Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 6: Minerva's Inferiority & Insecurities! Passiveness Towards Phoebe! Shared Interests, Subservience & Tears Within The Icy Cold Shower!
Minerva's POV
After eating some grape purple slices of cake at the Dark Witch's Cafe with Lucy, I gave her some of the money that we earned from helping out Reira at the perfume shop and I guided Lucy to the train station. She was now on the train back to Magnolia, and I currently laid down on my bedroom's bed at my house in Mauve Town. This house had been given to me by Phoebe, who only let me have it because she had a much larger house in Mauve Town. Phoebe always flaunted her wealth and power, even to the point where I looked inferior in comparison to her.
I clenched my teeth in an aggressive manner at my inferiority, never wanting to outright tell her that she was superior to me. If I ever blatantly told Phoebe that she was a much more powerful mage who towered over me, then I would have to admit that I was weaker than her. The thought of admitting that I was weak caused my hands to calmly touch the lacy amethyst purple underwear and lacy purple bra that I had been wearing, as not being good enough to join Phoebe's team reminded me of how not being strong in Sabertooth resulted in many women such as myself having to get naked.
Being naked on that final night of the Grand Magic Games felt so humiliating, as I already had to deal with one of my favorite dresses being ripped to shreds by Erza's Nakagami Starlight attack, and everyone had seen my striped underwear. The embarrassment of that situation only grew larger with Sabertooth losing the competition to Fairy Tail, and I was just so weak to where I had to run away from everyone who would've been upset at me. Fleeing to Seductive Witch felt like the right thing to do, as I could build up a great reputation as a dark witch.
However, trying to give myself a great reputation in the Seductive Witch guild also meant that I had to contend with other dark witches who were much stronger than me. Tougher dark witches such as Phoebe threw my strict mentality back at me, as they didn't want to have to do most of the work if I slacked off, and being around weaker mages such as Reira and Lucy was my way of making myself feel much more powerful. Of course, being more powerful than them meant that I was still weaker than other women and I tossed and turned in bed as I groaned in frustration.
I had a frustrated look on my face, before anger entered my eyes from remembering something Phoebe once said to me, "You're such a weakling, Minerva. You should know your place around here, instead of thinking that losers such as yourself can amount to anything. You can't even withstand my attacks, yet you refuse to be submissive."
From my perspective, I didn't have to be submissive to any clique of women. Any women who wanted me on their team would have to deal with me being the leader, since being dominant was what made me feel like a winner. Winners never acted subservient to anyone, and displaying subservience meant that I would be a loser. However, I definitely felt like a loser yesterday by not even fighting back against Phoebe when she shoved me aside at the request board and spoke rudely to me in front of Lucy.
Thinking about Lucy's choice to stand up for me caused me to elicit a sigh of calmness, as she never let her tendency of being weak ever really affect her mind. In her mind, she may not have even perceived herself as a total loser for being submissive to me and trying to stand up to Phoebe. Phoebe simply laughed about what Lucy had done, but my fist gently hit the orchid purple bed at how Phoebe probably laughed about me much more for not even trying to fight back or defend Lucy. I felt like such a coward in both of those moments, like a snake that was fearful of being killed by a much larger snake.
Fear was what kept me in my place, anxiety and fear chaining me to feel very insecure. If Phoebe Hauntra was so strong and idolized whilst viewing me as weak and unpopular, then I just believed I was weak and unpopular. I even lowered myself to taking jobs that no one desired to do, feeling like the completion of those jobs would give me some self-assurance to efface the feelings of never being good enough to take down dark witches or other mages who were in Fiore. Of course, this cycle of getting self-assurance and still feeling despair made me have an angrier look on my face and my eyes displayed a mix of regret and frustration at an earlier situation.
"If I had actually kicked Annette Rosia's ass for how she handled that situation with Lucy having feelings for Erza, at least Phoebe would've shut her mouth and give me some feelings of validation." I stated aloud to myself in a cold tone, as I started to turn away from the light of the sunset that was shining through my bedroom window.
Despite thinking that I would've gotten Phoebe's approval in that situation, I winced in a pained manner as my heart and chest felt tighter at how that thought was stupid. If I actually attacked Annette, then Lucy and I would've had our reputations destroyed in Sorcerer Magazine and the bad publicity would've also led to Phoebe brutally kicking my ass for making the Seductive Witch guild be marred with such a huge controversy. I didn't want to create any problems that would damage my own reputation, so any short-term gains that came from revenge were just bad for my life.
Speaking of short-term gains that stemmed from revenge, the dark witches who criticized my actions in the Grand Magic Games only caused me to lay in bed with a saddened expression forming in my face. I felt more pain and sadness in my heart from remembering Phoebe and other girls rudely claiming that I was the person who made my former guild fail to achieve victory, since Sabertooth had a good chance to actually win the competition before Fairy Tail became quite riled up by my actions towards Lucy in the Naval Battle.
Thinking about my treatment towards Lucy in the Naval Battle caused some tears to well up in my eyes, as my heart felt more pain from how I purposely gave her such a merciless beating. During my moments of viciously beating her, there were times when Lucy seemed so submissive to me. Why did I not even think about her pleasing eyes? Why did I not even acknowledge the way that she weakly bit her lip before that one moment of begging? Had I been so obsessed with becoming powerful to where approval from crowds and other mages meant so much to me, even to the point where I treated a weaker girl like how Phoebe treated me?
Flashback to the Naval Battle... (Minerva's POV)
After striking Lucy with a massive energy wave that made her immensely feel scorching-hot sensations of pain and pleasure to where this attack surrounded her, I struck her with some more energy waves that felt as hot as magma. These energy waves exploded against her skin, being hot like a volcano's lava, and I wanted to torture Lucy for arrogantly thinking that she could win in the Naval Battle against Sabertooth's strongest female wizard. My strength was certainly proven, since I hit Lucy with an energy wave that felt like titanium.
That attack lightly exploded against her face, the explosion making Lucy's blonde hair come out of the two pigtails for it to be down and flowing as she fell towards the bottom of the sphere. Before Lucy could leave the blue sphere of water, I stretched out one hand used my Territory Magic to create an energy wave that would teleport Lucy to be right in front of me. When she was warped to appear in front of me while moaning in a dazed manner, I aggressively kicked Lucy in her left side, causing her to cough up some blood.
The sight of Lucy being very hurt by that kick made me wrap my arms around her from behind, and I rapidly spun down towards the bottom of the sphere with her as the intensity of my spinning created a vicious twister of water. It spun outward while the water pressure made Lucy spin around at high speeds, and I repeatedly punched her in the chest as I kept being close to her. Lucy groaned in pain from my punches, before I viciously kicked her in the stomach, and I roughly stomped on her thighs as hard I could to crush her legs.
As I wrapped my own legs around Lucy's legs, I sweetly giggled in her ear as energy waves were created in my hands. The energy waves had the properties of being explosive while also being like tempered platinum, and more blood started to emerge from Lucy's wounds. The blood started to make the blue sphere of water become red, and I roughly pulled Lucy arms behind her back. She elicited loud screams of pain as I dislocated her shoulders, hearing her bones break as I wanted to break the arms of this blonde bimbo.
Lucy panted heavily, before I harshly punched her in the eye, and I asked her with a stern look on my face, "Are you going to apologize for being so arrogant towards me?"'
Lucy softly replied in a whisper, her body trembling as she weakly turned around to face me and gently rest her head against my chest, "I'm... I'm losing to... a beautiful... woman."
Upon seeing Lucy's lips form a happy smile, I asked her with an angry facial expression, "Are you acknowledging my beauty, only to mock my strength?!"
My assumption about what Lucy was doing prompted me to apply energy waves of Territory Magic to my entire body, causing me to look glossier like gleaming ice as I felt more powerful, and I began to move much faster. I rapidly punched Lucy in the head several times, even punching her in the eyes as hard as I could, and swiftly slammed my fists against Lucy's stomach. My rapid kicks pushed her several feet away from me, but I kept moving incredibly fast to where she didn't even have time to feel the impacts of my kicks against her body.
I even kicked Lucy up to the top of the sphere, before quickly getting up there to put her in a painful headlock. I tightened the headlock for a few minutes, only stopping when her body seemed motionless, and I slammed my fists down against Lucy's back. She softly groaned in pain, before floating down to the center of the sphere. I floated down beside her with a sadistic smile on my face, before lightly putting my hands on her pink bikini top that covered in yellow stars. My hands lightly pushed against Lucy's breasts, causing her to blush and softly moan as I felt like toying with her for a few minutes.
My more gentle method of torture involved softly kicking her pussy, before getting behind her to slam my palms down against her ass. Lucy elicited soft moans and sighs of pain and pleasure, but she let herself fall back to where she softly landed in my arms. I smiled in a victorious manner at how Lucy was heavily bruised and bloodied, her body feeling so exhausted to where even pulling out one strand of her blonde hair didn't make her feel much pain, and she proceeded to let herself fall to where I calmly caught her to just hold her close to me in a bridal-style position.
"Are you ready to surrender, Lucy?" I calmly asked Lucy with a smile of pity forming on my face, as the twister around us began to fade away.
Lucy weakly responded with her blonde hair nearly covering her eyes, her lips forming a sweet smile as her hands slightly being raised to gently touch my breasts, "Minerva, I... I... give.. up. Yes, I... give.. up. Let me... at.. least... die.. in the... arms.. of... a queen."
Lucy's flattery of me caused me to ask with a curious facial expression, "Are you feeling delirious, Lucy? Were you hit hard enough in the head to start viewing me as your queen, you stupid fairy?"
"You're so... strong, muscular, and... beautiful, Minerva. You won.. like.. a powerful.. queen. You even... took away... my.. keys.. easily.. as if.. I was your.. weak... little... princess." Lucy uttered in a pained manner, her smile becoming a frown of humility as she passed out during her few seconds of nuzzling her head against my stomach.
At that moment, I felt very pleased that Lucy referred to herself as a weak little princess. She certainly seemed like a useless piece of trash without her Celestial Spirits, and I felt glad to beat her up to where she could always remember that her place in life involved bowing down to superior mages such as me. In fact, I displayed so much superiority in our little fight by making sure that Lucy couldn't even get the opportunity to attack me. She couldn't retaliate against me, and she had been defenseless. What better combination could be formed than that?
Although, my eyes did have arrogance in them at how Lucy compared us to a queen and a princess. She was so obedient in that final moment of being conscious, agreeing with my thought that she should give up if she wanted to survive. Anyone who didn't display subservience to me was a fool, and Lucy realized the error of her ways from fighting hard for her determined friends in Fairy Tail. Preventing herself from betraying their feelings only led to her getting second place, which meant that I would get first place in this event while Lucy would be lesser than me as a person.
Even though Lucy was very insignificant, I felt like I could be somewhat merciful after she genuinely praised the strength of my toned muscles and my immense beauty. Since Lucy thought that I was gorgeous and probably loved seeing me in my amethyst purple swimsuit, I felt that her little moment of humility deserved the little reward of me softly pressing one hand against my lips before gently putting that hand on her forehead. That was my way of thanking Lucy for appreciating my beauty, and I thanked her for being humble by gently pushing her out of the sphere with one hand that held her by the neck as if she was my trophy. Lucy certainly felt like a mere trophy to me, prompting me to smile victoriously as the crowd validated my strength.
The next morning, at the Dark Witch's Cafe... (Lucy's POV)
Despite being one of the people who validated Minerva's brute strength and beauty, I did smile softly at her interesting choice to make us take a job that involved working a shift at the Dark Witch's cafe. This bake shop had mauve purple carpeting, which went well with its eggplant purple walls that had pictures of various purple cakes in dark purple frames. Minerva and I were given dark purple shirts and lavender purple khaki pants as our uniforms to wear, along with plain purple aprons, and the client would give us 300,000 jewels if we could finish the recipe for a cake that they didn't have time to bake.
According to the client, they wanted a Mauve Taro Sweet Lavender Cake to be freshly baked. The mauve purple batter for this cake was in a tall and plain purple pot that had been heated up on a lilac purple stove's hot purple burner in the kitchen, and the light purple spoon in the pot slowly finished circling around the pot as if the client recently finished stirring it. Since the stirred batter was now spinning around in the pot, I smiled nicely while glancing away from the stove to look at the bowls that had berries corresponded to their different hues of purple.
I picked up several mulberry purple berries that were shiny, giggling a bit at their sweet scent, and I hurriedly put them in the batter. As the cake's batter became mulberry purple, I cheerfully smiled and retrieved some iris purple berries from their iris purple bowl. These berries smelled very sweet, giving off the aroma of iris purple flowers, and I dropped several of them into the batter. The batter was now becoming iris purple, changing like how Minerva made the dark purple baking pan become greased with purple Taro milk truffle oil.
Minerva put the plain purple cork back on that plain purple bottle of oil, before putting it on the plum purple back counter. She picked up a mauve purple bottle of cream while walking past me with a somewhat confident smile on her face, only to look disgusted as my face also a formed a disgusted expression during my moment of smelling the cake batter. Despite mixing two sweet berries into it, they made the batter suddenly have a bitter aroma. Glancing back at the berries allowed me to see that they were all lightly engulfed in different purple auras of Darkness Magic, meaning they weren't like ordinary berries from Magnolia.
"Minerva-sama, how are we going to fix this problem?" I asked her with a worried facial expression, thinking we would have to prepare a new pot of batter and avoid repeating my mistake.
That caused Minerva to tell me with a relaxed smile on her face, casually pouring in most of the mauve purple cream and stirring it, "We'll fix the problem by making your clumsiness be used to our advantage, sweetie."
Minerva put the cream down next to some mauve purple berries, which she scooped up into her hands in a mere moment before picking up several berries that were as purple as taro milk tea. Minerva held the mauve purple berries directly above the batter, its heat causing their magic to ignite and make them be engulfed in mauve purple flames, and Minerva dropped them into the batter. She repeated that same process for the berries that were in her other hand, and the burning berries interestingly heated up the batter to where it started boiling.
As the cake's batter boiled and gained more thickness, the smell of its sweet aroma and the sight of its mauve purple color returning made me smile at Minerva in a pleased manner. She fixed the dessert's batter to where it was delicious, but the batter became deep mauve purple as the cream was finished with being fused into the recipe. The sweet and sugary cream was Minerva's way of playing off of my mistakes, but she made the cake even more delicious by adding berries that seemed like they were much sweeter than mine.
I tasted some of the batter in the spoon, thinking that the fusion of berries would result in a bitter taste. Expecting a bitter cake only made me look surprised as the batter entered my mouth, and I started to smile and blush in a blissful manner. My heart and mind experienced feelings of bliss from tasting the cake's batter, almost like I just experienced a seductive and passionate kiss. Not only was the batter so hot against my lips, but it tasted wonderful and fascinating to where I couldn't just enjoy one little taste of it!
"Calm down, sous chef. As the head chef, I can tell that you think we made a very sweet cake." Minerva told me in a somewhat stern manner, gently pushing me away from the stove.
That prompted me to respond with a look of curiosity appearing on my face, feeling like we forgot one part of the recipe, "Minerva-sama, did we add the sweet lavender spice?"
"We'll need to add two clumps of lavender, as the scent is also sweet while it helps you be relaxed as you eat the cake." Minerva stated to me with a confident smile on her face, interestingly saying that before I could recite it from my memory of seeing the flyer.
As I got two jars of lavender purple spice from the back counter's plum purple drawer, I asked Minerva with a soft smile on my face, "Wow, you love to be a chef in your spare time?"
Minerva told me in a calm manner, seeming humble right now, "Yes, Lucy. Although, I started out with buttermilk cookies and gingerbread cookies when I found an interest in baking."
That response from Minerva caused me to humbly smile at her, and she smiled back with her facial expression also displaying humility. Minerva wouldn't be arrogant about her culinary skills, but I actually felt humble because of how I had been heavily experienced in preparing buttermilk cookies. My level of culinary experience really paled in comparison to Minerva, who was an expert. She took one of the jars of lavender spice from me, pouring some of it on the mauve flames that were emerging up the batter.
That caused the flames to combust within the batter, which slowly shifted from being mauve purple to being lavender purple. The batter strongly smelled like lavender spice, but I opened up the other jar of it and poured some of that spice on the mauve purple batter itself. I added more flavor to the batter while Minerva had been focused on giving it more heat, and Minerva used her Territory Magic to teleport to pot over to the plum purple back counter. She walked over to that counter, before putting on some plain purple oven mitts.
Minerva gently poured all of the batter into the large greased pan, filling it up to its highest point, and Minerva opened the lilac purple oven door that was near the counter. After Minerva placed the pan in the oven and closed it, I pressed a red button on the oven for it to bake the cake at a high temperature. The cake would finish baking in a few minutes, but I felt that these minutes would be a good opportunity for me to casually talk with Minerva. She seemed to take a job where we didn't have to use much magic, but my eyes contained some concern at how I felt I would be wrong to just brush it off.
"Minerva-sama, weren't there some other jobs where we could display our magic? If I use more spells of dark magic, will you help me get much stronger?" I asked Minerva in a concerned tone, not wanting to think she was extremely insecure.
Minerva replied to me with a sultry smile on her face, putting a finger against my lips as she made feelings of confidence heavily enter her eyes, "Lucy, you know that I'm going to help you get much stronger. There were jobs that would help you become more powerful, but I wasn't in the mood to viciously fight against any giant monsters."
Minerva's response caused me to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as I got the feeling that she was being selfish. Selfishness was there, but not in a rude sense. Minerva seemed to politely be making us deal with an experience that involved self-preservation, almost like she was trying to restrain herself from getting hurt while also not wanting me to get hurt. Minerva lightly shoved me away from the oven as we both smelled the cake being ready, and she pressed the red button to turn it off. That caused the oven to cool down, prompting Minerva to open it, and she took out the pan.
The large cake in the pan shifted between being mauve purple, royal purple, and lavender purple as it smelled very sweet. Baking that cake was an easy task for us to accomplish, causing Minerva and I to both proudly smile at each other. We walked out from the kitchen to go to the light purple counter where an empty light purple plate was located, and Minerva gently placed the cake on that plate for it to be displayed to customers. Even though everybody would see that we did a great job with finishing the process of baking the cake, I moved behind Minerva for a moment and slightly frowned at how this job seemed a bit too easy.
Easy jobs wouldn't really help Minerva train me towards becoming a much stronger mage in Seductive Witch, but was this easy task pertinent to a different motive? Did Minerva really think that skills such as getting familiar with different aromas would be useful on missions, or did she take that job because of Phoebe shoving Minerva away with her huge ass before Minerva could go with her first choice of jobs? Having to go against her own choices for what would make her feel constant confidence only resulted in Minerva doing jobs that would give her bursts of confidence, if I was correctly assessing her by yesterday's outburst on that street in Mauve Town.
Ten minutes later, in Mauve Town... (Minerva's POV)
After displaying our sweet cake to the cafe's owner and seeing them enjoy eating a small slice of it, Lucy and I were able to get the reward money from that job. Since that the owner placed a mauve purple bag of 300,000 jewels in my hands, Lucy and I could now walk down a different street that would take us back to the Seductive Witch guild. This street near the guild contained an iris purple building, which was a fashion store that had been reserved for some of the more high-end fashion brands to sell clothes that could be bought by the wealthiest customers.
The wealthy customers would be able to purchase some of the most elegant-looking dark purple coats, which made me frown in a miffed manner at how I would have to buy a somewhat lower-quality coat for helping Lucy with that job in Blizzard Town. She would also have to wear a winter coat in that town, but it would be of lower quality compared to mine. Lucy was still like an adorable little princess, and I was the beautiful queen in our partnership. My dominance over her even affected the jobs that we would take, since I viewed today's task as the best job that I could've taken for me to gain another victory without putting in too much effort.
I soon heard an older woman from Seductive Witch exclaim in a proud and snobbish manner, nearly startling me as the door to the fashion store swung outward, "That job was absolutely effortless!"
Upon seeing Phoebe Hauntra walk out of the store while wearing a lavender purple trench coat that went well with her high-end mauve purple leggings and mauve purple high-heeled boots, I asked her with an annoyed look on my face, "Are you here to ruin my morning already, Phoebe?"
That caused Phoebe to have a surprised facial expression, before turning at me to rudely say with a mean smirk on her face, "Well, I'm surprised your morning wasn't ruined by getting such a meager bag of jewels."
I responded in a stern tone, looking offended and clenching my fists, "Hey, I worked hard with Lucy by my side for me to get that money! Don't make fun of me, especially since my fashion sense will soon be admired by everyone!"
My words caused Phoebe to mundanely glance at Lucy, who quietly stood right behind me while wearing a plain purple cheerleader top with a plain purple cheerleader skirt that complimented her lilac purple boots. My own boots were orchid purple while my elegant-looking dress had been eggplant purple with sparkles around the area where a cloud-shaped portion of the dress with heather purple trim bordering it exposed most of my cleavage, and my amethyst purple hair had been tied back in a long ponytail.
As I put one hand in my glossy hair to gently touch it, Phoebe proceeded to laugh at my attire in a heckling manner. She closed her eyes while not believing that other people besides Lucy would truly validate my fashion sense, and the way that she showed disrespect towards my outfit caused me to elegantly put one foot forward for her to at least be impressed that I was wearing boots that were popular three months ago. Phoebe glanced at them in a bored manner, rudely yawning right before elegantly posing to display that her boots were part of one of the most prominent fashion brands in Fiore.
Even her trench coat belonged to a high-end fashion brand, but I soon groaned in pain as my eyes became blinded by the intense light that radiated off of Phoebe's outfit after she unbuttoned her coat. I opened my eyes to see that she was wearing a glossy lavender purple blouse with three lilac purple crescent-shaped blades at the bottom of it, and Phoebe also wore shiny boysenberry purple Capri pants that came with a lustrous orchid purple belt that held them up. The belt interestingly had an orchid purple tube of lipstick attached to it, along with other lipsticks in different hues of purple.
Phoebe pulled out the royal purple tube of lipstick from her belt, opening it while arrogantly smirking at how she could put on the lipstick that strongly smelled like Taro milk tea, and I covered my nose in a disgusted manner. That prompted Phoebe to hold the lipstick towards me in midair, before drawing an 'X' in midair with it as she made a royal purple aura engulf her hand. Phoebe's dark magic made the lipstick grow much larger, before most of it broke off to form a ghostly-looking 'X' in midair, and that lipstick ended up drenching my dress with that pattern!
After seeing that lipstick ruin my beautiful dress, I told Phoebe with an aggravated facial expression, "You're really wanting me to kick your ass in front of other dark witches, you bitch!"
"Are you really intent in not knowing your place in our guild, Minerva?" Phoebe asked me in an intimidating manner, charging up magical power to where the royal purple aura heavily surrounded her body.
The fear in my heart quickly welled up, causing me to softly say in a reluctant manner, "I'll... I'll... Please... don't...
When I fearfully put one hand in front of my chest, Phoebe triumphantly smirked at me with arrogance in her eyes. She felt very glad to make me remember who was the more powerful dark witch, and I didn't want her to unleash a powerful attack that could end my life. I kept looking at her eyes, seeing malicious intent in them as she really did want to attack me for not being submissive. I started to display a humble attitude towards Phoebe by slowly backing away, only to bump into Lucy and look a bit shocked.
Lucy also looked just as shocked as me, but her shocked facial expression soon became a stern glare that was directed at me. Why was Lucy sternly frowning at me when I was genuinely scared? Did she not want me to feel like an insecure coward during this situation, even though I wanted to run away? Trying to take another step back from Phoebe led to Lucy surprisingly pushing me forward, but Lucy herself soon got in the way between myself and Phoebe. Phoebe simply gave Lucy an amused smile while making dark magic engulf her fists, and she loudly cracked her knuckles/
That caused me to have a frown of cowardice on my face, feelings of worry in my eyes as I thought that Phoebe was going to strike Lucy with a punch that could shatter the ground. As Phoebe swung her left fist down towards Lucy, Lucy simply activated a new spell that made her right hand. The spell made four mauve purple flames appear in her right palm, and she growled in frustration while letting the flames make contact with the aura coating Phoebe's left fist. The flames started to absorb the aura, before growing much larger.
As Lucy's fire started growing into four large twisters that were stacked on top of each other, the sight of the flames becoming royal purple and ghostly caused Phoebe to apply Darkness Magic to her feet. She wasted no time with being the one to run away from a fight, resulting in me letting out a sigh of relief as Lucy dispelled her own attack. Dispelling that attack didn't stop Lucy from getting in my face to aggressively glare at me, almost like she was harshly wanting to question how I could be her leader if I acted subservient and cowardly towards someone else.
Ten minutes later, at the Seductive Witch guild... (Lucy's POV)
Minerva's subservient and cowardly attitude made me continue to glare at her in an aggressive manner as we walked towards a table in the Seductive Witch guild, and I really didn't like seeing Minerva behave fearfully towards Phoebe. Phoebe may have been strong, but there was no harm in at least trying to take down a strong opponent. Even if Minerva would end up losing to a strong opponent, she could use that instance of failure to improve herself instead of feeling so insecure. Surrendering to her insecurities was no different than wallowing in self-pity, and Minerva never wanted me to do that.
Therefore, I couldn't let her drown in feelings of self-pity. Minerva looked down at her clothes with a saddened facial expression, the feeling of despair in her eyes communicating to me that she disliked being several tiers below Phoebe in terms of fashion and strength. If Minerva thought that she had to do everything by herself and mainly rely on her own skills as a dominant leader, then these circumstances of Minerva being subservient now meant that I had to be the one who believed in my own beauty and strength. Even if I wasn't strong enough to fight Phoebe, the sight of her sitting down at a nearby table with her teammates caused me to sternly glare at her. My glare was noticed by one of her fashionable teammates who had short purple hair hanging down in soft curls, and I remained stoic as Phoebe got up from her chair.
After walking up to me, Phoebe asked me with an arrogant smirk on her face, "What are you looking at? Aren't you just the new girl working under that little loser?"
That caused me to reply with a stern facial expression, getting up from the chair and ignoring how she towered over me, "You can keep thinking Minerva-sama is a loser, but you shouldn't have damaged her dress when your outfit isn't popular anymore! Glossy lavender blouses and your boots are yesterday's news."
Minerva whispered in a scared manner, her voice trembling from behind me as Phoebe looked stunned at my words, "Lucy, please don't..."
I added with a harsh frown on my face, looking into Phoebe's eyes as she seemed irked by my response, "If you don't want me to speak truths, then many fashion models must be wrong to think that some trends change day-by-day to where I'm currently stylish while you look shoddy."
Those last words caused everyone in Seductive Witch to look very surprised by what I said, especially since I was mouthing off to Phoebe Hauntra. Phoebe responded to my words by making a royal purple aura of Darkness Magic heavily coat her body, and she stretched out her hands to shoot out several royal purple flames. That caused me to frown in an angered manner, before activating a new spell called Celestial Phantom Spirit. This spell made me shoot out a mauve purple flame from my mouth, and it brushed against each of Phoebe's flames.
Her flames started to be pulled towards my attack, which ended up bursting to create mauve purple fire that coated her flames. My fire literally proceeded to eat her flames, strengthening itself right before the heat waves quickly surrounded me. The heat of my strengthened dark magic made my body feel stronger to where it was surrounded by a mauve purple aura, and I swiftly moved several feet away from Phoebe as she sent Darkness Magic down into her feet. Phoebe rushed towards me at high speeds, causing me to activate a spell called Celestial Dark Chain.
This spell simply involved me shooting out a mauve purple fireball from my right hand in the moment where Phoebe swung her right fist towards me, and the fireball ended up creating a small explosion. My explosive attack didn't even slightly damage Phoebe, who smirked in a rude manner as her dark magic enhanced her durability. That only prompted me to use the Celestial Dark Chain spell two more times by striking Phoebe's body, and she actually became engulfed in flames that gained more power with each successive fireball that struck her.
Striking Phoebe with another fireball resulted in a much larger burst of flames engulfing her body, but she simply walked through the fire with a smug grin appearing on her face. Phoebe's aura weakened the potency of my magic like she was just making me waste magical power before she would fiercely attack me, and Phoebe aimed both of her hands at me. She shot out a royal purple ring of ten flames, which had more flames accompanying it after Phoebe threw a high amount of my fire towards her attack for its power to grow, and the ring of flames vanished right in front of me. They soon appeared around me like ghosts, before spinning around me at a rapid pace. The flames quickly lunged at me, Phoebe intending to make her spell bombard me from several directions.
"If you can't treat the strongest dark witches with any respect, then I'll just burn you into a pile of ashes!" Phoebe arrogantly stated to me, before tightly clenching her fists for the flames to become lavender purple and grow more powerful.
Minerva looked concerned as she shouted to me, before using her Territory Magic to swap places with me, "Lucy, just stop! This isn't your fight!"
I could only look shocked in this moment where I was suddenly sitting down in Minerva's chair, seeing her get bombarded by Phoebe's fiery attacks. The hot explosions were about to spin outward, but Minerva's hands were faintly surrounded by rainbow-colored energy waves that made the fire spin inward for it to wound her. Minerva became heavily bruised and bloodied from Phoebe's attack, her dress being torn in several places, and she groaned in pain as if Phoebe's flames felt like meteorites slamming against her body.
That didn't prevent Minerva from running out of the flames in a pained manner, and she panted as feelings of anger entered her eyes. She angrily looked at Phoebe, who simply laughed in a snobbish manner. Phoebe's laughter prompted Minerva to teleport some of my flames on to her energy waves, and she slammed them against Phoebe's stomach. Minerva's energy waves had the properties of being explosive, and combining them with my flames made both of our attacks be much stronger to where the effect of Celestial Dark Chain acted as if I followed it up with another spell.
The large mauve purple blast that occurred sent fire spinning outward in the Seductive Witch guild to where the hot flames grazed me and slightly burned my body, only for some of the dark witches to nullify it with spells of dark magic that seemed like incantations of hexes. That didn't prevent Minerva from making more energy waves surround her hands, and she attempted to punch Phoebe in the stomach again. However, Phoebe's right hand tightly grabbed her left fist and Phoebe glared at Minerva in a disgusted manner. She made the royal purple aura heavily engulf her right hand, and Phoebe made a crescent-shaped blade of lavender purple ghostly energy emerge from that hand. The blade attracted Phoebe's flames to it during the last seconds of Phoebe slicing at Minerva's dress, and Phoebe even released her grip on Minerva for a moment to lightly close her eyes as she rapidly moved past Minerva. My eyes could faintly see Phoebe slash at Minerva's body again, oddly slashing at the space around her.
Minerva gasped in a manner that was a mix of pain and shock, her hair being loosened out of its ponytail and sliced off while her body was quickly engulfed in mauve purple explosions. The explosions were combined with the sound of her dress being torn to shreds, the dress being burned and slashed through very easily. The slash marks on Minerva's body had blood dripping from them while she looked much more bruised, and Minerva ended up falling down to her knees. Phoebe soon walked back to be in front of her, looking arrogant as she rudely pulled on Minerva's remaining hair.
"It's so cute that you need a loser to protect you, even though you're a more pathetic loser. At least you're not wearing stripes like in the Grand Magic Games." Phoebe told Minerva with a ridiculing smirk on her face, glancing at the sight of Minerva's lacy lingerie and laughing.
Phoebe asked Minerva in a mocking manner, as tears started streaming down Minerva's face, "Are you crying at the thought of taking off your clothes, Minerva? Don't you realize that being in Sabertooth made you be a loser to where that will never change? Don't you realize that you'll be weak and never get validation from strong mages, no matter how hard you work?"
Phoebe harshly dropped Minerva on the ground, before pulling out an orchid purple flyer from her high-end coat. Even Phoebe's clothes were hardly damaged, but that was likely due to the aura of her magic getting in the way of the spells that Minerva and I displayed. Phoebe was simply now displaying that she felt like going out on her next job, prompting her to scoff down at Minerva in a rude manner while her teammates got up from the table to follow her. They would be going out of the Seductive Witch guild, but Minerva stayed in the guild as she weakly got up and walked towards the bathroom with the sounds of her cries accompanying Phoebe's light laughter of being victorious in their small fight.
30 minutes later, in the shower... (Minerva's POV)
Tears continued to descend from my eyes as I stood under the showerhead that had cold water emerging from it, the water being cold because I wanted to douse the feelings of aggression that were still flowing through my body. I aggressively punched the wall in a frustrated manner while crying, feeling so upset that I looked weak in front of so many other dark witches in the Seductive Witch guild. I thought that being in a dark guild would allow me to get validation for my strength and beauty, but it truly felt like I had neither of those traits now.
Getting beaten down again by Phoebe was the most humiliating experience in my life, since I truly displayed myself as an insecure weakling by being too scared to fight her without Lucy's help. Lucy didn't need to intervene and try to protect me, since she would just be damaging her own reputation by being a weak girl who couldn't take down Phoebe. If Lucy looked bad, then I would look bad. That statement probably worked both ways, since the laughter of some witches had likely been directed towards Lucy for being partnered with me.
Being partnered with Lucy caused me to clench my teeth in anger while I scrubbed my body with amethyst purple body wash that had been on an amethyst purple washcloth, and I scrubbed myself in a frustrated manner at how I had been picking out jobs that would push her to display high levels of talent. Despite Lucy proving that she could be a good teammate, had I really been choosing those jobs as a way of compensating for my own insecurities? I felt insecure and uncomfortable at the thought of joining Phoebe's team with taking down giant monsters or fighting against vicious mages, and those feelings of not being comfortable prevented me from making Lucy deal with several giant monsters and vicious wizards.
Had I really been so passive to where protecting Lucy and having her work under me was going to make my own self-preservation be detrimental to them? If I was now negatively affecting our team, then my sudden subservience in letting Lucy try to fight my battle for me was only stopped by my actions of trying too hard to be a dominant woman when I fought Phoebe. She was right about how I needed to know my place in the guild, and I steadied myself against the wall as I cried more from how her words hurt just as harshly as when she tore up my dress. Phoebe left me feeling bare, my body, passiveness, subservience, and cowardice exposed for me to feel like such a loser. She was right to call me a pathetic loser, and no amount of hard work could change me into being someone who wouldn't embarrass myself.
"None of the beautiful women in Fiore will ever validate my beauty or make me feel dominant, no matter what." I stated aloud to myself in a cold tone, my eyes displaying despair as several strands of my purple hair circled down the drain with my blood, sweat, and tears.
I added in a saddened tone, my body shaking as I kept crying, "I'm such a worthless failure, and I always will be!"
That prompted a girl's voice to ask me from behind the shower door, "Were you such a worthless failure in convincing me to be seduced by you?"
That caused me to gasp in a startled manner, before crying as the extremely cold temperature my throat feel like it was being constrained. I barely managed to utter Lucy's name in a soft manner, before slowly turning around to see her open the shower door right before she removed her amethyst purple bra and amethyst purple underwear. She let them fall on to my deep amethyst purple lacy bra and deep amethyst purple lacy panties, before going over to a shelf and getting a deep amethyst purple washcloth with a deep amethyst purple container of hair dye that went well with a mauve purple bottle of shampoo.
Lucy poured shampoo on the washcloth after coming into the shower and closing the sliding door behind her, making me curiously wonder if she was just here to try and assert her dominance over me by requesting that I wash her back. Lucy surprisingly pressed the washcloth against my back, before scrubbing it in a soothing manner. The coldness of the shampoo and the water felt relaxing to my body, causing me to elicit a soft sigh of pleasure as Lucy washed my back. She scrubbed my back in such a gentle manner, not washing my purple bruises in a rough manner, and Lucy even poured some shampoo on to her own body.
She softly made her breasts touch my back while some of the shampoo went down to her legs, and Lucy timidly gasped a bit as her legs brushed against my huge ass. I gently shoved Lucy back against the door with my large ass, not wanting her to think that she could get intimate with me. Not only was I choosing to not be romantically interested in her, but I didn't want Lucy thinking that I was an extremely weak woman who needed her assistance. The thought of wanting help from a girl who was weaker than me only made me loudly scoff in annoyance at Lucy being here, but she also scoffed at me in a slightly miffed tone.
"Minerva-sama, you don't have to deal with everything by yourself." Lucy told me in a slightly annoyed tone of voice, before opening up the container of hair dye.
That caused me to sarcastically ask Lucy in a rude manner while I continued washing my arms and thighs, "Yeah, so I'm supposed to be thankful for you getting in the way of my conflict with Phoebe?!"
"Shouldn't you thank me for inspiring you to not be so cowardly around Phoebe, since a dominant woman such as yourself acting subservient and passive almost made me lose respect for you?" Lucy asked me in a mundane tone of voice, trying to sound neutral and sensible.
Lucy's thought-provoking question caused me to angrily growl as I slightly turned around to look at her, but I slightly calmed myself down from hearing Lucy refer to me as a dominant woman who almost lost her respect. Having respect from at least one other woman was better than not being respected by anyone, even if Lucy was my weak partner. She stayed behind me while I got to feel Lucy putting her dye-covered hands in my shortened hair, prompting me to also put some shampoo in my hair, and several amethyst bubbles of soap surrounded us in the shower room.
I turned around to face Lucy while the water and shampoo let the hair dye flow throughout my hair, and I sultrily smiled at her. Lucy got to see me blow some soap bubbles at her, even seeing them lightly touch her eyes that became red from some cold frost clouds touching them. As Lucy rubbed her eyes and saw my sultry smile, she washed my breasts in a gentle manner while her hands touched my bruises. I tried not to wince in pain, blushing in a shy manner at how this was a moment where I displayed vulnerability by letting Lucy see that I needed to recover from these wounds.
However, the way that her hands caressed my neck and my arms in a loving manner was like her way of wanting to heal my emotional wounds that pertained to my feelings of being insecure. When I looked doubtful about moving on from my feelings of being weak, Lucy started to also look doubtful as if she couldn't easily get past her own moments of being weak. She just shared the same feeling that I felt in this moment where we locked eyes, and I even poured some shampoo and hair dye into her hair for it to also be amethyst purple.
As Lucy gently touched my hair and smiled at the sight of it growing longer, she told me with a doubtful frown appearing on her face, "Sometimes, I think that I'll never be as beautiful as other women who look down on me. I try to not let it bother me, but I feel like cold showers are my only way to relieve that stress."
That prompted me to respond with a slightly comforting smile on my face, "Lucy, there's nothing wrong with crying as you take a cold shower. Letting your emotions become icier can actually help you move on from some stressful situations of feeling like you have no beauty, so let's get cold together."
Lucy told me with a soft smile on her face, some tears welling up in her eyes, "Minerva-sama, being in cold water with you feels nice. You're very cold sometimes, but I'd feel colder without the fierce fire of your dominant attitude when you're around me. I admire your strength and beauty, so it makes me feel sad when you don't think you can be beautiful. You may think you're alone when you worry about your beauty, but I want to be the princess who supports my queen."
At that moment, my eyes widened a bit. Lucy referred to me as her queen while referring to herself as a princess, and she cried at her own feelings of sadness towards how I had been behaving. Not having any self-validation and feeling weak led to me being subservient around more powerful women, which did make me feel sad. However, I felt myself cry more tears of pain from how I had been making Lucy be saddened for me. She had been emotionally stressed because of how I wasn't properly getting over my insecurities, and I felt upset for worrying as if I had truly been alone.
Since Lucy wouldn't let me be alone and fall into despair, feelings of sadness and empathy started welling up from my heart. As Lucy cried and hugged me in this moment where she buried her face into my chest, sobs and regretful cries escaped my lips as I hugged her back. We were just two women hugging and getting drenched in our cold shower, trying to just wash away our feelings of pain that had been in our hearts. My heart was beating slowly, along with how Lucy's heart palpitated at the same rate. We shared these feelings of inadequacy and subservience, but Lucy cried more as her eyes displayed a feeling of sadness from how we took such an easy job to where getting heckled by Phoebe was inevitable.
Even though I cried more with sadness in my eyes, I let myself be steadied against the back wall with Lucy as the burns on our bodies became pale blue like ice. We both stopped crying for a moment in our moment of ending the hug to wipe each other's tears away, and I felt a slight bit of warmth be in my heart as I thought about how Lucy was the first woman in Seductive Witch to comfort me. I hadn't been very comforting towards her, but I gave her a comforting smile and felt that we could just take a cold shower together for a few hours. Lucy smiled back in a comforting manner, the cold water making us both blush and sigh happily. As Lucy cutely placed her frosty hands on my shoulders, my hands that were cold like glaciers wrapped around Lucy's waist and I felt more warmth from looking into her comforting cocoa brown eyes.
How was Chapter 6? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Lucy and Minerva are now embracing the feelings of coldness and defeat together, along with having to help each other deal with their own shortcomings. Speaking of shortcomings, Minerva's passive reaction to Phoebe's treatment of her is what made Lucy's feelings of being seduced start to break apart and Lucy had to display some dominance just to get Minerva back on track. That was their primary conflict, even as enemies. If Lucy fully lost respect for Minerva with Minerva losing self-respect and being too passive to demand being respected, then the team would fall apart. Minerva wanted Lucy to have self-respect, and the tables have now turned.
However, Lucy acting dominant towards Minerva didn't efface the romantic aspects of shared interests such as cooking and fashion. Also, Minerva teleporting in the way of an attack and sacrificing her own well-being to keep Lucy safe was romantic. Furthermore, these enemies-to-acquaintances shared some personality traits while Lucy and Minerva also felt united in feeling cold and feeling defeated at the end of the chapter. Speaking of ends, this is the end of the post-Mauve Rose Arc! The next chapter pertains to a new arc! I'll update soon. :)
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