AN: Alright! Let's go! Reviewer Replies!
Raidentensho: Regarding armors based on the 12 Immortals, I don't think attempting to seal things that would chew up and spit out DRAGONS into armor that you wear would be a good idea. There will be some upgrades resultant of her encounters with them, but an entire new armor, I have no plans for that yet. You mean Zirconis the Jade Dragon with the Dignity Destruction Breath? No, no plans involving him yet either. Glad you're enjoying still!
Curveball: Oh, I don't intend to wrap things up THAT quick. This one has a few extra things that I wasn't able to stuff into the original that I was REEEEALLY unhappy to not be able to squeeze in last time, so don't expect it to be wrapped up this chapter or next. I think I've got at least two or three more for this arc after this. (^_^) Yeah, canon Gray really needed to get his shit together, so in mine together his shit shall be got! Ah, but Selene's probably never even heard of Fairy Tail! And yes I agree, she was one of the best villains we've had in quite some time, I was actually super displeased with her heel-face turn because she was such an awesome baddie. I am indeed aware of the Mirajane Tartaros form, it's actually probably my favorite tied with her basic one. One of my favorite Erza armors is actually in this chapter! Regarding your other guesses, only time will tell! Glad you're still enjoying! (^_^)
Alright here we go!
CHAPTER 29: Flight Through the Jungle
…
…
"KUSIII!" I bellowed as we crashed through the underbrush, "HOW THE HELL DO WE FIGHT THAT THING?! WHAT'S IT WEAK TO?!"
"SUNLIGHT! THEY BURN IN SUNLIGHT!" Kusi shouted back.
I skidded to a halt and turned, "YOU SHOULD'VE LED WITH THAT!" I leapt and then flew up above the trees, already conjuring an attack calibrated to the same frequencies as sunlight. It took me only a second to spot the Immortal circling for another pass, despite how dim the glowing red lines along its body were, they still stood out like a neon sign in the darkness.
"MESEKTET!" I roared, naming the new attack after the boat of the Sun God, Ra. It seemed appropriate for dealing with minions of Apophis. The resulting river of sunlight looked like a miniature solar flare and set a mile wide swath of the jungle ablaze in its wake. There was no sign of the Immortal I had been aiming at aside from a massive smoldering crater in the mountain that had been behind it a couple of miles away with a black scorch mark that looked an awful lot like the lines that had been on the Immortal.
I blinked in shock and looked at my hands, "What the fuck?"
"Um, yeah!" Erza replied as she flapped the wings of her armor next to me, "How the heck did you do that?!"
"I have no ide…" I trailed off as I got a look at her and my eyes bugged out a little. I had not seen this armor before and it was frankly VERY distracting. I was sure I'd had the thought before, but right this particular second it bore repeating: Holy shit. SHE'S GORGEOUS. "…ea… I don't believe I've seen this one. You look…" I swallowed, trying to find an appropriate word to express the sentiment my blush was probably conveying just fine. Even in the light of the flames below and unable to see her super well, all I could come up with was, "WOW."
She had her hair in a pony tail except for her bangs which framed her face, the entire center of her torso was on display, the armor was mostly black and covered her arms and legs very well, with large black pauldrons and… I'd have to ask her later what the hip armor was because I'm sure there's a word for it but I don't for life of me know it off top of my head… anyway, black with silver crosses and highlights. It had a high collar and a silver necklace with red and blue gems set into it that I could tell at a glance were Lacrima. More importantly it drew my attention to the top of her cleavage and collarbone that were right there on display, and I'm very glad she wasn't interested in attacking me because I'd been too busy gawking to even notice the massive sword in her hand until she presented it to explain.
"This is my Black Wing Armor," she explained as she showed me her sword, "It's the only armor I've got with me right now that has Holy Element magic. And ah, thank you," she added with a blush, "I… don't normally pick armor for cuteness, but if it looks good then um…" she smiled at me, "Thank you."
"WILL YOU TWO QUIT FLIRTIN' AND GET ME SOME KIND OF SUN POWERED STEEL TO EAT SO I CAN ACTUALLY FIGHT IF ANY MORE OF THOSE THINGS SHOW UP?!" Gajeel bellowed from the ground.
"EVEN IF YOU CRIPPLE IT, IT WILL BE WHOLE AGAIN AS SOON AS DARKNESS FALLS OVER ITS SYMBOL!" Kusi yelled, "WE MUST GET TO THE CITY!"
I glanced at the smoldering crater that what was left of the Immortal was in the back of, then I glanced at Erza. She shrugged and I pulled Kusi up to our level with my telekinesis where he could see what my attack had done. Rather than try to explain what had just happened, I pointed at the remains of the Immortal I'd just blasted into a literal imprint on a mountain.
Kusi gaped in shock and then turned to gape at me, his eyes moving to my cape of all things, and then he… started crying? Like, not just little tears, the man was absolutely bawling. I swapped a glance with Erza who looked as baffled as me and I brought us back to the ground. I checked his mind and all I could really get was that he was overjoyed.
As soon as I released him from my telekinesis, he lunged towards me, fell to his knees clutching me in a hug, "You came back!" Then he started babbling in the language of Mattachu.
I couldn't understand any of it and glanced to Miguel who looked as stumped as I was, then Miguel's eyes bugged out and he explained cautiously, "Um, I'm not sure I understood all that right, but um… he seems to think you're their legendary hero the Sun King?"
"Sun Ki…" I'd love to tell you what happened next from my own perspective, but I passed out on hearing that title as everything that had been behind the memory block in my head roared back into my memories. I suppose being ID'ed properly was the final trigger after unwittingly calling upon the Mesektet. I don't know what it's like for other people to suddenly get a solid quarter of their missing childhood memories back, let alone one of the two most formative events of their life, but with Archive, it resulted in me passing out as the memories played out in my head at a thankfully accelerated rate like a dream. That said, I was out of commission for a bit, so this next bit'll have to be cobbled together from what I got from the others.
…
=~=~=~=MIGUEL=~=~=~=
…
To say it was slightly panic inducing when Jerry collapsed would be an understatement. I don't write this because I know he'll be reading it prior to inserting it in his memoirs, but because it is the truth. Over the course of our brief journey, Jerry had become synonymous in my mind with what a powerful wizard was meant to be.
I'm sure him looking the part didn't hurt with the cape, the hat, the air of casual, unflappable confidence he exuded and all that. For all that he might've claimed at the time that Gajeel, Natsu and Erza were all far more formidable than him, I believe that to be nothing but false, and I can only assume it's humility that makes him say so. Each member of the Fairy Tail team was indeed very powerful, infamous even for their tremendous prowess! For all that though, I do not believe any of them surpassed him even back then. Perhaps those three were physically more capable, to be sure each of them boasts a sheer physicality that cannot be understated, and as Jerry had said, they were all vastly more experienced than him, but do I believe any of them could've bested Jerry, let alone with any sort of ease? Not for an instant.
Perhaps Levy is smarter than him, as Jerry believes, and to be sure Lucy is an intellectual on par with either of them, but to be frank, Jerry is the one who I'd seen solve more problems, possibly more than even the rest of the team put together if my memory serves rightly. Indeed, every obstacle we'd come across which had been a potentially lethal and horrific peril when my expedition came through the first time, had all been waved away as the most trifling of inconveniences when Jerry encountered them.
Even the battle with Ajeel Raml and Wall Icht, both of whom I learned the identity and reputations of only later but whose utterly terrifying power was easily evident watching from the steps of temple in Mildian, all had seemed to be merely a testament to his apparently unrivaled might. When I saw him after that, and Erza told us that he'd hardly needed any help at all, it had only served to solidify his position in my mind as the pinnacle of magical might. Then the battle with the manticore happened and I saw him conjure what seemed to be a small mountain from thin air before summoning a creature of legend on par with a dragon to handle the monster with a single swat of its paw. I can be forgiven I think for believing, as silly as it may seem, that as long as Jerry was there, we were going to be alright no matter what the journey threw at us.
I make note of all this in an attempt to make clear to whoever is reading this how very frightful it was when he collapsed. It wasn't just my friend passing out, it was, to my mind, our best hope of surviving this ordeal dropping like a puppet with his strings cut. I tried to keep calm as Erza caught him with a look of surprise, "Hey, is he alright?!"
Erza checked his pulse quickly, "His heart's hammering, but he doesn't seem to be going into Magic Deficiency Syndrome. Levy, can you check his mind?"
Levy stepped over and set her hand to Jerry's head before snatching it back almost immediately, "I don't know what set it off, but his mind is like a hurricane right now. I think, and this is just a guess, but I think whatever memories were being suppressed just broke loose."
"I thought Jerry's world didn't have magic, how did he have a memory block?" Happy asked with an uncharacteristic amount of worry in his voice, "And why did it make him pass out?"
"It seems like it's a lot of information," Levy mused, "And it doesn't necessarily mean it was a magic induced block, a hard enough hit to the head can make people lose their memories."
Erza jerked slightly, "Wait, a hit to the head? Like, lethal amounts of blunt force trauma?"
Levy was far from the only one looking at her in mild alarm and great curiosity, "Yeees…why?"
"Jerry was telling me just a little while ago that his world is full of stories about people getting sent to other worlds…after lethal amounts of blunt force trauma," Erza explained, her eyes wide as pieces began to visibly click into place in the heads of the entire party, myself included.
Natsu of course was the one to say what they were all thinking, "OH MY GOD JERRY DIED TO GET HERE?!"
"That's why he looked like he'd been run over with a wagon when I met him in Hargeon!" Lucy exclaimed, her face pale in shock, "He… he's joked about this world being Heaven for him, but I never thought…"
"And the very first thing he thought when he met me an' Juvia was that we looked exactly like his best friends back home…" Gajeel muttered, "…Of course his best friends would be waiting for him in Heaven… WAIT DOES THAT MAKE ME SOME KINDA ANGEL?! I CAN BUY SHRIMP BEIN' ONE BUT ME?!"
Levy swatted him half-heartedly, her face pale, "Hush, you big flatterer. He's clearly not dead. He just caught a really hard knock to the head on his way here."
Erza nodded, "Right. Even if that does turn out to be the case, it's a discussion for another time. We need to focus right now. Levy, you know some of his magic, do you think you can replicate the magic signature he used for that giant attack he used on the Immortal just now?"
As Levy started working on that, I tried to process what I'd heard. I knew of course that Jerry was from a different world, but I'd never really given much thought to it. I've always believed that a person's origins matter very little, so that he was from a different world had been to me just a novelty, but to learn that he had perhaps died to reach this one… well theological implications aside it was quite the world shaking revelation for me.
Before I could give too much more thought to it though, an ear rending screech ripped through the jungle and Zoltan, Kusi I suppose, but to me he'll always be Zoltan, shot to his feet, "We must flee! Quickly! The others are coming! Follow me!"
Less than a moment later, something the size of my grandfather's manor made of darkness with eyes like great glowing green pits of deadly poison exploded out of the darkness between the trees. I could only see it at all by the glowing green lines that lined it and the flames behind it as it raced through the trees towards us. With everything it touched withering and what the others identified to me later as an aura of magically induced fear preceding it, we began our wild flight through the jungle.
Well, all but one of us.
"GO!" Erza shouted as she leapt to dodge the massive blow that nearly crushed her and left a crater in the jungle floor, "I'LL HANDLE THIS ONE AND CATCH UP TO YOU! GET MIGUEL AND KUSI TO SAFETY!"
Natsu wanted to argue, but Gajeel tossed him over his shoulder and took off, shouting over his shoulder, "YOU HAD BETTER! IF YOU DIE, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS ERZA!"
"KEEP DREAMING!" Erza shot back with a grin as she unleashed a burst of light from her sword that actually made the Immortal pull up short and give her its undivided attention.
A split second later, she was gone among the trees, even the sounds of her titanic battle with the monkey shaped Immortal fading quickly as we raced forward at top speed, Happy flying alongside and carrying Jerry. "I know you don't like leaving her Natsu!" Gajeel shouted, "But she's Erza, and we gotta keep these guys safe! So we gotta help where we're most needed! As soon as Jerry wakes up or Levy and Lucy manage to replicate his magic, we can turn this around, but for now we gotta move!"
I can't say I've ever considered myself a great cross country, long distance runner, but as another glowing orange stick figure monster became visible through the trees, letting out sharp barks like the crack of cannon fire as it began to chase us, I can proudly say that I kept up and even outran what Jerry later identified as an ankylosaurus!
It was then that I was reminded just why the rest of our party of wizards were famous. Without breaking stride, Gajeel had turned one of his arms into a great massive sword lined with moving metal teeth, and the other into a massive metal pole. As he led the way, he swung in a seemingly random fashion, but aside from the unevenness of the ground, there were no obstacles in our way as long as we stayed behind him.
Natsu, rather than be carried, had back flipped off Gajeel's back once he understood that we couldn't stay and help Erza, and tossed Levy onto Gajeel's back before scooping up Lucy in a bridal carry and tossing Kusi onto his back before just keeping on running like it was nothing!
Levy held onto Gajeel with one hand and her legs, half turned to look back at the beast chasing us as she fired assorted words for 'sunshine' back at the monster. All of the words she threw exploded in great bursts of light that lit the jungle before us in flashes, but none seemed to truly slow the beast.
This entire people juggling act was done on the fly, with as near as I could tell no prior practice or coordination. Teams of circus acrobats would weep at their own inadequacy if they could've seen the Fairy Tail team's coordination that day.
We ran and ran. If we stumbled, we rolled, leapt back to our feet and ran some more. The Shadow Beast was never far behind us. Then the ground erupted beneath us in a great mass of eerily glowing blue and writhing flesh, and Natsu shouted for Happy to get me and Zoltan to safety as what seemed like branches, or maybe whips or cables, whipped out and began to try to entangle us as all four of them began to lash out with their magic to try and buy us some space.
Before I could protest, Happy had snatched Zoltan and me in his suddenly very long tail, and with a great gale from Levy to propel him, we shot high into the sky. I wanted to scream and curse and protest, I didn't want to leave them. They had come so far for me, it was horrible to even think of leaving them to their fates without standing beside them. I wanted to scream, but what I saw shocked the words from my throat.
It was not just the area we'd been running in as we approached the mountain Mattachu was nestled in that had erupted into that strange, writhing, luminescent blue flesh.
It was the entire jungle, and a more surreal and repulsive sight I hope to never see the like of. I've never been a fan of rare steak, but ever since then, I've been unable to even look at raw flesh without feeling a deep-seated unease. Even if I'd known what to say in response to the horror before me, I could barely catch a breath. Happy was having to do incredible maneuvers though his wings were clearly straining with the weight, because those strange, I could see now that they were tentacles like an octopus, were somehow reaching into the sky attempting to snatch us back to earth.
"THE MOUNTAAAIN!" Zoltan yelled, "THEY CANNOT GROW FROM THE MOUNTAINSIIIDE!"
"I SEE IT! HANG OOOOOOOOOON!" Happy screamed as he put on a tremendous burst of speed, hurtling us towards the mountainside at break neck speeds.
I braced myself and as Happy's strength finally gave out, we tumbled onto a small shelf on the mountainside. Bruised, battered, and judging by the throbbing stabbing pain in my wrist with at least one broken bone, I picked myself up and saw the tentacles chasing something through the air. I'd later learn it was Erza, but I didn't know that at the time. Right then, I was desperately searching for any sign of our friends.
I saw them… or rather, I saw their last desperate attacks against the Shadow Beasts that had converged in the hole in the writhing blue flesh. A great burst of light, a gout flames eerie green light that would surely have leveled a small town… a massive gash suddenly opened in the blue flesh before it sealed shut. Then everything below was still, the writhing blue flesh started to recede, and the glow of the lines that gave the Shadow Beasts the only form I could discern stalked away towards the base of the mountain.
I turned and saw Zoltan struggling to haul Jerry into a crack in the rock face, Happy still clinging to Jerry's back, unconscious with a glowing wing bent in a way I'm certain wings aren't supposed to bend. Zoltan saw me looking at me and gestured for me to hurry and help him hide us. With little other option, I hurried and helped pull with my good hand as I saw the massive form of the red, flying Immortal that I could now see to be some sort of massive bird reform from the side of a mountain across the valley.
As we sat in the dark, Zoltan popped on a small Lacrima light and set it on the floor of the little cave, revealing a small twist in the cave that we hurried to hide ourselves, Jerry and the light in. Zoltan was still breathing heavily, and I don't know if it was thunder or my pulse hammering in my ears, but for what may have been quite some time, we sat there in silence.
Once I'd finally managed to calm down, I took a deep breath and looked across at Zoltan, "Well Zoltan, we're in… quite a pickle!"
"No need to fricassee words Miguel, we're fucked," Zoltan replied tiredly.
I jolted, "Who taught you the f-word?!"
Zoltan blinked at me owlishly, "Fricassee?"
I blinked for a second and then I couldn't help it, I started laughing. That's my favorite thing about Zoltan, no matter how bleak things may be, he always knows how to keep everyone's spirits up. I laughed probably a lot longer than I should have at such a simple thing, but after all that? I needed a laugh.
Finally I was able to look at Zoltan without snickering and asked, "So, what do we do now?"
"Not much we can do right this particular second," Zoltan replied grimly, "Not without leaving these two unprotected. As soon as they wake up though?"
Zoltan looked me in the eye and gave me that wild crazy grin that I had come to associate with insane solutions for insane problems, "Then we go save the world!"
…
=~=~=~=ERZA=~=~=~=
…
I really would've preferred to be going with the others, making sure Jerry was alright and personally ensuring that our clients made it to safety. Right then though, I had much bigger concerns in the form of a supposedly immortal shadow beast as big as anything I'd ever fought. It had apparently barely even felt my Black Wing Moon Blast, the blast of holy magic serving only to get its attention as the shadows sizzled in response. I had certainly offended it though.
The shadow beast returned fire with a fist the size of a wagon that I only managed to dodge by a hair's breadth after requipping into my Flight Armor. Flight Armor is great for speed, but it has a serious lack of striking power compared to most of my more heavy duty armors. Conventional weapons won't work, I mused, Which means I'll have to abuse its elemental weakness. I chanced a glance at it as I dashed through the trees, Kusi said they're weak to sunlight, so… "MORNINGSTAR!"
I changed as I leapt over a fallen tree and landed in the white, orange and yellow that comprised my Morningstar armor, with two fresh swords in my hands. I sprang into the air and attempted to land on top of the Shadow Beast's arm as it threw another world wrecking punch at me. Instead, I fell straight through it and felt as though I'd been soaked in pure, cold fear.
It ate into me like acid, the literally bone chilling dread doing its level best to consume my mind as I crumpled onto the ground, my graceful landing completely ruined by the lack of anything to land on and the sudden direct attack on my mind. An instant later, the Shadow Beast slammed its massive fist down on top of me and drove me almost a foot into the ground. Then another, and another and another.
The immense impact drove the wind out of me and even as I requipped into my Adamantine Armor and threw up my shield and the barrier, I felt the barrier cracking and then crumbling with every fresh hit. I wanted to move, to use my telekinesis to throw myself out of the way, but with every hit threatening to shatter my defense and crush me, I could barely think of anything other than the desperate need to maintain my shield. It was a barrier strong enough to stop a hit from a Jupiter Cannon, if this thing could hit hard enough to make it shudder like this, then a single hit getting through would squash me like a bug.
After what seemed like an eternity of pummeling as my barrier finally broke and my armor shattered along with it from the backlash, leaving me lying on the ground in nothing but my underwear and a LOT of pain. I saw the Shadow Beast peer down at my now still and nearly unconscious form with those terrible green eyes. Apparently satisfied that I wasn't getting up any time soon, it turned and left.
I wanted to get up, to chase after it and keep fighting. I needed to keep it from going after my friends, but the backlash of any of my armors failing results in me feeling every hit they'd blocked for me even if I'm not actually hurt. It's an extremely rare occurrence for anything to even scratch my armor, but such is the price of being so in tune with it.
In this case, the result was me feeling so pulverized that I could barely move. I wasn't broken all to pieces like my armor, but I certainly felt like it. I like to think I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, but even I've got my limits. I don't know how long it might've taken me to force myself back to my feet and get fighting again, but I was given some very unpleasant motivation to hurry up.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that I felt the tickling begin. It started on my left leg and quickly started wriggling across my skin. In a fit of instinctual terror, I flung myself out of the ground and hung in the air with my telekinesis, my heart hammering as my whole body screamed at the sudden movement. As I saw the blue slimy tentacle probing the bottom of the crater where I'd been a split second earlier though, I realized I'd dodged a bullet. Without a second's hesitation, I requipped back into my Morningstar armor and aimed my swords, "PHOTON SLICER!"
A massive stream of light erupted from the points of my swords and slammed into the ground where the tentacle was, and for a brief second, I felt some slight vindication in the assumption that my attack had vaporized the offending tentacle. I've read enough racy novels to know where that was going, I mused.
Then I hurled myself skyward with a shriek of "CRAP!" as the ground suddenly erupted in a forest of tentacles, shooting skyward in an attempt to snatch me as I requipped into my Black Wing Armor so I'd be able to fly better.
"NONONONONONONO!" I shouted as I shot through the sky like a comet on the enchanted wings of my Black Wing Armor, "NO TENTACLES UNLESS THEY'RE ATTACHED TO SOMEBODY I LIKE! AND PROBABLY NOT EVEN THEN!"
The writhing mass of tentacles shooting up from the jungle floor like a hail of javelins attempting to snatch me from the air paid my protests no heed. If anything, I think it made them try even harder to catch me as they sensed my fear of what they'd do to me. For every tentacle I cut down with my Black Wing Armor's holy-element imbued sword, a dozen more surged forward from the stumps. As I ducked and dove, desperately trying to think of anything I could do that might turn the tide of this horrible cat and mouse game, I actually came up with one actually really good idea!
…
==Three Days Earlier==
…
"It's as good as new," Jerry marveled as he put the card I had accidentally stripped of its enchantment through a number of trials and tested every function he could think of. I was sitting at the bar in the living room of the Card House while Jerry stood behind it to work on dinner.
I beamed, utterly delighted that my first attempt at enchanting something had worked perfectly. A moment later Jerry shuffled the card back into his deck and looked at me, "You said you can put that enchantment on anything now?"
I nodded proudly with a large smile, "Yep! Absolutely anything!"
"You do realize you could destroy the world with that right?" Jerry asked bluntly.
My pride vanished in an instant as his words registered and I'm certain I went suddenly very pale as I almost squeaked, "What?!"
Jerry blinked at me for a second, a faint blush coloring his cheeks as he muttered, "God you're cute…" then he shook his head and looked away, his blush even redder in wake of what had slipped out, "What I mean is that my cards can turn into iron hard shields or blades big enough to casually knock down entire buildings given enough momentum. I could very easily destroy a city with them and probably do it pretty quick. If you apply this enchantment to say, a pile of rocks? Then all of a sudden, you've got an entire meteor storm at your command. Not just that, a meteor storm which you can reuse as many times as you want because the rocks will jump at your command no matter how many times you slam them into the ground as fast as bullets the size of entire buildings. Even one shot like that would pack enough force to level a town if it hit."
I twitched slightly as my mind played out images of such an attack, "Your mind is a very frightening place Jerry…"
Jerry nodded with a small smile, "Thank you. I take that as a compliment."
"Why?" I asked warily. Does he like it when people are afraid of him?
"My mind is frightening to you, correct?" Jerry asked as he leaned over the bar and poked the side of his head. At my careful nod, he pointed to me, "That means that my mind is formidable enough to frighten one of the most powerful wizards I've ever met. Basically, you just said that you think I'd be a formidable adversary because of my mental capabilities, which constitutes a very high compliment coming from someone as accomplished as yourself."
My musing on that was cut short by Jerry asking, "Can you pull and replicate any enchantment like that?"
Alarm bells went off in my head as he unwittingly trod very close to the truth of what my brief time with Master Precht had yielded. I didn't want to let anyone know about that yet, I was honestly still coming to terms with it myself, "In theory. It's something I learned from Master Precht."
Jerry laughed slightly as he turned back to his skillet, "That doesn't surprise me. That guy's amazing ain't he? Wish he had been able to stick around a bit longer," he mused, "If I had met him before joining the guild proper, I probably would've followed after him like a lost puppy begging him to teach me everything I could learn."
My gaze snapped up to look at the back of his head as he offhandedly added, "I never could now though."
"Why's that?" I asked curiously.
"Mira." Jerry could've said a lot more, but the sheer affection he put into her name said everything he needed to.
I slid off the barstool, guilt gnawing in my gut as my attempt to seduce him on the train and our kiss that nearly turned into so much more the night before flashed in my mind, "I'm going to go lie down for a moment, please call me when dinner's done."
Jerry shot a glance over his shoulder, "You alright?"
My back was to him, so he didn't see the look of absolute shame on my face, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just, going to go…practice my enchantments! Yeah, that's it! I wanna try adding an element to the enchantment I got from your cards!"
"Well…good luck, I guess. If you need me to send your dinner up to you, let me know."
"Thank you, I will."
…
==Now==
…
Really wishing now that I had actually been doing that! I thought angrily as I rocketed through the air, swerving and spinning desperately as the forest of tentacles stretched into the air with seemingly limitless reach. I'd tried flying out of reach, but even when almost at the ceiling of unnatural clouds, the tentacles had still been hot on my heels. Refusing to lose my sight while being pursued, I'd had to swoop back down and continue to try evading.
If I live through this, I am enchanting the shit out of every single weapon and piece of armor I own! There will not be a single piece in my armory that hasn't got at least three enchantments on it! I thought angrily as I realized upon sorting through my mental catalogue that the weapon in my hand was the only one I had that was actually imbued with Holy magic.
Come on Erza, THINK! I berated myself, screwing up my face in concentration, How do I kill these things?!
Then Jerry's words echoed in my mind, You could destroy the world with that.
My eyes widened and I raised my sword in front of me, a grin quickly growing on my face. I raised my free hand, "Enchant!" The magic flowed out of my palm and quickly bound itself to the blade. It was still a strange sensation, almost like peeling away tape from my skin and feeling it as it stuck to the new surface, but as I felt it stick and the sword registered suddenly with my senses almost like a spare limb, I found that it was quickly becoming one of my favorite sensations.
I loosened my grip and willed the sword to fly along just out of my grip. It raised and hovered an inch from my now outspread palm, easily keeping pace with me. I was so focused that I was almost batted from the air as something suddenly flew through the air at me. I barrel rolled out of the way and upon a quick look around realized that I'd somehow made my way back over Mattachu. Mattachu was now overrun with the tentacles, and more pressingly, the people were standing in the street staring up at me with glowing blue eyes. My gaze snapped back over my shoulder and I realized with horror that the thing that had just nearly knocked me from the air was a person.
Said person was a heavyset old man that landed on a tentacle with agility far beyond what he should've been capable of. The tentacle immediately flexed and shot him back at me like an arrow from a bow. SHIT! I dropped and narrowly dodged the flying person as a fresh but shorter forest of tentacles erupted all across Mattachu. What seemed like half the city was perched on top of them and before I could try to come up with a solution, the glowing eyed puppets were suddenly all flung at me, hands outstretched and grabbing.
I shot upward and they slammed together, falling from the air with their gazes still locked on me despite their obvious injuries from the impact. They fell only a few meters before the tentacles lunged and caught them, starting to juggle them through the air with alarmingly good aim and a complete disregard for their victims in an attempt to hit me. I have to get out of here before somebody gets killed!
Then as I rocketed back over the rim away from the city, I realized that the entire valley was now writhing ahead of me with the tentacles. Fear streaked through me, and I hurled myself skyward, I have to get high enough that they can't reach me! If I can get even a moment to breath I can win! They've put up this cloud cover, and Kusi said sunlight hurts them! If I can just break through the clouds…
"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed as I flew face first into a wall of what felt like the same mind consuming terror as I'd felt when fighting the Shadow Beast. In that single instant of shock, all my aches from the Shadow Beast's attack returned a hundredfold, further shattering my concentration as my whole body was wracked with pain.
I plummeted back towards the ground and just as I spread the wings of my armor and caught myself, a tentacle slammed into me like an entire tree trunk. I shot through the air like a fly smacked out of the sky.
It was hard to think, everything hurt. I could tell the wings on my armor had been broken by the skid on my back along the ground, and as I could feel them, that hurt even more. I tried to focus through the pain, make my body move with my magic, but every fresh twitch was a new lance of pain jabbing through me. I hadn't had any bones broken in my fight with the Shadow Beast, but I was certain I'd broken several when I landed. As I felt the tentacles start slithering across my skin, I desperately lashed out with my magic, "NO!"
The tentacles faltered for a moment and then continued their advance. Panic surged through my mind as the tentacles began to probe the cracks in my armor, quickly taking advantage of the fact that it left much of my stomach bare to slide between me and the protective armor. The tentacles fizzled and hissed, burning against my skin as they forced themselves on against the holy magic imbued in my armor. Then they suddenly turned rigid and my breath hitched as I realized with horror that they were about to… EEEEEECLANG!
With the sound of tearing metal, the torso of my Black Wing Armor was torn apart at the joints and flung out of sight. Then as the backlash ripped through me, the tentacles began attacking my armor in earnest, every touch stinging me and keeping me even further from concentrating and being able to escape as I felt my armor being made short work of. In what seemed like less than a minute, I had been stripped naked and the tentacles were starting to bind me spread eagled in a vicious stinging grip. What felt like a thick gel started oozing over my head as I protested, "NONONONONO!"
"GET THE HELL OFF HER! WING BEAT OF THE SUN GOD!" A voice suddenly shouted. An instant later there was a burst of incredible light and heat, but more importantly I was suddenly completely tentacle free. I forced my eyes open and tried to focus on the odd white blob hovering over me, "ERZA! ARE YOU OKAY?!"
She swore lightly in what I'd later learn to be Minstrellian and then something moved behind her. The white blob turned yellow on top and I felt her lay a hand on me. Then cold roared through my body, but somehow, despite the intense discomfort, I could feel my bones snapping back together and as soon as the wave of cold faded, the soreness and pain went with it. "Sorry, I know that was really uncomfortable but Lord Boreas's magic should have you all healed up, how are you feeling?"
I groaned as I forced myself to sit up and looked at my savior, trying to focus through the tears muddling my sight, "…Lucy?"
It clearly wasn't once I got a good look at her, and the voice was wrong too now that my ears weren't ringing, but if I didn't know Lucy was an only child I'd have suspected them of being sisters. She had short wavy golden blonde hair, golden eyes, and she was strikingly beautiful. She was wearing some very impressive plate armor that looked extremely practical while also being designed quite aesthetically out of metal that faintly glowed a soft bluish white. The thing that had moved behind her I now realized to be seven glowing Lacrima of incredible power hovering in a ring behind her. The one at the top of the ring was lending her entire form an aura of the same cold that had healed me.
She tilted head in confusion at being called Lucy, "Eh?"
Then she smiled and let out a light little laugh, "Oh no, I forgot to introduce myself! I've been following you guys since Mildian, but I haven't been able to work up the nerve to come out and actually talk to you all. I'm sorry, it's just been so long since I've talked to anybody! Ah," she scratched her cheek cutely, "My bad. Let me start over."
She stood up and struck a pose, planting the point of a massive sword with a jagged edge like the teeth of a saw into the ground with a proud grin as she announced, "I am Dimaria Yesta, Last Paladin of Mildian and Keeper of the Seven Great Gods' Legacy. As you and your friends protected my city from the invaders, I have come to repay our debt! Will you accept my aid in saving this world from the forces of darkness?"