Ninety chapters? I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for this story, I'm surprised I've stayed dedicated for so long. And this arc, give or take a few up or down, may be over by 96.
Enjoy!
Ultear was no genius, but she figured looping around the pillar of magic was her best bet. After going through puberty in the span of several seconds more than once, Ultear was exhausted. Not too mention she still could feel the effects of Maya's magic, only slowing her more. She was almost to the airship crash site, she was now just following the path of devastation it took while sliding along the ground. She could see the edges of it poking up and as she reached the crash site, she was greeted by the site of everyone looking terrible. She noted that Drake was here, a wounded Crime Sociere.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Ultear asked, trying not to collapse as she reached the area. Someone had obviously dragged them from the wreckage and bandaged them up, but who? "Hello? Anyone?"
"Another fairy?" Ultear jumped and turned to she a girl with purple hair sitting under a bent piece of metal, watching her curiously.
"Who the hell are you?" Ultear asked, not prepared to fight anyone. Before either of them could answer, a crashing sound and a roar of anger could be heard from the wreckage.
"Mavis above!" A recognizable voice shouted. "Azzie! Come here and help me with this!" The girl, Ultear resumed her name was Azzie, rolled her eyes.
"Damien-sama." She called back, "We have a visitor."
"Shit, is it Taisho?"
"No." Azzie gestured at Ultear, who cleared her throat.
"Get out here, Dreyar!" Ultear shouted, "Let me see you!"
"Ul?!" Rummaging could be heard, and Damien jumped down and strode towards Ultear, wrapping her in a bone crushing hug. One that she happily returned. "Mavis, I'm glad you're okay! Did you have to fight anyone?"
"Yeah." Ultear replied, raising a hand to slightly above her chest. "Some white haired girl, about this high."
"Maya-sama." Azzie said, crossing her arms. "I suppose it was no easy fight.
"It wasn't, uh...?" Ultear trailed off, hoping to clarify the name of the girl. Damien chuckled.
"Ul, that's Azzie." he said, introducing them officially. "She brought Drake back over here." Azzie smiled weakly and held out a hand, one that Ultear shook. Until, however, she noticed the guild mark that rested on the girls stomach, which caused her to jump back.
"Damien, you idiot!" Ultear shouted angrily, punching him in the chest. "She's the enemy!"
"Former." Damien replied, surprising Ultear.
"Ha?"
"Former enemy." Damien repeated, gesturing back at Azzie. A better look confirmed the girl was wounded badly. Not enough to hinder her movements, but badly. "She was the one who found Drake."
"So it's her fault he's like that?"
"Not entirely." Azzie replied quietly, playing with the hem of her cloak. "That's more his fault than mine." Ultear didn't know how to reply, but Damien seemed comfortable enough around her, which allowed her to relax a bit.
"So, wait a minute." Ultear said, talking to Damien. "You asked if I was Taisho. Who's that?" Damien gestured towards the black pillar in the distance, which caused Ultear to choke on her spit.
"That's Taisho." Damien said lowly, "The ace of Devil Advocate, according to Azzie. Man's a monster." A nod from Azzie confirmed the information, and Ultear felt faint. Whether it was from Taisho or the after effects of retrogressing so many times, she couldn't tell. "You okay Ul? You almost fell over there."
"I'm fine." Ultear excused, "Just a little tired."
"It's the after effect of retrogressing to many times." Azzie replied, gabbing Ultear's arm and leading her to a log near the wounded. "Your body fluctuated size so many times your bodies system is all out of order, it's going to make you black out if your not careful." Ultear gulped.
"Really?" She croaked, which earned a nod.
"Now that it's stopped you should be fine." Azzie reassured, casting Ultear a surprisingly warm smile. "You just need to rest, maybe a nap." Ultear nodded and slowly sat down against the log, her legs finally giving out on her after everything.
"Oh, that feels amazing." She whispered as she closed her eyes, resting a bit. "You guys know where everyone else is?"
"I was hoping you'd have an idea." Damien replied.
"Well, I saw Simon a little while ago." She replied, "But he insulted my chest size and moved on quite quickly." Ultear was sure the chest comment had thrown Damien off, that was what she was going for. She yawned before saying, "I'm going to try and sleep, I'm exhausted."
"Alright, we'll keep watch." Ultear nodded and slid down a bit more, finally allowing herself to drift off to sleep.
Damien watched Ultear fall asleep, turning to watch the way she'd come carefully. He wasn't counting out the option that she'd been followed just yet, it was still very possible.
"See anything?" Azzie asked, and Damien grunted a negative. "I'm sure that Ultear-sama was careful to avoid being followed. Even if she was, it;d only be a lower class person from the guild. Everyone who could do some damage has already engaged in combat."
"Except him." Damien hissed, gesturing at the black column.
"He'll make his way here one way or the other." She replied, the fear apparent in her tone. "It's only a matter of time at this rate."
"Way to soothe my worries." Damien muttered irritably.
"I'm not here for that, Damien-sama." She quipped back quickly, crossing her arms. "I can only hope you are strong enough to stop him."
"Can you not help me?" Damien asked, and Azzie shoo k her head.
"I've trained with him for the majority of my life, remember?" She asked, and Damien only remembered right then. "He knows the ins and outs of my magic, not to mention my own shortcomings. He'll destroy me if I get in the way."
"Makes too much sense for my liking, sadly." Damien replied, stalking back to his outpost under the bent metal. "Let's just hope lady luck smiles on us today."
"Doubtful."
"Fire God's Bellow!"
"Bellowing Roar of the Fire Dragon God!" The breath attacks slammed into each other and exploded almost instantly, throwing everyone on the battlefield for a loop. As soon as the dust cleared, Nashi winced as pain shot up for midsection again. The god fire was doing a number on her, but she'd already be dead without it. Katsuchi was now unable to use her fire magic to recharge, as the fire was of equal strength, if not more powerful. Nashi managed to stand upright again, Katsuchi leaning on his legs for support.
"This has gotten... out of... hand..." he managed through pants for air, and Nashi could agree with him on that. This fight had gotten insane. "Someone has to fall over from fatigue eventually. It's jut matter of when."
"Then fall over already." Nashi replied. "Either way one group is going to get killed by that column of pure evil over there." Katsuchi nodded in agreement. Just as the two were about to attack each other again, Elise and Tetsu came flying out of nowhere, creating a four way stand off.
"Well," Tetsu said, panting. "This is quite an interesting situation."
"Agreed" Elise replied. Tetsu pointed his katana at Elise as she threatened Katsuchi with hers, which caused Nashi to aim a fireball at him while Katsuchi aimed at her. "Who will fire first, I wonder? Will Nashi get her fireball off to distract you while I swing at Katsuchi? So many questions."
"Too bad I know the answer." Katsuchi whispered, eyeing Nashi carefully. Nashi could tell he was looking for one twitch of her muscles that would give away that she was about to fire, so she did her best to avoid giving off that signal. The standoff stayed still for a moment, before Elise decided to react. She swung the blade at Katsuchi, which forced him to redirect the aim of his fire to melt the blade before it killed him. Tetsu prepared to take Elise's head off, but Nashi altered the trajectory of her fireball and hit Tetsu dead on before he could, throwing him into Katsuchi. Elise slammed her hands into the ground, causing iron pillars to rise beneath them both, sending them sailing into the sky. Just as they reached the peak of the flight, Nashi roared, throwing them back down into the ground. It took a moment before the dust cleared, and when it did, Katsuchi was prepared to rip his hair out. "This is insane!" he shouted angrily, "I'm done playing around! Tetsu!"
"Got it!" Both men placed their hands behind them as they took an offensive stance, black orbs of magic forming in their hands and expanding to be bigger than them. Nashi felt an incredible magic pressure as they did, one that was very sickening.
"What the hell is that?" Nashi asked. "it's incredibly powerful, whatever it is..."
"their both attacking as one..." Elise whispered, watching the pair as they charged their attack. She gasped and her eyes widened. "Shit! Nashi, it's Unison Raid!"
"What?!" Nashi shouted back, fear rising into her throat. She knew perfectly well what Unison Raid was, it was one of the most powerful magical attacks in the known world. by combing the magic and emotions of the casters, it was a magic no one could master perfectly. "That'll blow us away!" the response she got was a laugh from Katsuchi.
"Tremble, fairies!" he laughed. "No one has ever walked away from a Unison Raid between us! Ever!"
"Nashi!" Elise shouted. "if we don't come up with a plan, we're beyond fucked!
"I know!" She replied. "I'm doing my best to think!" the magic was acting like a vacuum, sucking everything towards it. it was also too late for any sort of plan, as the huge orbs of magic they had been charging formed into one, and they both swung their arms forward.
"Dark Exploding Fiery Barrage of the Iron and Fire God's!" The blast was at least forty feet tall, and just as wide. It shot like a bullet at Nashi and Elise, and everything went white.
Taisho was changing the arm he was carrying Racer with when the explosion sent him off balance. He looked around to determine the source, and found a black ball absorbing the forest into it, and he chuckled.
"Unison Raid, Katsuchi?" he asked as the black fire continued to suck everything in. "You must have been desperate to pull that card out of your ass, huh?" he cast a look down at the unconscious form of Racer as he stirred, and kicked the man in the side of the head. "You stay out cold, fuck face." Taisho hissed, glaring at the speedy mage. "Last thing I need is you getting away from me." Just as Taisho was about to continue on his way, his clothes began to constrict him, trying to suffocate him. he rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt to kill him, and froze his clothes solid. It made them stop squirming, and he stayed that way to make sure they didn't try anything.
"I know you're there, fucker." Taisho called out. "Contrary to popular belief, my clothes don't often turn on me like that." he got his answer shortly as another of the former Oracion Seis, Midnight, appeared out the shrubbery. "is it my birthday?" he asked with a psychotic giggle. "Two former dark wizards turned goodie goodies to kill? I love my job."
"What did you do to Sawyer?" Midnight demanded, glaring at Taisho with a look he didn't appreciate.
"Nothing much." Taisho replied. "Knocked him out, don't worry. I plan to kill him at the airship crash site, anyway."
"You'll have to get trough me, you know."
"Unless I know all about your weaknesses." Taisho replied, still constricted by his clothing. "Like this one, for example." Taisho looked at the ground below Midnight, which exploded with frozen spears, ones that he barely dodged. Taisho laughed and unfroze his clothes, watching Midnight glare at him. "You can only use your reflectors in one area at a time, me or yourself. That's a pretty big flaw."
"I'll work around it." Taisho took over into Vantros and launched frozen beams at the older man, who reflected them back at Taisho, who was surprised by the accuracy of the reflection.
"I see, our intel was slightly more outdated then I thought." Taisho hissed. "You can reflect with much better accuracy then reported. Well, not like it matters. I still plan on killing you."
"Come and get me, kid." Taisho replied my launching himself at Midnight, who reflected all of his punches. Taisho could tell this strategy was totally fucked, so he opted for a different one, Bouncing back, he concentrated the ice magic of his takeover demon, causing frost to form. "What the hell are you...!" Midnight stop talking at the frost rushed up his legs and began to freeze him solid, causing Taisho to laugh.
"Your magic may stop oncoming attacks." Taisho replied with a chuckle. "But not attacks formed directly on you!"
"Assho..." Midnight was cut off as the ice reached his head, freezing him completely solid. Laughing at his success, he picked up the frozen man and slung him over the other shoulder, smiling all the way.
"I'm having so much fun right now." He said happily.
Katsuchi knew there was no way in hell the girls had walked away from that one, even with the ability to use their magic against them. They had completely obliterated the surrounding area, a huge scorch mark as the epicenter of the fight.
"Looks like we did it." Tetsu said, grinning like a madman. "I knew we would! High five!" Katsuchi left him hanging, feeling sad that the girls were gone. He knew they couldn't have survived, but even bodies would have been more satisfactory.
"Well," Katsuchi said, pocketing his hands in what was left of his black coat. "I guess we can...!"
"Dragon God Slayer Secret Art!" Katsuchi's eyes snapped open to find Nashi charging the both of them, red fire in her left hand, black in her right. "Obsidian Lotus Exploding Godly Flame Edge!" The secret art connected with both of them, nearly knocking Katsuchi out as it was. He and Tetsu sailed high into the sky, where the pierced one was already waiting.
"Dragon God Slayer Secret Art!" She shouted, her right arm glowing. "Godly Dragon's Iron Mace!" The huge spiked ball slammed into Katsuchi and Tetsu, knocking them back to earth, creating such a huge boom and a crater that he almost felt his spine snap in two.
I...we...?
Katsuchi found the strength to look up at the side of the crater, up at the two teenage girls who radiated raw power.
We lost...to a pair...of dragons...?
He watched the girls collapse on top of each other, all magical power gone from their system.
No...we lost to...a pair of girls...?!
Only Simon has to win now! Oh, and Damien... 0_0 Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!