Sasuke opened his eye to the sight of a pitch-dark abyss. This wasn't the same place as the plane of existence that Hagoromo and his counterpart resided in, otherwise, he would never have been able to dream at all. But that wasn't always a good thing either; chunks of metal scrapped the floor as a figure made its presence known. From the distance, Sasuke couldn't properly make out who it was as he squinted his eye but as it drew closer, he realized it was the mangled body of the lanky knight Remus dragging itself towards him.
"You" A voice, laced with venom and loathing called out to him. The Uchiha turned around to see the towering knight standing a few feet away from him with his claymore pointed at him. "For what you have taken from me, I will take from you."
Like a shadow of his past self, Marcus charged at him like a madman seeking vengeance, swinging his massive sword with reckless abandon, which Sasuke narrowly evaded. But a familiar crimson glow caught his eye as it walked past Marcus until it revealed itself as the mysterious Lief. "To think that a failure like you would have Lady Irene's attention" he condescendingly stated.
It was then, that Sasuke felt his legs become locked in place by a vice-like grip. Lowering his eye, he found the source of this problem in the form of Remus grabbing hold of his legs and locking them firmly in place. His mangled corpse still contained what little brain matter was left in his head. "What the" Sasuke said as he struggled to escape. He feared becoming a sitting duck for the wrathful Marcus to exact his vengeance.
Yet the final blow never came. Instead, as he looked on, Marcus and Lief remained still as two giant pairs of eyes, as tall as towers, emerged from the darkness followed by an equally bright scarlet hair that draped itself over a giant figure. Sasuke looked on with horrified stupor as the giant figure reached out its hands toward him, while panic began to set in.
His began beating faster, his breathing more erratic as he desperately struggled to free himself until it was too late as the black hand enveloped him completely.
The darkness engulfed him and he let out a scream as flashes of his past bombarded him. The sight of the fallen clan members and most importantly, the dead bodies of his parents, lying still on top of each other.
Until he awoke from that nightmare, almost pushing himself off from the bed with a widened eye. He tried to steady his breath while clutching the chest where his heart resided as sweat dripped from his forehead.
"Bad dream?"
Sasuke forced his groggy face to look sideways, towards Tatiana who was tinkering with some items in the briefcase. "It doesn't matter" he brushed aside, turning his attention towards the gizmos on her person, "What are you doing anyway?"
"Just getting some things ready before I head back" Tatiana answered.
"So, you can concoct some more schemes?" he said, his words implicating her.
Tatiana looked back and blinked. "What are you talking about? I told you both what I'm doing didn't I?" she hastily replied.
However, it did little to convince Sasuke. "Stop acting coy with me. Erza may have never met you before but I have. There is no Tatiana, she doesn't exist" he argued, rising from his bed and sitting upright, "What are you really after?"
Tatiana stood up and faced Sasuke with her arms crossed and an irate huff. "Again, what are trying to insinuate here?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
The Uchiha remained firm in his accusations however and stared right back. "Enough games. You can't fool me" he paused before uttering a very familiar name, "Ultear."
At that moment, the girl known as Tatiana had her eyes widen as her arms dropped from her guarded position while she took a step back. Fear and panic seemed to be written all over her face as she scrambled her thoughts to find a coherent answer before she finally calmed down with a deep exhale and hunched over. "Guess there's no fooling you huh?" she said as she straightened herself up and looked at Sasuke with a smile. But it wasn't the usual smile that she exhibited before either, it was a mischievous grin with a hint of flirtatiousness on her face. One that the boy had seen before many times in his previous encounters.
The two looked over to Erza, who was fast asleep and facing the wall. Both expressed relief for different reasons as they faced each other once again. Still holding on to that grin, Ultear removed her spectacles and flipped her hair, undoing some of the disguises she had made. "So, what do think?" she asked twirling around, "Pretty convincing right?"
Sasuke remained silent. Unfortunately, this did not deter Ultear in the slightest as she pressed a finger on her lip and made an innocent pose. "Or could it be that you prefer sweet, shy, little Tatiana" she said with a high-pitched voice, emulating the pure, shy character she poised during the day all the while approaching him. Once she was close enough, she placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned in, closer and closer until her lips were but a few inches from his ear. "Tell me, which one do you like more: Tatiana or Ultear?" she whispered.
"Neither" he bluntly answered, pushing her away as he rose to his feet with an irritated scoff. The art of deception was something that he had been trained with all his life and even if his method of infiltration was different, he was well educated in the kunoichi and their ways; Ultears' methods were just the same, blurring the line between truth and fiction.
"Is that so? And yet, you seemed more than happy to play along" she pointed out.
"Because I have bigger fish to fry" he replied, "And I still have questions I need to ask you."
"Questions?" she repeated, tilting her head.
"About Grimoire Heart, about your leader, and about" he took off the eye patch, revealing an empty socket on where his left eye should be, and pointed at it, "This."
A look of disgust fell over Ultear's face, though she did her best to hide it. "That's all well and good, but like you said, you've got bigger fish to fry and you'll need my help for that" she scoffed at his answer, "So let's hold off on the questions for now."
"That's not an issue for me" he nonchalantly answered, placing the eye patch on his left side, "I'm patient."
"So, it would seem" Ultear gave a defeated sigh. His persistence, discipline, and stoicism were simultaneously attractive but also annoying; no layer of guile seemed to get past him once he figured things out. That being said, he didn't know everything either since there was one secret that only she was privy to and it pertained to that certain incident years ago.
Their conversation was cut short by the sound of a groggy Erza forcing herself out of bed with a loud yawn as she stretched out her arms. Rubbing her eyes, she awakened to the sight of Sasuke standing around with a blank stare and Tatiana hastily putting on her glasses and fixing her hair. As her eyes shifted towards a strange bag, one that Tatiana immediately pulled from view, the mysterious girl immediately packed up and began walking away.
"I'll go on ahead, I need to get there early," she said, walking past Erza.
"Wait, if you know a shortcut to the facility, why don't you just lead us there?" Erza pointed out, stopping Tatiana just as her hand was on the door. It almost seemed like an obvious question yet neither she nor Sasuke seemed to comprehend it. Probably had to do with the fact that they were too exhausted by their ordeal.
"Because I'll be walking through the front door, so if you two followed me, you'd both have to walk in with cuffs. That's why I gave you two new routes, they'll let you sneak in" she defiantly answered, to which Erza could only respond with a blink and a blank "Oh". With a heavy sigh, Tatiana opened the door partway through and glanced back, "Look, I'll make sure the coast is clear. Get ready to move in a few minutes, it's almost dawn."
As Tatiana disappeared from their sight and shut the door behind her, Erza leaned over to watch the door before turning over to Sasuke, who was busy making preparations. "Hey, don't you think something's up with her?" she said, leaving the bed.
"She's almost half right, shame she can't put the pieces together" the voice inside stated in an almost condescending tone, almost as if he was mocking her intelligence. Sasuke simply grumbled and refused to entertain his dark half, and continued working. "Young Erza lacks our knowledge and experience, yet she has already displayed a keen mind" Hagoromo finally spoke up as well, though his praise seemed more genuine and earnest. Thanks to getting captured, Sasuke items had been confiscated as well, which included the pills Porlyusica gave him; without them to keep the voices at bay, they had both returned, much to his annoyance.
Refusing to engage with either of them at the moment, Sasuke strapped his sword back on his strap which was tied around his shoulder and his waist. With his pouch neatly buckled, he took the remaining contents and handed them over to Erza. "There's more to her than meets the eye. Keep your guard up around her and don't share any secrets with her unless you absolutely have to" he warned.
"O-okay.." Erza awkwardly agreed, taking the bag and rummaging through the contents. As she did so, Sasuke handed over a piece of candy bar that had not been opened yet.
"Eat up. The sun's almost coming up, you'll need all the energy you can get" he said.
"But what about you?" she asked, taking the candy from his hands.
"Don't worry, I've already eaten mine. I know better than to walk around with an empty stomach" he answers.
"That's good to hear," she said with a relieved smile as she unwrapped the candy bar and began munching down on it. The sweet taste of chocolate and caramel melted in her mouth and for a moment, she was in pure bliss. Back in Magnolia, she had a steady supply of cakes to satisfy her sweet tooth, but here, it had been ages since she had something sweet.
True to his word, sunlight began to break through the windows, letting forth golden rays to illuminate the dark room. But a new day, also meant that their foes were also up and ready to look for them, and much to their misfortune, they would find trouble sooner rather than later.
…..
Stepping out from the derelict house, the two were greeted by the warm, morning light shining the rays of the sun down on them. As Erza basked in the warmth of dawn, Sasuke went forward to survey the area ahead. However, in that split second, as she enjoyed basking in the sunlight, Erza had allowed herself to become vulnerable and it was more than enough to get the jump on her.
"Found you!"
Sasuke heard a brief but muffled scream, causing him to immediately run over to Erza, only to find her being held hostage by that boy from yesterday. He had his arms wrapped around Erza with a knife held to her throat as well as his particular weapon pointed at her head. "Took me a while to track the both of you down, but now I finally found you" he declared pointing his gun at him, "I've been waiting for this."
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked with a groan, putting his right hand behind his pouch to take him out with a shuriken.
"You don't remember? The humiliation you put on me, the Great Gunslinger Alzack!" the boy tried to recall, perplexed by Sasuke's nonchalance.
Sasuke on the other hand, couldn't seem to care less as he was ready to strike him down the moment his guard was down. But before he could take action, he noticed a subtle shake from Erza's head, telling him to back down. What possible motive could she have? If he had to guess, it was probably because she wanted to take him down herself. With that in mind, the Uchiha took his hand away from the pouch and continued to stall Alzack. "I know who you are and I don't care" he bluntly replied.
The one-eyed kids' straightforward answer did not go over well with Alzack. "Why you!" he growled, unknowingly loosening his grip on Erza.
"You can get angry all you want, but I'll say it like it is" Sasuke answered, continuing to agitate and stall Alzack, "You waste your time bragging and showing off, you have no sense of awareness for your surroundings, you rushed into the fight without thinking and most importantly… You don't have what it takes to kill me or her."
Anger bubbled over Alzack's head, as Sasuke dressing him down got under his skin. "We'll see about that!" he shouted, pointing his pistol at Sasuke.
But that distraction had given Erza more than enough time to retaliate. First, she stomped on his foot, causing him to lose balance as he yelped in pain and jumped back. Once he had opened himself up, Erza grabbed him by his poncho and flung him across the deserted hideout, until he crashed into a nearby tree and slid to the ground.
"Good work" Sasuke complimented.
"Thanks," Erza said, dusting herself off.
The two approached the fallen Alzack, who was busy clutching his back and moaning in pain. Seeing both the eye-patched boy and the red-haired girl approach him, he mustered up all his strength to rise to his feet, barely able to straighten his back. "T-this…isn't over yet. I-I'll get you next time!" he declared and began limping away as fast as his legs could carry him.
It was a tad bit of a sad sight to see and there was almost a look of pity in Sasuke and Erza's faces. But they couldn't afford to let him call for reinforcements either and so they had to stop him. But in a roundabout irony, loud, thumping of feet and the mumbling of men emanated from the deep woods, indicating that more mercenaries were heading over to them. "Dammit, let's go" Sasuke ordered, to which Erza complied as the two ran off to find a hiding place.
…
As the mercenaries began searching high and low for their two targets, Sasuke and Erza were now nestled safely on top of a tree branch which was a fair distance away from their pursuers.
"This is just great" Erza grumbled, admonishing their current predicament before looking over at Sasuke, "So what do we do now?"
It had become standard procedure for Erza or any one of the younger members to look to Sasuke for strategic advice in the absence of any adult. Well, everyone except Natsu, of course, but even he wasn't willing to test his patience too much. "We can go about it in two ways; either we stick together or we split up."
"Shouldn't we just stick together? We work better together and we can cover each other's backs" Erza suggested.
"Normally, I'd agree to that. But the circumstances here are a little bit different, especially after what happened yesterday" Sasuke admitted, "We almost got caught and by being together, we made for easy targets."
"But wouldn't splitting up make things harder too" Erza pointed out, "If you get in trouble, I won't be able to help you."
"Likewise," Sasuke nodded, "But we're not barging in through the front door to pick a fight, we're here to rescue Gildarts, and the quieter we are, the better. Plus, if one of us gets caught, the other one will have a better chance of sneaking past the enemy while they're all distracted. Besides that, I don't trust Tatiana. I expect she'll pull something or the other on us."
"Then it looks like splitting up will be better. At least we'll cover more ground that way" she suggested, as a thought came over her that caused her to giggle; something that did not go past Sasuke.
"Is something the matter?" Sasuke asked.
"It's nothing serious," Erza said, rubbing her head as she continued, "It's just…weird to hear you not have a problem with splitting, since you're always so adamant about sticking together."
"Really? I never thought about it like that" Sasuke acknowledged, "Besides the point, you can handle yourself pretty well. I trust you more than anyone else."
His words caused Erza to jilt back a little as her face became flustered. "T-trust me?" she reiterated, scratching her head, "thanks. I guess."
Whether or not it flew her bashfulness flew over his head, Sasuke merely grunted and took out a kunai as he began tracing it across the branch. "If we're going to split up, there's two routes we can take" he began, carving the two paths on the wood, "A tunnel that leads to a ladder in the north and a dockyard that contains an elevator to the west. I'll head north and you'll take the west point. Is that okay with you?"
"Not a problem" she confidently stated.
"Here, take this" Sasuke rummaged through his bag and handed over a small blowpipe and a small bag containing several darts.
"You're giving me this?" Erza said, puzzled by his gift, though she still took it off his hands.
"I've taught you how to use this, remember. You'll need it" he said, "You can only use each dart once, don't worry, it'll just put people to sleep, works on small animals too"
"Got it" she nodded.
"Then let's go save Gildarts."
Sneaking past several highly armed mercenaries through thick jungles and heavily guarded outposts was easier said than done. Not only that, she had to deftly avoid several deathtraps that had been laid out all throughout the jungle, from pitfalls to spiked contraptions to snares, no doubt the work of some of these mercenaries. It was at these moments that she was thankful for the lessons Sasuke taught her on survival and stealth. Not only that, many of the rank-and-file soldiers were large in size but low on intellect, the perfect goons but also the worst kinds of guards, since they could be easily distracted or get sloppy. Part of her even wondered how they managed to set up all those traps in the first place.
She had no such luxury with the guard dogs, however, with their keen sense of smell and hearing allowing them to pick up on her scent from miles away. It was at this time that the blowpipe and the sleeping darts that Sasuke gave her came in handy since they allowed her to pick off the hounds one at a time from a safe distance, while the less-than-wary guards were too busy checking up on their sleeping dogs. Erza didn't know what Sasuke had concocted to use as the basis for the dart, but he reassured her that it was non-lethal and that it simply put the target to sleep and it seemed he kept true.
Regardless, after much struggle, Erza finally made it to a crevice that supposedly led to the cave through which she could find the river. Examining the surrounding area, Erza noticed how eerily quiet and desolate the place seemed. With only the whirling sound of the wind picking up dust and the babbles of water below to keep her company.
But she could not afford to lower her guard, even for a moment as a loud bang followed by an audible whizzing sound came after, blowing past Erza's right ear and causing it to emit an obnoxious, deafening ringing sound as she immediately ducked for cover on a nearby rock.
The ringing continued on for a few more seconds as she desperately tapped her ear to regain her auditory senses. Once her hearing had become somewhat clearer, she peeked out of cover to see who was responsible, only to discover that the assailant was none other than that boy with the poncho, who called himself Alzack.
"That was just a warning shot" he declared, twirling his pistol.
Slinking back into cover, Erza rested her back against the rock and exhaled deeply. "Seriously!? You again!? Haven't you learned your lesson by now" she cried out, alluding to their previous encounters where he was soundly defeated.
"You and that guy humiliated me! Sugar Pistol Alzack! Twice!" he whined, summoning another pistol and twirling it as well, "I won't let you get away with this!"
"You really are persistent, aren't you?" Erza rolled her eyes and groaned at his embarrassing nickname.
"Persistence is my middle name. So let's settle this once and for all" he declared.
"Fine. Have it your way" Erza conceded and accepted his challenge. In a strange twist, Alzack tossed one of his pistols across the crevice and right next to Erza, who looked at it with confusion.
"If you're really that good, then you'll play this my way. Six rounds for both of us. No other magic is allowed. You win, I'll leave you alone. If you lose, you'll have to admit that I'm better" Alzack proclaimed.
Erza was getting more and more irritated with him by the minute. She would like nothing more than to simply end it, but given that he has persisted twice despite the trashing that was given to him, she feared he would come back again if she just took him out quickly once more. Playing his game would wound his pride and help her save magic for stronger foes, but she had to be quick about it. With that in mind, Erza picked up the pistol from the ground, and accepted his game, "Alright, if it means shutting you up for good."
"Now that's more like it!" he shouted, to which Erza emerged from the cover and fired off the gun. Having had no experience handling such a weapon, the redhead's aim was abysmal as the bullet missed Alzack by a considerable distance. Not only that, the recoil from the pistol sent her hands flying upward. "Haha, sucks to be you" Alzack let out an obnoxious laugh and returned fire, his aim being truer as it nearly hit Erza who narrowly dodged it and dove back into cover.
With both parties having five shots left, Erza let out another deep exhale and gathered what she could about the function of the weapon. Based on her first try, it required strong wrist and elbow control on top of needing steady breathing, in the same vein as shooting an arrow or one of Sasuke's kunai and shuriken, albeit with more power behind it. In theory, this weapon should function with those same principles.
"You ready?"
Hearing Alzack call out to her, Erza compiled the information in her head. "Ready" she answered and dove out of cover, only to realize the poncho boy had done the same. Harding her grip and tightening her wrist, she fired off at the same time as he did, this time having much better control over it, although her aim was still wanting. As the bullets missed their targets, the two immediately jumped back into cover.
With four bullets left, Erza recollected some of Sasuke's teachings on the principles behind aiming his kunai and shuriken, the calculations needed to quickly throw them towards their projected distance, and decided to apply those same principles here as well.
"I can do this all day" Alzack taunted.
"Ugh," Erza rolled her eyes, standing up from the cover as Alzack did the same. As the two fired their respective pistols, Erza's bullet came much closer to Alzack than before although Alzacks nearly hit her had she not ducked back into cover. Three bullets were remaining.
"Hold on, how are you getting this good so quickly?'
"I'm not going to tell you, kid"
"Are you using some kind of magic? Bah, never mind, you're gonna lose anyway"
"Wait, are you getting angry? I thought you were the great 'Sugar Pistol Alzack'?"
"Argh"
They scuffled twice over until both only had one round each, each successive shot inching their bullets closer to their opponents. Staring intensely at each other, neither Erza nor Alzack averted their gaze from their opponents for even a second as they pointed their pistols at each other. They had become numb to everything around them with only the tumbleweeds to keep them company. The two waited and waited until…
*Bang*
Erza and Alzack fired off at the same time, their bullets colliding mere inches from one another, resulting in them flying in completely opposite directions. Erza hit a nearby tree while Alzacks wasn't as lucky; the bullet struck a nearby bee's nest, evoking a stupefied "Uh Oh" from the gunslinger as swarms of insects began buzzing about and whirly everywhere.
In response, Erza immediately donned her toughest armor, having decided to stop holding back on her magic. Having her entire body covered from head to toe with steel proved to be advantageous in a such like this, where she was being assaulted by a barrage of insect stings.
Alzack wasn't so lucky. Lacking Erza's armor, he began shooting his way through the rampaging bees, only for them to overwhelm him with sheer numbers until his pistols were rendered useless. Resorted to using his pistols to frantically whip them away, his attempts did little to stop the constant bombardment of stings from the swarm. "Aaahhh! ah! "he screamed out, oblivious to where his footing lay until it was too late as he stepped onto the edge of the crevice and fell into the caves below.
Without thinking, Erza immediately sprinted with her heavy armor and dove for him, grabbing him midair and spinning around so that her armored back would hit the rocky waters first. With a thunderous splash, the two plunged into the chilly cave waters, free from the bees but into an unfamiliar environment. With a glow, Erza switched back to her normal attire before the armor sank her into the bottom of the water as she pulled Alzack from the pool and into a flat rock. This was the second time she had to save a boy from drowning and she reckoned that it must be more than a coincidence, as if it had become her duty entrusted to her by the divine.
Taking a look at the unconscious boy, Erza noticed that his hands and face were covered in strange pores, most likely coming from the bee stings. She had experienced something like that before and while it didn't kill her, the experience was definitely unpleasant. Hopefully, this meant he would survive the ordeal although he would be in for one heck of a rude awakening once he woke up.
After she was done plucking each and every stinger she could find from his body, Erza took off his poncho and used it to tie herself and him together on her back as she began carrying him away from the caves. As luck would have it, this was the very same cave system she was going to use to navigate her way to the river that led to an estuary and the dockyard, by extension and thus, she figured might as well carry him halfway through.
Once they were out of the caves, Erza untied the poncho and laid Alzack on his back. Taking a look at the boy, she realized he was still unconscious and oblivious to the fact that his hands and face were now swelling to disturbing proportions. The thought of him waking up to unbearable pain made her look away and cringe in discomfort. Despite how annoyingly persistent he was, she did feel a tad bit sad about his current predicament, and the fact that she was unfamiliar with this jungle to find any sort of remedy for him meant that he would have to endure the horrible aftereffects of the stings for hours on end.
But she had a mission to complete and she had wasted enough time. Covering him up with his own poncho like a blanket, Erza began walking down the river stream in the hopes that it would lead her toward her destination. "Take care of yourself" She gave out her parting words and took one last good look at him before turning around and walking away.
The forest of this island was rife with all manner of plants and animals, each unique yet familiar at the same time; it had a tranquil beauty to it in the same vein as the east forest of Magnolia. However, danger lurked in every corner of these lands, and Sasuke had no illusions about his safety either; he was being hunted and he knew it.
"I'm surprised you let young Erza go off on her own" the elderly voice of the Sage of Six Paths echoed in his head, "But then again her growth as an individual has been impressive. Perhaps, this is the reason you've begun to trust her more?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Sasuke counterpart chided, "He's only letting her go, so she can put herself in danger and get killed. That way, he'll give in to despair and get stronger."
Sasuke pursed his lips and let out an audible snarl. He knew the other half of him represented his worst aspects, his darker impulses, but every time he talked, the Uchiha could barely contain his contempt for him. "The only reason I split up with her is because I'm going to be the fall guy," he said, carefully navigating his way through the forest, continuing to keep a keen eye out for traps, "I'll get everything done before she gets there."
"And what do you mean by that?" Hagoromo asked.
"Earlier, I asked Talyn to scout out the areas ahead of us, to find out which route was the safest and which was the more dangerous" he explained, pushing aside a few bushes, "Once he returned, I realized the route leading to the elevator was the safest. It's the least fortified area on the island."
"Yet Talyn did not utter a single word of this to you. How did you understand his intentions?" The sage pried.
Sasuke halted and stared at his right hand as he explained, "It's hard to explain; Talyn doesn't say a single word to me but now, I can feel what he's feeling, like I understand what his intentions are and what he's trying to convey to me. It's never happened before, so something is definitely going on here."
Even if he wasn't physically present, the humming he made suggested Hagoromo was in another one of his deep thoughts. "Perhaps it is an evolution of the gift bestowed upon you by the god of justice. Your bond with Talyn must have deepened enough for you to feel his intent."
"If that's the case, then it looks like we'll be taking the hard route" Sasuke's doppelganger stated, "Isn't that, right?"
"It is" Sasuke confirmed, "the route leading to the ladder, will take us to a heavily fortified base in the mountains."
"Good, that means more to kill" Sasuke's other half concluded, "I'm gonna need to let off some steam after that beating you took from that guy with the Sharingan. Next time you see him, don't let him off the hook."
"We'll see" Sasuke noted.
But as they trekked deeper into the forest, Sasuke realized that something about the place was amiss. A heavy thick fog began to slowly envelop the surrounding area as the birds and other critters became silent altogether with only the trickling stream as the sole sound.
"Do you feel that, Sasuke?" Hagoromo chimed in.
"I do" Sasuke's posture tensed as he anxiously paced his eye across the environment. "Something's not right" he stated, reminiscing about similar events that happened the day before. If memory served correctly, this fog was an indication, a herald for the arrival of a mysterious individual.
"To think that I would find you here, the very object of my desire" an ominous voice echoed through the forest, each step nimble yet methodical; crumpling every fallen leaf, snapping every twig, as if to make its presence known. "The voices of the dead call to me, they scream of anguish, hatred…...vengeance."
The sound of the footsteps was accompanied by the loud screeches of an object being dragged across the dirt. Focusing on the origin of the voice, Sasuke managed to triangulate its location to a nearby hill, and true to his guess, the man wearing the raincoat appeared on the hilltop. But this time, he was carrying what seemed to be an enormous coffin.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to unleash it at a moment's notice.
The man took a deep breath before he spoke up, "I go by many names, but you may call me ' Gravedigger'"
"Gravedigger" the Uchiha whispered. If the name didn't spell it out for Sasuke, his appearance and tranquil manner hinted that he was trouble. The last time he saw this person, this Gravedigger, he was obstructing his path to escape. If that were the case, then it's likely he was here to either capture or kill him, given that he was one of the four Silver Hounds. "So, what do you want?" he asked, even if he guessed what the answer was.
"I have been sent here on a mission by two masters. They told me that I could kill you if I wanted to but that they would prefer that I bring you alive" Gravedigger answered.
"And what are you going to do? Kill me or take me alive?" Sasuke inquired.
In that instant, Gravedigger removed the buckle that held his coffin and raised it high up before slamming it into the ground. A bevy of haunting screams emerged from the coffin, as strange hands materialized. "I will do what I must to appease the souls" He answered, as a distinct apparition emerged beside him. Sasuke's eye narrowed to the sight of none other than the soul of Remus emerging as a ghost, mangled remains and all. "Now then, prepare to die."
On command, hands erupted from the ground to grab hold of Sasuke, rooting him in place while he struggled to free himself. Chains emerged from the coffin, taking hold of Sasuke's limbs, and rendering him immobile. "Now your soul shall join with the rest of the fallen and sing along to the chorus of the damned" Gravedigger proclaimed, reaching out his hand toward Sasuke, whose face began to glow white as an apparition of himself began to be seemingly pulled inward to the coffin, ready to be sealed away.
Even under such dire circumstances, Sasuke's will was made of sterner stuff. Tensing his arms and pulling them to his chest, the Uchiha broke free of the chains that bound his arms. Unleashing his sword, he swiped off the chains that trapped his legs along with the hands, causing them to disappear as a whiff of smoke.
It was at that moment, that the seemingly unflappable Gravedigger flinched and groaned. Mummering a few indecipherable words to himself, he commanded the apparition of Remus to jump into the fray, joined by a small group of other fallen specters. "Go Remus, exact your vengeance" he stated, to which the ghost of Remus seemed more than happy to oblige as it silently ran toward Sasuke, alongside the fallen soldiers.
In a blinding blur of blue, Sasuke ran through the ghosts, slicing their essence as they immediately disappeared; even as spirits, their fighting prowess was no match for Sasuke, especially once he had activated his Sharingan. But Remus was another matter entirely, he matched each of Sasuke's attacks blow for blow, easily evading them just as Sasuke did his. But with each glance of his blade, Sasuke felt a stinging pain like he had never felt before. The apparition of the fallen knight unleashed a beam of white energy from his singular eye, blasting it straight at Sasuke, who sidestepped it with ease, yet as he looked back, the beam had no effect on the surrounding trees as it went straight through. As the lanky knight charged at him, Sasuke did as well while leaving himself wide open as he intended to end the fight with one strike.
The ghost of Remus had anticipated such as move and raised both of his hands to block out Sasuke's attack, which passed through and caused the two arms to disappear. But with his two remaining arms, Remus sliced through a vulnerable Sasuke, leaving him to collapse to his knee and wheeze out as he clutched his chest.
Sasuke gagged under the immense pain that had been inflicted on him, yet as he looked down, there was no visible wound on him nor did his clothes show any sign of being sliced apart. "What the hell is this?" he said, trying to steady his breathing.
"It would appear that these creatures inflict pain not on the flesh but on the soul" Hagoromo offered his council.
Sasuke had little time to process what was being told as more spirits of fallen soldiers emerged from the ground up. In unison, they all ran for Sasuke as they brandished their weapons. Leaping through the air, Sasuke dodged a sneak attack from behind and landed on a tree trunk before quickly pushing himself off of the tree to avoid an assault from below. As he made preparations to land on the other side of the forest, another apparition leaped from the ground to block his path but was quickly dispatched only for a dozen or so ghosts to immediately attack him at the same time, all of which Sasuke evaded thanks to reflexes and the precognition of the Sharingan. But just as he landed on solid ground, Sasuke felt a stinging pain emanate from his chest. It was a pain so alien yet so excruciating that the moment he looked down, the Uchiha realized that it was a blade from Remus that had pierced through his very soul.
The Uchiha felt immobilized as the specter of Remus readied his other blade to finish the job, alongside the rest of the ghosts who were about to bring down their weapons on him. Yet, in a timely intervention, the hand of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki made itself known as it pulled out the blade from Sasuke's chest. "If those of the living cannot harm the dead, then perhaps those who are already dead can" the Sage stated, revealing the shakujō, a black staff with ringed hoops on one end and a crescent-shaped curve on the other, from the palm of his hand as it ran straight through the head of Remus, obliterating it completely. Two more ghosts attempted to lunge at Sasuke, only for them to be instantaneously erased from existence by a full swipe of Hagoromos shakujō staff. The third one almost struck the Uchiha, who narrowly ducked under and allowed Hagoromo's staff to eliminate it from behind.
The fourth ghost attempted to stab Sasuke with a forward jab but was intercepted and destroyed by Hagoromo, who still only manifested as a hand as it unleashed a truth-seeking orb. The fifth one tried the same tactic to no avail as Sasuke simply jumped over him brought down the shakujō staff and destroyed him. Three more dashed towards the Uchiha, who ducked from the swipe of the first while Hagoromo simultaneously destroyed it and eliminated the remaining two with a spinning swipe in unison with Hagoromo's staff to destroy them in one go. The last few soldiers foolishly charged forth, as if no longer containing any semblance of free will, only to be abrupted put to permanent rest by the truth-seeking orbs sent by Hagoromo that erased them from existence.
"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Sasuke chided. Sasuke was not averse to showing gratitude, but those were reserved for those he truly cared for, and even if he did learn to trust Hagoromo a bit more, and even if he did rescue him, the Sage of Six did not count among those the Uchiha would show gratitude so easily. Still, even if he didn't express it openly, Sasuke was thankful for his assistance.
"I cannot interact with the world of the living. My powers do not have that reach anymore" Hagoromo explained, leaving his self-imposed cage and fully manifesting as an entity next to Sasuke, "I had to be certain that those you fought were those who did not reside in the mortal realm any longer."
Meanwhile, roosting on top of the hill, the one who called himself Gravedigger was lost in some sort of trance. Reaching out his hands toward Sasuke, the man began to stare with a stupefied look the moment he set his eyes on Hagoromo, "That, that soul. It's…beautiful. I must have it!". With a roar, Gravedigger unleashed even more chains from the coffin towards Sasuke and Hagoromo.
"Did you hear that? Looks like he wants you" Sasuke casually remarked, remaining firm in the face of the oncoming spectral chains, "Want to head on over?"
The moment the chains reached them, Hagoromo spun his staff and disintegrated them. "I prefer the company I am currently residing in" he answered.
Seeing his efforts be thwarted, Gravedigger smashed his hands against the ground and unveiled his hood, revealing a bald, wrinkled old man underneath the guise. "If you won't come to me, then I will take you with my own hands" he declared, baring his teeth as he removed his raincoat, showing off the rest of his scraggy, malnourished body which was covered head to toe in all sorts of runes and symbols. He began chanting some sort of invocation as the symbols on his body began to glow and an army of spirits, consisting of not just humans, but all manner of beasts and monsters emerged.
Just as Sasuke and Hagoromo were preparing for battle, the earth shook as a giant, spectral hand emerged from the ground and slammed its palm on Sasuke, who jumped out of the way. More hands emerged as the spirits of fallen monsters ran towards him. Dodging each and every single attack from the hands, Sasuke and Hagoromo worked in unison to destroy the remaining spirits, starting with the massive, dog-like creatures whose head was sliced apart with the staff, floating skulls who were intercepted with a clean swipe, and even snakes big enough to swallow him whole thanks to the spiritual manifestation of the truth-seeking orbs which entered through its mouth and burst from within.
"No, this is impossible! I can't hear them anymore; the songs of the damned! They're ...gone!? " Gravedigger hissed, wildly flaying his arms around, unable to cope with the loss that had been dealt to him. Standing beneath him, was Sasuke and the soul of the ancient being that had cost him everything. "No, no,no, no, no,no. If…if all of them were defeated by you, then perhaps" he began mumbling to him, holding onto the delusion that he could still recuperate his losses with Hagoromo as he made a mad dash for the Sage of Six Paths, "I NEED YOU! YOU WILL BE MINE! TOGETHER, WE WILL SING AN EVEN GREATER SONG!"
But it was not to be, for without his powers to command souls, Gravedigger was nothing more than a weak, emancipated man and he was stopped dead in his tracks by a sudden surge of pain erupting from within his torso. Gasping for air, blood began dripping from his mouth as he lowered his eyes to see a sharp blade had been run through his stomach with Sasuke on the other end. As the world grew dimmer, Gravedigger reached out his hands and held on to the boy. "So, this…is death" he murmured, as the Uchiha released the blade from his torso, unleashing a torrent of blood as the man collapsed to the ground. Even in his final moments, he could still see that powerful spirit floating next to the boy as he reached out his hands for him, "It's so dark…...so…. cold." With his final words, the light in his eyes faded as he remained still, his mouth still wide open.
Wiping off the blood from his sword, Sasuke and Hagoromo looked on as the coffin that had been placed by Gravedigger began to shake violently as light emerged from all sides until it burst in a white bang. Even more surprising was the fact that the mysterious spectral hands that had been haunting Sasuke since the fight returned from underneath the corpse of Gravedigger and slowly dragged him down, assimilating his body with the earth itself.
The two looked on in silence until it was broken by the words of the other Sasuke. "Took you long enough. Still, slicing his guts apart? Not bad…not bad at we're just getting started aren't we?" he stated, to which Sasuke merely groaned, placed his sword back on its sheathe, and moved on as the specter of Hagoromo disappeared.
…..
The remaining trek across the forest was uneventful, as no other enemy remained. Once Sasuke had reached the tunnel at the foot of the mountain, he was surprised to discover that it was completely unguarded. Even as he carefully walked through the place, keeping a close eye for any sort of traps, the Uchiha was genuinely pleased to discover that there was none. "Quiet, too quiet" Sasuke's doppelganger spoke up.
"Not when you're around" Sasuke pointed out the contradiction. As long as those two remained, he would never have a moment of peace. He eventually reached the end of the tunnel and stood in front of a door. Opening the door, Sasuke was led to a smaller room where a ladder stood at the end of the place. At the foot of the ladder, Sasuke gleamed across its metallic surface and looked up, at which point the ladder seemed to go on forever.
"Looks like it'll be a long way up" the other Sasuke commented.
"Not quite" Sasuke answered. First placing his left foot on the wall, Sasuke pulled himself upward as he placed his right foot. Now sticking to the walls, Sasuke concentrated his chakra on his feet and used the momentum of that push to propel himself forward, straight to the top of the ladder, which hopefully would lead him to the top of the mountains.
His only hope was that he would be there first before Erza.
The moment he opened his eyes, all Alzack could feel was the blistering sensation of his lips turning plump, to the point that he could barely form a comprehensible sentence aside from a "Wha…da?" Saliva dripped from his lip and trickled down his neck, as his mouth drooled uncontrollably. Worse still, his vision had become blurry, almost to the point that he could barely open his eyes.
Groaning with pain, Alzack pushed himself off of the ground and managed to stand on his feet. But then it happened; it began with his hands and then it trickled upward to his face, a sharp sensation so potent, so strong, it felt like he had been stabbed by a thousand needles, which was accurate.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed out, loud enough to cause the birds and animals to run away. Panic set in as the pain of the bee stings intensified causing Alzack to frantically run back and forth, hoping to find anything to soothe the pain. Even diving into the river did little to quell the pain.
Eventually, after half an hour of helpless wailing, the pain had subsided just enough for Alzack to get his bearings. His first order of business was finding out where that girl went. Scanning the area, he discovered a set of footprints not unlike his that seemed to be leading somewhere.
"We're not done yet" he blabbered as he followed the footprints.
The walk to the dockyard had been uneventful, to say the least. Other than the insects that bugged her as she trudged through the swamps, the presence of mercenaries was non-existent. Once she had reached the end of the river that connected to an estuary, she noted that there were only three guards posted outside the docks. It felt convenient, way too convenient.
Nevertheless, Erza dipped herself into the muddy waters and swam across, holding her breath for as long as she could until she was floating beneath the walkway where one of the guards stood. The other two were stationed on the other side of the catwalk. Rising to grab some fresh air, Erza hid beneath the wooden pillars that held the walkways together and observed the situation. One guard was no trouble at all, but once she attacked, the other two would immediately know of her presence, which wouldn't be an issue under normal circumstances, but because she was trying to get to the mountain with minimal issue, the situation had become prickly since she could not afford to be prickly either.
Fortunately, unforeseen circumstances came over that worked to her benefit as help came in the form of a familiar bird that began harassing the other two guards, and distracting the one on top of her. Taking advantage of the situation, Erza pulled herself up from the walkway, summoned her club, and bonked the first target down, knocking him out before taking aim and swinging the club straight at the other two guards, striking both of their heads and rendering them unconscious.
Erza glanced toward the bird and raised a brow once she realized what it was. "Talyn?" she expressed surprised at the presence of this strange bird, one that Sasuke claimed began following him after a particular quest and his explanation for why he had a particular tattoo on his arm. "What are you doing here? Did Sasuke send you?" she asked, to which Talyn wordlessly answered by flying over to her and landing on her shoulder. Despite his large size and equally large talons, Talyn was surprisingly gentle with his grip. "Well, it's good to have a friendly face around" she smiled as she looked at the eagle, "Think you can help me some more?"
Talyn wasted no time flying through the window of the warehouse situated in the docks. Given her observations on how Sasuke interacted with it, this was probably a sign that Talyn was showing her the way. Once she made it inside, Erza swiftly navigated through the maze of boxes that were stored in the warehouse. They provided the cover needed to hide from the guards' line of sight while Talyn led the way. But there came another issue: the elevator Tatiana mentioned was large, very large. It was probably meant to transport goods up and down the mountain, which meant that if she activated it, she would alert them all. Thus, she began to employ one of the most important training Sasuke had imparted to her; the art of knocking people out quietly. One by one, using the very same boxes to her advantage, Erza began putting the guards to sleep. She did not want to risk putting them in a sleeper hold and having them potentially scream and escape, thus she employed the trusty blowpipe to put them to sleep one by one.
By the time she was done, six guards were sleeping and would probably wake with either a nasty headache or no clue as to what happened to them. But Erza had little time to rest, for Gildart's life was at stake. Upon entering the lift, the redhead immediately pushed the button as a loud, booming sound began to emit from the machinery before the elevator began to slowly rise up. The process was painfully slow, but at the very least, half of the obstacles had been overcome, convincing Erza to drop her guard for the time being and take a seat in one of the boxes with a heavy sigh, unaware to both her and Talyn that a stowaway had managed to crawl his way in as well and was secretly observing them.
Several minutes had gone by and the ascension process felt like it was going nowhere. Looking up, all Erza could see was an endless column of lights, and glancing down, the view was the same, only getting smaller. With a tired sigh, Erza paced back and forth, hoping for things to end. "You think it'll be over anytime soon, Talyn?" she asked the eagle, who remained quiet which caused Erza to sigh more, "Figures." Near one of the crates, the stowaway narrowed his eyes and began rummaging through his chest for his weapon, apparently ready to strike against Erza. But before he could make his move, a faint whistling sound came from above and gave him pause. Erza also heard the sound as she looked up, wondering what it was; a smallyellowish dot formed from the top, which only grew bigger and bigger until it caused Erza to widen her eyes and jump out of the way.
With a nasty thud, the object landed on the platform, causing it to shake violently, halting the elevator in the process as it stopped moving upward. Once the elevator had stabilized, the object began to move and take shape. It had four metallic limbs consisting of two hind legs and two arms, one equipped with a pincer and the other with a buzzsaw. At its center was an enormous transparent glass that covered the entirety of the torso. Inside the glass was the cockpit where a girl, petite in stature and wearing what seemed to be a white gown that matched her silver hair, resided.
As the metallic body took a step, the girl opened her eyes and began speaking, the sound of her being passed through some sort of speaker from the mech. "Oh, to have to serve two masters has given me grief. One wants me to take this sweet girl back home; the other wants me to spread joy and love to her. Whatever will I do?" she moaned and whined, moving her arms to accentuate her overdramatic speech.
Erza immediately summoned forth a sword and a set of armor that covered her chest, arms, and legs; the perfect balance between speed and defense. "Who are you?" she asked, raising a brow at her eccentricities.
"Sweet child" the girl cooed and let out a large grin, "You may call me Poppy, Princess Poppy."
Erza blinked as she heard the girl in the mech utter that name. "Princess Poppy" she murmured, as her eyes widened with realization that it was one of the names mentioned by Tatiana. One of the four Silver Hounds, although nothing about her mechanized suit resembled silver other than her hair.
With a loud clang, Princess Poppy stomped her way over to Erza and took a swing with her mech's buzzsaw. Erza jumped over and landed behind the mech, only for Poppy to spin around and perform an overhead swing and slam the buzzsaw down on Erza, who easily rolled out of the way. Climbing on top of the mech, the scarlet warrior tried to plunge her sword on the head of the body only for the tip of the blade to bounce harmlessly. With a gaping mouth, Erza gave out an audible "Huh?" as the left arm of the mech grabbed Erza's body with its pincer and slammed her to the ground before spinning around and tossing her to one of the nearby crates, smashing it in the process.
Groaning in pain, Erza tried to collect her thoughts as she observed the armored body running towards her, shaking the platform in the process. Thinking quickly, Erza donned her toughest armor, deducing that it must be composed of the same properties as the other two armored foes they faced before. The giant armor had proven itself useful against the one called Marcus and its enhanced strength would be a boon for her alongside an extravagant spear adorned with gold and tipped red ornaments, one she dubbed De-Malevo-Lance.
Just the Princess Poppy neared and attempted to slice her with the mech's buzzsaw, Erza thrust the lance straight into the transparent cockpit that housed the mysterious girl. Erza stared with a furrowed brow as the lance attempted to penetrate what seemed like an obvious weakness, yet the center turned out to be tougher than it appeared. Worse still, rather than show fear, Princess Poppy began to giggle manically at the turn of events, even if the Lance itself was keeping both of her mechanical limbs from reaching her.
In a surprising twist, the mech raised its right leg and grabbed hold of Erza, clamping her down with its bird-like feet before slamming her to the ground, causing the redhead to drop the lance. Letting out an anguished cry, Erza struggled to free herself from the tight grip of the mecha despite her enhanced strength. "No, no, no, this isn't right. You mustn't struggle" Princess Poppy explained in a chirpy voice, "Sweet child, I 'am going to give you all of my love." With an almost blissful smile, Princess Poppy commanded the mech to lower the buzzsaw on Erza, who managed to shift her head just enough for the spinning blade to miss her by a few inches, instead cutting through the ground and igniting a few sparks.
Undeterred, Princess Poppy grabbed Erza's head with the pincers of the left arm, forcing it to remain still. "I will make you feel joy like you've never felt before, little girl" she proclaimed, lowering the buzzsaw once more as Erza could only look on with gritted teeth and widened eyes of horror at the inevitability of her face being sliced apart. Try as he might, Talyn was helpless to do anything to save Erza even as he flew around the face to obscure her vision.
In a strange turn of events, just mere inches from her face, the blades stopped as a loud bang emanated from one of the crates while hails of bullets began pelting the mech. From his hiding spot, Alzack emerged with his guns in hand, smoke evaporating from the barrels with his face still swollen and covered in blisters. "No one gets to beat her but me!" he announced, as he began firing off more rounds. The bullets did little to actually hurt the armor but that momentary distraction was more than enough for Erza to change into specialized armor consisting of an orange pauldron with yellow highlights and a white one-piece suit. With a loud cry, the armor emitted a white light with enough intensity that it caused the mech to release her and take a step back. Even Alzack was temporarily blinded.
Once the light had died down, Erza immediately rose to her feet and got into a battle stance, with Alzack joining the fray. "You're welcome," Alzack said, standing beside Erza.
Ignoring his statement, Erza stared intensely at the armored mech, scanning for any weakness of sorts. "Hey, you work with them, right? So, do you know anything about her that might help?" she glanced towards Alzack and asked.
"Don't look at me, I don't know anything about her. Grunts like me don't get to hang out with the special mages" Alzack admitted, shrugging his shoulders, "All I know is that they're all weird and this one gives me creepy smiles whenever I see her."
Their banter gave Princess Poppy enough time to recover from the flash of light. Once her vision was clear, she realized that another child had joined to fray, to which she responded with an almost exalted smile. "I know you" she pointed towards Alzack with a teasing grin, "You're that little boy who goes around talking about how great you are. Oh, this is just wonderful! Now I have more precious children to spread my love to!"
Her bouts of joyous mania left the two children groaning in discomfort. "Did I forget to mention that she's also kinda insane?" Alzack sarcastically quipped.
"You don't need to tell me" Erza bluntly replied, having experienced her insanity firsthand; it was obvious her definition of 'spreading love' was to mutilate and dispose of her targets. "Look, just keep her distracted while I try to find a way to break her armor."
"Hey since when are you in charge- "Before he could challenge her orders, Erza had already gone on the offensive, unleashing a wave of white electrical energy from her twin swords, leaving Alzack to grumble and follow suit with a barrage of pistol shots.
The energy slash served to momentarily halt the mechs' movement leaving it open to a constant stream of magical bullets, which harmlessly bounced off of armored body. Erza took the opportunity to leap into the air and switch to her purgatory armor, which covered her with a black spikey suit of armor that was complimented by a spiked mace as well. Spinning in the air, Erza slammed the mace into the mech suit only for the mech to have recovered and block it with its right arm and toss Erza to the rear with its left. As Erza tumbled to the ground and watched Princess Poppy pointed the buzzsaw and sent it flying straight at her. The speed at which it flew left Erza with little time to requip a more defensive suit, leaving her to hope that her armor would be enough to take the hit. But help came in the form of Talyn, who used all of his might to carry and toss her away in the nick of time. Meanwhile, a steady bombardment of gunfire began to irritate the mech.
"Stay right there, my little one. I'll be right back" Princess Poppy said with a wink, summoning the buzzsaw back to her hand as she turned her back on Erza to focus on Alzack, who could only look on in stunned silence.
"Talyn, go help him" Erza commanded the eagle, who complied and flew over to the boy. With a whimper, she stood up and held her right arm; the pain from this battle having begun affecting her. "Nothing seems to work" she bemoaned, as everything she threw at the mech was easily shrugged off. It was then that an epiphany came to Erza as her expressions broadened, "Except…" she recalled Sasuke's fight with the lanky knight, the one called Remus; how he pierced through his armor with his Chidori, picking apart the arms via dismantling the joins before ultimate finishing him off with a strike to the eye. Closing her eyes, Erza changed into another one of her armor, one that had been specifically designed based on her training with Sasuke; A light bluish armor with golden trimmings decorating it and it came with a headband with ribbons tied to each end. Most importantly, the armor was supplemented with a very long spear, a blade on one end, and a decorated circle on the other. It was forged with a very specific ability in mind and it cost precious resources as well. All for the sake of using it to battle Sasuke someday, to show him that she was catching up to him and to even surpass him. Erza had dubbed it: the Lightning Empress Armor.
On the other side of the fight, Alzack nearly had a brush with death as his body would've been sliced vertically if not for the time intervention of Talyn, who whisked him away with his talons in the nick of time and dropped him to a safer spot. Shaking his head, Alzack rose to his feet and looked on as Princess Poppy turned around and began making her way to him, one loud clanging at a time. The gunslinger could only muster the courage to point his weapons at him and hope for something to change quickly.
Up till now, it had been an uphill battle just to survive against the insane silver hound. However, the tides began to shift the moment Erza leaped from behind and stabbed her spear into the back shoulder of the mech. Electricity flowed from the spear and coursed through the mech's body, causing it to violently spasm before kneeling to the ground. "What is this?" a dumbstruck Poppy asked.
"You're going down, that's what it is!" Erza declared, taking out the spear as she jumped and slammed on the mech's right arm, slicing it in half. Just as she had theorized, this armor was composed of the same properties as the ones of their previous foes and thus, shared its weakness. Grabbing the broken arm, Erza lifted it with her bare hands and slammed the buzzsaw right into the transparent cockpit, penetrating through its defenses while the blades got jammed inside. The mech had recovered but it was also reeling back, trying to remove the buzzsaw from its pilot's face, unaware that it was teetering on the edge of the platform. Not giving it time to recover, Erza hurled the spear once more, landing straight into the cockpit and nearly striking Poppy with the lightning that was generated from the spear beginning to fry the machine from the inside out and even causing the girl inside to yell out in pain. With her opponent nearly neutralized, Erza ran toward the mech and delivered a powerful dropkick that gave it the final push it needed to lose its footing and drop down from the elevator.
As she plummeted to her inevitable death, Erza would've expected to see a look of anguish or despair, but when she looked down on her foe, she would only see a bright big smile as she waved at her. For in Princess Poppy's eyes, all she could see was a world of fluffy clouds from which she was simply tumbling down to a land of cookies and candies, while the little girl with red hair looked on, waving and smiling which compelled her to do the same. "I've always loved this world and everything in it. That's what I wanted to share with everyone. I'm so glad I could share this love with you, little girl and little boy. Goodbye"
Her final words echoed, as her body slowly shrunk from view as Erza and Alzack, who had shortly joined up, looked on until they disappeared out of sight. It was also at that moment that the elevator began moving again, no longer having to deal with the extra weight. A few minutes later, an incredibly loud thud was heard from below followed by the platform shaking once more, indicating that Princess Poppy had met her demise. "Even after everything, she went out with a smile on her face" Erza noted, contemplating her foe's rather jarring behavior as she reverted back to her normal suit of armor, She was averse to killing anyone if given the choice, but given just how powerful and insane this girl was, a very dangerous mix, Erza convinced herself that it was not a risk worth taking "I just hope Sasuke doesn't meet any weirdos as I did."
Speaking of encounters, Erza looked at Alzack who stared at her with awe; his mouth agape and his eyes remaining perfectly still with blinking. "Speaking of weirdos, why were you following me?" she asked.
Alzack immediately snapped out of his stupor and shook his head. "Coz we're weren't done yet. Our duel, I mean" he answered, twirling his pistol.
"You really wanna do this again, right here and now?" Erza asked, giving out a defeated sigh, "Fine, let's get this over with."
"Don't worry about that, I can wait" Alzack reassured her, with his pistols disappearing as proof, "Besides, it looks like you saved me earlier, so I had to catch up to make it up to you. Now we're even."
Erza warily looked on with a brow raised, as Alzack reached out his hand "So a truce then?"
The scarlet girl reciprocated and reached out her hand as well, shaking Alzack's "Truce it is."
Once the deal was done, Alzack heaved a sigh of relief and fell to the floor, "Now that that's done, I need a breather. Wake me up when we get to the top, then we'll settle the score there."
"How long will it take to get there?"
"I've ridden this one before. Trust me, it's gonna be a long ride."
…
Almost half an hour passed before the lift finally halted with a screeching thud. By that point, Alzack had already awoken with a loud yawn as he stretched out his hands. Shaking himself out of his drowsiness, the young gunslinger looked towards Erza who was sitting in one of the crates. "Alright, red. Time for our rematch" declared, summoning his pistols and tossing one at Erza, who lazily caught it, "No backing out of this one!"
With a grumble, Erza jumped down from the crate with Talyn flying around her. She glanced at the pistol before tossing it to the ground, causing Alzack to gawk at her. "Hey, what do you think you're doing!? You can't back out of this!" he shouted.
Letting out a sigh, Erza called forth the blowpipe that she had stored with her magic and with a quick exhale, loosened a dart that flew straight towards Alzack's neck. The young gunslinger's first reaction was to swat the dart away from his neck with an irritated "ow" before pointing his gun at Erza. But slowly, the concoction within the dart began to act, affecting his body as his vision became blurry while his body slowly grew numb until he collapsed to the floor. "What…..did….you…..do?"
Erza slowly strolled towards him until she was close enough to drop to one knee next to him. "Just a sleep potion, nothing serious; a little gift from a friend of mine. You've met him before" she answered, brandishing the blowpipe while alluding to Sasuke. At that point, Alzack could barely open his mouth, let alone move his body, so all he could do was give out indecipherable gurgles. "Listen, Alzack right? you're not bad. And I'm not talking about the way you fight. You came all this way, just to help me and for that, I'm really thankful. I think deep down, you're a good person. You're just trying too hard to be some kind of tough guy" Erza tapped his shoulder and rose up, stepping over his prone body, "Your friends will come and pick you up, I'm sure of it. Otherwise, you'll just have to wake up on your own after a little while. Take care of yourself Alzack. Oh and just so you know, I wasted my last dart on you."
As she bid her farewell, Alzack's eyes began to give in to the potion and shut down, forcing him into another deep slumber. Looking back at the snoring body, Erza returned and pulled him out of the elevator and into a corner next to a large door, no doubt leading to the mountain. But her path was not going to be from the front as she climbed up a nearby ventilation shaft and entered its duct. "Can you find your way around?" She asked Talyn, who answered by vanishing into thin air, "I guess that'll work too."
Just a few more steps until she could reach the facility. "I hope Sasuke's made it too" she muttered.
AN: Writing a fight scene with Erza was really difficult due to the sheer amount of armors she had but it felt so rewarding at the same time. Hope you all like it, we're a chapter or two closer to ending this arc. I've got some more fight scenes I'm excited to write.