(Edited 27/08/24)
I do not own Fairy Tail Hiro Mashima does.
Might Of The Scarlet Despair
*POTD*
The castle at the heart of the Vampire fortress was rocked to its core, as the entire rooftop was blown away. The Vampire Queen hissed as she flew down into the fortress below, morphing into a swarm of bats right before hitting the ground, reappearing on a rooftop nearby.
"Damn you Irene! You foolish woman," Alfreda snarled, looking upward to see Irene casually standing in the air high above her. "How can you stand to serve a man like the Emperor!?"
"You disappoint me Alfreda," came Irene's curt reply, gently lowering herself onto the rooftop opposite the Vampire Queen. "You were so well trusted, the Emperor appointed you the head of the Una Vera Fides, to speak the word to our nation's youngest and brightest."
"You mean to corrupt and brainwash them into subscribing to his cult, you mean!"
"Alvarez is not a cult-."
"Don't give me that trash Irene! The Una Vera Fides… The One True Faith!? Who are you seriously trying to fool," Alfreda spat viciously. "I'm one of the lucky ones who learned the truth! I know the truth behind the Emperor and his power, and I won't accept it any longer!"
"I see," Irene hummed, clearly not having known this little bit of information. "If you know the truth, then you can't be suffered to live…"
"Why am I not surprised you know the truth," the Vampire Queen laughed bitterly. "You who has been so loyal, so ruthless, so vicious in the name of Emperor Spriggan…"
"You were one of my best students Alfreda, and it pains me to see just how far you have fallen," Irene sighed sadly. "Had you just come to me, rather than abandoning your duty and nation, we could have resolved all of this peacefully."
"You and I both know that's a lie," Alfreda replied darkly. "If my mind wasn't to be altered, I would have been killed, as there isn't any conceivable way I'd agree to serve what the Emperor truly is!"
Irene paused, looked down at her feet for several moments, taking a deep breath before letting out a tired sigh. Tapping her staff lightly, she looked back up at Alfreda, this time, a cold and unfeeling gaze.
"There it is… Irene Belserion, the Scarlet Despair of Alvarez!"
Irene Belserion (Base Form No Requip Active Massively Suppressed) – 57.2 Billion MPI
"This little fantasy you've helped to forge shall be dismantled Alfreda," Irene's voice boomed, as power surged from her form. "The Necro Lord fell, as will you…"
"Just try it," Alfreda snapped, as Irene raised her right hand, forming a light blue Magic Circle.
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Aqua Bullets!"
Sweeping her hand sharply across to the right, Irene fired a series of speeding water droplets that punched through everything in their path. Alfreda instantly morphed into a swarm of bats, avoiding the attack, and reappearing near where Irene's attack struck.
"Is that really the best you wish to throw at me!?"
"The best? You should know me far better than that, Alfreda," Irene replied coldly, as she raised her right arm to the skies, a dark purple Magic Circle forming around her wrist.
Alfreda immediately looked skyward, as multiple loud booms and crackles echoed above their heads. The former Leichart member immediately looked down at her feet, realizing the water from Irene's attack was at her feet.
"Shit-!"
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Thunderclap!"
In the blink of an eye, Alfreda's position was immediately engulfed in a large bolt of dark purple lightning, completely obliterating the building she'd been standing on, as lightning surged through the fortress streets, frying any Vampires alive.
Ground zero of the point of impact had been completely decimated, entire buildings blasted away, as Irene sniffed the air, eyes narrowed dangerously. She knew Alfreda wouldn't be beaten by such a base attack, and naturally, she was correct.
As the dust settled, the Vampire Queen appeared, surrounded by a Crimson Red barrier, her right hand outstretched. Though she was clearly surprised, it hadn't been enough to catch her off guard, the sphere flickering before finally dissipating.
"T-That was Dragon Slaying Magic," Alfreda gasped. "S-Since when could you wield that!?"
"Oh Alfreda, you always were far too arrogant when it came to your assumptions of your opponents," Irene chided the woman, shaking her head. "Did you really think I was just a regular Mage? Someone who was a jack of all trades, yet master of none? What use would the Emperor have for someone so… elementary?"
But that Dragon Slaying Magic… You referred to it as the same thing, but used opposing elements? How!?"
"I suppose there isn't any harm in telling you now," Irene replied casually. "The truth is, I'm the Dragon Sage, having inherited the title from Dragon Sage Belserion himself back when the Dragons fell."
"B-But that's impossible!? The fall of the Dragons and the Kingdom of Dragnof coincide with the new calendar," Alfreda gasped, looking Irene up and down. "That would make you almost eight hundred years old!?"
"I'm actually over eight hundred," Irene smirked, all trace of humanity gone from her eyes, prompting Alfreda to take a cautious step back. "I am the Dragon Sage, quite literally. All the elements of the Dragons are mine to command and combine as I see fit!"
"B-But that's-!"
"Impossible," Irene smirked darkly, planting her staff into the ground as she extended both arms outward. "For a lesser Mage, perhaps?"
Irene's right arm was engulfed in a sea of raging fire, as her left became coated in powerful raging winds like that of a raging twister.
"That can't be… If you can do that, then you could potentially create attacks as powerful as a Unison Raid all on your own!?"
"How observant of you," Irene smirked, as she went to clap her hands together.
The Vampire Queen watched in slow motion, her body already in the process of morphing into a swarm of bats, as Irene's two separate elements began to make contact.
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Blustering Inferno!"
Her clap immediately shattered all glass within the fortress, as a colossal twister of raw fire rapidly expanded from her position. The attack melted everything in its path, continuing to expand until it struck the Vampire Queen directly, knocking her back into her full form as the attack set off a catastrophic explosion that very nearly wiped out most of the fortress in front of the castle.
Irene watched Alfreda land in the charred streets, dropping to one knee as she clutched her right arm which had been burned quite badly. The woman's lips were fully furled back, fangs barred as blood erupted through the ground and shot into her arm.
"Damn you Irene," the Queen hissed, her arm rapidly repairing itself. "It seems you weren't joking about being able to wield multiple Dragon Slaying elements… But even still, it will take much more than that to put me down!"
"Is that right? Because from where I'm standing, you're not looking too good, Alfreda?"
"Perhaps that might be the case for one who so often stands atop others, sneering down at them… But from where I'm standing… You're right where I want you!"
Alfreda Quilphort (Devil's Aura Base Form Heavily Suppressed) – 55.92 Billion MPI
Irene's eyes widened ever so slightly, as the street the pair were currently standing in lit up brightly, a colossal amount of Magical Power being generated, as Alfreda conjured a Crimson Red Magic Circle.
"Devil's Aura: Twelve Layered Blood Magic Circle – Sanguine Song!"
Eleven large, Crimson Red colored Magic Circles manifested around Irene's position and immediately began firing out house sized blasts of energy generated through Blood Magic. Irene's position was immediately obscured, as countless blasts rocked the area, blasting a giant crater into the center of the fortress.
"Did you really think I was just going to keel over and die, Irene," Alfreda hissed, as a sizeable energy wave was fired from the Magic Circle coming from her hand, eclipsing the entire street ahead of her, and setting off an even larger explosion within the crater.
Slowly lowering her hand, Alfreda was panting ever so slightly, the adrenaline from earlier beginning to wear off as she processed her current situation. Through the smoke, she could vaguely see the outline of Irene's form.
"It seems this might take some time," Alfreda huffed, as Irene dispelled the smoke with a wave of her hand, completely unharmed, aside from several scuff marks across her clothing as she stood on nothing but thin air, not having even budged despite the half a kilometer deep crater beneath her feet. "Even so, I won't lose!"
"That last attack you just performed was rather annoying," the Spriggan sniffed, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "It appears I have little choice but to show you just why I wield so much power and authority within the Alvarez Empire!"
Extending her right arm outward, Irene's form was enveloped in a golden glow, before vanishing entirely. Alfreda took a step back, feeling another spike in Irene's Magical Power, the Spriggan marching out of the light bearing an entirely new appearance.
Her traditional combat robes were gone, replaced by a sleek and form fitting set of armor. The entire color scheme was a perfect blend of black and scarlet, the armor itself made from what appeared to be the bones and scales of Dragons.
The boots had razor sharp, wing like protrusions coming from the calf area, the tip of the boots also possessing a sharp point. Her legs were covered by a black pair of scale-like chainmail, that was both durable and flexible in design. Her torso was completely encased in a form fitting breastplate that completely protected her bountiful chest and stomach region, connecting perfectly to the claw-like gauntlets she wore.
Around Irene's neck was a scarlet choker with a Lacrima Crystal imbued into it, her ears gaining a set of ornate earrings with miniature Lacrima held within them. And finally, a small black and scarlet circlet sat upon her head, another Lacrima embedded into its center, her scarlet hair free from its usually braided state as it blew regally in the wind behind her.
Extending her right hand, a four meter long, black and scarlet colored claymore materialized already embedded into the earth, a ruby embedded into the pommel of the blade as she yanked it free from the ground and lifted it over her shoulder with one hand.
"W-What the Hell is that!?"
"Requip – Armor Of The Scarlet Despair," Irene declared firmly, pointing the blade at Alfreda as if it weighed no more than a straight sword. "It's been well over a century since I last donned this armor in combat against a foe… But you've forced my hand, Alfreda."
"What is that armor," Alfreda muttered, eyeing it with a mixture of awe and fear. "It feels almost, alien!?"
"That's because this armor wasn't forged through normal means," Irene replied, shaking her head. "No. This armor is all that remains of the former Sage Dragon Monarch Belserion, my mentor and friend!"
"You forged an armor out of your own mentor," Alfreda asked, clearly in disbelief. "You're even more heartless than I gave you credit for. Still, not even a fancy armor like that will be enough to stand up to the might of the power I've gained!"
The Devil's Aura around Alfreda exploded as she began rapidly powering up, her form pulsing before suddenly morphing. Her height quickly grew to thirteen feet, her skin paled to a dark grey color, as a set of three meter long, bat-like wings sprouted from her back.
The Vampire Queen hissed as her hair became start white in coloration, her fangs lengthening as she slowly flapped her wings, rising into the air.
"This is the gift of Vampire Royalty, Irene! This is the mark of a Vampire Lord!"
"Ordinarily I'd praise someone for wielding such an impressive amount of power," Irene replied, shaking her head dismissively. "However, I know for a fact that the power both yourself, and the Vampire King possess, is indeed stolen, not earned. Therefore, you are not truly gifted, and are little more than trash masquerading as someone competent."
"You dare to mock my power now Irene, but you'll sing a much different tune once I have drained the very lifeblood from your veins," Alfreda hissed, extending her right hand outward, as a swarm of bats manifested around her arm.
The bats screeched as the slammed together, quickly forming a pure black blade four meters in length, the blade itself a cross between a rapier and a bastard sword, the hilt possessing a strange ornate marking across it that Irene couldn't decipher.
"Mock me again Irene Belserion, I dare you!"
"I struggle to bring forth the effort to mock trash a second time," the Spriggan sniffed in reply, a sly smirk coming across her face. "But…"
Irene and Alfreda suddenly vanished, reappearing a mere meter in front of one another, their blades cocked back behind them as they both gripped their respective hilts with two hands.
"Devil's Aura: Blood Arts – Sanguine Slasher!"
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Earthshaker!"
The pair clashed with full force, instantly causing the ground beneath them to begin cratering as the land behind them was blasted apart by the residual force behind their respective blows. The two blades pushed back and forth, black and red sparks shooting off of the blades as the pair butt heads.
Irene Belserion (Base Form ASD Requip Largely Suppressed) – 448.3 Billion MPI
Alfreda Quilphort (Vampire Lord Form Full Power) – 452.2 Billion MPI
The pair pushed off of one another, ceasing the clash with a powerful explosion, as Irene instantly performed over thirty slashes in the blink of an eye, immediately putting Alfreda on the defensive as she blocked them all.
"Tch-!"
Alfreda vanished, appearing behind Irene, her blade already mid-thrust as she aimed to stab her from behind. The Spriggan was immediately moving to counter, flicking her blade with a grace and speed no mortal could have possibly accomplished with such a sizeable sword, blocking the strike with the flat of her blade.
Alfreda's strike was knocked off course, as Irene spun around and kicked the Vampire Queen in the head, flipping her completely upside down, her body bouncing back upright. As Irene went for a second kick, the Queen managed to block it with her free forearm, swinging her blade upward as she was sent flying, narrowly missing Irene's face by a hair.
As Irene rushed Alfreda, the Queen performed several flips before flapping her wings and clearing more distance, firing off several city block sized aerial slash attacks at her pursuer. Irene easily cleaved through the first two, barrel rolling over the third as she slid along the ground on one knee, ripping up the ground as she dug her free hand into the surface.
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Silt Shot!"
Flicking up a sudden piece of the earth the size of a skyscraper, the Queen was forced to evade it, not realizing Irene had used it as a means of momentarily getting her to lose focus.
"Damn you Irene-OOF!"
Alfreda was cut off mid curse, as Irene appeared behind her, kicking her in the back as she instantly went from several hundred feet in the air, to striking the earth, forming yet another sizeable crater as tonnes of rock and rubble were thrust to the skies upon her impact.
Not content with merely striking Alfreda, Irene arched her neck as raging fire billowed forth through her grit teeth.
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Blazing Roar!"
Irene unleashed a sea of raging flame down into the newly formed crater, quickly engulfing anything caught within its depths. Dropping back down to the ground, Irene waited near the edge of the crater, knowing full well the fight wasn't over just yet.
And, sure enough, Alfreda emerged once again, shielded by another Crimson Red colored barrier, sustaining next to no injuries, as she landed on the edge of the crater, the raging inferno blazing behind her.
"The amount of damage you've done to our fortress is unacceptable!"
"What did you expect," Irene scoffed, clutching her blade a little tighter. "This is war, remember?"
Alfreda's response was one of action, flapping her wings and flying high into the air, before shooting down toward Irene's position, her blade cocked back to her right, with her left hand pressed up against the pommel.
"Devil's Aura: Blood Arts: Sanguine Puncture!"
Irene immediately performed a back-flip at the last possible moment, right as Alfreda's blade pierced the earth where she'd been standing. From the point of impact, the ground for a one-kilometer circular radius was instantly cracked open, crumbling away as many of the craters across the battlefield finally linked up.
"Just stand still," Alfreda hissed, rushing Irene as the pair began brutally hammering away at one another with their blades, flashing across the battlefield, before clashing once again in midair briefly, before separating and landing just outside the main gates to the castle.
The pair skidded backward, with Alfreda gaining the high ground as she stood in front of the castle gates, and Irene skidding further down the road toward the fortress.
"Let's see how you handle THIS, Belserion," Alfreda hissed, extending her right hand as a black and red sphere manifested within the palm of her left hand.
The Vampire Queen aimed the attack in Irene's direction, the sphere expanding to be several times larger than a house, as she infused it with more and more Blood Magic.
"Devil's Aura: Blood Arts: Sanguine Shell!"
'So, that's what you're up to,' Irene smirked, clasping her blade with both hands as she raised it high above her head. 'This should do…'
Alfreda hissed as she fired the attack, waiting several seconds before preparing another Sanguine Puncture, traveling behind her own attack. Irene wasn't worried though, as her sword began to glow a bright golden coloration.
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Holy Enchant!"
Coating her blade in a golden aura of holy light, Irene brought her blade down with a mighty vertical strike, slicing right through the Sanguine Shell as it veered off to her left and right, exploding and kicking up a significant dust cloud.
The moment Irene felt the tip of her blade touch the ground, she immediately ducked, narrowly avoiding Alfreda's follow up Sanguine Puncture and only losing a few strands of hair.
Placing a hand on the ground, Irene spun around, performing a sweeping kick as she knocked the shocked Queen down flat onto her back, before quickly rising to her feet. Cocking back her sword, Irene attempted to stab Alfreda, but the thrust was narrowly parried off to the slight left of her face, as she flapped her wings and used them to gain a small amount of distance.
Flapping her wings a second time, Alfreda punched the ground with her free fist, knocking herself up into the air slightly as she performed a small roll before landing shakily on her feet. The Vampire Queen immediately dropped to one knee however, panting heavily as she glared up at Irene through the smoke and dust surrounding them.
"This…I don't…I can't…!"
"Face it," Irene huffed, waving her hand as wind instantly blasted the smoke and dust away, revealing what little remained of the fortress. "You stand no chance against me Alfreda, even with the power of Aura on your side!"
"BULLSHIT," Alfreda spat, shakily rising to her feet. "The power of Aura… I can feel it flowing through me, empowering my every movement far beyond that of the weak and feeble mortals! This is my power! MINE! I refuse to lose against you, a bootlicker of the Emperor!"
"Its rather ironic you claim to despise me because I lick the boots of the Emperor, yet here you are, doing the exact same thing for the Vampire King," Irene pointed out, clearly amused at the Queen's furious glare. "Did I hit a nerve Alfreda? Am I wrong in what I'm seeing here?"
"You know NOTHING about what I'm doing here-!"
"I know enough to paint a portrait that depicts you, on your knees, sucking your King in exchange for a power that you shouldn't even have," Irene replied cruelly, licking her lips as all life drained from her scarlet eyes. "So, by all means, continue to demonstrate what all that hard throat action earned you Alfreda… Just don't be surprised when your knees give out at the end of it all."
"Resorting to such petty insults Irene? Really? Do you really expect me to take you seriously when-!?"
Alfreda instantly turned into a swarm of bats, sensing absolute malice radiating from Irene, who simply stood there smirking, her blade extended out to her far right as it hummed with scarlet energy.
"Take this like a good little whore Alfreda… Cleave my blade! Black Arts – Noiresleb!"
Alfreda watched in horror as Irene unleashed an attack brimming with Black Magic, firing off a vertical aerial slash attack that not only cleaved its way through everything in its path, but also stripped the very life out of everything within a ten-meter radius. Both animate and inanimate object alike.
The Vampire Queen could do nothing as the attack sliced the entire palace clean in half, the colossal structure she and her Husband toiled hard to build beginning to collapse due to the sudden shift in its balance and weight.
"NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE," Alfreda screeched, as the Black Magic imbued into the attack began to erode the area around the split, causing irreparable damage. "You… I'll make you pay for damaging my castle-!"
Alfreda was silenced as Irene let loose an ear drum shattering roar, the sheer volume so deafening that it had the Vampire Queen dropping to her knees and clutching her sensitive ears in agony.
Despite being in Human form, Irene's roar was that of an aged Dragon. None could deny her lineage now, not when she nearly deafened everyone present at the Vampire's fortress.
"T-This is unreal… For all those years I knew you," Alfreda whispered, her grip tightening over her blade as Irene stalked toward her, a soulless smirk on her face as she prepared to slash at her again. "Not once did I ever suspect you held this kind of power!?"
Taking several steps backward, the Queen paused, feeling the edge of a ravine that had opened up behind her during their battle. Looking back toward Irene, the Vampire Queen steeled herself.
"Well, I knew I'd one day have to put it all on the line when I defected from Alvarez," Alfreda murmured. "It appears my time has come!"
The Vampire Queen's right leg slid backward, her left bending slightly, as she moved her left arm out to a forty-five-degree angle, and her right was pointed directly upward to the sky. Once she assumed this stance, a Blood Red Magic Circle appeared around her body, as twenty-four more manifested in the skies high above the battlefield, as Alfreda's Magical Power began rapidly increasing.
Irene paused in her advance, immediately analyzing what Alfreda was doing, quickly realizing the Magic Circles above weren't aimed in her direction, as they began rapidly spinning in an anti-clockwise motion.
"Feel my full power Irene," Alfreda roared, her body beginning to convulse violently, her voice becoming much deeper, with a strange echo to it. "Come and learn to fear the might of the Vampire Lords!"
As the effect of the Magic Circles finally took place, the skies above slowly darkened, blocking out the moon, replacing it with just a single Blood Moon that glowed ominously down upon the Vampire fortress.
Alfreda's body rapidly grew, the woman screaming in what seemed to be pain, as she eventually towered over even the collapsing palace itself. Irene watched her do so with a neutral gaze, clearly unimpressed by what she was seeing.
As for Alfreda herself, she no longer resembled a Human being, having become much more akin to a giant bat-like humanoid with fifty-meter-long wings, towering over the battlefield at a startling eight hundred feet tall.
"Devil's Aura: Twenty-Five Layered Blood Magic Circle – Vampire Lord's Subjugation!"
Irene looked up at the feral entity that stood before her now, its voice sounding little different to the Demons Zeref often discarded out in the world. This giant bat-like creature was no longer Alfreda Quilphort in her eyes…
This was nothing more than a pest that stood in her way.
Alfreda Quilphort (Devil's Aura Vampire Lord's Subjugation Full Power Straining) – 612 Billion MPI
The creature let loose a screeching roar as it looked down at Irene, charging up a massive breath attack between its gaping maw. Irene didn't even bother to move, her glare so fixated on what Alfreda had become.
Firing its attack, Irene simply slid into a ready stance with her blade, holding it slightly out to her right until the massive attack was within a hundred metres of her position. And then, with one upward slash, Irene cleaved the attack in two, firing off a scarlet-colored aerial slash attack that tore a gaping hole into the creature's face as it stumbled backward, screeching in agony.
"Now I'm angry," Irene murmured, extending her free hand outward as she conjured a golden Magic Circle with her free hand, whilst beginning to walk toward the stumbling form of Alfreda.
As she walked, Magic Power erupted from her form, shaking not just the fortress, but the entire continent of Draconia. The Scarlet Despair of the Alvarez Empire had been truly angered, which led to only one possible outcome…
Irene Belserion (Base Form Suppressed) – 1.1 Trillion MPI
"Sage Dragon Monarch's Deus Geminae Sema!"
In an instant, the hulking form of Alfreda screeched as it was struck in the side of the face by an asteroid, falling onto its side before screeching again as a second one smashed into its left leg, blowing it cleanly off.
The form of Alfreda then screeched one final time as its torso and back were suddenly blasted into paste, her internals being turned into a fine red mist. The form of Alfreda shuddered slightly, before slowly rolling to its final resting place, blowing some of the red mist and smoke away.
There, marching through the carnage, was a blood-soaked Irene. Her gaze was hard, her eyes seemingly looking at something far beyond the current battlefield as she came to a stop before Alfreda's corpse.
Placing her blade into the dirt, the entire continent shook as the earth around Alfreda's corpse opened up, devouring it whole. All the while, Irene stared ahead, her thoughts elsewhere, as she recalled the woman Alfreda had once been.
Another example…of her failure.
*POTD*
"Damn… Is it over," Brandish murmured, as she popped her head out of their little hiding spot out in the hills surrounding the Vampire fortress.
"Looks like Lady Irene won," Yasmin joked, placing Seilah down on the ground next to them. "You got seriously lucky we saw you as we were legging it!"
"In my defence, I didn't think Irene would go that far," Seilah shrugged in reply, refusing to move. "Plus, my head hurts. So bleh."
Brandish snorted as Seilah's tongue gently poked out between her lips, mocking Yasmin playfully. It was rather amusing to see a Demon joke around, let alone have an actual sense of humor.
"Yasmin?"
"What?"
"You should go check on Lady Irene," Brandish suggested. "I'll look after Seilah."
"Fine. I am the fastest between the two of us," the Leichart Mage sighed, as she leapt out of their hiding spot, making a break for the massive hole that had been torn into the fortress by Irene.
Sprinting out across the scarred wasteland, Yasmin quickly arrived at Irene's position, finding her standing there, staring off into space.
"Lady Irene?"
"…"
"Lady Irene," Yasmin repeated, receiving no response. "Strange… She still has plenty of Magic, her vitals seem good, and she's uninjured? So then why is she-?"
"Such power… Such beautiful destruction, all from one single woman," a new voice chimed in directly behind Yasmin, prompting her to immediately spin around, finding no one. "You, not so much."
Spinning back around again, Yasmin froze as she came face to face with the man whom they had been hunting this entire time…
The Vampire King.
The man stood a little over five foot five, had long blonde hair with his bangs covering his right eye, obscuring it from view. He wore a white pinstripe suit with a white overcoat, and a black neck tie that bore a red gem in it.
The man smirked, his visible eye glowing Crimson Red as he slowly strolled past Irene and looked into the darkness deep below. He then looked back over his shoulder, revealing his other eye to be a golden coloration.
"I felt the death of Alfreda through the bond I had forged with her," the Vampire King spoke, the same strange, strong accent lining his words as the other Vampires they'd spoken with. "I did not foresee her death to be quite so…extravagant, though?"
"Are you here to take revenge for Irene killing her," Yasmin asked cautiously, slowly moving to stand between Irene and the Vampire King. "If so…"
"Du bist amüsant," the Vampire King laughed in reply, speaking in the strange language she didn't know or understand. "Why would I do something like that!?"
"W-What!?"
"Ehrlich gesagt... Es ist, als würde man mit einem Säugling sprechen…"
"What the Hell are you saying!?"
"It doesn't matter," the Vampire King replied, waving her off in a dismissive manner. "What does matter, is that you've all amused me. I'm glad to see war thrives in this world, just as it did my own! Alucard likely agrees, though he also likely wouldn't admit it to you."
"What's your point? What do you want with us here, and now!?"
"You in particular," the Vampire King smirked. "Well, I can think of a few things for you and your…less talented friends to do?"
The Vampire King reached into his right coat pocket and withdrew a remote with a rather comically large red button at the center of it.
"I've always wanted one of these you know? To push the great big threatening button and watch everything explode… Oh, it is the dream all greater men aspire for…"
Pressing the button, the entire area shook violently, as the Vampire King examined Irene one final time, before looking back toward the castle in the distance.
"It appears we're about to all meet our final makers! I don't apologize, but I need to be uninterrupted for what I have planned," the Vampire King smirked. "Enjoy my little toys! Auf Wiedersehen!"
The Vampire King vanished, leaving Yasmin and Irene alone as the ground around them continued to shake. Looking toward Irene, Yasmin noticed she was perilously close to the abyss just ahead, and decided to take a risk.
Scooping up Irene in her arms, despite her current size, weight, and the fact she was technically still conscious, she sprinted away from the massive hole, making her way back up to higher ground so she could see just what was going on.
Upon reaching the top, she really wished she hadn't.
"Does that Vampire King have a hard on for war or something," the Leichart member snapped, clearly in disbelief in what she was witnessing. "What the actual fuck!?"
Ahead of her, half the mountain range had suddenly started to move of its own accord, sprouting legs and rising up to tower over the area. The mountain range then split off into twelve separate entities, as hulking barrels began slowly emerging from their core.
To any Mage from the civilized lands, they knew that weapon all too well…
"Mobile Jupiter Cannons," Yasmin whispered, watching as another mountain range rose up, doing the exact same motions as the first, making it twenty-four in total.
"Jupiter Cannon Mark II's to be more precise dear," Eliza chimed in, popping in next to Yasmin, startling her out of her shocked stupor.
"L-Lady Eliza!"
"No need to worry about Brandish and Seilah, I moved them before the mountains started splitting," Eliza continued, looking down at Irene thoughtfully. "She won't be doing any more fighting."
"W-What!? Do you know what's wrong with Lady Irene!?"
"She's thinking… Well, reminiscing I should say," Eliza replied knowingly. "When Dragons recall memories during times of sadness or mourning, they simply just stop and remain in one place until it passes. Not really all that surprising Irene stopped after slaying one of her students whom she trained from near infancy."
"O-Oh…"
"Anyway, I'm going to send you where I sent Seilah and Brandish," Eliza continued, looking down at the numerous Jupiter Cannons. "Unlike the Vampire King and Queen, I can interfere here…"
"I see. Well, we can definitely count on you to put a stop to them Lady Eliza," Yasmin nodded stiffly. "Send me over to the others!"
"Of course," Eliza smiled, opening up a portal for Yasmin, who walked through with the lucid Irene, before quickly closing it once more. "Now then… About time I got to have some actual fun…"
*POTD*
Natsu and Alucard stood atop the ruined castle, surveying the battlefield.
The pair had just barely begun searching the place for the Vampire King when Irene's attack split the place clean in two, forcing them to quickly vacate and wait out the full effects of her attack on the building.
As a result, the pair had front row seats to her butchering of the Vampire Queen.
"Well, that certainly went well," Alucard smirked, drawing both Jackal and Casull. "But now it's our turn, don't you think?"
"Agreed. Hopefully we can find this guy in amongst all this mess," Natsu replied, shaking his head, as the pair leapt down through a collapsed section of the roof and into what appeared to be the ruined throne room.
It took the pair less than thirty seconds to find the side exit, the trail of Aura almost making it too obvious. The pair, naturally, descended the spiral staircase, not too worried about being caught off guard, as they were both Devil Representatives.
Once they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, they came out in a large, underground cavern. The place seemed wholly unaffected by the battles on the surface, the structures still completely intact.
"Stay alert Natsu," Alucard muttered quietly. "Though he's fat, he's more inclined to sneak attacks than direct confrontation. So stay on your guard…"
Natsu nodded silently as the pair entered the ruins, which appeared to have once been home to some sort of ancient civilization that worshiped fire. As Natsu cleared some dust from one mural, he raised an eyebrow at a mural depicting what appeared to be a man wielding a lightning bolt in his left hand striking down a Dragon.
"Curious," Natsu heard Igneel mumble from deep within his mind, as the pair moved on to the largest structure situated at the back of the ruins, a large church.
Natsu and Alucard were about to enter the structure, when a loud voice from behind them put the pair on immediate alert.
"WAIT! DO NOT ENTER THE FORBIDDEN SANCTUM!"
Natsu and Alucard were surprised when one of the bug-like creatures sprinted toward them, waving its arms frantically as it clicked erratically.
"Why can't we enter," Natsu asked slowly, as the bug creature dropped to its knees before them.
"You must never enter that place! The fanged King, its exactly what he wants," the bug-like creature replied hastily. "The trap of all traps lies within!"
"And I'm guessing you know what this trap is, yes," Alucard asked, the bug-like creature hastily replying.
"He spoke of it being a thing from long ago! A being that must never be woken, for it has stood vigil for countless lifetimes… Watching, and waiting…"
"Interesting…"
"He said it was a being that stood in a chaotic time, before Gods and Devils roamed the immortal planes," the creature continued, as all traces of amusement vanished from Alucard's face.
"What?"
"Yes yes! It is a being that still serves the old way, so the fanged King says!"
"Are you certain he said this," Alucard asked sternly, with the bug creature nodding frantically. "I see… Then, I'm sorry."
Faster than Natsu could react, Alucard shot the bug-like creature in the head, blasting it to bits before it even knew what was happening.
"What the fuck!?"
"We have to go in there Natsu," Alucard replied, ignoring the corpse as he turned to face the entrance to the church.
"But did you have to shoot that thing!? It was helping us-?"
"We must enter this church at all costs Natsu," Alucard hissed in reply. "Inside that church, if that creature was truthful, is an entity that should no longer exist…"
Natsu scowled, but nodded his head, opting to let Alucard take the lead. After all, the Vampire was being dead serious for once, which meant that it likely was something truly dangerous.
The pair entered the dimly lit church, with Alucard pausing at the beginning of the pews, eyes wide. Suddenly, a bout of laughter interrupted them, causing both of them to look up toward the second floor, where the Vampire King stood, clapping his hands.
"I see you've finally found me after all these years Alucard! Hallo nochmal, alter Freund!"
"Hello again to you too…Major."
The Supreme Commander Of Millennium
The Acting Fuhrer Of A Dying Reich
The Vampire King Of Draconia
The Eternal War Machine
The Major
Montina Max
"Oh my, this is simply wonderful isn't it!? How many decades has it been since we last crossed paths Alucard!? Fifty!? Sixty," the Major asked excitedly. "Oh, but where are my manners!? Welcome, herr Dragneel, Lord of this Reality!"
"You aren't welcome, now get out," Natsu replied coldly, eliciting an amused chuckle from the man.
"Now now, no need to be so frosty toward me! After all, I am your senior in matters such as these," the man replied, clearly amused as he vanished and reappeared next to the statue kneeling at the church altar. "In fact, you'd be more green than Fräulein Seras Victoria, wouldn't he, Alucard-!?"
"Leave Seras out of this," Alucard snarled, aiming both Jackal and Casull at the man, who merely laughed.
"Alucard Alucard… Time and time again we go through this same song and dance, do we not? Do you really believe me so foolish as to stand before you today, even with your power in my own hands, and not be prepared?"
"Didn't help you all the other times," the Vampire shot back, eliciting an amused chuckle from the man.
"Ah, how I've missed this. You and I, standing opposite one another, locked in an eternal struggle! However! This time, I'm not just limited to a cyborg proxy, or a hologram… No, this time, I can stand before you… IN THE FLESH," the Major hissed gleefully, much to Alucard's disgust.
"You despised the Vampire blood Major? Why claim it for yourself now after all the time you've spent trying to eliminate me? That is the one question I actually have that bears no logical answer…?"
"The answer is simple Alucard! I came to the realization after our last bout that the only true way I could defeat you…is to BECOME you! If I cannot destroy you using technology and science, or the power of other Vampires and other creatures of myth, then the way is clear! To slay the Devil, one must be prepared to take up the mantle, to fill his place, so to speak!"
"And in doing so, you've built yourself up a new war machine using my own powers," Alucard muttered darkly in response. "Normally, I'd be excited to fight a battle like this. But not this time… This one's personal Major."
"Ah yes, how could I forget," the Major grinned sadistically, extending his arms outward. "How is Seras by the way?"
"She didn't deserve what you did to her," Alucard growled in response, the Crimson glow in his eyes morphing Blood Red. "Seras may not have been the Ultimate Vampire like I, but she was the example of what we should have always become. Or, she was, until you ruined her, Major. You tore her pure nature away from her, twisting her into something she never should have been! TURNED HER INTO ANOTHER ME-!"
"-AND WHAT A GLORIOUS TRANSFORMATION IT WAS," the Major crowed gleefully. "What's wrong with what she became? I thought you always wanted her to be more like a traditional Vampire Alucard? I merely gave you what you always wanted, didn't I?"
Alucard grit his teeth but said nothing, as the Major turned his attention toward Natsu.
"As for you, I'm afraid there simply isn't a place for you in our little quarrel. But fear not, for I have a suitable candidate who can quite easily subdue you in my stead!"
It didn't take a genius for Natsu to know what the Major was talking about, as his eyes slowly moved toward the kneeling statue of the strange looking knight. A strange blackish substance seemed to ooze out of it, as the statue suddenly began to move.
"This isn't good," Igneel muttered darkly, as the kneeling knight slowly rose from its kneeling position, a powerful dark aura enveloping its form as it grabbed onto the lance that had been impaled into the ground at its side.
"Tell me something I don't know," Natsu shot back, looking back to his right to find Alucard and the Major had vanished. "Well shit…"
"The being before you…I know it well," Igneel spoke, as it yanked its lance free from the earth, twirling it expertly, as it turned to face Natsu directly. "To put it bluntly, that is a being created to slay Dragons."
"Come again?"
"It was made long ago, back when Gods and Devils were still rising up," Igneel explained, as the figure pointed its lance in Natsu's direction, as he felt a drastic surge of power. "This construct was made by the Titans, the race that preceded Gods and Devils, and was designed to subdue the Dragons, who sided against them."
The entire area began to shake as the entity let out a strange echoing battle cry, spinning its lance into a ready stance.
An Entity Long Thought Forgotten
A Relic From A Bygone Era
The Bane Of All Dragons
Servant Of The Titans
The Old Dragonslayer
Natsu could sense the malice within the being before him, as the blackish aura enveloped its entire form, the surges of lightning increasing in their intensity as it continued to power up.
"He can sense both your own Dragon lineage, as well as me sealed within you Natsu," Igneel continued, as Natsu entered a defensive stance. "We have no choice but to fight and destroy this thing. None of the other Dragon Slayers back on Ishgar could even scratch this thing."
"I get it Igneel," Natsu sighed, as he steeled himself for the fight to come. "Hopefully this thing is rusty after being stagnant for thousands of years, right?"
Internally, Natsu knew the construct wouldn't be, and that he'd need to finally push his newfound powers in order to claim victory over the construct. He only hoped he could get it done without nearly dying, like he so often did.
But somehow…he doubted it.