Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 4: Tartaros
Year: X752. 32 years till Canon begins.
Cobalt POV:
As I was running towards the camp, I thought back on the incredibly close fight I survived, as well as the things Kyôka had told me. I could think a bit more clearer now that she wasn't trying to kill me. That, and the terrible pain in my arm had began to die down a little.
'She said she was an Etherious Demon... What the hell is that suppose to be?' I thought in frustration. 'I've never heard of that sort of thing before in all my years of being at the guild, and going on S-Class quests. Have they only just made themselves known? How many are there?' I struggled to find answers and only grunted in annoyance.
'She also said she had a special 'Curse' ability. I've not heard of that before. Is it similar to magic? It doesn't sound as kind as magic, yet she was able to get the upper hand on me because of it! I was always kicking myself at not getting a good read on her magic. It was because she had none!'
'And what as all that about 'returning to Lord Zeref?' He's been dead for hundred of years now! Do they really plan to resurrect him? And how would they even do that?! Does this have something to do with all the magic items they stole from the museum?'
All of these lingering questions were burned into my brain, and I was trying to answer them all as I was running back to the campsite. I took a look at my locator map and I saw that I was about halfway there now. I couldn't stop to rest now. There was a chance that Kyôka may track me down. If she had the senses of a bird, based on her looks, then it wouldn't be long until she found me.
My gaze darted across the moonlight sky, just in case she tried to spring me by surprise, but she never came. Still, I didn't make feel any less uneasy. After a few more minutes of running, I noticed a man resting alongside a tree. He seemed to be injured. As I got closer I recognised him. 'No…!'
His once shiny and spotless armour and now been ruined with the entire left side of the armour gone. It was as if it had been blown to bits. His helmet was gone as well, presumably destroyed as well. He was missing his gauntlets and it looked like his left arm was broken. I could make out his disgruntled look, as he lay beside the tree.
"Hugo!" I shouted out towards him. Hugo turned his head quickly to look at me surprised to see me alive. "You're ok!"
"Cobalt?! You're still alive!" Hugo grunted as I hurried to reach him. "Please you must listen, I have important news!" I stopped just beside him, kneeling down to his level.
"A few minutes after you left, an insane dark wizard with some strange Explosion Magic came and attacked us! I think he was watching us from the trees the whole time… He killed Leo, Alex and everyone else with me! I'm the only survivor… He was about to kill me but I was able to reach for a burning branch from the fire we had lit, and threw it at his face. That distracted him long enough for me to disappear into the shadows." Hugo began quickly, grunting a little.
"I was about to leave to try and find you… but then some cultists came out from the trees and started placing the magic items that were stolen in the centre of the camp in a circle. I did see that the three ancient books were placed in the middle of the items in a triangular position." Hugo continued. "Then the cultists started chanting, and a black and purple magic circle formed around the the items and books. I left after that and tried to follow you… but I was far too exhausted and was forced to rest here. I'm just glad you're alive." He then noticed my left arm was gone. "My god… What happened to you?"
I breathed quickly, knowing we had little time here. "Listen, I don't have time to explain everything to you. Those people that attacked the both of us are Dark Guild members known as Tartaros. They are also cultists of the dark wizard Zeref." Hugo was astonished at that info, but I quickly continued.
"They have something called an Etherious Demon by their side. I fought it earlier and was completely helpless against her. They use some sort of curse instead of magic like we do. The guild they are a part of is called Tartaros. Listen I need you take these items and hide, the Demon I fought is still after me and will do anything it can to find me. No doubt she'll find you if you stay out here. She definitely be coming after me…" I said as I looked behind me, turning back to Hugo afterwards.
"Wait for daylight. Then it'll be safe for you to head back to Crocus and alert the city of the crisis we have here." I said handing Hugo the stolen items I had picked up earlier. "Here you can use these Healing Lacrimas to fix your wounds, I'll power it up for you." I placed my hand on it to transfer some of my magic to it while handing him the other lacrima. "Take this sword as well, it won't do me any good with only one arm."
"Thank you. What will you do now?" Hugo asked, placing the items beside him. A bit more colour returned to his face, as he looked a little bit better than he was before.
"…I'm going to try stop that ritual." I answered grimacing at the idea.
"What!? You're in no condition to fight! That strange explosion user might still be at the campsite. He wiped us all out!" Hugo yelled.
"I know! I know! But I'm the only one here who could actually put up a fight against him. If I don't go then they'll accomplish whatever plans they have!" I rebutted not backing down. "At least by going I ensure that there is a chance that we can stop them."
"…Dammit…" Hugo simply looked away from me sighing. "Well… I'm in no position to stop you right now… so go. I will hide until daylight. After that, I should have recovered enough to head back to Crocus." Hugo added, pausing for a moment. "By the way… it was the old worn out tome you wanted from the Royal Museum right?" Hugo wondered with a serious… and yet almost sad tone in his voice. "I'm asking just in case… well… I don't like thinking grimly in this situation right now, but…"
Hugo trailed off, averting his gaze. I was silent for a few seconds before replying "Yeah… that was what I was getting after all of this was done and dealt with." I confirmed, understanding what he truly meant by asking that. I held out my left hand to him, in which he returned the gesture by shaking it firmly. "It was for my son."
"In case I don't make back… please tell my son and wife that I love them, and that I'm sorry this happened." I requested, giving Hugo a solemn nod of my head, removing my hand from his. I stood back up as I sighed. This wasn't how things were meant to go…
Hugo nodded his head as I stood. "I will, and good luck to you Cobalt."
"You too." I returned the gesture, before turning away and making my way to the campsite. "Goodbye Hugo…"
I did not look back as I ran forwards, away from Hugo. There was no point. I did however begin to pray that Hugo would make it out safely. He needed to tell everyone what had transpired here. If he didn't make it, then this would have just been seen as an attack by some wild creatures that got the jump on us all. Not to mention he had a son! Dead men told no tales. If he didn't make it, then the true events of tonight would be lost forever…
I tried to not let my thoughts be overtaken by my family, but it was hard. June… Cade… Jack…
This was no time to be thinking about the worst possible outcome… but… if by some chance… I didn't make it back alive… then I could only hope that Hugo might pull through and would find a way to deliver that Translating Tome to him. It could be one final gift to him, from me. I squinted my eyes shut for a moment as I reached the hill that led up to the campsite 'This is it…'
I hardened my expression as I raced up the hill, where the campsite was. As soon as I crossed the top of the hill, and came out onto the flat land. I noticed that there were giant holes and crater all across the ground with scorch marks everywhere. These mostly likely came from the mad bomber that attacked Hugo and his men. Strangely, there were no dead bodies. Presumably they were moved away by the cultists that appeared. Or had they been sacrificed for whatever insane purpose these demons wanted? My eyes scanned what was left of the campsite.
I immediately saw a purple and black magic circle on the ground ahead of me. In the centre, I saw all the remaining stolen items. I also noticed a few things in the area which got my attention: The first was that the stolen items had began to lose their colour somewhat. The second was that the three books were located in the middle of the circle and were glowing a sinister black colour. Not only that, but they also seemed to be a lot cleaner than they were in the photos I had of them. The third was that the cultists that Hugo mentioned… were gone. But I could see all their robes on the ground where they were presumably chanting before.
'All I have to do is destroy that circle.' I realised as I walked forwards towards it. As I made my way to the magic circle to cancel whatever was going on here, I heard a rather snarky and cackling voice coming up from the trees to the left. 'Who's that!?'
"Well, well. What do we have here?" The voice jeered. "Seems Kyôka was unable to kill one pathetic human. I'll be holding that over her head for as long as I can remember it. Oh well, this will give me some entertainment until the ritual is done. I hope you provide more of a fight than those weak little tin cans I blew up minutes ago."
As I looked up to the trees I noticed a young, well built individual perching on a thick tree branch wearing a green striped tank top. He had pointed ears, triangular teeth and a long furry tail that came down to his feet. There were also marks on his arms which came down to completely cover his hands in a dark black colour. He wore some rather baggy pants and a bandanna round his neck. What I found most interesting when looking at him, was his hair. It was dark blonde, but I noticed that towards the left of his face, his hair looked like it was meant to come down over his left eye but looked as if it was burned away. Hugo's doing I bet.
From how similar this guy looked to Kyôka with all the animalistic features, he was most likely a Demon as well. 'Just great…'
'Kyôka was bad enough, now I have to deal with this guy?' Fear began to build up inside me, but I was able to get a grip on myself and extinguish it.
"Who are you supposed to be then? You have some nerve saying that those soldiers you murdered in cold blood were weak." I demanded, glaring up at him menacingly.
The demon cackled a little as he moved to answer. "My names Jackal, and I'm the one who blew that huge hole in that museum just a few days ago, as well as killing all those little tin can soldiers."
'So it was him that blew that huge hole in the museum? I assumed it was a lacrima bomb.' I thought with a bit of surprise, getting a grip on myself as I stayed alert.
"Tell me something; what do you hope to achieve with the ritual involving those three books? And why did you steal those items in particular?" I demanded sternly, as Jackal rose his head to gloat.
"That human junk down there is being drained of its magic power to revive our fallen brethren. We would have been able to do it without using the cultists as extra fuel, but Kyôka needed to remove some items to bait you out. It won't be long now before they are finally brought back to the living." Jackal explained smiling, giving a quick glance towards the circle.
I immediately used that moment to attack him. "Water Bomb!" I waved my remaining hand as I threw off an attack that would explode upon striking Jackal. He looked back to him as the attack flew towards him… and did nothing. Well, nothing except smirk. I was stunned as the explosion struck him directly. The dust quickly faded, as it was revealed that he had took no damage. "What!?"
Jackal cracked his neck. "Now then, I've gotten tired of answering your questions. I only did it 'cause I was amused at how you got past Kyôka. You were causing so much fuss you forced Kyôka to separate you from the rest of the insects. That makes me want to enjoy blowing you up even more!" Jackal cackled sinisterly. "I can't wait to see how many limbs I can blow off before you die!"
'Well, it's not like there was going to be a peaceful solution to this.' I tsked as I got into a fighting stance, still unsure of how he survived that attack I sent towards him. 'I'm gonna have to get by this guy to stop the ritual, no way I can do it while he's still running around. At least I knew what his powers are, that being explosions. As long as I keep my distance I should be ok.'
The pain Kyôka caused by slicing off my right arm had mostly died away by now, but it still hurt like hell. I had ever thought with only one arm, but I now had to improvise. Jackal seemed to notice my shift in posture and stood up on the tree with his arms crossed and a sadistic smile forming on his face. "I'm sure that this is gonna be fun! Gyahahahah!"
"I'll start with your arms, then your legs!" Jackal laughed as he got ready to fight me.
"If I beat one of you demons, then I can definitely beat another! Water Disks" I shouted out, extracting water from the nearby plants, as three razor sharp disks made out of water sped up towards Jackal. Maybe the reason why my attack didn't work last time was because it was an explosion that I sent towards him. Perhaps his Explosion Curse meant so that he was immune to such things.
To my shock, Jackal responded to this by simply holding out his right hand seemingly ready to take the attack head on… and he did! All the disks hit his right hand causing a small explosion. I sent the dust away with some magic as, which allowed to me to see the damage I had dealt. I had expected to see Jackal's right hand completely shredded, but instead I saw him completely uninjured from the attack. "What!? H-How is your hand completely fine!?"
"Gyahahahaha! You really thought you could injure me that easily?" Jackal cackled, maniacally stretching out his arms. "Why you don't you try that again and see if you get better luck this time? Come on, I'm wide open!"
I gritted my teeth and powered up another attack to fire toward Jackal. "If you want an attack so bad, I'll give you one! Water Slicer!" I waved my hand upwards as I summoned a huge slice of packed wate, sending it zooming right towards Jackal, aiming for his chest. Jackal only gave a snort as the attack flew towards him. Once again the attack made contact, with an explosion being created. "What? Why was an explosion created?" Once the smoke cleared, Jackal just stood there unharmed by it.
'What the hell?!' I thought with rage as my mind scrambled for an answer. 'How is he not taking any damage from my attacks? Is he super resistant to water based attacks? No, that can't be it. …Wait, when I fired my attack, an explosion was created when it hit Jackal. Could it be that-'
"Now then, I think it's my turn to launch an attack at you!" Jackal's eyes widened like a maniac as he held out a hand aimed towards my chest. "Explosion!" As he called out his attack, a small yellow sphere of energy was sent flying towards me. The sphere screeched as it flew through the air, and I raised my hand to cast a spell in defence.
"Water Shield!" I shouted, waving my hand to create a thick wall of water, shaped like a shield. I was expecting Jackal's attack to not make it through the shield, possibly blowing it up, but not harming me in the process. I stood firm as the attack flew towards me, and as it came into contact with my shield…
I was suddenly blasted back by the explosion. "Argh!" I skidded across the ground, my shield being completely ineffective against his attack. I came to a halt (which was not easy due to only having one arm), and quickly rose my head look back up at Jackal.
'Did he just… send a bomb right at me?!' I thought in realisation, anger filling me. 'No attack should have been that powerful! That sphere was tiny!'
"What's the matter? Angry that you didn't hit me like you hoped to? Gyahahah! You're just like those other tin cans that stood against me!"
"You bastard!" I growled up at him, as he only smiled sinisterly. "How are you doing this?!"
Jackal chuckled under his breath, as he actually looked to elaborate. "With how hopeless your situation is, why not? I have the ability to create bombs and send them at my opponent. But that's not all, as anything that touches me will get a nice explosion. In other words you can't hurt me!" Jackal explained cackling towards the end.
'So he DOES have a curse, I guess all these demons do… Argh! How can I damage him then?' My mind raced for an answer, as Jackal leapt down from the tree, landing in a crouch.
"I've had enough of you running around like a little insect. I think it's time that I blow off your legs so I can have some real fun blowing up the rest of you! Explosion Spiral!" Jackal waved his hands as he created a huge spiral of explosions that swirled upwards, before circling down to blow my legs to pieces.
I grit my teeth as I leapt away, dodging the spiral as it blew the ground I previously stood on to pieces. I landed further back, only just holding onto my balance. "Even if I can't hurt you, that doesn't mean that I'm going to give up! As a guild wizard I swear that I will defeat you! Water Spears!" I created a huge thick spears of water, trying to reinforce them with packed water, to make them more durable. I sent them soaring towards Jackal who only lazily rose a hand.
"Lame, lame, lame. Try something else!" He mocked me as he rose a hand to create an explosion that destroyed my spears, spreading water across the entire hilltop. "Or better yet, how about I come and destroy your legs myself!" Suddenly, he leapt forwards, lunging out a hand as he prepared to blow my body to pieces.
As he soared towards me, I waved my hand forwards (only just keeping my balance), and fired out an attack towards Jackal, hoping this could at least slow him down. "Scalding Water Ray!" From my hand, I summoned a huge ray of water that hit Jackal head on as he kept up his pursuit in the air. Several small explosions occurred as the water was destroyed around him. I thought I noticed something as he was breaking through the water, but that was quickly put to the side as I watched Jackal break through the water, only grimacing. He broke through the rest of the attack and now landed right up in my face, holding out his hand.
"The temperature of that wasn't half bad, but this is gonna be a whole lot worse for you!" He yelled as he lunged his hand forwards, aiming to blow my head off my body. Instinctively, I dived back, dodging his hand…
…But as a result I crashed to the ground below me! "Argh!" Before Jackal could even take advantage of that, I swung up my leg, kicking him under the chin. Jackal was struck by my boot, as I swore I heard his nose crack a little. He staggered backwards a little, grunting. I was about to leap back up on my feet and escape from him, only for an explosion to suddenly appear on my boot! "AGHHHH!"
That blast from the explosion sent me flying backwards quite a bit, as Jackal regained himself, laughing at the damage I took. "Gyahahaha! Don't you get it? Even kicking my face will cause an explosion to be created! Face it, you can't beat me! Explosion Bombardment!" Jackal created several spheres of explosive power, as he sent them all hurling towards me.
I was forced to use an attack to escape from the incoming blasts. "W-Water Booster!" I channeled my magic into the wet ground beneath me, as my Water Booster caused me to be flung off the ground, where I dodged all the explosive spheres. Unfortunately, due to me being on the ground, and a lack of balance, I ended up crashing back onto the ground, with a hiss of pain rushing through me. "Argh!" However, I made sure to quickly get back up, so I could better dodge Jackal's attacks next time he tried to blow me up.
Jackal wasted little time as he fired more explosions from his hands, causing me to dart away. At my current state, even a single direct him from his explosions might end up killing me. 'Dammit! What the hell can I do here?!' I thought frantically as I dodged an explosion, only just feeling the heat from it. I sent another wave of water based attacks towards Jackal, as he only created more explosions to destroy them. Any attack that did get by him, and struck him only became an explosion that did nothing except slow him down. 'This guy is way more destructive than Kyôka was! All I can do is slow him down!'
'I have to think of a plan here…' I thought as I summoned a few spirals of water, which I aimed towards Jackal's head. 'There has to be some way for me to get by that little explosive barrier of his.' My mind raced for answers, as I saw Jackal only stagger backwards a little from the watery spirals that struck his head. 'Huh…?'
I had definitely noticed that Jackal at least staggered back from that attack there. In fact, earlier when I launched that Scalding Water Ray towards him, he seemed like he struggled a bit to get through it. I was forced to dodge out of the way, narrowly avoiding a huge explosion that made a serious crater in the ground. 'So some of my attacks can slow him down? No… if anything he at least felt some difficulty getting through them, but why?'
I unfortunately crashed onto the ground as I landed in an attempt to dodge. But that crash might have spurred my mind to the answer that I needed. 'Wait! Could it be that…!? Would that work…!?' I thought with wide eyes. It only made more sense as I thought about it. 'Well it's all I've got.'
I leapt back up on my feet, as I summoned a new attack to hurl towards Jackal. "Water Wave!" I bellowed loudly, summoning a huge wave of water, which I launched towards Jackal who only held out his arms, almost accepting the attack.
"Didn't you hear me earlier?" He goaded. "You can't hurt… Wait a minute-!" Jackal cut himself off, as he seemed to just realise what kind of attack I'd sent to him. I didn't send a disk, bullet or whip at him as he could easily destroy it by using his curse. Water is a liquid which is not a solid material. However, throughout this fight so far, I had been creating physical objects made out of water, which Jackal easily destroyed. So, by sending a large wave of water at him, he would be unable to destroy all of it with his curse. I estimated that a good amount of my attack would be ineffective against him, as he could still use his explosions to destroy part of it.
Jackal's eyes widened as the attack came into contact with him. He fired out his hands as the wave engulfed him. I held firm, expecting a huge explosion to be created… but no such thing came.
Just as I predicted, Jackal's curse destroyed the first part of the wave sent towards him, but he was unable to destroy the whole attack! He was knocked back, crashing against some rocks which quickly exploded into dust. From his condition, it looked like that hurt quite a bit. The rest of the wave washed away as he furiously looked up at me. "What the hell? How did you damage me like that?!"
'YES! It actually worked! I might be able to win this after all!' I grinned with new found confidence. 'These curses may be powerful, but they aren't unbeatable!'
"Tch, w-whatever! Like hell I'm gonna let that happen again! "Explosion Wave!" Jackal snarled, leaping back up. He swung his hands in the air, as I felt a large and mighty attack coming.
Fearing for what was about to come, I prepared to dodge the attack. "Water Booster!" As I casted that, leaping up into the air, I saw dozens of explosions rapidly going off on the ground below. "Damn!" Just then I noticed Jackal who was looking around frantically, clearly trying to find me, as the explosions left a lot of smoke in the air clouding his vision.
Not wanting to waste this chance, I chose this moment to launch my next attack. "This attack is for all the people you killed up here! Scalding Water Geyser!" I bellowed out causing Jackal to look up after hearing my voice.
"There you are! I'll definitely blow your brain to pieces with this! Explosio-" But Jackal was cut off as a huge wave of steaming, hot water erupted from underneath him. Of course his curse destroyed most the attack as it made contact with him. But the remaining water still made contact with him, smashing into him at a fast speed and sending him several metres up into the air. And that's not including the fact that the water used in that attack was at boiling temperatures.
As I landed back down on the ground, I saw Jackal soar upwards higher, before he began to lose altitude, plummeting to the ground below. "Looks like I can damage you after all! Now let's see how you face up against more of my liquid based attacks! Scalding Water Geysers!" Unlike before, I used up more magic as several steaming geysers of water were created, slamming upwards into Jackal. An insane mixture of explosions and steam was created, as I heard Jackal let out a screech of pain.
"GYAAAAAA! Th-This burns so much! Y-You lowly human! When I get down I'll…" Jackal was cut off, as he fell silent. The large cloud of dust and steam cleared, as I saw Jackal slam into the ground ahead of me, creating a crater where he landed. He wasn't in good condition from what I could see. There was huge blistering red scorch marks on his arms and scattered on his face, presumably from the burns he had received earlier. His clothing was now quite ragged from the impact received when he was hit by my water attacks and when he was slammed into the ground.
'Ngh… he's… down…' I sighed with relief as I carefully made my way over to investigate whether he was still alive or not. I may have been unable to check his pulse in case of a sudden explosion, but to my utter shock, I noticed that he wasn't moving at all.
'Did I do it? Did… I actually beat him?!' Me bewildered at the fact that I had brought him down like that. 'No time to waste, gotta stop that ritual befor-'
Just as I was thinking that, an unknown force threw me back from where I was standing. 'What the-!? That power I sense isn't magic! But it's insanely strong!'
Then I quickly got up, and turned around to see where that mighty force had came from. I saw it originated from where the magic circle was earlier… except there wasn't a magic circle there anymore. Instead there was a very large amount of purple and black smoke emitting from where the three books were. 'No! Was I really to late!?' I thought, terrified at the thought of the creatures summoned from those books. What was more disturbing was that I could literally sense evilness from within that dark smoke.
As the smoke began to dissipate, I was able to see three figures standing in the smoke. 'There! C-Could they be more demons?!' Right as the smoke finally disappeared, the moon shined down on them allowing me to get a very clear look at them.
The one on the far left was a tall muscular man with an imposing height and blonde hair. His facial features consisted of dark blue eyes, a snout instead of a nose with a beard circling his jawline. He left his chest exposed, showing some hair and strong muscles. Underneath that, he wore thick trousers with heavy boots.
The middle being was a mix between a lizardman and a shark from what I could see through his build and posture. His head had a single fin, with small scales around his eyes and at the ends of his head. He also had long massive arms reaching down to his knees, each with fins on them. His skin was a dark pink colour. He donned a brown open short-sleeved shirt, whitish-brown coloured trousers, and brown shoes.
The final figure on the right was also muscular and by far the tallest of them all. He had pale blue skin and had four arms. His lower body consisted of six large tentacles and his head had spiky protrusions where his ears and hair were supposed to be. He lacked eyebrows and had very sharp spiky teeth. The three beings seemed to examine their surroundings before they spoke up.
"Finally. It's been so long since we have last walked this world." The man in the left stated calmly, looking at his hands as he flexed his fingers inwards. "We are free at last."
"You there! Human! What year is it?! Answer me now!" The being in the middle demanded, pointing directly at me, shouting loudly to intimidate me. The other two figures now noticed me, showing varying reactions.
"Why waste time with this little ant. I say we kill him now!" Boasted the massive figure on the right, looking towards the other two.
Despite this… terrifying situation, I remained steadfast. "I'm not giving you anything. I have a question of my own for you three: Who are you and why were you trapped inside those books?" I shouted, directing a stern gaze towards the three of them. It was at that moment in which the two on the right smirked at me.
The figure on the left spoke first. "I am Tempester the Immortal, but many humans call me the Calamity." He addressed calmly.
Next the figure on the right spoke up "I am Ezel the Dôjigiri." Him crossing his four arms with a sinister smile on his face.
"And I am Torafuzar the Dark!" The figure in the middle boomed with pride in his words. "You should be afraid human, for we are all Demons from the books of Zeref! We may have been locked away centuries ago, but we are free at last!"
As he said those last few words, a huge pit opened in my stomach taking my heart and all my organs along with it. 'They are ALL Demons…. Can I even win now?! …I was able to hold my own and even take down one of them when they were alone, but if all of them came at me together… What could I do?!'
'Should I run? I mean, I only came here to stop the ritual, but now it's complete… Is there a point in me staying here?' These thoughts raced through my mind, as I quickly tried to think of a plan.
'No… I won't run and hide!' I thought, as a gut feeling worked its way into my stomach. 'I trust Hugo to regroup and send help. But if I run, then these creatures will just get away. They're a threat to the kingdom!'
'They're a threat to Fairy Tail.'
'They're a threat to June.'
'They're a threat to Cade.'
I swallowed a lump in my throat as I stood firm. 'I can do this… I just need to be smart, scope out their abilities. Then I can strike them hard! I won't lose this! Not after all I've lived for to get here!' I thought as I saw the Demons smile wickedly.
"Well I'm afraid for you, we can't let anyone let the entire kingdom know that we have returned from our slumber. In other words, you best prepare yourself human." Torafuzar said, as he and the other two demons next to him prepared for battle. I only grimaced as I prepared a move similar to the one that previously defeated Jackal.
"Scalding Water Cannon!" I shouted raising my left hand which sent a blast of steaming water right towards them. I had pumped a lot of power into that attack, so I was hoping that it could inflict some serious damage to them. Though it appeared that only one of the Demons was readying to respond.
Tempester acted, taking a firm step forwards, before uttering something under his breath. "Hyuru." This instantly summoned a huge wave of tornados in front of the three demons, completely shattering my attack as it hit the tornado. Tempester then flicked his hands forwards, as the tornados flew towards me. I desperately darted out of the way as they tore through the ground, quickly dissipating after missing me.
"Wh-What the hell was that!?" I questioned with absurdity as I rolled back up on my two feet. Tempester said nothing, while Torafuzar chose to elaborate as he lunched forwards. "Tempester's Calamity Curse allows him to use attacks very similar to the natural disasters you humans have faced in the past. Now let's see how you fare against this: My Slash Arms!" Torafuzar yelled, as he sped right towards me ready to slice me into pieces with the blades on his arms.
"Then I'll give you an attack that'll definitely leave some kinks in those scales of yours!" I yelled back as I fired up an attack that I had always used in the past to break through thick and durable scales. "Scalding Water Slicer!" I sliced my hand down, summoning a slice of boiling water. I fired it right towards Torafuzar, as the distance closed between us. Torafuzar simply scoffed at this and sliced right through the attack with his blades. "Wh-What? How could you slice through it so easily? Ngh, that doesn't matter! Water Wave!"
I changed tactic as I created a huge wave of water, aiming it towards Torafuzar and the other two demons. I had to suck out a lot of water from the plants nearby for this. Each of the three demons acted differently as the wave approached them: Ezel brought forth his huge arms as he sliced away a good chunk of the wave; Tempester stamped a foot on the ground as he uttered out another word. "Shinku." This created a huge sinkhole that swallowed up most of the water; Torafuzar stunned me the most, by turning my Water Wave into a murky black colour, before swimming right through the liquid as if it wasn't an issue.
"Impossible!" I protested out loud. "How are you swimming through my water so easily?!"
"My Tenchi Kaimei Curse allows me to render and all water useless against me!" Torafuzar grinned as he swam closer to me. "I can roam freely amongst these diluted waters, while you suffer!" Torafuzar burst from the wave ahead of me as he rose his arm again, preparing to slash at me. "Slash Arms!"
I made quick use of a Water Booster to leap away, dodging Torafuzar's blades as they sliced clean through some nearby boulders. I leapt away into into the air…
…Only to see Ezel mere inches away from me as he turned his four arms into mighty blades! "You cannot dodge while in the air human! See the might of my deadly Tenga Goken Curse! My blades can cut through any and all pathetic defences you create! Mikazuki!" Ezel rapidly swung his four arms around, targeting different areas of my body. This generated a large number of crescent-shaped slashes. The deadly slashes soared towards me, as I had mere seconds to react.
I scrambled to create an escape from this killing move. "Water Hook!" I quickly created a huge, long hook of water, which I quickly cast towards a far away free. I used my strength to have the hook pull me away from Ezel's slashes, as they crashed forwards, into the treetops. I may not have seen the damage done, but it was obvious that he completely shredded a good chunk of the forest. I heard Ezel drop to the ground, as I increased my speed more, coming closer towards the tree. At just the right moment, when I swung by the tree, I let go of my hook, as I stretched my legs out…
…And aimed to strike Tempester in the gut! "Scalding Water Kick!" I powered up magic into my legs, as water swirled around them. Tempester saw me coming though, and held a firm expression. He held out a hand as he prepared to block the attack.
"Hmph. Boh." He stated as he created a huge fireball ahead of him. I could feel the heat radiating as I flew towards him. Tempester stood firm, but showed some shock as I kicked right through the fireball he created. "What?" I yelled as I struck my legs into his gut, causing him to wince a little. "…Interesting, I sense that you have shed blood recently. That wound on your arm is recent, yet you still fight to your fullest."
"But that will not matter human." He declared firmly as he held out a hand towards my chest. "Dodon." I was suddenly struck by a mighty force which sent me crashing backwards, skidding across the destroyed ground on my back. While this did hurt, I had little time to register the pain, as I saw Torafuzar swing towards me with his mighty arms. This time he seemed ready to fire out water from them.
"Ngh! I don't think so! Scalding Water Ray!" I declared as I charged up a boiling ray of water, preparing to aim it.
"Hmph, foolish human. Have you forgotten that my curse allows me to nullify any and all water that would affect me?" Torafuzar huffed as he prepared to slash at me. To his shock, I only grinned.
"Who said you were my target?" I aimed my ray of boiling water towards the ground as it created a huge amount of steam. I used that clever smokescreen to dart away, leaping up onto a tree. I only just heard Torafuzar land where I previously was. A close call to say the least. The smokescreen covered the entire hilltop, and I prepared to fire down a volley of attacks while the demons were occupied.
"The water and waves collide together to create a monstrous storm that no creature can hope to survive in - not even a demon! I summon the wrath of the sea onto you all! Tempest Terahurt!" I chanted as I summoned a mighty move, which involved the quick creation of storm clouds above me. I needed some time to set this move up, hence why I hadn't used it before. Huge, thick storm clouds appeared above the fading smokescreen as I now caught glimpses of the three demons. They also saw me as the smokescreen faded, preparing to leap up and attack me… but they were a few seconds too late.
Suddenly, mighty beams of water struck down on top of each of the demons, as they were shocked to see this happen. My attack involved using water nearby to create several storm clouds, that then pummelled my opponent repeatedly with scalding or freezing water - whichever I wanted. In this case it was scalding water. All I had to do was not break concentration here, and I could keep the move up. The first few seconds proved to be rather successful against the demons:
Tempester was having to use a multitude of different attacks to try and avoid being crushed by the intense water pressure. I saw a mixture of fire, lightning, wind and earth. To his disgruntlement, none were able to free him, as he kept up his assault, trying to not collapse to the ground. To my delight, Torafuzar was actually struggling here. He may have been turning the beams of water into his own murky water, but he could not keep up with the rest of the incoming water. He was forced to use his sharp arms to try and slash away at the water, ultimately falling onto his knee. Meanwhile, Ezel was busy slashing his arms like a serial killer with a knife. On one occasion he did get loose at a time in which water had just finished coming down on him, in which he leapt up towards me.
"Onimaru!" He shouted, turning his four arms into swords in which he then leapt up and spun towards me ready to cut me into pieces. But this only failed as I redirected the water to strike him from above, sending him crashing into the ground. "Gwwaaarrghhh!" Ezel was caught again in the never-ending beams of water, as he desperately tried to slash his way out.
However, despite this stunning success against the demons, I felt myself recoil inside, dropping to a knee. 'Argh… Yes, this can be a rather draining move… I'm actually not sure if this will kill those things in time… I may collapse before they do, in which case, I'd be a dead man… But I think I can outlast them!' I grunted, yet showed a smirk as I witnessed Ezel struggling to stand, halfway on his knees, Tempester running out of attack combination, and Torafuzar now failing to change the water into his own.
'I… can do this… I am a member of Fairy Tail, as well as a husband and father… I will not give up here! I-I… can do it!' I thought as I breathed heavily. 'I just need maybe two more minutes of this… and then-'
"EXPLOSION!" Came a very loud and angry voice coming down from below me.
Instantly, the tree I was standing on exploded into splinters as I flew backwards, injured, but not killed. "A-ARGHHHHH!" I crashed into the ground below, as I frantically tried to look and see who cast that spell. "N-No! N-Not you!"
I sat up from where I crashed, seeing a rather burnt and hurt Jackal standing, breathing as heavily as I was. And he looked livid. "You think… we're just gonna… let you leave? After all the trouble you've caused towards all of us!?" Snarled a rather pissed off Jackal who now stood up tall.
Dealing with one demon was bad enough, but things were about to get a whole lot worse for me. With my concentration having being broken, I witnessed my Tempest Terahurt spell be cancelled out, as the three demons who suffered from it stood back up. Rather than immediately direct their anger towards me, they showed interest at the sight of Jackal.
"Oh? Another demon? How interesting." Tempester spoke with small curiosity.
"Excellent! That's one more ally we have to crush these little humans! Especially this one!" Torafuzar nodded as all three of the demons turned back to me. Now I had fight against FOUR of them. Jackal wasted no time in assaulting with a barrage of explosions. He was by far the angriest of the four.
"Explosions!" He screeched, extending his arms as dozens of yellow explosives flew towards me. I desperately darted to the side, as Jackal kept up his assault of explosives. I was only just able to dodge the last explosion as I was sent skidding forwards. I could only just keep myself standing. Right as I came skidding to a stop, I saw Tempester charge forwards, ready to utter a new attack.
"Boh" He uttered calmly, which suddenly summoned a huge, swirling sphere of fire. Unlike last time, I had no water on me to break through the flames. I grit my teeth, and did my best to hold on as the fireball crashed into me. I let out a yell of pain, as I was sent flying backwards into the ground. It was at this point Ezel flew forwards, launching himself towards me with his arms outstretched.
"Otenta!" He shouted as he raised his four arms, turning them all into blades as they were all brought down towards me. I scrambled to create a move to help me here. I did my best to make a Water Hook, aiming to pull myself towards a nearby set of boulders. This would give me some height advantage over the others, possibly allowing me to send another wave of attacks. I successfully dodged Ezel, as I escaped his mighty blades…
…Only to see that Torafuzar had leapt up onto the boulders! He grinned as he summoned a jet of water from his fist. He sent the water soaring towards me, as it quickly engulfed me. I did my best to swim out of it, and was able to break through the surface. "Scalding Water Outcry!" I yelled with a deep breath, sending rays of scalding water in all directions around me. I had hoped this could maybe slow the demons down, but it did nothing of the sort.
Ezel was able to slash through the water with little effort, Tempester was able to create a storm of thunder that evaporated my water instantly, Jackal just waved his hand as he created several small explosions to destroy the water, and Torafuzar sliced through my water before he soared forwards towards me, landing a gut punch to my chest.
I lurched backwards, as I felt my eyes roll from how powerful that attack was. Right as he pulled his fist away, Jackal sent another wave of explosions towards me, hoping to blow off my head. He unfortunately missed due to how shaky his aim was, as the explosions destroyed the ground near me, sending me flying upwards into the air. Th-This is bad…' I thought as I tried to pull myself together. 'I've only got enough magic power for a few more moves… and if they fail… then there's only one more move left…' I had to face the facts here. I was dying. My body was exhausted, injured and broken. While my magic power was also incredibly low.
But… I wouldn't let that stop me. I never allowed myself to give up, even when things were at so extreme of a situation for me. I aimed my gaze down, as I readied another attack towards the demons. "Scalding Nebula Rays!" I sliced my arm, creating as many rays of water as I could, as they as it flew down towards the demons. They were all caught off guard as they seemed to suffer some damage. Well, I think they did. My eyesight was now beginning to fade away, so it found it difficult to tell them apart. Of course, my ears were still working.
"DON'T! LET! HIM! GET! AWAY!" Jackal ordered, as if he suddenly assumed command of the other demons. They gave him skeptic looks, but did as they were told. All four of the demons shot a mixture of attacks upwards: Slashes from Ezel, explosions from Jackal, thunder from Tempester and water from Torafuzar. I saw the hellstorm of attacks coming up towards me, as I prepared to create a move powerful enough to hopefully destroy them all at once. "W-Water… Wave!"
I did my best to create a huge wave of water that swallowed up the demons attacks. I began to now drop to the ground, as I quickly tried to think of a counter move. What was I to do? I was nearly out of magic altogether… there was only one more move left… As I fell some more, seeing the demons break through the water, I prepared myself for what was to come next.
"W-With this next move, I'll-" I was cut off as a sharp talon pierced my backside. I gasped for a second, before hot, boiling pain ran through me. "G-GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I felt myself fall faster to the ground, as I felt the talon retract from my backside. I managed to look up behind me just enough to see the silhouette of a raven like woman. The moonlight shined to reveal the sadistic, calm smile and wide eyed Kyôka who looked all to please to see me.
"Y-You…"
"There you are. I was looking forward to playing with you again." Kyôka spat with malice as she launched a kick right at my backside, sending a huge volt of pain through me as well as sending me crashing back to the ground bellow. I crashed into the ground below, as I felt Kyôka land above me, with the rest of the demons approaching her. But I was too fixated on my current situation.
'N-No… I was… finally… about to get… ugh… Dammit!' I thought as I clenched my left hand with rage.
'Is this… how it ends for me?… There's no one out here that can help me at this point.' I thought as I was able to turn my head to look up at the night sky. It seemed like the sun would rise in a few hours. 'Well… At least I've increased the chance of them getting caught in daylight… ugh…'
My mind was silent. The demons were conversing between them, while I came to a dark conclusion. 'There's nothing else I can do now… I'm too injured… I think… I'll have to use that attack…'
My mind seemed to flash rather quickly as I came to that decision. It felt maddening that in only a few seconds, so many moments on my life flashed before me. The things that I regret, the things I wished I could do more of, the things I had left unresolved… and then there was Cade and June…
'I'm so sorry you two…' I thought as I began to power up the last of my magic. The demons were yet to acknowledge me.
'I wish I had been there to see you both laugh and smile… but I know this is for the greater good.'
I closed my eyes with sorrow, a sad smile crossing my face, the spell nearly complete. 'I hope you're safe Hugo… …June… Cade… I'm sorry about this… But… if going to be dying here then I'm taking these monsters with me!' I thought with one last swell of determination as I finished powering the attack, before my mind died.
No POV, Kyôka:
"Well, seems you aren't dead after all." Jackal remarked unamused, turning to Kyôka as she landed on the ground just next to the little human. "Gyahaha, I thought that you had actually take a trip to Hells Core there!"
"As if I would be killed by my own prey. You should know me better than that Jackal." Kyôka snarled lightly, as she then turned towards the other Demons. "I see you have awakened at last, Tempester, Torafuzar and Ezel."
Ezel stepped forwards, looking for answers. "Yes, we have been asleep for a long time. But how long?! How long has it been since those gnarly humans locked us away?!"
Kyôka moved to answer. "Close to over a hundred years I'm afraid." All three of the demons showed some shock at that revelation.
"Then likely the humans who locked us away are all dead now. Revenge against them in particular is pointless." Torafuzar stated as he looked towards Tempester and Ezel, before back to Jackal and Kyôka. "But I see that you are demons as well. Are you aligned with another? Are there more demons across this land?"
Tempester was yet to speak, as he flicked his gaze down to the human beneath Kyôka. As if he could get back up! Jackal was the one to answer this time. "Oh yeah, we're with more demons back where we come from. I guess you could say this is a recruitment sort of thing."
"And what are your goals?" Tempester spoke finally, curious as to that subject.
Kyôka smiled thinly. She knew just what to say here. "Our goals are the same as yours as a matter of fact. Tell me, do you plan on joining us on our mission to return to Lord Zeref?"
The three Demons each smiled wickedly at this. It was that had flicked a switch in their minds.
"Yes, anything to return to Lord Zeref." The three of them stated simultaneously. Kyôka and Jackal smiled at that servitude, as they then looked down to that human she had fought.
"Now then. I've been looking forward to this." Jackal said with a sinister smile on his face as he turned to grin at her. "First I'll blow off his arms, then his legs and then if he's still alive, I'll see how many more explosions it will take!" He followed on laughing wildly.
"No you will not Jackal! He is mine to torture!" Kyôka snapped sternly. "Any prey that escapes me suffers a thousand more lashes before they die."
"You lost that right when he escaped you earlier!" Jackal rebutted back at Kyôka. "He literally beat you!"
"I think the same can be said about you!"
Contrary to their squabbling, Torafuzar scoffed. "We should kill him right now."
"…He's gone!"
"What!?" All the demons turned and saw that the human was not where he previously lay. He had disappeared! "What the hell!?" Yelled Jackal with outrage. "Wh-Where is he!? He can't have ran away!"
Kyoka scanned as the area, as did the other demons. She examined where he previously lay, and noticed something rather curious. Where the man previously lay, there was a slush of water. That had not been there before.
"There!" Tempester called as he directed his gaze towards his right. Everyone turned and saw the human standing, his head limped down. "How is he still standing?"
"Impossible…" Kyôka muttered under her breath.
"Gah! Let's kill him already! Explosion!" Jackal cried as he sent an explosive sphere towards where the man stood. The sphere exploded as it reached him… only to reveal the man standing as if nothing had even happened. "Wh-What!? Who the hell is this guy?!"
"His body, look!" Torafuzar pointed out, as the demons took note of the man's body. It was… shimmering. "It can't be… he turned his body into water!? It wasn't always like this!"
"Then he should be easy pickings for us to tear apart!" Ezel yelled as he outstretched his four arms, ready to slice the human into watery shreds. But before Ezel could perform such an action, the ground beneath the demons began to shake. "What is this? An earthquake?"
"This is not my doing…" Tempester spoke curiously, as he looked down. "How can this be? He's draining the ground of all its nutrients. All the liquid is being sucked out and travelling into him!"
Just as Tempester said, all the liquid from the remaining plants and trees was being sucked into the watery form of the human. He suddenly began channel the water upwards, as a swirling sphere of liquid now began to form. The human was inside, his eyes turning into a shining light blue colour. Despite not possessing magic, Kyôka and all the other demons could sense the sheer power emanating from the sphere of deadly water.
'Who is this human…' Kyôka thought with shock as the sphere grew bigger and bigger. 'If that attack powers up fully…' Kyôka's eyes widened a little as she thought about the imminent aftermath of suffering an attack of that caliber. She saw that many of the other demons thought that same, the four-armed demon was preparing to make a move.
Mikazuki!" Ezel rapidly swung his four arms around, targeting different areas of the sphere. This generated a large number of crescent-shaped slashes. The deadly slashes soared towards the sphere, as the human did nothing to stop them. To Ezel's shock, his slashes only scratched the surface of the watery sphere. "What!?"
"Screw this human! Explosion!" Jackal screamed as he sent dozens of explosions towards the ever growing sphere, but like Ezel's blades they had no effect at all, only denting the outside as the sphere quickly replaced the damage that had been dealt. Now Tempester and Torafuzar acted to try their hand at destroying the sphere.
"Dodon." Came the calm voice of Tempester, sending a sphere crashing towards the watery sphere.
"Slash Arms!" Torafuzar yelled, as he sent a powerful slash from his arms towards the human's sphere.
Tempester expected his attack to send the sphere hurling backwards, while Torafuzar was hoping to slash through the attack. To their surprise none of attacks worked the way that they wanted: Tempester was surprised to see his attack simply dissipate when coming into contact, and the slash from Torafuzar failed to even scratch the surface of the sphere. "Impossible… I can't control this water!"
The sphere of water was now huge, and rising up high above the five Demons. Kyôka tried to slash clean through it with her whips, but upon touching the sphere she was met with razor sharp water that sliced her hand clean off.
"GAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Just what… is that attack…" She cursed in great pain, as her hand quickly regenerated. "This human is stronger than I gave him credit for…
"What the hell do we do now!?" Jackal questioned, turning to Kyôka. Now the sounds of rushing water filled the empty air, as everyone was forced to raise their voice to speak.
"We have to get away from this attack before it finishes!" Kyôka tsked under her breath, as she and the other Demons tried to leave the campsite but were stopped by a huge wave of water surrounding the campsite leaving them trapped with the sphere. "Ah! We are trapped here?!" A huge wave of water now surrounded them, circling the sphere, and trapping the demons.
Kyôka grit her teeth. If she and Jackal were to die, then Hells Core would resurrect them… but the other three demons… they would not be brought back… they were yet to be linked up to Hells Core! 'There must be something we can do!' She thought frantically as the attack grew bigger and more ferocious.
Suddenly, and idea came to her mind as she gazed over towards Tempester. "You! Tempester, correct?" He turned to acknowledge her. "Your Calamity Curse allows you to create natural disasters am I correct? Create a sinkhole for us!"
Tempester nodded, with little time to waste. "Shinku." He thudded a foot on the ground as a sinkhole was created.
Ezel looked horrified, almost figuring out what Kyôka wanted them to do. "You want us to hide!? That is an insult to all demonkind!"
"We have no choice!" Kyôka yelled loudly, as jets of water now shot out, striking the demons. "Die and you will never return to Lord Zeref. Live and we can fulfill our purpose!"
"Even if we hide, that will not be enough." Tempester spoke, as he looked at the enraging sphere. "We will still be impacted from the blast."
"Then let me take the brunt of the damage!" Torafuzar proclaimed as he suddenly transformed into his Etherious form. "My Super Armour will allow me to survive any attack this lower life form unleashes!" He puffed out his chest as he created huge shining sheets of metal.
Kyôka nodded as she leapt into the sinkhole, Tempester following her. Jackal grit his teeth. "Can't believe this…" He too followed, though the look on his face showed that he was rather furious at this decision. But it wasn't like they had any other options. Ezel was next to follow, though he shared Jackal's dismay at this decision. Finally, Torafuzar stood at the sinkholes entrance, puffing out his chest.
"Let's see what the final force of this human can do to my Super Armour!" He boasted! "Launch your attack and be met with the strength of a demon!" Perhaps it was coincidence, but as Torafuzar boasted his challenge, the human unleashed his final attack.
"THE OCEANS CALAMITY"
All the water located in the sphere, as well as all the water that had formed the wall came together, and in less than a second it erupted, causing the ground to shake immensely. This attack sent a couple hundred razor sharp shards of water all across the campsite absolutely shredding and destroying everything in its vicinity. The trees were ripped apart like they had been put through a shredder, the boulders crumbled to dust as if they had been hit by lightning, and the ruined tents nearby were straight up atomised from the force alone.
All the while Torafuzar held on, taking the full force of the attack. He let out a loud grunt as he suffered serious damage, with the shiny scales on his armour becoming dented with every second that passed. It looked like he was at his breaking point… but right when it looked like he was about to kneel over… the attack quickly subsided.
The water died down, and there was silence once again.
Torafuzar grinned as he saw a lone body drop from where the sphere once was.
"That… was too close." Stated Jackal as the rest of the demons were left silent.
"I was right to make use of my armour here. I knew I could block it…" Torafuzar said smirking while also sounding completely exhausted.
"Well I certainly made the correct decision to use your Super Armour Torafuzar." Kyôka admitted giving him a thin smile. "It proved to be even stronger than I imagined.
Torafuzar walked away from the entrance to let the other Demons leave the arch in the ground. As the exited they saw just how damaged Torafuzar actually was. He was still in his Etherious form, but the his entire front of his armour was completely destroyed with several scratches on his chest. It seems like it had broken just at the last moment. Kyôka was still impressed with his performance. 'He will be an excellent addition to Tartaros.'
The five demons then noticed Cobalt's dead body not to far away from where they were. His body was now a shell of what it once was. Now it was just a pale and shrivelled corpse. It was sucked dry of any water that may have been inside of it. "He must have used the rest of the water inside of him to power up that attack." Ezel figured, as he grunted at his dead body. It would have been hard to believe that this was once an S-Class Wizard.
"For a second there, I thought we were all going straight to hell along with him." Jackal muttered relieved. "Gyahahaha! Guess you died for nothing then!" He jeered, looking at Cobalt's dead body, launching a small explosion that did nothing except create a burn mark.
"What are we to do now?" Tempester questioned to Kyôka. "The sun is close to rising. That may reveal us to the people of this kingdom.
"We will return to our headquarters, there you will meet our Lord. And then, you shall become an official member of Tartaros." Kyôka said to him Torafuzar, and Ezel. Then she glanced at Cobalt's dead body.
"For a human he showed a disturbing amount of strength." She spoke as she walked over to his corpse. "I wonder… If his magic was drained dry…"
A curious smile worked its way onto her face. Now, Kyôka hated humans, yet she could not deny the strength this one showcased here. Perhaps… Just maybe…
The conditions were already fulfilled here for his experiment. Keyes could finally make use of the correct corpse… Kyôka turned to Ezel, her mind made up. It's not like they had anything to lose while doing this.
"Hmm… Ezel, I'd like to bring that humans dead body back with us. I believe it will have some use to us in the future. We have a certain demon who specialises with corpses."
Ezel seemed surprised by this but chose to follow along and picked up the body, slinging it over his shoulder. It's not like it would weigh him down. After all he had four arms and six tentacles.
Nothing else was said that night by the five demons. Their mission had been all but accomplished. The company of five made their departure disappearing into the night, with the corpse of the human with them. Now three members stronger it would not be long before they would make their move across Fiore and finally return to Lord Zeref.
And perhaps that could further increase that number by one more…
And that's the end of Arc 1! You thought that I would keep Cobalt alive didn't you? No, I'm not pulling any punches for Cade here in this story. I know some of you may be annoyed that I killed Cobalt this early but I did it to add a bit more emotional impact when we finally get to the actual Tartaros Arc. Also it helps Cade develop more as he grows.
I did originally plan to have Cobalt die of screen, but then I decided to actually show his fate on the S-Class quest to build up his character a little bit more and showcase his magic. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this short arc, and I do hope you enjoyed taking the time to read it. In terms of strength, Cobalt I'd say scales towards the main cast of heroes at the time of the GMG arc. Yes, I know that sounds like a bit of a stretch, but he is much older than a majority of the main cast at that point. So unlike them, he had more time to develop and perfect his skills. As for the Demons, it's my personal head cannon that they have 'fixed' levels of strength, I.e, I find it hard to see them as a individuals that could grow and get stronger, especially since we don't know if curses work the exact same way as magic or not.
Anyway, Arc 2 will have our ACTUAL main character take over from his now dead father. I'll see you guys then!
