Simon wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do, given his situation. Despite the current three on one he was involved in, Tristan was giving them more than a run for their money. Despite most of his attacks simply ending up in the ground or hitting him thanks to either Nami or Juno, he was very powerful.
And probably hiding the true extent of his power, if Simon had to guess.
Backing up as Tristan flew backwards, Simon watched as he stood upright and laughed.
"Damn you kids are good." he said. "Especially the two girls. Bravo, bravo."
"Looks like we got a sexist." Nami said, flicking her blade around. "It'll make me feel even better once I kick your teeth in." Tristan laughed.
"Sexist? Please. I have two comrades who are girls, and they're pretty strong."
"You told me you hated the both of them." Simon said.
"Oh I do." He replied. "But I hate Quinn too. See, I'm all for equality." He laughed. "Besides. I know better than to cross the girls. Especially Abigail."
"Why's that?" Juno asked. Tristan looked a little uneasy at this.
"Her magic creeps the hell out." He replied. "Plus she gets really passionate about it. Frigging weirdo." He shook his head and smirked. "Besides, we're busy." And with this, he charged.
Elise dodged Aeran's attack as best she could, but the extending blade of the emotionless creature was incredibly hard to avoid. Rolling across the ground before jumping back to her feet, Elise inhaled.
"Iron Dragon Roar!" The attack flew towards the creature, but it simply raised it's blade and blocked it. This, however, gave Reyna a chance. Elise watched as the girl jumped right up near the creature and threw down a card. This caused a force field to appear around it, but it didn't seem phased. Well, it couldn't really seem like anything given that it had no facial features at all.
"Ice Cannon!" Ultear shouted from the side. This caused a blast of ice to fly right through the force field and into Aeran's chest, causing an explosion.
"Looks like you got him pretty good." Elise said, smirking.
"Let's just hope it got him." Ultear replied. They watched carefully, and soon the smoke cleared. Aeran was still standing, but it had a huge hole in it's chest. It looked down as if to observe the hole it had, but again it didn't seem phased.
"Nice try." Abigail called. "But Aeran doesn't feel pain. He's not exactly capable of giving up."
"This thing just flat out creeps me the fuck out." Reyna grunted, crossing her arms. "He doesn't do much of anything beside attack us and stop occasionally."
"That's all he's capable of." Abigail said with a smirk."He's my guardian. That's all he's supposed to do. Defend me."
"That's just sick," Ultear said. "Creating this thing just for yourself." Elise agreed. Aeran just plain creeped her out for one thing, but creating this thing just for that seemed a bit sick.
"You don't get to judge my morals." Abigail shot. "You're the ones harboring demons and then getting this defensive when others try to off them. Aeran, attack!" Aeran obeyed Abigail to a tee and ran towards Elise, who responded by turning her arms into sword and engaging him in a sword fight. The spirit fought well, but Elise using both of her arms made it much easier for her to gain an advantage.
Blocking the blade with her left arm, Elise raised up and sliced her other blade right through Aeran's neck, severing it's emotionless head. The head fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving the body standing still.
"Well," Elise said. "Looks like-!" Elise barely had time to react until Aeran once again swung at her, knocking her back. With this, she could hear Abigail laughing.
"Didn't I tell you?" She asked. "Aeran feels no pain! Headless or not, he still obeys me!"
"You okay?" Reyna asked from Elise's side. Elise nodded as she stood.
"Yeah..." She replied. "I think we just have to totally eradicate this thing to kill it."
"I agree." Ultear said. "So how do you want to do it?"
"Just go all in." Reyna said, "That'll get it." Elise agreed that that was true. Getting to her feet, Elise turned her arms back into clubs, Reyna brandished a few cards, and Ultear's hands became frosty. And together, they charged the headless spirit.
Elise reached it first and clubbed it in the abdomen, causing it to fall back. Reyna threw done a few cards, which sparked to life and engulfed Aeran in fire. Ultear was last, and she brought her hands together and slammed them on the ground.
"Ice Geyser!" Elise watched as ice sprung from the ground below the spirit and impaled it countless times through what remained of it. Elise watched carefully, and even then she saw the spirit struggling to move it's body. Abigail sighed.
"I think you're stuck, Aeran." She said, waving a hand. "Get the hell out of here." With that wave of her hand, Aeran ceased to move and disappeared like a whisper in the wind. Abigail sighed and put a hand on her hips. "Worthless." She muttered. "Falling so easily." She sighed.
"Well, now what are you going to do?" Elise asked. "You're spirit's gone." Abigail rolled her eyes.
"Did you actually think that all I had up my sleeve was one spirit?" She asked. She once again brought her hands together as if praying, and she glowed again. "Descend to my aid! Aurath, Vissi, Sentine!"
Elise watched as three circles appeared on the ground, and soon three more spirits had materialized. The first one was twice as tall as Aeran, and much beefier with a long sword and a shield. The second one was more feminine in nature and figure, eight feet tall, and armed with two spears connected with a chain. The third, Elise didn't know what to think. She couldn't figure out if it was male or female, but it was nine feet tall, and armed with a gigantic sledgehammer.
"More of them?" Reyna demanded. "All of them are pretty tall as well..."
"And one for each of us." Ultear said. "Sounds like you at least had the decency to name them."
"Of course I did." She replied. "I had too."
"Why's that?" Elise demanded. Abigail smirked.
"It's a God's duty to name their creations, no?"
Natsu stumbled and blocked his face as more of Neptu's fire came at him, but it still burned like a bitch. Natsu climbed to his feet again and glared at Neptu, who just kind of watched him carefully.
"You done?" He asked.
"Like hell." Natsu replied. "You think that I'm going to give up like that?" Neptu was silent for a minute, before he sighed.
"I want to ask you something." He said. Natsu didn't say anything to this, so Neptu sighed again. "It's custom to answer someone when they ask, Natsu."
"...What?" Natsu asked through gritted teeth.
"You claim to be a Fire Dragon Slayer." he said. "And yet, from what I can tell, you haven't been able to handle my fire. You haven't tried to eat it, and you've definitely been damaged more than a fair bit by it." Natsu growled and stared at his feet. "Care to answer me?" What was Natsu supposed to say? He had to come up with something. Finally, he realized what he had to say.
"A long time ago," he started. "I met a man named Zancrow. Well, met is a stretch. He tried to kill me." Natsu laughed at this. "Anyway, the guy was a Fire God Slayer. I couldn't eat his flames either, at least not at first. His flames were superior to mine. I can only assume your flames are superior as well." Neptu watched him for a moment before he shrugged.
"Whatever." he replied, beginning to glow. "well old man, you came all the way out here to fight me, so let's fight!" Natsu watched as another gout of purple flames flew towards him, so he brought his hands together and ignited them. Once the flames reached him he used his own flames to carve an opening in the fire and keep himself safe.
At least, that's what he was going for.
Natsu accomplished what he wanted to, but he hadn't been ready for Neptu to surge through his own flames and deliver a punch to his gut. The purple flames burned into Natsu's stomach, making him grit his teeth in pain. Natsu flew back and hit the ground, attempting to soothe the pain in his stomach.
Fuck that hurt...
Nashi perked up and stared off into the distance, her stomach knotting in pain.
"...Dad?" She whispered weakly. "Oh no..."
"Aurath, Vissi, Sentine! Go!" Elise had no time to question what Abigail was talking about before her spirits surged forward and attacked.
The first one, which Elise assumed was Aurath, swung his blade at Reyna and forced her off on her own. The second, Vissi, went after Ultear with her spears. Sentine came after Elise and swung it's hammer down on top of her, which she blocked with her arms and gritted her teeth as it pressed down on top of her. She forced it off of her and turned her arms to a club and blade each and went after it.
Regardless of it's shape, Sentine was clearly more advanced than Aeran. It blocked Elise's attacks well and swung back just as hard, making it difficult to fight. Elise swung for it's knees, but they were well armored with...light, supposedly. These things were definitely a lot tougher.
The hammer was brought back down on top of her, and she struggled to hold it off of her again. Abigail chuckled.
"My magic is called Divine Creation." She said from a distance as Elise struggled against Sentine's hammer. "My magic allows me to create beings made of holy light to come to my aid. I can create an entire army if I wanted too. And they all obey me without question! To them, I am their God! Their creator, and Master!" Elise growled under her breath and, with a mighty heave, pushed Sentine off of her.
"Shut your god damn mouth!" She shouted, stabbing Sentine straight through the chest. She pushed the spirit onto it's back and turned her arms into clubs, and proceeded to smash at the the armor protecting the beings chest. eventually it began to crack and break, and Elise finally got through. Once she did, she drove both clubs down and through the chest, pinning Sentine to the ground.
"Why should I?" Abigail asked as the pin gave Elise a minute.
"You're no God." She replied angrily. "You're just some self obsessed woman with fancy magic."
"Am I?" She asked, beginning to glow. At this, Sentine broke free of his bindings and stood once more, and turned to Elise. Whirling around, Elise drove a club right into the beings face, causing it to be pushed back.
"God." Elise mused, staring at Sentine. "This is what you call a creation of God, huh?" Abigail remained silent, but Elise felt anger welling up in her chest. "Your creations are pathetic. They have no face, no emotion, no drive other than to fight for you."
"And?" Abigail asked. And? This bitch couldn't be serious.
"If you really think this pathetic attempt at spirit summoning or creation makes you a God.." Elise growled, glowing as well. Soon Elise's right arm turned into a flail, and a large one at that. "Then you need to keep working on them! These things don't even have an ounce of freedom!" With this, she swung the flail at Sentine, who blocked it with his hammer. He threw the spike ball off into another direction, but Elise reigned it in before it could hit Ultear or Reyna. Growling, Elise whirled it on Abigail. "Go back to the fucking drawing board!" And with this, she swung the flail down at Abigail.
She watched as Sentine threw itself in front of the flail and ate the hit for Abigail, causing it's torso to completely disconnect from it's arms and legs. Abigail remained calm throughout this.
"Freedom?" Abigail asked. "Why would I want my guardians to have freedom? They exist solely to help me, and that's all. They serve no purpose in this world outside of helping me kill unholy creatures."
"Then you're no God." Elise replied. "You're just a sick twisted person making an extension of themselves human-like and claiming to be a God. That'd be like me making a human figure out of iron and saying I'm a God."
"No demon harboring seventeen year old girl is going to tell me what's right and what isn't." Abigail spat, looking rather irritated. "Sentine! Reassemble." Elise watched as the bits and pieces of Sentine lying around began to glow, and started to gravitate towards each other. Soon, the spirit had been completely rebuilt, and it appeared to be staring down at Elise with it's emotionless face. Elise clicked her teeth in irritation.
This thing is a creation of 'God', huh? Suppose it goes down as easily as one?
Simon dodged more of Tristan's attacks and used his sword to shoot a blast of heavenly light at him, which he dodged. Nami was ready for him though, and used her gravity magic to bring him down to earth and right into his own personal crater. At this, Juno caused an explosion in the crater, and Simon could hear Tristan shout out in pain at this.
"Guy can certainly take a beating." Nami muttered.
"We'll get him soon." Juno said. "This guys not all that." Simon was about to agree with her when he heard Tristan laughing.
"I knew you kids were good." he said. "But to have avoided me at my base for this long? Very impressive."
"Your base?" Nami demanded as explosions could be heard in the distance. "What is that supposed to mean?" Tristan smirked.
"Each member of the Cross has their own shtick." He replied. "There's a reason we're so powerful, it's because we manipulate the holy light we wield in so many different ways."
"Get to the point." Juno said. Tristan brought his hands together like he was praying and nodded.
"Happily." He replied. He closed his eyes, and Simon tensed. After a few seconds looking like he was praying Tristan opened his eyes, which were now glowing.
"This looks bad." Simon murmured.
"Open!" Tristan shouted. "Divine Territory!" Simon watched as pure whiteness exploded from behind Tristan and began to engulf the battlefield. Simon couldn't do much but watch as the white enveloped a good sixty foot area around them, and soon they were completely encased in a white dome.
"What the hell is this?" Nami asked. "What did you call it?" Tristan smiled.
"Divine Territory." he replied.
"Territory?" Simon asked. "Juno, isn't that your magic?" Juno nodded.
"It is." She replied, looking around. "But I've never done anything like this, if I even can." Tristan smirked.
"Alright kids. You wanted a fight, no you're going to get one." Nami rolled her eyes.
"Yeah right, dude." She said. "Why don't you go for a ride?" She glowed white, but nothing happened to Tristan. After a few more seconds, Nami grunted in confusion.
"What?" Simon asked.
"He should've gone flying a couple times by now." She said. "I don't get what's going on."
"It's quite simple, darling." Tristan said. "In here, your magic is nothing."
"Nothing?" Nami asked. Explain yourself." Tristan chuckled.
"Gladly. Divine Territory is an area of effect spell. Right now inside this dome of holy light, I control the laws of the world."
Chapter 254: Divine Territory
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the full week of updates! Who am I kidding of course you did. Now, I wanted to say that only one or two more chapters will go up before New Years at best. I get lazy around this time of year, so don't get nervous. That being said, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!