Yeah yeah, another update...
Enjoy!
Damien dodged another one of Terra's attacks and responded in kind, blasting her with darkness. The girl jumped out of the way and Damien blasted another shot at her, which she blocked by raising the earth beneath her.
"You know," Damien said. "I'm pretty impressed you're still able to put up a fight like this. It looked like you'd been thrown for a loop when I got here."
"You have no fucking idea..."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, whatever." Terra cracked her back and watched Damien closely. "I wanted to have a fair fight with you during the Games, but it appears that wasn't in the cards for either of us."
"I guess not." Damien agreed, his own body not feeling so hot. "But I can still put up a halfway decent fight, thank you very much."
"Oh I'm sure." Terra said. "But if you win I'm letting if off the hook. That'd be twice now you've beaten me from bullshit."
"The first time was all smarts." Damien replied, smirking. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm not about to argue about this with you any more." She hissed. "You tricked me, you did not actually beat me."
"Alright well, look at it this way then." Damien said. "Had I actually used the takeover I would've won anyway, so don't feel bad for opting out." Terra rolled her eyes.
"As if you'd be stupid enough to use that around innocent people again." She taunted. it wasn't like the last time she said something like that. She wasn't doing it to make him mad, she said it to make a point. And she was right, after all.
Damien sensed a presence next to him.
"What do you want, now?" He asked. Xisplate snickered.
"Nothing, lover boy. Nothing."
"The hell did you call me?"
"Not important. How goes the fighting?"
"Eh, alright I guess. I'm hurting like a bitch but I suppose that comes with getting attacked in the middle of the night."
"Yes it does. But hey, at least the bigger problem is out of the way for now."
"The bigger problem?" Xisplate did not reply, so Damien turned to look and found the demon staring at Bella, who was still out cold.
"Yes." he said. "The bigger problem." Damien had no idea what the demon meant when he said that, but it wasn't really his concern at the moment. "ANyway Damien, it'd be in your best interest to knock Terra out. The Games are becoming agonizingly close, at least for those who give a fuck." Damien spared a moment to look over at the scoreboard. Only two battles remained, his and Nashi's.
Wait a minute...
Damien did the math, and his eyes widened.
Holy fuck it is close...
...We need the five points, Terra.
"Alright, Terra." Damien said, returning to his human form. "I need you to get knocked out, okay?"
"That's something fair to want, I suppose." She said. "And how do you think you're going to get it from me?" Damien grinned and raised his hand above his head.
"I've got a few ideas." he said, a black magic circle appearing there. A flicker of fear went through Terra's eyes, but she had the gall to laugh.
"Yeah okay, try and scare me into submission again why don't you?" she asked sarcastically. "I'm not a dumbass Damien, I know you won't do it.
"Did you forget I have two Lord takeovers?" He asked, making Terra pale slightly. "One that I can, not to mention, control?" Terra watched him closely, her facial expression going between scared and determined.
"You know," She said. "Maybe you forgot thanks to what she did...But Bella's a Demon Lord too." Damien's eyes widened and the magic circle in his hand died away.
"W-What?!" He asked weakly. "She is?!" Xisplate sighed.
"Yes, she is." He said. "I told you that not fifteen minutes ago, but I suppose her seduction magic made that information disappear, huh?"
So Bella was Demon Lord.
"And that means I beat her." Terra said. "Without any Holy magic or another Lord. Care to test me again?"
"She's foolish" Xisplate said. "Bella was weak and her Lord was not very physically capable either. She's boasting about nothing. Vantros or I could off her in about two seconds." Damien smirked.
"From what I've been told, Bella wasn't all that to begin with." Terra narrowed her eyes and they flickered to Damien's right, where Xisplate was.
"You sure are an annoyance, you know that?" She asked. Xisplate smirked.
"Of course." He answered. Terra didn't appear to be able to see him, because she did not offer him any more words before crossing her arms and staring at Damien.
"So Dreyar?" She asked. "What'll it be?" Damien watched her quietly, before he steeled his resolve.
And raised a hand above his head.
"Takeover! Demon Vantros!"
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Even too breath, it made him want to quit.
Michael groaned. Every inch of his body ached. Not a single muscle, molecule of skin, or limb was left out. It all hurt. Where was he? What had happened.
"Michael!" Someone was calling his name. He mumbled incoherently to answer them, but he couldn't even hear his own voice. "Michael! Michael!" They kept calling out to him. Why though? Michael would have to open his eyes and find out at this rate. Slowly but surely, he forced his eyes open and could see that he was resting against a wall in an alleyway.
There was also a concerned face directly in front of him.
"Michael!" It was Nashi, and she was shaking him lightly, holding him by the shoulders. "Michael! Are you okay?! Answer me!"
"...N-Nashi..." Michael croaked out, the one word causing him to cough. Nashi breathed a sigh of relief, leaning away from him and resting on her knees.
"Thank God!" She said, smiling brightly at him. "I was so worried you weren't going to open your eyes..." Michael tried to shift around and get a bit more comfortable, which wasn't easy both because he hurt everywhere and this in turn made it impossible to get comfortable.
"W-What...?" He asked weakly. "W-Why...?" Nashi frowned at him.
"You had to play hero, that's what." She said. Michael looked over at her, and she had quite possibly the most adorable pout on her face. Arguably more adorable than Ally's. "You're so lucky you took so much damage or I'd punch you right now."
It all came back to him as he looked at her.
Blake.
Michael gritted his teeth at the mere thought of the boy. He was a traitor. A double agent for a dark guild. He was using Sabertooth as his cover to try and get close to Nashi if they needed him too.
Which meant he was the enemy.
"Nashi..." Michael croaked again, garnering her attention. "Do you know...What's Blake's after?" Nashi frowned and shook her head a few times.
"No. I don't know what they want from me."
"They?" Nashi looked down, conflict in her eyes.
"No one." She breathed. "It's nothing..."
"Nashi, it's clearly not nothing..."
"I don't want you involved." She said. "I don't know a damn thing about who they are or what they want, but if you're involved you might become a target. I can't...I won't allow that.
"Who are they? I don't understand..." Nashi looked away from him, contorting her face angrily.
Michael was not letting up. He reached forward and grabbed Nashi's hand, making her look at him.
"Tell me." He said. "I..I can't sit back after this. If Blake...If he wasn't..." Michael looked down. "I want to know who's telling him what to do." Silence enveloped the pair at this, but after a few moments Nashi sighed.
"The Olympians." She said. "The strongest and most mysterious dark guild in the New Balam Alliance, which is more of a puppet show for them than anything I'd wager."
"So these Olympians..." Michael said, readjusting again. "Have you encountered them before?"
"Directly? God no. I'm willing to bet they're way more powerful than anyone I've ever met...But I have encountered people who work for them. The other two Balam Alliance guilds, Apocalypse...Silverridge..." Nashi's gaze grew distance for a moment, but she shook her head and looked back at him. "One way or another it seems they're at least partially involved in everything bad that happens to me." Michael frowned and raised a hand to his chin.
"So they're after you?" He asked. Nashi shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe my guild? Someone else? I don't know. Although given we did take out the other two guilds that work for them in the Alliance, I wouldn't dare say they're not looking for revenge."
"So...What the fuck is Blake doing? What do they want now?"
"I don't know..." Nashi hissed, glaring at the ground. "Because they never work in a way I understand." Michael looked down the alley they were resting in and gave it some thought. So this guild, The Olympians, were working in the shadows. Presumably they'd encountered Nashi and the other before, but lost due to not being directly involved. And now, perhaps, they were working to kill them. Or capture maybe?
And Blake was working for them.
"Fuck, this is messed up." He said, Nashi nodding slowly.
"Yep..." She said. He didn't understand. Why was Blake working for them? Had it been all along since he'd joined or had it been gradual? Was he doing it because he wanted to or that he had too?
"Michael please...Please move. They want her, not you."
"I'm sorry. I'm...I'm so sorry."
He thought back to these words coming from Blake before he attacked.
Michael made up his mind.
"Well, let's..." He attempted to get to his feet, and his body screamed in protest. He gasped in pain and collapsed back to his seat on the wall, and Nashi glared at him.
"Don't be a jackass." She said. "You're way to hurt to fight. You can't even breath without pain, can you?"
"..." Michael focused on his breathing, and it did indeed hurt. "...I'm not sitting this out. I don't care what happens, I'm fighting Blake."
"In your condition, huh?" She demanded, crossing her arms. "Valiant, but it's not happening."
"Nashi, I can help! Let me!"
"You can help, huh?" She asked. "Stand up." Michael made a face and glared at her for a few seconds before he sighed.
"...Okay so maybe I'm not in the best shape possible."
"No, really?" Nashi asked sarcastically. The two went quiet, and Michael glared at the ground.
"I just want to help him..." he said. "I want to know."
"Huh?" Nashi asked.
"I...I don't think Blake wants to be helping them. Or maybe he does...Point is, I don't believe he's truly fallen to the darkness." Nashi pursed her lips together.
"Michael, that's a risky..."
"But possible, right?" he interjected, making her pause and slowly nod. "If there's anyway to save him..." Michael forced his body upwards. He tried to stand, and he made it to his feet using the wall as leverage. Once he forced his body off of the support, he cried out in pain and dropped like a rock, and Nashi grabbed him as he tried again.
"Stop it Michael!" She said. "You're too hurt to stand! Please just take a moment and rest up!" Michael growled.
Curse this fucking body...I only took one attack!
Michael leaned back and his head hit the wall. He wanted to beat the ever living shit out of Blake and drag him somewhere safe and force him to talk, but he couldn't like this.
But...
Michael looked back at Nashi, who was watching him worriedly. A smile creased his face.
She could.
"Nashi." He said. "You need to do it for me." She raised an eyebrow at this.
"What?" She asked, and Michael laughed.
"From what I understand, Blake wants to get you down for them. He maybe even wants to kill you...Which means this is a risky play." He looked at her seriously. "So I need you to beat him." Nashi watched him before looking down at the ground.
'I...I can't." She said quietly. "I don't have enough power left."
"Bullshit." Michael answered. "You've got more than enough. What about Dragon-God mode?" Nashi shook her head.
"Nope." She said. "I need to be in a good place to use that. It really hurts my body to use Katsuchi's God Flames, so using it now might be my death sentence."
"Ah, fuck..." Michael said. "There has to be a way, you need to beat him." Michael thought as hard as he could. What could they do to beat Blake?
Dragon-God mode.
...Of course!
"I've got it, Nashi." Michael said, making her look at him. "I know what we need to do. I know what you need to do."
"Lay it on me." She answered. And so Michael did.
He raised his right hand shakily, and called on his magic, all of it that he could.
An orb of white light appeared in his hands, and Nashi shielded her eyes from it before her eyes adjusted.
"What are you...?" Michael grabbed her arm that was shielding her eyes, lowered it, and looked right in her eyes.
"You need to take the power of the White Dragon, Nashi. use it to defeat Blake." Her eyes widened.
"W-What?! Take your light? That won't work?"
"Why not? Your own father...Gajeel...They've done it have they not?" Nashi made a face.
"Well yeah..." She answered. "But even with your light, I'm not strong enough, I'm too weak from him attacking my hotel." Nashi looked away from Michael and the light floating in his hand, and Michael tilted his head to the side.
"Why do you not believe in yourself?"
"The odds are stacked against me..."
"And?" Nashi jumped a bit and looked back at Michael. "I've heard all the stories too, Nashi. People like us...The odds shouldn't mean a damn thing."
"But..."
"No! No buts. Just do." He watched her closely. "I don't know near enough about you to make such an assumption, but I've seen it myself Nashi. Back when you all agreed to stand and fight even after getting foul played. You have a fire that lets you stand after the world tells you to stay down. Even though you were beaten down and brutalized, you stood still and went after others without a second thought. That's who you are."
"...Michael, I..."
"Nashi, I need you..." He winced from all the motion and leaned back against the wall, black spots appearing in his vision from expelling so much magic to offer it too her. "I want to save Blake, I want to make sure no one dies...Will you help me? You're the only one...With enough power...To do it..." Michael started to fade in and out, the light in his palm starting to flicker. "Please..." She did not respond, and Michael feared the worst. That she had ignored him.
Until a smaller hand firmly grasped the one holding his light. Michael looked up in surprise to find Nashi grasping it, watching him with fiery determination in her eyes.
"Give it." She said, smiling. "I've got work to do." Michael blinked a few times before he smiled.
"Thank you." He whispered, expelling even more magic into his hand. The white light flowed up Nashi's body and all around her figure, causing her to wince as she started to glow. Michael expelled more and more, until his grip on her hand slacked too much and it fell.
"There..." He whispered. "That's all..." Nashi stood and looked out of the alley.
"Don't worry." She said. "I'll figure this out. I'll save Blake."
"Please do...Nashi?" Nashi stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, and he smiled widely. "Thank you so much. I'll never forget this." Nashi blushed and looked away from him.
"Just don't die on me, i-idiot." She said. "I'm only doing this for you...And the others, of course! Don't get the wrong idea!"
"Heh, of course. Never." Nashi walked away, leaving Michael to himself. He looked up at the sky as his vision started to blur.
Huh...I don't think a girl's ever made me feel this way...
Blake had no idea where Nashi had disappeared to, and it was starting to make him mad.
"Ugh, come on..." he hissed. "Where did she disappear to? I just need too..."
Tap...Tap...Tap...Tap...
Someone was approaching him. Whirling, Blake found the source.
Nashi had found him.
Her head was down, but she kept a steady pace as she approached him.
"About time." He said as she kept walking towards him. "Where did you go? Where's Michael?" Nashi didn't respond, and Blake felt a rock settle in his stomach. Had he...?
"After all that," Nashi said, getting Blake's attention. "He still wants to help you."
"H-Huh?" Nashi looked up, and Blake gulped.
Fiery determination radiated from her like a furnace. He had a bad feeling about this...
"Even though you're a filthy traitor...even though you don't deserve it..." Fire starting to form around Nashi. "He wants to help you."
What was she talking about?
"But thanks to you, he can't even move." She narrowed her gaze. "So I'm here to help you instead!"
Blinding white light burst out from Nashi, and Blake was forced to cover his eyes due to the intense light.
This light...
It was so familiar...
"M-My goodness! What is Nashi going?! The light is blinding everyone!"
Not even closing his eyes and covering them made his eyes hurt any less, but Natsu smirked.
"This is about to get interesting..."
Sting was the only one not looking away from the light as everyone else did.
"Sting-sama!" It was Yukino speaking. "This light! It's...!" Sting smirked.
"I know." He said. "I feel it too."
Once the light had died away, Blake got his first glance at the girl since the eruption of light.
He gulped.
Nashi's body was enveloped in white fire. Her eyes had become nothing but white glowing sockets, and the power was damn near unbearable.
This...This is a fusion of Michael's Holy Light and Nashi's fire!
Now," Nashi said, lowering her head slightly. "Prepare to leave the darkness, Blake!"
The Holy White Fire Dragon.
Heh, yes I just did that. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!