"A Wraith…?" The unfamiliar term caused Erza's brows to furrow. "What is that…and who are you?"
"All you need to know is…" Ophelia began while waltzing around the room as if she owned the fort, giving Natsu, Happy, and Erza a condescending grin. "I'm superior to you humans in every way…not just humans, but any demons too."
"Another race!?" Happy flailed his arms around comically.
"Ha!" Natsu scoffed, pounding his fist into an open palm. "Doesn't matter to me! We've beaten demons, so we'll wipe the floor with you Draiths too!"
"Wraith…" Ophelia's left eye twitched in the slightest irritation. "And you don't have to worry about that. There are only two of us…but I'm the only one you're going to be meeting, since you're not going to survive this encounter; not you, or your little friends downstairs."
"Oh yeah…? What makes you say that?" Erza questioned. "Diamond and Tia are quite powerful, you know."
"As if I care…" Ophelia replied while waving a dismissive hand. "They likely won't beat Kize without killing themselves…that would be the best scenario possible…" That last statement was more for herself than the others. Bringing herself back, she raised her hand, closing it into a tight fist. "As for you three…I'll eat you alive right here!" The building began to rumble; from the very depths of the earth beneath the fortress, a large plant sudden sprouted to the very top floor, wreaking havoc on the floors below. The plant opened up, a large gaping maw shown gathering raw curse power, which took the form of a destructive beam as it launched towards the group.
"W-What the?!" Erza's eyes widened at the giant plant; she acted quickly, leaping over to the right while Natsu took to the left to avoid the beam. Happy grabbed Juvia and flew off to the sidelines to avoid being in the crossfire. "What is that thing!?"
"My favorite plant…" Ophelia replied with an innocent smile.
"I'll burn it to a crisp!" Natsu was quick to shift to the offensive, darting forward while orange flames flared around his body. Flames focused around his hands as he leapt into the air, generating a large sphere of flames above his head. "Dazzling Blaze…of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu threw his arms down, sending the ball of flames hurtling towards the giant plant. Impact was successfully made, causing a fiery explosion in the room.
"Tch…!" Ophelia brought one hand up to shield her face from the wind kicked up from the explosion. Erza was next, using the smoke to shield the light from her Requip; now donned in her Flight Armor, Erza used the speed to close the distance between herself and the Wraith within a second, bringing down the lance form her Lightning Empress Armor to pierce through Ophelia's chest. Much to Erza's surprise, Ophelia grabbed the lance just before it struck her chest, unfazed by the lightning coursing through the weapon. "Ha…"
"She caught it…" Erza stood wide eyed; there was no way anyone could react to such an attack so quickly, even if they weren't human.
"Why are you so surprised?!" With a sadistic grin, Ophelia pivoted on her heel and slammed Erza into the floor with her weapon, now wielding the Lightning Lance for her own usage. "This is a nice weapon you have here. Titania, I hope you don't mind me using it!" Stabbing the tip of the lance into the ground, an electrical shockwave shot out, covering a wide radius while destroying the top floor of the fortress. Erza and Natsu were blown away by the sheer power Ophelia infused into Erza's weapon.
.
.
"Gah!?" Gray, Wendy, Cynthia, and Carla were all stopped on the second floor by the giant plant literally sprouting through the middle of the building into the top floor. "What the hell is that thing!?" Gray questioned.
"A-A giant plant…but where did it come from?" Carla looked around, noticing the building was slowly beginning to fall apart from the stress.
"This place is going to collapse soon…we have to grab the others and run…!" Wendy pointed out.
"What is that idiot doing upstairs…?" Gray growled slightly, figuring that only Natsu would be able to cause someone to tear the building they were fighting apart, if it wasn't the Salamander himself.
"Come on guys, let's get going!" Cynthia darted up the stairs, the others following right behind her. Once reaching the third floor, they spotted Tia and Diamond dealing with Kize, though they were separated by the giant plant's stem that also intruded that floor. "Whoa, what's going on here!? Tia, Diamond!?"
"Ah…." Tia turned to the trio, pointing to the giant plant. "Does anyone know what the hell this thing is!? It just came out of nowhere!"
"It's really distracting!" Diamond continued.
"HAHA!" Kize let out a hearty laugh. "Looks like Ophelia's having a little bit of fun…she shouldn't be having any more fun than me…" His laugh turned into a growl, brushing off the dirt off his outfit. "This has been a disaster…she's going to still Lady Desdemona's love and affection from me once again…GAH!"
"This guy has completely lost it…" Diamond said with an exasperated sigh.
"I don't think he ever had anything to lose to begin with…" Tia also let out a sigh, but the rumbling of the building brought the pair back to their senses. "Wait, is this building about to collapse!?"
"HA!" Kize laughed, mood shifting almost instantaneously. "She's gonna bring the house down! …With me in it. Is she trying to kill me?!" Glancing around, Kize spotted a closed window. With a grin, he took a step back before darting towards the window, leaping into a cannonball position and crashing right through the window, glass shattering. "OH, OW! FANTASIC! WHY DID I DO THIS?!" Was the last thing Kize was heard saying before he vanished from sight.
"What a freak…" Cynthia shook her head.
"I don't think we should be standing here wasting time, we have to get to the others upstairs!" Carla shouted.
"Natsu-san and the others…!" Wendy said while frantically pointing at the stairs.
"That strange girl…I have a bad feeling about this…let's hurry…" Tia nodded.
.
.
"Kanso!" A heavenly light once again wrapped itself around Erza's body for a brief moment; when it faded, she was donning her Heaven's Wheel armor, a circle of blades levitating around her person. With a single arm pointed forward, the ring of blades began to charge Ophelia, attempting to pierce the mysterious being with each blade. After each and every blade was sent, Erza herself flew forward, attempting a cross slash on Ophelia.
"Thorns…" Ophelia muttered with a flick of her wrist, summoning a wall of thorns that appeared from thin air to shield her from the incoming blades. After this, she clenched her hand, causing the thorns that protected her to scatter violently. "Thorn Cannon!"
"Gah!?" Erza found herself cut off, using her swords to deflect the violently charging spikes coming her way. Some managed to graze her armor and skin, but she fought through the pain as always.
"Secret Art!" Natsu exclaimed from above, flames flaring around his body like a dangerous wildfire, focused especially around his arms; this grabbed Ophelia's attention, causing her to look up at the incoming fireball. "Fire Dragon: Crimson Lotus, Exploding Flame Blade!" Spinning his body in a counterclockwise rotation, unleashing a violent torrent of dragon fire towards Ophelia. When it connected with her position, there was nothing but charred floor. "HA!" Landing, Natsu wore a smug grin, believing he burnt Ophelia to ash. "How was that!?"
"Did he get her!?" Happy stared in awe.
"Oh, I almost felt that one…!" Ophelia stated while clapping from the left. Her voice caused everyone to turn immediately, all shocked that she was unscathed from Natsu's surprise attack. "You might have singed one of my hairs if I wasn't careful…" The Wraith began playing with her curly, dark green locks, twisting her index finger around in them.
"How did she evade that…?" A somewhat conscious Juvia finally muttered.
"It's a little secret called time…" Ophelia left it at that, giving a sinister chuckle in the midst of being ominous and cryptic. "But I'm tired of simply stepping back from all your attacks…so how about we have a little fun on my playground?" Ophelia stated while raising her hand, creating a rose bud in the shape of a shotgun. "Let's see if you can take this…" She was well aware of the building slowly collapsing, but it didn't bother her. Taking aim at Natsu, she fired a condensed beam of raw curse power towards the Salamander. It was so quick he didn't have any time to react, and it struck him right in the chest, causing him to tumble backwards, landing on the floor on his back. "Teehee…" With a giggle, Ophelia shifted her aim towards Erza and fired another shot, forcing Titania into a wall with a pained grunt.
"Natsu…Erza!" Happy flailed, only to see that Ophelia shifted her aim towards him. "G-Gah…!"
"…." Turning quickly to the stairs, Ophelia fired a shot there. Cynthia tackled Wendy down to the ground as the bullet flew right over them, hitting the base of the stairs and caused it to collapse. "Little rodents…"
"W-Whoa…she looks freaky…!" Cynthia exclaimed, only to slap her hand over her mouth; she didn't mean to sound rude, but Ophelia just giggled.
"Oi…" Gray grit his teeth at the Wraith, placing his hands into the maker position.
"Gray-sama!" And Juvia's exhausted look turned into one of joy.
"Now it's just starting to get a little too crowded for my tastes…" Ophelia sighed heavily before pointing her shotgun down at the floor. "Boom." Clicking the trigger, a large beam of curse power shot through the floors, obliterating each and every one before reaching the bottom, where a large explosion occurred. The building's structure was incredibly weakened now, trembling as it threatened to give way any second.
"W-What are you doing?!" Tia questioned.
"Making my exit! Be sure to scream for me when the building falls on you~" Aiming up at the roof now, she fired another shot to completely obliterate it with ease, using a surprising jumping prowess to make her exit.
"W-We've got to get out of here! This building won't last much longer…!" Carla flailed around while trying to find her balance. Before anyone could say much else, the building completely collapsed. Dust settled, and the diamond dome that shielded the group from the rubble slowly began to disperse.
"Whew…that was too close…" Diamond let out a heavy sigh while dusting herself off. "It looks like everyone's gone…"
"What do we do now…?" Wendy questioned while picking up Carla.
"We go back and report to Master," Erza said with a nod, now looking over to Tia and Diamond. "Would you two like to stop by and say hello? I'm sure everyone would like to see you."
"Sure, I want to see the others again. It's been a while…" Tia nodded, displaying a bright smile.
"I'm still not used to that…" Diamond giggled softly, nudging Tia with her elbow. "Let's get going…"
.
Near the remains of the building, the group of Wizard Hunters looked on and sighed. "Man…that went terribly…and Lady Nercon poofed, so we don't even get our pay!" Yumia huffed, kicking a nearby rock, only to stub her toe on it. "Ow, ow, ow…!"
"Oh…this stinks…" Yukia sighed, crossing her arms. "Why were they so strong!? I don't remember them being so strong before!"
"We must have missed something since we saw those wizards last." Marx said while doing a handstand. "I don't know who those other jerks were, though."
"We have to make sure they don't get the jump on us a second time." Yumia grumbled. Defeat left a bitter taste in her mouth, and it was not one she wa seager to taste again. "We're Wizard Hunters. We shouldn't be outdone by anyone!"
"Today was a failure of a day…let us return to the base. I dislike disappointing Lucia, but there is a price to pay for failure." Weavel emotionlessly began the walk back to the Wizard Hunter hideout.
"Well…this was an unfortunate turn of events…" Nercon sighed while adjusting her glasses. "I nearly broke Miss Lockser, and Miss Scarlet was well on her way…she would've been a fun one to crush…" She then noticed the Wizard Hunters and waved them over. "There you all are!"
"Lady Nercon!" Marx bounced up. "We thought you left us!"
"Leave our best employees behind? Not at all." Nercon adjusted her shades. "It's very rare for someone like myself to need to step out into the field. But after seeing the merchandise potential of Fiore, I had to see it for myself."
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to get anything." Weavel said with a slight, gruff huff. "I dislike the idea of calling this mission our second failure."
"There's nothing wrong with a failure here and there. It's impressive your record has remained this spotless." Nercon said with a slight giggle. "Besides, I wouldn't call this one a failure. We obtained some useful information during our time here. And the rest of your group, whom we have tasked with separate tasks, are likely to perform just as well. You'll still get paid. You are a very capable group, and our contract isn't going to end over a bump int he road."
"Oh, what a relief." Yukia said with a sigh.
"We're not done here, anyway." Nercon said, motioning for the Wizard Hunters to follow her. With a shrug, the woman with a mysterious origin began her own walk back with a few armored soldiers by her side. "Well, My King will just have to handle the employees we pick up on the way…"
.
.
"I see you've taken a liking to smiling, Tia!" Mirajane said with a bright smile towards Tia. "I can see that happiness is now plastered allll over that face of yours. Moping around never suited you to begin with, you know."
"O-Oh stop…" Tia brushed off Mirajane's comment, though there was a slight pink hue coloring her cheeks. "Ace just told me I'd get frown lines if I kept being all doom and gloom…so…yeah…."
"When confronted about it, she always shy's away…isn't it adorable?" Diamond asked Mira, who gave a giggle and a nod in return.
"So, how is everyone else fairing? It's been some time since we've heard from Dealer…" Mira asked while cleaning the bar counter.
"Jack is still a little hot headed…Ace is out doing missions who knows where…he's hardly around, but more than he used to be…" That last statement was obviously Tia attempting to hide her feelings about it. "Ah…Heartless is currently the guild master…Spade and Strong are still hard workers. It's nice…seeing everyone happy…Oh my god you've all turned me into a freakin' sap…" The realization hit her so, so hard.
"Giheh, that's what happens when you hang around that blonde for too long…" Gajeel made his comment from afar, which resulted in Levy slamming her purse into his face, causing the might iron slayer to collapse on the ground comically.
"Speaking of Lu-chan…" Levy looked around, a look of worry crossing her face. "Where is she…? She should be back by now…"
"Yes…" Erza looked around, arms crossed. "I wanted to share today's briefing when everyone was around…"
"I also have some news I wish to share…some very important news…" Makarov grumbled from within his mug of beer. "I hope nothing happened…" And as Makarov said that, the doors to Fairy Tail slowly opened.
"Oh, there she is…!" Cana stood up to get a better look at Lucy, only for her eyes to widen. "L-Lucy…!?"
Lucy was covered in bruises, large cuts, and her clothing was torn in various places. She was even standing in small pool of her own blood as she trudged through the front doors. Her usual brown eyes had a slight red tint that turned gray almost instantly, granting her a lifeless expression. "…..back..." Lucy then took one step forward before collapsing.
"LUCY!"
.
.
Next Time: A Letter of Request!