back up, refixing my gaze at her, only for her to lunge at me again with another swipe of her claw, forcing me to jump up to avoid her.

"I wasn't expecting this. I may have experienced fighting that form before during training with Mira, but that's only because she was pulling her punches. But this girl really is out to kill me. I was only holding back because I wanted to question her, but if I keep doing so, I won't last much longer!"

I landed on the ground, clenched my hands into fists, and raised them above my head.

"WATER DRAGON: GEYSER TOWER!"

I then slammed them on the ground, making water erupt beneath me and hiding my form, intending to use it for cover and buy time to recover. But as I came out from the water from the back, I was cut off by the girl appearing seemingly out of nowhere as she swiped claw toward my midsection.

"As if I'd let you get away!" she snarled. "If you think you can try and escape to recover, you're more foolish than I thought!"

I barely managed to avoid it, but she nicked my abs, three thin red lines appearing while tearing my shirt.

"She knew what I was going to do?! But how did she?! There could have been many other places I could have come out of, but she predicted where I would! Did she get lucky?!"

I planted my feet on a fallen rock, launched myself into the air, and released large torrents from my hands.

"WATER DRAGON: WING ATTACK!"

I hurled the streams, turning them into shockwaves, but the girl promptly held out her hand and used another familiar spell.

"DARKNESS STREAM!"

Multiple streams of dark magic in claw-like shapes erupted forth. When they collided with the attack, numerous explosions shook the air. However, some continued on their path while trying to grab me, forcing me to take evasive action.

"I'll never get anywhere at this rate! In that case…! I'll end it right now!"

With a bellowing roar, I entered Dragon Force, my magic power flaring while tendrils of water came forth from my wrists and ankles. Then, I swooped toward her while cloaking my hands with water again.

"WATER DRAGON: FLOWING FIST! SHOOT STYLE!"

I punched rapidly while firing multiple blasts of water. However, the cloaked female promptly jumped backward while avoiding them and deflecting some. While roaring again, I gunned for her, and she did the same. Our fists met in hand-to-hand combat, causing rocks to be obliterated while the ground shook.

However, as we clashed, while I threw punch after punch and kick after kick, the girl parried and avoided the attacks but didn't counterattack. I then used Flowing Fist Shoot Style again, firing multiple shots, but she still continued to dodge.

"Why isn't she fighting back? Is she intimidated and is focusing on defense after I transformed? Or is she trying to make me use up all my magic? That would make sense. I've already used up a lot back when I was fighting before, and to make things worse, there isn't any water around here for me to recharge. I won't be able to maintain this for very long, so I've got to try and land a good hit before I run out!"

"You can run from me all you want, but I'm taking you out!" I roared as I clapped my hands together. "WATER DRAGON CLONES!"

Multiple copies of me made of water materialized, and they all quickly surrounded her while I hid myself in them to confuse her. The girl looked around, not intimidated.

"You're wasting your time," she spoke aloud. "This tactic won't work on me."

"Oh, yeah?! We'll see!" my clones and I yelled as we attacked her simultaneously.

But as we did, the female jumped up, and while her feet briefly flashed, she changed them into bird-like talons and used them to cling to the ceiling. The clones and I looked up and jumped towards her at once, in time to see her briefly flash before changing form again while shooting toward me at incredible speed. Before I could get the chance to curse, the girl landed a wicked punch right into my abs.

I could swear that I felt my ribs creak while her fist dug into them, and I let out a choking gasp as I coughed out some spit. At the same time, the other clones faded away.

But while fighting through the pain, I grabbed a tight hold of her arm with one hand while bringing back the other, palm raised as it shone blue with my magic.

"Now I got you!" I yelled. "RIPPLE PALM THRUST!"

I slammed my palm straight into her midsection as a powerful shockwave of water exploded forth upon contact. But as soon as I did, my entire hand was wracked with pain enough for me to let out a scream as it felt like I had struck something hard and sharp. As I let go while recoiling back and holding my wrist, I looked at my hand and was shocked to see that it was laced with several holes with blood oozing out from them.

"What the hell?! Why am I the one in pain?! And why did it feel like I just hit a spiked rock?!"

Then, I heard the girl speak up. "I told you, it was pointless. I'll admit that last attack could have blown me away if I hadn't done this."

I then looked up and saw that the girl remained standing where she was despite my Ripple Palm Thrust hitting her. And to add to that, she had lifted her cloak, revealing that her midsection had grown bulkier and was covered in spiked green scales.

"Hold on a minute!" I recognized. "That's…"

"That's right. Just before you struck me, I used another Take Over to protect myself," the girl explained. "One you already know as Lizardman."

My eyes widened, but my shock didn't end there. In addition to the Lizardman belly, the girl still had bird-like talons for feet and the bat-like wings from Satan Soul.

"Wait, what the hell is going on?! How are you using multiple Take Overs at once?!" I demanded. "Something like that shouldn't be possible!"

"Oh, but it is," the girl said as she brandished her claw. "While it is normal for a wizard to perform a partial and a complete body Take Over, I can combine different parts of the known styles to make all sorts of combinations whenever I see fit. It's something of an original I invented. I call it Chimera Soul."

"Chimera Soul, huh?" I grunted while wincing in pain. "I'll admit, that's definitely new. I've never heard of something like that or didn't think it was possible. But, I ain't beat yet."

"Is that so?" asked the girl. "Because, the way I see it, this fight is already over."

Before I could ask what she was talking about, I suddenly felt a wave of weakness strike my body as my vision began to flicker from the blurriness.

"Wh-What the…?! Now, what's going on?!"

Right then, the girl lunged forward and started wailing, punching me with multiple blows, each one not only hurting but making me more disoriented with every hit as my body grew heavier.

Then, as I stood there trying to stay conscious while completely dazed, the girl held out a hand in front of my chest, creating a dark sphere of magic.

"EVIL EXPLOSION."

A powerful explosion erupted from her hand, blasting me and sending me flying across the cavern and crashing through a couple of walls before landing on the ground. Wracked with pain while gasping for air, I tried to get back up, but I couldn't muster the strength to move.

"Damn it! I can barely move! What the heck did she do to me?! I have to try and heal up the damage!"

But as I tried doing so, the girl reappeared again from the hole I made in the wall and proceeded to stomp on my stomach hard, causing me to let out a gargled yelp.

"Looks to me that the poison's finally circulated throughout your body," she said as she moved her foot away. "You won't be able to move and don't think I'll let you heal yourself either. Then again, you don't have the magic to do that anyway."

"P-Poison?" I coughed weakly. "W-When did you…?"

The girl then showed off her claw again. "You didn't realize this then, but at the start of our fight, I had my claws laced with a drug designed to incapacitate you. Even though I scratched you a few times, it was enough to get inside your system. From there, I had to wait until it finally took effect."

I could only stare at the girl, wholly stunned. "You… you planned this whole thing? But… why go through all this?"

"Because as long as you're alive, this whole world won't have a future," replied the girl. "That's why you have to die."

She then raised her claw, the nails extending as they gleamed from the sharpness.

"W-Wait! You don't… have to do this!" I tried reasoning with her weakly.

"Don't worry. I'll make it quick by smashing your skull," the girl replied, uncaring. "That way, it'll be quick and painless. I'm sorry, but this is the end, Willy Falconer, son of Aquadia and demon of the sea."

She swung her claw down, intending to go through with her threat. Panic began to take hold as my life flashed before my eyes. I was helpless, unable to fight back, and more than likely, I was going to die all alone, with no one even knowing about my fate. The thought of it made me all the more scared.

"No! Not like this! I can't die here! I can't! I won't die here!"

The overwhelming emotions seized my body, and I couldn't help but reach my breaking point.

NO POV

Just before the cloaked woman was about to land the killing blow, Willy let loose a bellowing and inhuman scream eerily similar to a roar.

The sound echoed throughout the cave, reverberating throughout the cavern and making the rocks tremble.

The girl was so surprised by the sudden loudness that she couldn't help but recoil as she covered her ears. But despite doing this, she could still hear the noise, which made her eardrums overwhelmed with pain to the brink of almost rupturing, making her scream in agony.

This went on for a few seconds until, finally, the screaming stopped as Willy ran out of breath, barely conscious and breathing.

The girl, while still recovering, could still feel her ears ringing. "I-I didn't expect him to do that," she winced. "Then again, he must have grown so panicked, he couldn't help it."

She shook her head to try and collect herself before looking back at Willy.

"But still, I have to hurry and finish him off. A scream that loud will definitely attract some attention. I've come this far, so I have to it now!"

She approached Willy and got ready to deliver the finishing blow.

"I'm sorry… but this is the only way…Goodbye, Willy."

But just as she was about to do so, a powerful blast of dark magic shot in her direction, forcing her to jump out of the way to avoid it. But as she did, a powerful stream of fire also came blasting toward her. To protect herself from the incoming attack, she quickly turned her hands and arms into the likeness of Lizardman and crossed them, defending herself from the blow.

Then, as she looked up, Natsu and his party arrived on the scene, much to her anger and irritation.

"Damn it! Not now!" the girl cursed.

"Hey, you! I don't know who you are, but you better back off!" Natsu snarled.

Lisanna and the others quickly rushed over to Willy.

"Willy! Can you hear me?! Say something!" Lucy pleaded as she shook him. "Open your eyes!"

Wendy quickly looked him over. "He's badly hurt and also poisoned!" she gasped. "I have to treat him quickly!"

The girl was quick to snap. "No! Don't you dare heal him!" she yelled as she was quick to lunge at them.

But as she did, someone else stepped in front, barring her way. It was the girl's associate. However, her hood was down, and her face was exposed, revealing her appearance to be identical to Lucy. Upon seeing her, the cloaked girl seethed with fury.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" she demanded. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?!"

"Please! You have to stop!" the Lucy with the cloak begged. "There's no need for you to kill Willy anymore!"

"I'm not going to debate this with you!" the cloaked girl snapped. "Get out of the way!

"I won't!" the cloaked Lucy yelled. "I'm telling you to stand down now!"

"Have you forgotten why we came here?!" the cloaked girl yelled. "We promised each other that we would do whatever it took to save the future, no matter the cost! And killing Willy is the only way of doing that! Are you telling me you would rather lose everything we hold dear again?!"

"I'm not! I want to save the future as much as you do, but there has to be another way!" the cloaked Lucy pleaded, eyes filling with unshed tears. "I've already seen enough people die! Why can't we save the future without killing anyone?!"

"I knew I shouldn't have taken you with me!" the cloaked girl spat with disgust. "Your sentimentality's made you lose your nerve, and now you've already screwed up this timeline by exposing yourself!" Her body began to radiate with magic power as she brought her hands together, creating a vortex of dark magic in the space between them. "Fine! If you insist on getting in my way, I'll make you move!

But as she was about to unleash her attack, Mira calmly walked in front, stepping into the line of fire. Upon seeing her, the girl couldn't help but hesitate as cracks formed in her emotions.

"I'm not going to tell you again!" she yelled, trying to keep herself determined. "Move or else!"

"You and I both know that's not going to happen," Mira spoke calmly but firmly. "Anyone who even thinks of hurting one of our own guild members will answer to us!" She paused impressively before her expression softened. "And you should know that better than anyone… Lisanna."

The cloaked girl felt her heart palpitate in shock as the magic in her hands vanished while everyone else looked at Mira and then back at the girl.

"Wait, what did you just say?!" Natsu couldn't help but exclaim.

The cloaked Lucy hung her head in sorrow as she also nodded.

Then, while biting her lip, the girl removed her hood, revealing her face.

She had a scar running across her left eye and had her hair styled in a ponytail. However, she still had the same blue eyes and snow-white hair color, identical to the girl in question.

Upon seeing her, disbelief filled everyone's faces as they stared with wide eyes and jaws agape.

"Y-You're kidding me!" Lucy couldn't help but gasp.

"Sh-She's me?!" Lisanna also spoke in a stunned and dumbfounded tone.

As always, thank you very much for reading!

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Until then, Dragomaster signing off!