"Are you sure it was okay to let them go like that?" Zalen asked Cynthia while rubbing the back of his head.
"Of course it is!" Cynthia replied with a firm nod. "They've got a big squad, right? Plus, I have to find Wendy and the others!"
"Geez, you're really attached to her, aren't you?" Zalen asked while adjusting his glasses. "You know she can take care of herself, right?"
"Of course!" Cynthia huffed, crossing her arms with a pout. "She's my best friend! Not to mention there's something that's been bothering me about this base since we've been here…"
"And what's that?" Zalen inquired.
"Well…why is it so big? There are less than ten of them total, right? In fact, they've even been losing people since they started fighting us. Tia, Jack...I don't understand why they need a base so big for so few people…" Cynthia pondered while tilting her head to the side.
"That's a good point…" Zalen admitted with the nod of his head. "I've noticed that this place is quite large for a few people. I understand that they have monsters somewhere, but there would still be a lot less space even so…"
"Exactly!" Cynthia nodded. "There must be some big thing they have hidden around here! I say we go look for it."
.
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"Hm…" King continued to shuffle his deck, though he was looking more at the cards in his hand than anything else.
"You seem to be uneasy about something?" Heartless asked, rolling her shoulder from her injuries in her battle with Lucy, Aira, and Juvia.
"As I mentioned before, I'm missing one of my cards…" King grumbled.
"Ew, I know how that goes…actually I don't because I'm not careless…" Cana commented, though King let it slide and ignored her.
"The Elemental Wild Card, as you know…" King reminded Heartless and Joker.
"Wha…!?" Cana's eyes widened at the name, squirming as she tried to get up to her feet despite being tied up. "How did you get ahold of that!? There's only one in Earthland!"
"When you have as much power as I, anything is within your grasp," King replied. "That said, I am something of a avid collector!" King placed a hand upon his chest and chuckled, looking at Cana for a moment. "You are a card mage, so I'm sure you understand this, if nothing else." Oddly enough, despite the current situation, there was a weird kinship, one that Cana found disgusting.
"I'd rather have nothing in common with you..." Cana gagged. Just sharing a similar magic to King was enough to make her skin crawl. As she said that, King snapped his fingers. Heartless stepped forward to Cana, pulling her deck of cards out of her pants pocket.
"Hey, hands off!" Cana snarled.
Heartless handed Cana's cards over to King, and he observed them. Eventually, his expression simply fell and he shook his head in disappointment. "I don't know what I was expecting. I should not be surprised that a mediocre wizard like yourself possesses such lackluster cards."
"You really piss me off, you know that!?" Cana scowled. If Joker or Heartless weren't staring her down, she knew for a fact she could punch that smugness right off King's face!
"I have collected many rare cards for my personal enjoyment! But the Elemental Wild Card, as you know, is perhaps the most difficult I could have obtained. Though…it has somehow vanished…If any of your friends happened to find it, I'm afraid I'm going to have to personally rip it from their cold dead hands…"
"Like they would…" Cana started, but then she had a flashback.
{Flash back: Council Ball}
"That was odd…" Lucy said while rubbing the back of her head, staring at the strange card the male gave her.
"What'cha got there?" Cana nosily asked, looking over Lucy's shoulder. She was clearly drunk so she almost publically groped the celestial blonde, too.
"W-Wha…!" Lucy scooted forward, face red with embarrassment at what almost happened. "C-Cana! You can't do that! Especially in public…! And you're drunk…"
"What else is new?" Cana asked while swaying from side to side.
"Ah…" Lucy let out a sigh before showing Cana the card. "Some fancy guy gave this to me…he said it was a wild care of some sort, but I have no idea how to even use it…"
"That card looks familiar…" The brunette slurred.
"You need to sober up for a bit before making any decisions…" Lucy said while leading Cana to a chair.
{End Flashback}
"..." Cana was trying to keep a calm expression. But she couldn't help how this moment of realization struck like a lightning bolt. This was the one time she really wished she didn't remember anything while drunk.
"I think she knows something, King," Joker said, reading Cana's expression like an open book.
"You think so, do you?" King asked while narrowing his eyes at Cana.
"I don't know anything," Cana hastily replied, realizing how much danger Lucy was in. She had to hold them off until some help arrived…or something.
"We'll see about that…" Joker said while cracking his knuckles.
"Tch," The drunk scoffed at Joker, giving him a challenging look. "Killing me isn't going to get you anywhere, you know. I don't know anything."
"Who said anything about killing you?" King merely chuckled at Cana's statement. "We have other ways of loosening your lips, dear girl. I'm not so foolish enough to have someone who potentially holds information die, who does that?" After questioning this, he snapped his fingers and pointed to Joker. "Joker, it's time for a little interrogation. Find out who holds that Elemental Wild Card, it cannot be in their grasp."
"As you wish, King," Joker nodded, and then began to walk towards Cana in a slow, menacing fashion.
"Shit..." Cana's eyes were wide. This was...far from an ideal situation right now.
"King." As Joker approached a frightened Cana, Heartless had some sort of screen pulled up. "It appears our transmission was intercepted. Someone decided to track our location."
"Oh?" King looked towards Heartless. "By whom?"
"The interception point comes from...Seven's Castle."
.
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"Doesn't seem like there anyone around…" Mirajane said while looking around the surface of Nirvana. "I saw Spade here, but he vanished…"
"He must've gone deeper inside!" Chelia nodded. "We should split up and go after him!"
"No," Evanee quickly and sharply cut Chelia off. "We're not here to chase him, he's second priority, little girl," Evanee's tone caused Chelia to cower a bit, a comical sweat drop appearing on the side of her head. "We're here to stop this thing from destroying everyone else within the base. So if we're to split up, we do it to take out the six legs."
"Straight to the point as always," Rylo chuckled. "Don't worry, she's always like this. It's not just you." He said to reassure Chelia that she wasn't being picked on. "You'd know if she didn't like you."
"Good to know…" Chelia replied while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.
"What are the groups going to be?" Kairi asked. "We don't have that much time to stand around and twiddle our thumbs."
"She's correct…" Flynn said with a nod.
"Okay, here's how we're splitting up," Evanee said while taking the lead.
.
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"Hm…" Spade grumbled while walking in the interior of Nirvana. He had visual lacrima placed all around so he could keep tabs on everyone who boarded. "So, they split up into groups as predicted. Now then…" He scrolled through the groups, noting six in total. "Evanee and Rylo; Blue Pegasus; Alexander and Taranis; Adacore and Flynn; Ceaser, Mirajane and Kairi; and lastly Melanie and Chelia. Interesting…" Spade tapped his chin with his index finger. "Dealing with all of them at once is impossible…and Minerva has little interest within this group. Perhaps there is another way…Ah ha!" A light bulb went off in his head, a sinister grin soon forming on his lips. He took off, looking for higher ground before beginning his plot. "There's no other way to deal with a large group of people than…"
.
.
Mirajane, Ceaser, and Kairi took the southeast leg, walking down the rocky, empty corridor with extreme caution. "Lucy told me about this place…" Mirajane started while looking around at the walls. "She told me that each leg has a really long hallway before actually reaching the unit."
"Is that so?" Ceaser asked with a curious expression.
"That's right. So we may want to pick up the pace a little bit if we're to stop this thing in time. We probably have about 15 minutes now that we've actually landed," Mirajane replied with a nod.
"I'm thankful those fruit cakes were able to buy us this time…" Kairi said with a sigh.
"Fruit cakes…I could really go for one of those right now…" Ceaser said, obviously getting lost within his own train of thought, but that didn't even last long as he went to think about something else. "Did I ever turn off the stove…?"
"Oh for the love of…" Kairi started with a facepalm.
"Ne, Ceaser…" Mirajane interrupted the Twilight Zone mage with a soft smile. "Do try and focus on the objective, okay? It'll most likely take all three of us to take it down, so we need your full attention."
"Of course, shorty!" Ceaser replied with a large grin. That being said, the three entered the large room; in the center of the large room was the new and improved magic generator. "Is that it…?"
"Looks like it," Kairi nodded. "Well then…" A magic seal formed over the mage, and she entered her Angel Soul takeover. "Shall we begin?"
"We can't be too hasty now…" Mirajane replied as a magic seal formed over her, and she entered her Satan Soul takeover, while Ceaser entered his Horus takeover, gripping the large blade in one hand. "We have to take them out at about roughly the same time. So, we have to make sure that everyone is in position first."
"Hm…That's strange…" Ceaser said while stroking his chin. "We're in the enemy's home front, yet there's only Spade around and he hasn't done a single thing to stop us. Or am I just crazy in thinking that?"
"Huh…" Kairi blinked a few times, realizing that Ceaser was absolutely correct. "You're right…maybe he just can't deal with us all at the same time now that we've split off?"
"Perhaps…" Mirajane nodded, pointing a hand at the magic sphere in the middle of the room. "I'm going to see just how durable this thing really is. It won't work out well if it turns out all of us attacking at once doesn't break it." Once saying this, she fired off a weak beam of dark magic towards the sphere. It exploded upon contact, and when the smoke cleared the sphere was glowing a bright rainbow color, the room beginning to shake slightly. "Huh…?"
"That…doesn't look safe." Kairi said while stepping back.
.
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"The best way to deal with a group of people…" Spade continued while sitting on high ground, grinning as he activated one of Nirvana's special powers. "Is to have them take each other out!" As he exclaimed this, each leg let out a powerful shockwave, though there was no actual damage done to anyone. Spade chuckled, rubbing his hands together in an excited fashion, quickly checking the lacrima cameras he had posted to see how it affected everyone.
"Spade." King's voice came through the communication device. "There is a distinct lack of firing going on."
"There is a bit of a snag, but don't worry. I'm handling it!" Spade replied with a sweat drop. He needed this to work...
"I want you to do something else." King said. "I want you to fire at Seven's Castle."
"W-What?" Spade blinked. He was only going to get another shot off soon. "Sir?"
"Heh. Surprised, are you? That's right. I want you to fire at Queen Vena herself. That woman is a warrior at heart. I have no doubt she is debating whether or not to pursue us or not right now." King explained. "So, take aim at Seven castle. It is about time we display another show of force!"
"What do you expect to happen, sir?" Spade asked.
"One of two things! If Queen Vena is present at the castle, I expect her to protect it with all her might. If she isn't there...then Seven will suffer it's greatest loss yet! Hohohohoho!" King laughed. "I trust you to handle your two missions. I am only asking two things of you, Spade. So you had best succeed, do I make myself clear?"
"Y-Yes sir!" Spade nodded. Great. Now he had to fire upon Seven's Castle, and Dealer's own base. The pressure was quickly piling up, but he had no choice but to follow through with it. He checked Nirvana's status. It was ready to fire again. He needed the intruders to deal with each other and buy him enough time to fire the cannon twice.
.
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"That shockwave was weird…" Taranis said while shaking his head, looking at Alexander. "Yo, you okay?"
"I'm fine," Alexander replied while continuing to walk forward. "I don't know what the purpose of that was but I'm sure the others are fine."
"You're in a different mood today," Taranis pointed out with a nonchalant shrug; not that he really cared, he just noticed.
"That's because…" Alexander began as he and Taranis walked into the room. Standing in front of the generator was none other than Minerva, who was resting her hand on her hip with the usual smug grin she always wore. "There you are."
"Oh, look what the flying trash brought in…" Minerva chuckled condescendingly towards the pair of mages.
"So you've managed to run your way all the way here? How expected…" Alexander replied while entering a stance, along with Taranis. But he was scowling at him as well. "It was you who killed our master, wasn't it!?"
"Me?" Minerva lifted a brow, then let out such a heavy, dramatic sigh. "I wish. I wanted to play with him a little more. But before I even had the chance, Joker found it apt to kill him with his own hands. It was quite annoying."
"Annoying?!" Taranis growled. "You bitch. You attack our home and call it annoying?"
"You don't have a home anymore." Minerva replied callously.
"You..." Alexander clenched his hand into a fist.
"I regret taking you under my wing." Minerva looked towards Alexander. "I thought you would be something great. But instead, you turned into a disappointment, just like the rest of Sabertooth. In this case, I have to rectify my mistake."
"We don't have the time for your little family squabble…" Taranis sneered towards Alexander while keeping his focus on Minerva. "We have to take out this thing, remember?"
"I'm afraid you won't be doing such a thing until you beat me, if you two can, that is." Minerva responded while extending her hands, War God magic beginning to surround them. "After you two, I'll make way to Scarlet so I can finish her off as well."
.
.
"What the hell was that…!?" Kairi asked, frantically looking around, though nothing changed. She didn't feel any different. "…No, seriously…what was that? I don't feel anything…"
"Same here…" Ceaser nodded in agreement, inspecting each and every limb before shrugging. "Yeah…I'm just as okay as you are, Shorty. How about you?" He called over to Mirajane, who didn't seem to move an inch after the strange shockwave. "Uh…hello?"
"Mirajane?" Kairi raised a confused brow at Mirajane's lack of a response. "You're okay, right? That weird shockwave didn't do anything to you, did it?"
"…" Mirajane remained silent for a moment before slowly turning around; a black aura seeping out from her body. She grinned evilly, licking her lips at the pair before her. "My, my…I can't let such an opportunity pass me by…" There was a demonic echo in her voice, and it was certainly far from the Mirajane everyone knew and loved.
"What are you talking about, Shorty?" Ceaser asked while taking a small step back. "Is she okay?"
"Something's not right here…" Kairi narrowed her eyes while taking a step back. "This isn't good…that shockwave must've done something to her."
"Why are you backing away?" Mirajane asked as her wings spread out. "Come here!" She then flew towards with blinding speed, reaching Ceaser within a second with a roundhouse kick. She kicked the male away before shifting to Kairi, using the same leg to strike the angel in the chest, sending her in the opposite direction away from Ceaser. "Don't struggle, it'll make things far easier…"
"I don't think that's Mirajane…" Kairi said while standing up quickly, hunched over slightly from the kick she just took. Before she knew it, a magic seal appeared before her. "…!" she crossed her arms as an invisible force pushed her away roughly; her feet skidded through the floor as she was pushed back a few feet. "Agh…"
"I got you!" Ceaser exclaimed while leaping high into the air, raising his sword above his head. He then brought down the huge blade in attempt to slash Mirajane's back and bring her back to her senses, but she easily dodged this by leaning to the side, allowing the giant sword crash into the ground. "..!"
"Pathetic…" Mirajane cooed while placing her hands out by her sides, gathering darkness magic in the palm of her hands. "Demon Blast!" After exclaiming this, the dark magic shot out from her hands and raced towards Kairi and Ceaser. The blasts exploded on contact, creating a cloud of smoke around them. "Is that it?" Though her questioned was quickly answered. Kairi charged in from the smoke quickly with an elbow to Mirajane's stomach, causing the demon to hunch over, while Ceaser followed up with a back handed strike with the blunt side of his sword right to Mirajane's temple, sending her rolling across the ground.
"We're on your side, remember?!" Kairi shouted.
"Hm…" Mirajane stood up rather quickly, sharply rolling her neck to pop it. After she did so, a sweet, but demonic smile appeared on her lips. "Oh yes…this is going to be fun."
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Vena narrowed her eyes. She could see a faint glint of light shimmering in the distance. "What is that...?"
"My lady!" One of the servants hastily hurried to her. "A large mass of magic is pointing in our direction! I believe we are about to be fired upon!"
To this, Vena's eyes widened. King would go that far!? No, of course he would. He made an example out of Fiore, and now he was planning to do the same to her!? After this brief moment of shock passed, an expression of anger and confidence appeared on the Queen's face. "Is that how he intends to do things? Very well, King. I'll play your game."
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Melanie: "What's going on!? Why is everyone turning on each other!?"
Evanee: "You idiots, we don't have time for this…"
Spade: "There's no use stopping it now!"
Next time: Nirvana Brawl!