Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 61: Entering Gunjou Town! Varying Hues of Purple & Various Forms of Lifelessness! Violara Humbles Risa & Maruberiki Speaks To Magic!
Lucy and her teammates arrived in the town of Gunjou from the eastern entrance, seeing that this part of the town was very lively with the townspeople walking past several boutique shops and making purchases at certain stores. Although, the sight of a woman putting on a tattered witch's hat seemed odd to Lucy. She noticed that the woman received that hat from a shop that had a hot purple window, but walking over to that store allowed Lucy and Sting to see that all of the hats were worn down and tattered.
They hadn't even been made with care, almost like the shopkeeper put no effort into simply making hats. The prices for the hats had been written on lavender pieces of paper below the hats, and they were surprisingly very cheap. That didn't make the store fit well with this area of the town, as Lucy's point of view made her think that this low-class business had to be someone's desperate attempt at making their store have sales. Although, she soon saw Kusabue point to a nearby bakery where its window featured a surprising sight.
There were no treats on the shelves, only purple crumbs from what had been sold at a previous time. Judging by how Kusabue couldn't hear the two people in the bakery prepare any pastries, she looked a bit startled at how they were just mixing batter in a bowl and kneading dough. They strangely did that multiple times, almost like they were trapped in an endless cycle, but Kusabue gently tapping on the glass caused them to slowly look up. They had exhausted facial expressions, sighing loudly as they seemed very disinterested in their work.
That disinterest even expanded to a guitar player who was at the end of this street, only strumming a few notes on her wooden guitar that was in a boysenberry shade of purple while the lower part of it took the shape of three smog clouds being around the guitar's strings. The woman had her boysenberry purple hair in a long ponytail while wearing a lavender blazer over her violet T-shirt, and she wore lavender khaki shorts that matched her boysenberry purple shoes. She glanced down at her shoes for a moment, hearing the footsteps of a young girl running towards her.
"Excuse me, guitarist lady. Will you play something for me?" Kusabue stated nicely before she asked her question with a kind facial expression, stretching out her hands to absorb the sound waves.
The guitarist responded in a depressed manner, having no emotion or even the slightest bit of joy in her mauve purple eyes, "No, little girl. I just don't have the vocals or even a good musical beat to play in harmony with."
"Could I sing a song that's native to my town?" Kusabue politely asked with a nice smile on her face.
That only made the guitarist respond in a pessimistic tone, before sighing as she went back to playing the same four-chord pattern of musical notes, "No, just... don't waste your time. Don't make my guitar playing have discordance."
That response only made Kusabue start to walk back towards Sting, who looked puzzled as to why everyone seemed so passionless and depressed. He even tried to get the attention of a nearby mage who was wielding Darkness Magic, only to see the male wizard look at him with a gloomy facial expression while the lavender flame in his hands disappeared like a candle's flame being blown out by a large gust of wind. As that mage sighed and walked away, Sting wondered why the mages weren't being told to fight anyone right now.
Sting felt like the people here would change their attitudes if he tried to fight the leader of Hexing Enchantress, prompting him to start looking around this eastern part of the town. The southern area of this town featured some plum purple buildings that were shaped like small castles that had their castle tops in the shapes of plum purple roses, and the windows were shaped like the grape purple outlines of thin ghosts rising up into the air with evil smirks on their faces. These buildings were actually containing theater halls, which were places where actors and actresses could try to have great artistic performances.
The artistic performances ranged from displaying real people such as the famous mages Zeref and Mavis to portraying people such as Akai Hinotama in movies where the actual musician would want to watch a play that was based on her actual life. However, quickly going down the street with the rest of his team allowed Sting and the others to see that a small rectangular sign outside of the doorway informed everyone that these small castles were all part of the Gunjou Theater. The Heather purple wooden sign outside the theater was sitting on a rectangular wooden table that was hot purple, and the greeter was interestingly nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe someone will want to fight us, if we go inside this place and-" Lucy stated with a pleasant smile on her face, before being interrupted by the ground in front of her suddenly breaking apart as if it was just a fake kind of a ground from a stage.
The witch who slowly emerged from the ground replied in a calm manner, after coughing from the dirt and dust underground, "Welcome to the Gunjou Theater. Acting is all about motivation."
"Well, that seemed like a lifeless portrayal of trying to scare us." Sting responded with a comically confused look appearing on his face, as the witch was monotone during a moment of passionlessly making scary growling noises right before she lowered herself down into the dirt again.
As the group continued going down to the southern area of Gunjou Town, one thing that did somewhat scare Sting was the soft sound of people gathering behind the Sabertooth mages. They weren't being gathered to harm anyone, but they just seemed to be quietly gathering for an assembly in the central plaza of Gunjou. He jumped up in the air for a moment to get on a tree branch and briefly see Maruberiki setting up a wine purple podium that matched his hair color, and one of the dark witches carried a lavender cardboard box.
The box was filled with violet microphones, and Sting glanced at them before seeing the crowd appear to have powerful mages standing in the front row. Judging by the fact that they all looked very intimidating as dark witches and warlocks, Sting assumed that those eight mages were going to be given the roles of being the tough mages who would constantly keep Miko from getting to him. Getting past both of the gatekeepers had been difficult enough, which was evident from how Sting was still waiting for Rogue's group to arrive.
He had heard the sounds of them fighting Violara in the Heatherberry Swamp, and Sting felt very confident that his friends would be able to win. Even if they struggled to obtain victory, Sting believed that Rogue and the others could withstand dark magic. Sorano's Angel Magic would be conditional to use, since she needed to expend coins in different amounts while they would drain her life force, but Rogue could easily eat large shadows of explosions to see if they would do any damage. In Sting's mind, Risa was probably being the only slight liability in the swamp from how a dark witch could steal her Psychic Magic and heavily injure her.
Meanwhile, in Violara's house...
Risa laid down on Violara's hot purple couch, her face still looking pale and sickly as she was sleeping with the anesthetic poison flowing throughout her body. Risa had bruises forming all over her body while every bruise was actually the poison tearing through her skin or burning her body from within. The bruises were in varying shades of purple, which pertained to how they were associated with all the different poisons that were infused into Violara's final attack. The dark witch sat down at her Heather purple wooden rectangular desk that was at the back of this room, and she calmly looked back at Risa for a moment to see the itchy and pulsating rashes that were now forming on every part of the psychic mage's body.
Risa was feeling much more pain, perspiring as she began to breathe more heavily than before. This phase of the poisoning was necessary for Violara, however. She felt that it would be a great idea to neutralize the effects of the poison when they were at their most deadly levels of toxicity, and Violara had regained enough magical power to gently send out different poisons from her hands. The poisons took the form of sludge and muck, which fell down into some lavender purple beakers, and they were dispensed in large amounts to where they entirely filled up the beakers.
The toxicity of the poisons would need to be nullified, and Violara stayed in her wooden hot purple chair as she looked over at Sorano. The former dark mage sat down in a wooden Heather purple chair near the rectangular violet coffee table, which was across from the couch in this main room of Violara's house. Violara hoped that Sorano had some spells of Angel Magic that could alter poison, even if they couldn't recharge someone's stamina or energy. Sorano had been waiting for some instructions on what she needed to do, since Violara wanted her around.
Violara motioned with her left hand for Sorano to come over to the desk, prompting Sorano to get up from the chair with a soft smile on her face. She noticed that all of the poisons had easily been prepared, leaving only the difficult task of altering all of the poisons' toxic chemicals for them to be transformed into having healing properties. Of course, reversing toxicity was something that made Sorano put her hands in a praying stance as she smiled in a kind manner. She made the light blue aura of Angel Magic gently surround her body, before sending magic into three coins that were in her pocket, and the spell she activated was called Angelic Reflect Ring.
"Holy Ring, let your angel repel the toxins away from themselves!" Sorano stated with a stern look on her face, as a ring with seven light blue rings of energy around it began to form in her hands.
Upon seeing Sorano place the ring in midair for it to be above the beakers and make the toxic aromas be pushed down to instantly spring back upwards, Violara commented with a slightly impressed look in her eyes, "Well, that's one way to purify my magic."
When the aromas emerged from the beakers, Sorano's ring slowly started to spin in the clockwise direction. It absorbed the poisons, before making itself shine in different shades of purple to signify the dark magic that was repelled towards it, and the light blue wings gently flapped down towards the beakers. They began to send down glittery powder, filling each beaker with its corresponding color of poison, and the powders gave off sweet scents. They smelled as sweet as the makeup and powdery cosmetics that a fashionable girl such as Risa would probably use, which was fitting for this situation.
Risa let out a soft groan, as her skin began to alter between the different shades of purple poison that flowed throughout her body. She still slept while now looking saddened, almost as if her heart and mind could feel her magical power start the process of being whittled down to where nothing would remain. That prompted Violara to pour the Heather purple sludge into the beaker that was full of sludge and powder in a hot shade of purple, and she quickly spun that bottle around in a circle. The two types of sludge and powder mixed together to create a lighter hot shade of purple, before this mixture was placed next to the beaker of Violara's dark lilac magic.
This particular beaker began to have violet muck and powder poured into it, causing the mixture to have more of a dark purple hue. The dark purple muck and sludge was poured into a large lavender teacup that had been somewhat close to the lit candle on the desk, before the lighter hot purple mixture was poured into it, and their sweet aromas could be detected through both the smell and sight of the mixtures synthesizing together. The end result allowed the mixtures to now create a deep lilac liquid that bubbled with deep lilac clouds of steam emerging from the teacup, but the tea's color also briefly shifted to being dark magenta.
"What kind of tea is this supposed to be?" Sorano asked with a curious look on her face, as Violara placed the cup into her hands.
Violara explained with a relaxed facial expression, seeing the tea begin to sparkle as it briefly became deep lilac again, "It's the Deep Lilac Poison Relieving Tea. In terms of foods and drinks, it's a drink you can only make in Gunjou if you have the poisonous plants or wield poison."
"Well, let's finally relieve Risa of all that poison." Sorano responded with a soft smile on her face, as she started walking away with the tea.
Sorano walked across the dark purple wooden floor that matched the Heather purple walls of the house, and she placed the cup down on the coffee table. Sorano looked up from the coffee table to see Violara get up from her chair, and the dark witch walked over to Risa. She maintained a stoic frown as she gently used her right hand to push Risa's lips in opposite directions, opening her mouth, and that caused Sorano to pick up the hot cup of tea. She gently poured the scorching hot tea into Risa's mouth, before seeing her swallow it all in a pained manner.
In a few seconds, Risa's body started to be engulfed in a deep lilac aura. The hot tea caused he body to perspire much more feverishly, deep lilac clouds emerging from her pores, and her skin slowly began to revert back to its regular complexion as the tea's healing properties seemed to be eradicating the poison. It all seemed to flow down into Risa's stomach, but she soon slept more quietly while looking as if she had collapsed from exhaustion. Sorano put her face near Risa's mouth to hear her breathing very softly, and her breaths still sounded like she was in pain.
The antidote would need to take its time with working, and Sorano hoped that the team wouldn't get into anymore dangerous fights today. Based on what her team had to endure, everyone was still trying to recover from nearly being out of magical power. The same thing could probably be said for Sting's group of Sabertooth wizards, since all the explosions that came from the Wisteria Wasteland made Sorano believe that they had a tough fight against Mauveria. As Sorano thought about going to see them, the pungent smell from Risa's lips and her being drenched earlier from Violara's final attack only made Sorano take a step back. As she got to see that all of Risa's clothes were torn and damaged from the poison, Sorano felt that there were some things that she needed to discuss with Violara before she'd go out to catch up with everyone else who had already made their way into Gunjou Town.
Meanwhile, at Gunjou Town's western entrance...
Rogue and Kūkiatsu managed to reach the west gate and be physically close to Miko, who had finished burning all of the toxic berries that were gathered into piles of fruit. Miko felt that eliminating their toxic odors was necessary, since Violara could've eaten them to enhance her Poison Magic to a much higher level than what she displayed to the Sabertooth mages. Rogue softly clenched his fists in anger, feeling like it was shameful that Violara gave the team such a difficult battle without even using the full extent of her magic.
She made Rogue's group look outclassed in terms of power and strategy, as they couldn't even fight her in close combat or fight her from a distance without Violara's poison being an issue that couldn't be bypassed. Rogue started to wonder if eating the shadows of the poisonous clouds would've been very beneficial, since he could've just given himself a way to enhance the power of his attacks, but making poison explode was something that only caused more problems than pleasant outcomes.
Rogue began to narrow his eyes in a frustrated manner from wondering if he should've ordered Sorano to try and counter the poison with her Angel Magic, but that would've been a risky idea because of the fact that her lifespan would've been shortened. Even if a teammate could take down a powerful opponent, losing their life in the process wouldn't have made the team believe that they obtained a victory. After Kūkiatsu managed to technically get a victory for himself from Violara forfeiting, Rogue felt that the team was just lucky that she had expended too much magical power to keep fighting.
In addition to Violara using up too much magical power, Rogue also realized that Risa used up more magical power than she normally would. The psychic mage had collapsed during the moment where she and Violara struck each other with powerful punches, and hearing Violara harshly criticize Risa really made Rogue really think that Risa's ego had been shattered. Risa was a woman who aspired to be the princess of Parmanie, but being told that she couldn't control her dark emotions was probably the harshest criticism. Risa wanted to be a mature princess who could control her own power, and seeming inferior to a dark witch who also poisoned her must've made Risa feel horrible about herself. Rogue wondered what his girlfriend was doing, as he saw Sorano running out of the swamp to calmly catch up with the group.
"Where's Risa? What happened to her?" Rogue asked Sorano in a stern manner, as feelings of concern in his red eyes.
Sorano explained with a sly smile on her face, having optimism in her hazel eyes, "She's resting right now at Violara's house. We worked to possibly create a cure, so maybe Risa will live and overcome the poison. If she lives, then Violara will give her a book with instructions on how to wield her dark magic with more feelings of vengeance, evil, and hatred in her heart. Although, Risa will need to learn to tame those feelings to where she'll know when to stop going berserk instead of just constantly suppressing the dark nature of her magic. It's been affecting her personality, too. If she dies, Violara will revive her as her dark witch in servitude and also turn you evil and humble. That was the deal, along with the location of your eventual wedding possibly being the Heatherberry Swamp."
Upon hearing the details of the deal that Sorano made with the dark witch, Rogue exclaimed with an astounded look on his face as he sounded shocked, "You made that type of proposal with a dark witch?! For someone so rational, did the swamp's poisonous gases corrode your mind?!"
Sorano didn't feel like they had ruined her mind at all, since the outcomes of living or dying would assist Risa with making herself become stronger. The fact that Risa got beaten down by Violara made Sorano feel that this personal loss could serve as a humbling experience, something that would make Risa strive to not just rely on teamwork or being overly strategic. From Sorano's perspective, even the best strategists knew to have high amounts of power. However, that last punch from Risa was weak to where she even let go of her enemy's dress.
That was like letting go of her desire to beat Violara, who had attacked Rogue, and Sorano had sternness in her eyes as she strongly felt that Risa couldn't just suppress her feelings of vengeance, hatred, or any evil thoughts in life. Suppressing her hateful thoughts would only make them become uncontrollable, which was different than strengthening the dark magenta magic itself, and Sorano did not want this team to deal with the risk of Risa attacking any allies during her evil or berserk state.
If Risa was going to use magic that would make her go berserk, then she would have to teach herself or have Violara teach her on how to control it. That would first require Risa to access feelings of maliciousness or vengeance, emotions that she didn't seem to naturally have, and a former dark mage such as Sorano felt like Risa was weakening her own dark magenta magic by not using it in combination with all of the kinds of emotions that it fed on. Anger and rage were different feelings, as one involved the user having control while the other emotion involved uncontrollable fury. Therefore, Sorano felt that Risa needed to embrace her dark magic and embrace her fury.
"Whether Risa becomes a dark witch or not, Rogue, you surely recall that the guards at the main entrance told us that the gatekeeper who wasn't battled first wouldn't chase us down to get their revenge." Sorano told Rogue with a pleasant smile on her face, liking that particular benefit on this mission.
That only prompted Rogue to respond in a horrified manner, thinking back to his evil future self, "It's not good for Risa to become a dark witch, Sorano! I don't want her training under a dark mage such as Violara, either! I don't need to deal with a friend having evil tendencies!"
"Are you implying that your girlfriend's fate of embracing the darkness on her own or through Violara would significantly affect how you see Risa? As long as Risa's heart still romantically loves you, wouldn't you return that love instead of seeming shallow?" Sorano countered in a calm manner, frowning as she felt like asking him important questions.
Rogue responded calmly, before looking away from Sorano with a frustrated facial expression, "That's... It's something we'll have to discuss in private."
If he had to see Risa become evil, then Rogue felt like he was right to be worried about Risa being an evil and cruel person who would end other people's lives without any mercy. That was how Rogue perceived dark witches, since the ones other than Miko who were encountered were only intent on harming the team of Sabertooth mages. Rogue didn't want Risa to become a cold and heartless witch who would carry out her actions with feelings of cruelty, since Rogue personally believed that Risa having malicious intent and a desire to kill would make her no different than Kyoko.
Kyoko may not have been a dark witch from Gunjou Town, but the sheer experience of a psychic mage using their power for evil purposes was something that Rogue never wanted Risa to experience ever again. It had deeply scarred her, since that was the reason why Sara Hoshiakari died, and consciously seeing herself carry out acts of evil as a dark witch doubling as a psychic mage would probably make Risa's heart and mind probably feel very unstable. From Rogue's perspective, those paradoxical types of mages were no different than his future self wielding the powers of shadows and light after ending Sting's life.
Sting certainly wouldn't want Risa to become a dark witch, especially since he liked having one of his mages be someone who changed from being a fashion-obsessed rookie to a fashionable mage who was learning to be mature, heroic, and kind. If Risa had to become a mage of Hexing Enchantress, then there was no doubt in Rogue's mind that Sting would create a new mission of rescuing Risa from the house in Heatherberry Swamp. Violara may not have been torturing Risa, but Rogue just hoped that the poison from earlier hadn't ended his girlfriend's life.
Back at Violara's house...
Risa slowly opened her eyes to see that she was now in the run-down house that belonged to Violara, and she gently made herself sit up to see if she was okay. Risa moved her hands in a gentle manner while breathing, seeing that there was no poison afflicting her, and she felt better than when she had been fighting in the Heatherberry Swamp. Glancing out of the window for a moment allowed Risa to see Violara's witches placing their scepters down on the ground as they sank back into the bogs of bubbling gunk, and the heat waves seeming very normal to her body caused Risa to look curious about if Violara's punch had been like a severe swamp fever.
She looked around to see the dark witch come through a nearby doorway that led to a hallway, and Violara simply smiled in a confident manner at how the antidote that was concocted with Sorano's help had been successful. Of course, she began to slightly frown from seeing Risa attempt to get up. She didn't recharge her magical power to its fullest extent yet, resulting in her only being able to apply a small amount of Psychic Magic to her feet. Risa felt like she needed to go catch up with all of her teammates who were in Gunjou Town, but she was quickly stopped by Violara applying Darkness Magic to her feet and reaching the door first.
Violara merely frowned at Risa, who began to narrow her eyes in a fierce manner. As Risa attempted to punch Violara in her attempt to get payback, she dropped her jaw in shock as the other woman struck her in the stomach with a powerful punch that didn't involve any magic. Risa simply fell to her knees, before Violara gently patted her head. The powerful dark mage actually thought it was amusing for Risa to try and strike her in this house, especially since Violara could've easily ordered her subordinates to come in here and put Risa under a harmful curse or a dangerous hex.
However, making her be shrunken down or constantly be in explosive smokescreens of poison gases didn't seem fun to Violara. Instead, she built up a high amount of Darkness Magic in a dark lilac color and aimed her right hand down at Risa while smirking in an evil and sadistic manner. The girl who temporarily seemed evil would now see that she was at the mercy of a woman who could easily obliterate her with feelings of vengeance and maliciousness in her eyes, and Risa started to look worried as she saw Violara place her right hand in front of her eyes. As Risa's body started trembling with tears forming in her eyes, her attempt of calling out for Rogue or Lucy in a panicked manner was interrupted by Violara powering down. She began to have a more disgusted look in her eyes, seeing someone who strayed towards being an arrogant psychic now reacting like a weak girl who couldn't fight back with any vicious feelings in her magic right now. Upon also sniffing the air for a moment, Violara chose to follow through with Sorano's suggestions during their discussion.
"If your heart and ego are still so shattered to where a feigned strike is a type of torture that you aren't prepared for, then you're not fully ready to take on any of the more powerful witches in Gunjou. Your heart is weak, having no feelings of evil, and it's reflective of you being too weak to defeat me. In fact, I suggest that you need to think about your failure as you take a hot shower." Violara sternly told Risa, giving her a disapproving look as she slowly walked past her.
Violara's suggestion prompted Risa to ask, as the feeling of distrust was in her eyes, "What would I do after my shower is done? Would I come back here to wear the robes of a dark witch and be brought into a ritual for you to convert me, since you beat me? Besides, why would I want to possibly wear any purple outfits that turn out to have something be gaudy?"
"Perhaps you could feel desperate enough to return to the Heatherberry Swamp for one of my best purple books on spells of dark magic, instead of going to Mauveria for fashionable clothes. We used to have the newest robes for dark sorceresses, but the town's fashion designer has been too passionless to make any good clothing. Although, I don't appreciate your distaste for our town's color." Violara explained with a condescending look on her face, before sternly frowning at Risa's last question.
Risa tried to justify herself with a somewhat fierce glare appearing on her face, "As Parmanie Town's future princess, I don't need to normally be associated with the color purple in any way because of its dark emotions and rage. A good princess doesn't rely on infusing rage into her attacks for them to be powerful."
"I completely disagree. Even the most noble princess knows she must unleash her rage and viciousness when it's necessary to protect her subordinates. You, on the other hand, were so focused on evading and eradicating all my poison. A wiser psychic would've moved the fight somewhere away from the light of the Gunjou Moon, but you were so overly emotional with protecting your team instead of trying to get as much knowledge about me and the swamp. For a psychic, you can't foresee how you're a bad person for associating the color of dark magic with everything supposedly evil." Violara calmly retorted, as she began to make her right hand gently strangle Risa's neck.
"If you yourself hadn't become evil earlier, I would've taken your life for attempting to kill me. You may use Psychic Magic, but eliminating me after Mauveria's defeat wasn't part of your job. Whether she's a princess or a gatekeeper, the strongest dark witch never betrays her own philosophy on whether people should value life or choose to die." Violara added in the softest and harshest whisper with a glare of hostility and disapproval on her face, as she made a look of killing intent be in her eyes when she went back around Risa for their eyes to meet.
Upon feeling the atmosphere around them get much colder, Risa stated with her glare turning into a frightened expression while getting on her hands and knees, "I... I can't argue against your points. Please give me one of your books of dark wisdom before letting me go home to take a shower."
When Violara gave a nod of approval and slowly walked past her, Risa quietly wondered if she would be given a book on dark magenta magic. There was no reason for any witch to be ignorant of dark magic in any shade, especially a powerful kind of magic that looked purple, and Risa hoped that Violara would give her a book with some powerful spells that could also be wielded by a user of Psychic Magic. As much as Risa didn't want to admit it to herself, Violara's wisdom with dark magic was something that she would definitely need to have.
Everything that Violara stated had actually been true for a princess, even if Risa kept making herself not want to believe the sadistic sorceress. She gently let her left fist hit the wall after seeing Violara going through the hallway to see its violet walls with bedrooms nearby, and Risa had been miffed about how Violara wasn't wrong. When Juvia died in front of Lucy, the green-haired girl unleashed as much rage as she possibly could after Kaze restored her magical power. Lucy relied on her Wind Magic to display her rage towards Suzuna, and she had a good mastery of her rage by not letting herself go berserk.
Lucy chose when to unleash her feelings of rage, as opposed to Risa suppressing her rage and only relying on infusing anger or frustration into her dark magenta magic without taking her negative feelings too far. That caused Risa to feel like more of a failure, whether she would be a psychic mage or a dark witch, and she would just have to think about becoming a better person. When she followed Violara to the bedroom that had a Heather purple tiled floor and hot purple walls, Risa watched Violara go past the elegant-looking dark lilac bed to reach the Heather purple bookcase that was across from it. She had calmness in her eyes while picking out a dark magenta book, and briefly opening it to see a certain powerful spell made her smirk in a delighted manner from how this was the right book for a psychic who had been humbled to feel some inferiority.
As she heard Risa taking some steps closer, Violara gently took her hair out of the upwards ponytail for Risa to see her hair reach down to the lower half of her back. Violara's long and purple hair only made Risa look despondent at how fully embracing her dark magenta magic would inevitably make her be like a dark witch, and Risa gently took the book after letting Violara's violet scrunchy fall on to its cover. The two women had nothing left to discuss, and Violara motioned for Risa to leave her house. Risa could now catch up with Sorano, who would probably be happy that Violara helped Risa get stronger by humbling her and giving her a book on spells that required feelings of vengeance and malice as if she would truly be a dark witch.
10 minutes later, in Gunjou Town...
Risa arrived at the west gate to encounter Rogue and the others, smiling softly as the dark magenta book was in her hands. She started to give Rogue a look of concern, seeing him avert his eyes away from the dark magenta book like the color was something he didn't want to think about. This puzzled Risa, since Rogue had seen her magic at prior points in time, but she chose to ignore his behavior right now. Rogue and Risa chose to stand beside Miko, who smiled softly at how her bodyguards would guide her through the town.
Walking into the town from the western entrance allowed Risa to see that there was a nightclub in the southwestern part of the town, noticing that the building itself looked a bit run-down, and that particular street also had some cafes with the neon lights flickering on and off as if they were barely running on any electricity. The people who sat outside of the cafes all looked very unmotivated, as one woman who wore a witch's hat didn't even really feel like opening the violet menu during a moment where she looked extremely depressed.
That prompted Risa and the others to glance in the other direction, noticing that the northwestern street had a fashion store nearby. Violara's words about disliking Risa's own dislike for the color purple made her sigh a bit, as she thought that it was very immature of her to dislike the color purple without a justifiable basis, and Risa decided to be humble. She walked towards the fashion store, seeing it look very beautiful on the outside while the pitched roof had been Heather purple, and the arched plum purple windows looked just as elegant as the rectangular lavender glass doors.
This fashion store looked like it had been very high-class, which explained why Violara wore a dress that Risa perceived as fancy clothing, and looking around at some dark witches walking by the group made Risa see that they were wearing robes in different hues of purple to symbolize that they belonged to different divisions of dark mages who worked under different commanders such as Mauveria and Violara. Before Risa could look at the tattered lavender and rectangular sign that informed people about which clothes were on sale today, the sudden strident screech of someone turning on a microphone and loudly punching it to produce normal sounds got her attention while several dark witches and warlocks ran towards the plaza.
"What in the world is that noise?!" Risa heard Sting loudly ask in a frustrated manner, as his voice came from the other side of town.
Risa stated aloud to her teammates and Miko, wanting to join the other Sabertooth mages, "We need to get to Sting and the others right now!"
"Once we're all gathered together, we can try to find Maruberiki." Miko replied with a happy smile on her face, eager to see her friend.
Miko and her teammates ran towards the central plaza of Gunjou Town, which was interestingly a place where the purple streets were all in different hues of that color. The purple ground of the plaza looked much brighter, due to the moonlight of the purple Gunjou Moon, and the plaza was currently being occupied by rows of witches and warlocks who were simply frowning up at Maruberiki. Maruberiki was looking down at the crowd, who was still assembling, and he glanced at Minerva for a moment as if she was going to assist him with stating the overall goal of Hexing Enchantress' mages.
Some of the mages who had their souls ripped away seemed just as confused as the ones who still didn't experience the blessings of the dark goddess, since Gunjou Town only had assemblies in the days where the guild of Hexing Enchantress would have to go to war against another guild, and the leader would also need to explain their goal. From Maruberiki's perspective, he looked uninterested at the idea of going to war against the Sabertooth guild. Not only would he have no desire for their guild building or mages to be under his control, but he personally felt that winning against clueless opponents wouldn't even give him much of a victory.
He simply kept his eyes on the mages from Gunjou, watching them all continue to gather in the plaza while ignoring the sight of Miko making Risa's team quietly walk behind the crowd for them to reach their friends. When Risa managed to find Lucy and Kusabue, the three females turned their attention to Minerva. She seemed like the one who was responsible for instigating all of the current problems of Gunjou, since she made some of the newest soulless mages come up on to the large and rectangular stage for them to evilly giggle at the sight of purple auras heavily forming in their hands. However, Minerva wanted them to only activate their Darkness Magic after Maruberiki finished speaking.
"Good evening, mages of Hexing Enchantress. I am Maruberiki, your guild master. Today, it will probably give you all pleasure to hear that the dark goddess wants us to crush the Sabertooth mages who are bringing Miko back to this town. This guild war will only be our first step towards making sure that no individual in Fiore can use magic for evil purposes, since I exist to annihilate all mages." Maruberiki explained in a calm manner, looking stoic as he spoke into the microphone.
Upon hearing his plan, Lucy and Sting quietly joined Risa and Rogue in collectively thinking, "What did he just say?! All mages will be killed?!"
"Ever since the dark goddess blessed me with power, she instilled with me an instinctive desire to annihilate all mages. In this moment, think about why you don't have my specific hue of dark magic. You surely must understand that this shade of purple is far more powerful than anything you could've created with your abhorrent hues of purple, and I'm not like the rest of you because I don't use magic as a tool or treat it as some sentient object. It is merely my own destructive power with killing intent, making me no different from the rest of you wizards." Maruberiki stated to the crowd in a rather calm manner, believing that his philosophy was the only acceptable viewpoint.
Lucy thought to herself, having confusion and shock in her eyes as she disagreed, "That's not right at all! Whether they're Celestial Spirits or forms of Caster Magic, the kinds of magic that we wield are our friends! Separating mages from their magic would be a horrible idea!"
Upon absorbing the echoed sounds of his voice into her hands, Kusabue thought to herself while looking very appalled, "Any mage should be able to use magic! If they want to have fun or fight enemies on jobs, magic is the partner that helps mages be wizards! This guy isn't being fair!"
Kusabue's hands ended up brightly glowing in a shamrock green color, due to the loudness making the sound waves be larger, and she simply let the aura shine from behind the crowd. Maruberiki and Minerva both noticed that, the latter looking annoyed while Maruberiki looked intrigued. He started to have an interested look in his eyes, perceiving Kusabue's magic as something that flared up in this moment like someone loudly giving an angry response to his speech. That only made Maruberiki loudly clapped his hands for all of the dark mages to focus their attention solely on him.
Maruberiki slowly walked down the lavender purple stair steps that were in front of the stage, and the dark mages moved to the left and right sides. That allowed Maruberiki to walk down the emptied and middle part of the assembly, and he calmly looked at Kusabue. She began to narrow her eyes at him in a stern manner, wondering if he was approaching her with the intent of making her be the first Sabertooth mage who would perish. Kūkiatsu didn't want his sister to die, and he quickly moved to get in front of her.
Kūkiatsu would gladly defend Kusabue, even if both of the siblings and nearly all of their friends were out of magical power. He felt that the only logical option right now would be to dodge any attacks that Maruberiki would unleash, since he would be expending magical power while the protagonists could regain their energy. He fiercely glared at Maruberiki, who leaned down to strangely look at Kusabue's hands. He primarily focused on the shamrock green aura, putting his ear close to it, and Maruberiki closed his eyes for a moment.
He stayed quiet while the aura on Kusabue's hands gently moved around, and Maruberiki was simply letting himself listen to it. He started to nod in an intrigued manner, before nodding a second time, and he looked baffled at what seemed like the end of a quick conversation. He viewed himself as someone who was capable of talking to people's different kinds of magic, whether it was in the form of auras, keys, coins, or rings. His eyes shifted away from Kusabue for a moment, as he noticed Lucy.
Lucy looked at him in a puzzled manner, wondering if this man was even sane for thinking that he could speak to magic. He slowly walked up to her, before his eyes were focused on the Sapphire Blue Ring. It had still been pulsating, almost like Yukishimou wanted to lend more of her magic to the green-haired girl who would be unleashing it, and Lucy stretched out her left hand for a moment to keep Maruberiki from possibly stealing her ring. He merely lowered her hand downwards while making a lavender aura of Darkness Magic slightly engulf his left hand to give himself more strength in this situation, and he glanced down at Lucy's right hand.
Maruberiki closed his eyes while putting one of his ears close to the Sapphire Blue Ring, and it seemed like he would listen to what Yukishimou wanted to say. Upon communicating with the spirit who was within Lucy's newest ring, Maruberiki began to look quite stoic. He simply nodded in a calm manner, but it seemed like Yukishimou's words gave him a sense of disbelief. She apparently told him something that he couldn't perceive to be true, but Lucy glanced down at the Sapphire Blue Ring to wonder if the cold and powerful goddess gave Maruberiki an adamant statement.
He proceeded to gently put his right hand on his own forehead, almost like he was trying to process what Yukishimou told him, but it also seemed like Maruberiki refused to accept what had been said. Yukishimou's opinion seemed like it was a new way of thinking, which was the kind of perspective that Maruberiki had to disagree with. He thought that his own philosophical views were the correct ones, prompting him to build up a large amount of Darkness Magic in the form of the lavender aura becoming much larger.
"My name is Maruberiki Ōkami. I exist for the sole purpose of eradicating other mages. This is due to the fact that the dark goddess blessed me with the strongest shade of Darkness Magic, making me the final birthed product of evolution itself. In a similar sense, other mages have reached the end of their potential by creating spells of magic that are only meant to harm other people. For me, I have the purpose of carrying Fiore's mages down the sole path of annihilation." Maruberiki calmly explained to Lucy, before he created two powerful spheres of lavender magic in his left hand to fuse them together.
Lucy told him in a stern manner, disliking his philosophy, "My name is Lucy Heartfilia, I firmly disagree!"
Maruberiki countered in a relaxed tone, "There's no reason why I should consider your argument, even if you do have powerful magic. I'd like to do most of the talking, Lucy. You must've surely thought at some point about why those legendary rings exist. Some people in Gunjou have referred to them as the trials of Zeref. No matter what you do on adventures to get those rings or fight bandits, countless mages will be annihilated. Considering that you have six of the rings on your right hand, you've likely had to take people's lives in order to keep them from inherently using their magic for the evil purpose of fulfilling their desires to commit acts of violence and murder. From that perspective, you're no different from them. No matter how you view it, I only speak truths."
"Your Ice Magic and Water Magic are just as problematic as other types of power such as Wind Magic and Plant Magic. If we let mages run rampant with destructive magic, the world becomes entangled in endless strife by trashy and murderous people who use their kinds of magic as dispensable tools for crimes and mere weaponry. Lucy, eliminating the lives of people who you despise and disagree with is probably necessary to keep mages restrained from letting themselves be corrupted by power. For mages, disagreements lead to conflicts where they feel that magic must be used for the purpose of achieving victory solely through bloodshed. It's an endless cycle involving mages, due to their clashing perspectives on how they obtain power while tainting precious forms of magic with murderous thoughts and enslaving it to their disgusting desires." Maruberiki continued stating, sounding calm as his words only angered Lucy.
Lucy retorted in a passionate manner, having fierceness and power in her eyes as she looked stern, "You may wield bright lavender magic, but it must've obscured your ability to understand me! Whether my opponents were snobby pop idols, clever researchers, or cold-hearted and sneaky people wanting to be the best fighters, they never had the savage thought of killing all of those that disagreed with them or despised the ways that they wielded magic! You say that mages deserve to experience destruction, but you understand nothing about us! None of the people in or outside of Gunjou wished to die! They want to experience happiness in their own ways by using magic, and I value the lives of all of them! As a Sabertooth mage, I have the desire and strength to protect everyone who is precious to me! Mages deserve to have magic, if it brings them any forms of happiness!"
Upon hearing Lucy try to counter him with her own philosophical views, Maruberiki responded in a calm manner after laughing softly, "Well, we now understand each other's feelings. Lucy, I will fight with a strong resolve to annihilate all of the mages in Fiore and you have the strong resolve of stopping me. However, the difference in power between us is too great. After all, I assume you're still exhausted from fighting my gatekeepers. This won't even be much of a fight."
As Maruberiki charged up more power to where the lavender aura of Darkness Magic greatly resembled a massive inferno that started spiraling around him, Lucy groaned in frustration at how she didn't recover enough magical power to even use her weakest spell of Ice Magic. There was also no water in the plaza, which meant that Lucy couldn't even use Water Magic to try and counter the fusion spell that grew to a large size as it remained in Maruberiki's hand. As she was about to run away, Lucy sensed that Risa regained her magic.
Although, the small amount of dark magenta magic that she regained was now growing larger as its power increased from the feelings of hatred towards Maruberiki. Risa's hair covered her eyes as she thought that he must've been deranged to think that all the mages in Fiore deserved to die, and she absolutely hated the fact that Maruberiki claimed it was necessary for mages to eliminate people who didn't agree with them. That philosophy made Risa view him to be no different than a tyrant, someone who wanted to be a ruler with power instead of having good morals.
Risa detested the idea of another place having a ruler who treated the people below them as if they were lesser human beings or pieces of trash, and that made her mind think back to Kyoko. That evil queen of Parmanie enforced several unfair rules on commoners, including the types of Psychic Magic that they could wield while only her magic had been cerise pink, and Risa could feel the hatred building up in her heart from how Maruberiki was trying to force his philosophical views on to people who were in other parts of Fiore.
"WE'RE NOT GOING TO LOSE AGAINST A TYRANT!" Risa exclaimed with rage in her voice, as the dark magenta aura began to engulf her in the moments before it strangely made Maruberiki's aura become immobilized.
Upon seeing her friend look like she was about to go berserk again, Lucy stated in a concerned manner, "Risa, please calm down!"
"I'M GOING TO MAKE THAT DARK MAGE DIE!" Risa aggressively stated with her rage and hatred increasing, before aiming her left hand at the lavender aura.
Maruberiki couldn't react fast enough to Risa's dark magenta magic obeying her thoughts about absorbing the dark magic that was in a lighter color, and he soon saw his fusion spell get pulled towards her as if she was emitting a high amount of psychic energy. She furiously kept her eyes focused on Maruberiki's attack, and Risa made it get sucked into her hand. That allowed her to regain more energy, before she built up more magical power to increase her level of psychic energy. The thoughts of someone annihilating every mage in Fiore caused Risa to feel furious, and she looked directly at the lavender aura.
Most of it started to get propelled towards her left hand, and this only prompted Maruberiki to lower his own level of magical power. In contrast, Risa's level of magical power quickly increased to where she felt much stronger. However, she could only absorb the amount of energy that was headed her way. The rest of the lavender aura remained with Maruberiki, who scoffed in frustration as he thought that Risa was a dark witch who could easily transfer her power to Lucy. He turned around to Minerva, who wasted no time with stretching out her hands to activate her Territory Magic.
Minerva teleported Maruberiki back on to the stage while her hands were surrounded by rainbow-colored energy waves, and she turned her attention to Lucy. Lucy looked back at Minerva, sternly glaring at the woman who had beaten her up very badly in the Grand Magic Games. Both women stared directly up at each other's eyes, almost like they would be looking forward to an immediate rematch. However, Minerva immediately made a large energy wave surround herself and Maruberiki for them to warp out of this area. They likely went back to his house, since Minerva didn't want to fight without him by her side.
In a similar sense, Lucy didn't want to fight Minerva without making herself and Sting be fully recovered. She looked over at him to see a frustrated look appear on his face, almost like he had been upset that Minerva managed to get away, and Lucy saw Rogue quietly mouth some words about simply warping attacks. He was referring to one of the features pertinent to Minerva's magic, as she could teleport her attacks to wherever she desired them to be, and she could also make attacks be warped away from her or get deflected by dense energy waves. Since Minerva warped Maruberiki away as a way of preventing Risa from attacking him, Sting had an idea about who was the best person to handle the job of fighting his former teammate. However, that fight would have to wait until a later point in time.
Sting and the other Sabertooth mages wasted no time with running back to the central gate, which was south of the plaza. They all quickly made it to the gate, seeing Matsuba and Kyasurin standing in front of it with happy smiles on their faces. Matsuba was mainly happy that the Sabertooth wizards were able to get past the gatekeepers, but Kyasurin giggled in a sadistic manner as she seemed to enjoy watching the protagonists leave a town where they didn't succeed at the task of escorting Miko to Maruberiki.
Miko looked saddened at how her friend developed such a destructive philosophy, especially since wiping out all of the mages in Fiore meant that Maruberiki wouldn't hesitate to end her life. She didn't want him to keep being influenced by Minerva, who seemed like the person influencing him into making that little speech on the stage today. The stage also involved prominent dark mages being in the front row, and Miko was able to recognize them when they went into different smaller crowds. If that particular squadron was going to be part of a guild war, then Miko assumed that they would be guarding different areas of Gunjou Town.
The first area that came to mind was the Wine Woods, which would stay true to its name of being the woods that were part of Gunjou Town. They weren't on the same side as the Witch's Forest, since the Wine Woods were a much more eerie place with dark witches displaying high levels of maliciousness and hostility. They were meant to be avoided during the dark hours of time under the Gunjou Moon, especially since the light didn't reach into the entrance area of the Wine Woods, and those witches felt that they could attack whoever they desired to harm.
Another harmful group of Gunjou's mages resided in the Spectral Tower, which was in the northeastern area of Gunjou Town. Miko turned to look in that direction, seeing the tower be in the distance while it had been obscured by some floating purple clouds, and that tower was infamous for its dark warlocks and witches making themselves be intangible like ghosts who couldn't be punched by tourists who lacked magic. Hexing Enchantress' mages that resided in the tower would also try to scare people by passing through solid objects as if they were ghosts, which did make Miko jump up in fear on different past occasions.
"If it's okay for me to recommend this, I suggest that one pair of people should escort me to Maruberiki tomorrow. Even though I want to speak with the dark goddess, stopping Maruberiki and Minerva is something that will likely be impeded by eight of the most powerful wizards in the town."
Lucy asked Miko with a curious facial expression, her eyes showing some concern, "Who are they, Miko? Are they different commanders from various squadrons, or are they all like eight chiefs working together for one greater purpose?"
"They each have their own philosophies like the wisest of sages, but they all worship the dark goddess and became blessed with their Darkness Magic in different shades of purple. They're not entirely husks like Violara and Mauveria, but they wouldn't hesitate to make themselves be more blessed by the dark goddess in that similar fashion." Miko explained in a calm manner, recalling the eight silhouttes of the witches and warlocks who needed to be defeated.
Sting commented with a kind look on his face, before turning to Yukino, "In the meantime, Yukino, you and Sorano should let Miko spend the night with you two. That's the best next course of action right now. Anyway, we gotta go back to Kogane now."
Risa agreed with Sting while managing to calm herself down, and her dark magenta hair began to change back to its normal shade of pink. Her eyes also changed back to being cherry red, and Risa's magic also went back to its normal hue of pink. She started walking out of Gunjou Town's central gate, which was opened by Kyasurin, but Risa began to feel like she needed to return to being under the Gunjou Moon more often. She started to assume that the dark magic was affecting her psyche, and Risa smiled a bit as she wanted to devote more time to training.
She would likely be allowed to come back by herself tomorrow, since Violara seemed like the type of woman who would claim that the pink-haired girl was just one of her newest mages. However, turning her head to see Rogue still looking at her in an awkward manner made Risa wonder if he disliked the fact that she was relying on a dark kind of Psychic Magic to make herself become stronger. Risa personally wanted to be strong enough for the purpose of protecting him, even if that came at a dangerous expense of becoming a dark witch.
Risa wouldn't offer up her soul to the dark goddess, though, and she wanted to maintain her humanity instead of becoming a vicious witch who would be a mere puppet. Being a puppet was worse than studying under someone who could unleash dark magic, and Risa felt that she could personally benefit from learning some known spells of dark magenta magic later today. The next day of training could probably be done in the Heatherberry Swamp, since she would logically become stronger from battling against Violara's poison-wielding witches who could cast hexes. Still, she felt like discussing a bit of this matter with Rogue.
"Rogue, would I not be able to protect you if I became a dark witch?" Risa curiously asked him, perceiving that as the main issue on her boyfriend's mind.
That prompted Rogue to calmly reply, as he wanted to be blunt with Risa, "That's not something worrying me, Risa. Although, you becoming a dark witch means that you could be corrupted by evil and I don't want that to happen."
Risa responded with a determined look on her face, "Well, I've trained my mind to quell my rage with my willpower. As for any specific spells that would make me become evil, I'd hope that I wouldn't fully lose myself in viciousness."
That only made Rogue tell Risa in a stern manner, wanting to avoid Risa's evil future self possibly taking control of her, "Well, don't speak to your shadow if it starts telling you that you'll be evil! Risa, I hope you also don't let Violara influence you into killing anyone and consuming their magic to make yourself stronger!"
That last response made Rogue softly put one hand over his mouth, as he didn't mean to possibly insult Risa by implying that she would steal a dark witch's magic to increase her own level of power. That would make her no different than Kanata Luster, the former priestess of Yamabuki who tended to extract Lightning Magic from her cultists to make herself have high amounts of magical power for the opportunity to unleash several strong attacks in succession. Rogue felt that he deserved Risa's stern glare, as she certainly didn't take kindly to him thinking that the dark magic would make her join Maruberiki's cult.
Risa vowed to never let herself join any kind of cult, whether it was a religious one or the kind of cult that displayed classism. She believed that training on her own with dark magic and creating new spells was the best path for her in life, but that wasn't just because of people such as Lucy and Rogue. Risa gently looked up at the sky above the Witch's Forest, seeing it be hot purple to symbolize nighttime, but the heavens of the skies seemed like that was where Kirie and Sara would be. Sara would've probably been happy to see Risa training and trying to use her spells in creative ways, and Kirie would've probably loved to see Risa taking control of her life right now.
As Risa waited for her friends to all pass through the gate, she took a moment to glance back in the direction of the fashion store from earlier. If Gunjou was such a passionless town with several people being uninterested in doing anything besides being part of a cult that would likely have itself eventually implode, then Risa felt that one of the first cultists who needed to be defeated would have to be in the fashion store. Not only did Risa want to show her newfound respect for the color purple, but seeing Kusabue absorb the sounds of the moving gate into her palms with Kūkiatsu looking concerned only made Risa feel like she needed to start becoming a much more respectable princess. Although, the faint bit of sadness entering her eyes displayed that she was also determined to do become more humble after listening to Violara's suggestion about taking a long shower and thinking about how she needed to wield her dark magenta magic more effectively.
How was Chapter 61? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Risa now has a book on dark magic that will allow her to have more tempered dark magenta Psychic Magic, and she will hopefully be able to control her feelings of rage, vengeance, and malice when they occur. Also, she and Rogue will have to discuss if he would still love her in the situation where she became a dark witch. Risa's skills in using dark magic will also probably be impressive to Kusabue, who may just end up loving the color purple much more. By the way, this is the fourth part of the Mauve Darkness Arc! I'll update soon. :)
REVIEWS!
FireBlitz: Thank you!
OrangeDetermination: Thanks!
YellowThunder5: Here it is!
GreenGrass4: Thank you very much!
BlueWater234: Thank you so much!
PurpleReis155: Thanks!
Matt: Thank you!
jennie: Thank you!
Kiri-chan: Here you go!
Sena: Thanks!