Hey guys, it's me. As I'm sure you've noticed, I missed a whole lot of updates. I have my reasons, and I want you all to hear me out. If you want to read the chapter first, not to worry. It's here, safe and sound. If you wish to read that first, go ahead. But do please come back to read this note :)
For one reason or another, my muse refuses to sing for this story. Any attempt at writing this or any other chapter is met with an immediate block, one I cannot overcome without intense effort. Which obviously leads to missing a month plus of updates. If you want a sign more obvious, take the new One Piece story I published. It's got eight chapters up right now, and I've got another eight waiting in the wings already. That's how bad this block had been.
At first, I chalked it up to my weakness of feeling my fight scenes are bad or underwhelming. I've thought this for a while, and I still do. I've been saving The Olympians for a while, so to not deliver on the fights makes me very nervous. But even more so because of the story's length, and how long I take to update. Allow me to explain. I've been doing this for going on five years. Over that time, I've seen countless people come and go. People review, follow for a bit, and eventually disappear. It happens, I do it too. But, what worries me the most is that my constant breaks are causing me to lose the audience that's still here. Every break I take means more people who might lose interest, which only makes me feel more unmotivated.
And I know I haven't lost people. A simple look at the traffic stats gives me all the information I need. Over three hundred people collectively read chapter 325. But that's not reflective in the feedback I get. I don't want to sound like a pompous ass who only does this for the reviews, cause that's not who I am. If that's what this was about, we wouldn't even be here. But the very fear that my unmotivated ass has caused people to forget or lose interest in this story terrifies me, and maybe it prevents me from working harder.
So I suppose, in essence, the crux of the issue is I'm scared of losing what audience I have because I'm infrequent and unmotivated, and that only makes it easier to lose more. And so with that the whole cycle continues over again.
Anyways, that's not important. I still plan on doing my best to get updates out every Monday, and I'll stick to that. Leave me a review if you want, they help more than you know. Hell, let me know your take on this situation. I need all the help I cant get.
Enjoy!
Ultear hit the ground hard, groaning from the damage she had sustained. She was being tossed around left, right and center by Dionysus, whom she had barely been able to land a hit against at all. His wine abilities granted him so much power she couldn't find any openings, and when she did his drunken behaviour covered it up immediately. This entire time he'd been smacking her around his pattern had been totally random, with no exploitable weaknesses to use as the next string of attacks didn't match up at all. What the hell was she supposed to do to him? She couldn't find what to do.
"Are ya down already?" Dionysus asked, still wrecked off of his booze. It pissed Ultear off to think she was losing to a drunk.
"Not even close," she replied as she got back to her feet. "I need to defeat you, I won't go down so easily."
"Ugh, but I've already hit you a bunch." He whined as if that was somehow her problem. "I need to find the girl or else I'll get in trouble."
"All the more reason for me to not let you go," Ultear said. "I need to make sure you go down!" Liquefying her body, Ultear shot at the man and aimed an ice pick directly at his head. He dodged randomly to the left and swung his foot up, connecting with her body. Thankfully nothing happened thanks to her being liquid, but she could still feel the force behind the swing. It would've done a whole load of damage had it connected. Turning, Ultear tried to freeze the man in her grasp, but he'd vanished. She turned to see him drinking from his jug, before he came for her. Again. This time though, something was different.
His hand was glowing purple, and when he connected with Ultear's midsection the colour spread to her liquefied form. Jumping back in surprise, she quickly shut her magic off, worried it may have done something to her. After a while her head felt light, and that was a bad sign.
"What did you do to me?" She asked weakly as the feeling intensified.
"I turned ya water inta booze," Dionysus replied with a burp. "If I can't touch ya, I mays well drink ya!" He vanished again, and the hair on Ultear's neck stood up on end. She rolled forward to avoid it, but when she tried to stand again she stumbled. Her vision was going blurry, and she couldn't stand straight up anymore.
"W-What the hell is this?" She hissed angrily. "I'm back to my normal form!"
"Well the liquor is in ya now." Dionysus said as he got back up. "And now that you're not water, it was kinda forced into ya. After all, I can't jus turn ya into booze that'd make no sense." Very little was making sense to Ultear at the moment, sadly. Her mind grew more and more muddled by the moment, and she could tell that she was getting drunker by the second. After all, she grew up in Fairy Tail. She knew what getting drunk meant. But she'd hoped she had a better tolerance than this.
Deciding she needed to make her soberness count while she had it, Ultear turned her arms into water and spring them forth, freezing them into multi-pronged attacks on each arm. Using them all at once she launched them at Dionysus, who was forced to stop drinking and dodge. He rolled away from her attacks as she sent them, each spear at the end of her arm immediately being replaced as she used it. Eventually her work grew sloppy, and some of her attacks returned to water before she even attacked.
God damn it Ul, focus! Remember what's on the line would you?!
Growling, she fought off the drunken stupor attacking her and kept her barrage up, not willing to let the man go. He needed to be defeated or else he'd go and cause trouble for someone else. And honestly, that was the last thing she needed. But what exactly was she going to do? She was getting more and more tired by the second.
Despite the booze inhibiting her, Ultear felt an idea spark in her head. Growling, she concentrated and looked inward, allowing her Arc of Time to seep through her body. Doing her best, she tried to root out the booze she had been attacked with, focusing on it with Arc of Time. After a while, she felt her vision beginning to clear up. The more she focused, the better she felt. She should of thought of this from the start. It was Dionysus' magic that was making her drunk, so if she focused and reverted it, she would be fine.
Only problem being of course, this now took a heavy toll on her magic.
Even with her Second Origin open, her magic had limits. Fighting an Olympian while constantly reverting the magic affecting her was no small order. What was she going to do?
"Ya really need to pay attention," Dionysus said, Ultear's eyes widening. She turned just in time to get fist to the face, sending her flying and into a tree. It nearly broke her concentration, but she managed to hold on.
"Ugh, you're such a pain in my ass." She hissed as she got to her feet, shaky as it may be.
"I agree," Dionysus said. "You're a real pain. But now you're fighting my magic off, I can tell. And after I hit you with it once, you won't turn into water again. Time ta geet ya!"
Ultear barely had time to react as the man slurped down more booze, before he vanished. A foot appeared in her side, winding her and sending her flying away again. Stabilising in the air, Ultear formed a shell around herself as protection. As soon as Dionsyus was repelled, she manipulated the shell and caused icy pillars to form off the shell, stabbing at the man as he came for her. He bounded off again and again, but Ultear wasn't going to let up. Not with everything that was riding on this.
"Ice Make: Artillery!" Changing the shells shape, a small opening was created to house the end of a massive cannon she had created on the inside. Taking aim, Ultear waited to see Dionysus appear again. Once he did, she quickly fired off a volley at him, which exploded in an icy dust once it landed.
"Cold!" She heard him blubber from inside the explosion. "Cold!"
"Have some more!" Ultear replied, firing off three more volley's. Each one hit their target easily, making Dionysus cry out more. Once she was done, she waited with baited breath to see what had happened.
"Drunken Rampage!" Eyes widening, Ultear ducked as Dionysus came rocketing out of the impact zone, easily cracking and breaking the shell she had created. He swerved in an instant and rebounded towards her, easily striking with his large stomach. Ultear rebounded off of said stomach and was sent flying high, looking down at the man angrily.
"Ice Make: Tiger Claws!"
This was a little trick she'd learned from Winter.
Icy claws formed around her hands, not unlike an actual tigers. However, she wasn't one to make animal like things, so the weapons resembled hand made objects rather than actual talons. As she descended, Ultear spun to get more speed, before aiming the claws straight down to impale the man below her.
"Drunk Blow!" Ignoring the clearly horridly named attacks, Dionysus' purple fist connected with her claws, a small shockwave resulting from the blow. Ultear was giving it everything she had, but it was clear that it wasn't enough. Before she could react the claws were broken, and her neck was grabbed my Dionysus before she could get away. The squeezing immediately took away any air in her lungs, and she tried to free herself as soon as she could.
"Are ya really tryin?" Dionysus asked. "I don't really geddit."
"L-Let me go!" Ultear managed through the squeezing.
"Zeus said you guys's were making things difficult," he replied, ignoring her. "He doesn't like killin or nothin, but what he says goes I guess." At this, despite the lack of air she had, Ultear froze.
Didn't like killing?
"...Are you kidding me?" She demanded. Her anger caused her to actually get some traction, finally forcing away Dionysus' hand a little bit. "Doesn't like killing? Did you see what he did to my home?! My friends?! He's killed who knows how many people! Doesn't like killing my ass!" Dionysus just looked confused at this.
"But he said we didn't get nobody," he replied.
"Didn't get anyone my ass!" Ultear shouted angrily. "My home got decimated! I lost everything I every had! And you're trying to tell me that he doesn't like killing?! Maybe it's easier when he doesn't do the work himself! Ice Make: Sword!" In her open hand, Ultear made a sword and forced it down across Dionysus' chest, making him flinch as the ice carved into his shoulder. Ultear grunted and tried to force it deeper into his flesh, but she couldn't get it any further due to only using one hand.
"Ow," he said as blood began to spurt from his wound. "That hurt, bitch." Ultear was too blinded by her rage to be able to see what happened next. With another empowered fist, Dionysus drove his attack into her stomach. Above all, Ultear could feel the wind being forced from her lungs and a rib or two crack at the pressure. She was sent a little into the air, but Dionysus hadn't finished. He jumped up and with an open palm, hit her over the head with another attack. This sent her down into the ground and created a crater in the process, knocking the wind out of her again. Struggling to get some air into her lungs, Ultear curled into the feeble position as she tried to get a breath.
"Zeus needs that girl for somefin," Dionysus said, appearing next to her. "I forget wha exactly, but he needs her. And that's all I need to know."
"I...I'll never let...I..." Ultear couldn't get her words out, she couldn't breathe.
"Ya gotta speak up," Dionysus replied. "Ah it don't matter. I just gotta find the girl. Best deal with you first." Still unable to breathe, Ultear was picked up by her hair and forced to look at Dionysus, who readied another fist after he'd put down his bottle.
"Nighty night," he said. Ultear groaned, closing her eyes.
I couldn't beat him...A one on one was too much for-!
"Unhand the friend of my master, you foul demon!" Ultear opened her eyes in surprise at the voice she did not recognise, and she was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground. Looking up weakly, Ultear watched Dionysus fought off a glowing white man in armour. She didn't recognise the man, but for some reason he oozed familiarity.
"Keep him off of us, Aeran." A new voice said. "I need to make sure she's okay." Ultear looked for the voice, and found it as she was gently hoisted up by her saviour. Looking under her hood, Ultear's eyes widened.
"A-Abigail?" She asked weakly. The Head of The Cross smiled warmly at her, her fuzzy brown hair tied up in ponytail.
"Hi Ultear. It's been a little while." Helping her to her feet, Ultear felt herself falling into disbelief. Was she dreaming? Delusional? Something was off here.
"I-I don't get it," she said. "What're you doing here? H-How did you..."
"We can save that for another time," Abigail said, her eyes elsewhere. "Need some help, Aeran?"
"Just a little, milady!" The man replied. Abigail nodded, and brought her hands together.
"Descend to my aid! Vissi, Sentine!" Ultear watched in surprise as the woman used her magic, two more created being descending onto the battlefield. The first, Vissi, was a tall woman in golden plated armour that wielded spears in each hand. Sentine was taller and was coated in silver armour, wielding a massive sledgehammer.
"Did you call, Lady Abigail?" Vissi asked, looking around. When Ultear saw their faces, she was confused. Last she recalled, Abigail's creations had had no faces. They had been hollow creatures she had created to defend her. But these things were different.
"Aeran needs your help," Abigail replied, gesturing over to the other summoned fighter. "Please assist him while I get informed on the situation."
"Yes ma'am!" Sentine shouted. Together the two attacked Dionysus as well, surprising and forcing the man backwards.
"So, can I get some info on the situation?" Abigail asked as she turned towards Ultear, who was too hurt and now kinda drunk to understand what was happening.
"I-I need a minute," she replied weakly, standing up against a tree weakly.
"We don't have one," Abigail replied. "I need to know what's happening." Despite the pain she was in, Ultear did her best to explain the situation to Abigail. She told her about Nashi's death, how they found her again, and how The Olympians had attacked them. She explained how they had been forced to come here to hand her over, and how they now had to fight off the enemies who had been looming over their heads for who knew how long. Abigail seemed to absorb the information well, nodding as Ultear finished.
"Okay, thanks."
"Did you get all that?" Abigail asked. Neptu smiled as the woman relayed the information she'd gathered.
"I did," he replied as he continued his trudge through the brush in the direction of combat. "Sounds like our buds are up shits creek with no paddle."
Actually it sounds like they've been barrelling towards a waterfall with no control over the small boat keeping you afloat," Quinn said bluntly through the telepathy. Tristan just grunted.
"Could whoever is near him slap the fuck out of him right now?" He asked.
"Jokes on you Tristy I'm nowhere near anyone right now!"
"Could you two focus?" Elizabeth asked. "This isn't some play date."
"Lizzie is right," Neptu said. "We need to focus and find those who need helping. I don't like the idea of splitting up, but we need to help everyone who needs it."
"Why exactly do I have to go with Tristan again?" Gin's voice came over the telepathy, sounding upset.
"Because your dumb ass can't transform these days," Quinn replied. "So stick with our resident ass hat and stay safe."
"Don't make me come over there Quinn," Tristan threatened.
"Boys please stop," Abigail moaned.
"He's right no matter what," Neptu said. "I let you come Gin, but as you are you're a liability at best. I need you to stick with Tristan at all costs and stay out of trouble. If you get hurt, Anna will never let us hear the end of it."
"And that's the last thing we need," Quinn agreed.
"Exactly," Neptu said. 'So find those who need helping and help them out. We're putting an end to this fight here and now. Fairy Tail needs us."
"All of them?" Ultear asked weakly. Abigail nodded as she cut the telepathic link.
"Yes," she replied. "We all had the dream telling us to come here. We don't know what it means, but we would've been fools to ignore it." Ultear didn't have the faintest idea what that meant, but from what she could tell it was good. If The Cross was here to help, that was a huge plus.
Her thoughts were intruded on as a tree was broken nearby. Turning, she watched as Vissi got to her feet, and looked over at Abigail. The being seemed indifferent to the idea of missing an arm.
"He is quite the fighter milady!" She said. "But not to worry, we will defeat him!" The woman took off towards the angry drunk again, leaving Ultear confused again.
"When did they get faces?" She asked.
"Later," Abigail replied. "Right now, we need to focus on this guy." Just as she said this, Vissi was once again sent flying, this time missing her head. The summoned fighter skidded and came to a halt in front of the two women, who stared down at it.
"Is she okay?" Ultear asked. Abigail nodded.
"More or less," she replied, bringing her hands together once more. Light shone from her figure, and Vissi regained her arm and head. She smiled as she got to her feet once more.
"Thank you very much milady!" She said. "I have missed my head and arm!" Abigail just smiled at this.
"Give this information to Aeran and Sentine," she said. "You will be the front line, we will back you up."
"Yes ma'am!"
Zeus watched as the battles unfolded in front of him, the man screens showing all of his comrades as they fought. Both Hades and Poseidon had left him be for now. After his violent outburst he hadn't wanted both of them near him anyway, should Hades anger him any more. He didn't know how that man always managed to make him so angry, but he did nonetheless.
"Master?" Zeus looked up as his door opened, revealing Pythia standing there in her silky white robes. She looked concerned.
"What is it, Pythia?" He asked. The Oracle entered, walking up to his desk.
"Hades informed me several of our comrades have fallen," she said. "Is this true?" Damn that man. Why was he always causing trouble?
"Yes, it's true." He replied. "But do not fret my dear; the last of our comrades are still going strong, even with the numbers against them."
"Should you not assist them?" She asked weakly. "You are the master, the strongest of us all. If you were to help them-"
"We will, my dear." He said. "The others are preparing as we speak. We won't let them get away with hurting our friends." Despite his words, Pythia still looked upset. This confused him. After all, what did she have to worry about?
"What is it, Pythia?" He asked. The woman played with her dress for a moment before she looked back up at him.
"H-Hades also said that you blasted their home town with the satellite," she said, causing Zeus to bubble over with rage. "Is that true?"
"...Pythia..."
"Are we the bad guys, Master? Are we doing the wrong thing?"
Why did that man always have to open his mouth?
"Hades fills your head with lies, dear." Zeus replied. "We did attack their town yes, but very few lives were lost. Hephaestus made sure it was so."
"Are you positive?" Zeus nodded, knowing he was telling the girl the truth.
"I am not so cruel that I would needlessly involve those people. Trust me Pythia. Barely anyone had to die for this." This just made the girl look confused.
"But Master that makes no sense," she said as she furrowed her brow. "Why not just ask them for what we want? Why go through all this trouble and look like bad guys?"
"Because we have already portrayed ourselves as such," Zeus replied. "They already think us to be their enemies, those who will do anything to get what we want. The blast was to represent that. It got them to bring her to us. Now all we need to to retrieve her."
"And you're willing to be someones bad guy?" She asked, looking up at him curiously. Zeus nodded curtly.
"If it saves them in the end, yes." He said. "We know what has to be done, you foretold it. They do not have the strength, the willpower, to do such a thing. So we will take on that burden for them. I will act as their ultimate enemy to do what is necessary" The worry faded away from Pythia's face, and she smiled brightly up at him.
"I knew you were a good guy, master." She said warmly. Zeus smiled as he rubbed her head, causing her to lean into it a bit.
"You should't worry yourself over such matter, Pythia." He said. "Go and rest, it's getting late."
"It's only past dinner!" Pythia complained. "You're not my dad, I don't have a bedtime."
"Yes but you were entrusted to me by your father, and I will look after you," He replied as he playfully shoved her away. "Now go. I know that your condition makes you tired easily." She smiled warmly at him as she made to leave, before looking over her shoulder.
"Make sure our family gets home, Master," she said with a warm smile. Zeus smiled back at her, nodding.
"I will not settle for anything less, dear."
Hm, a little bit familial with The Olympians today huh? It's almost like they're not bad guys...Weird. Anyway! I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!
Chapter 327: An Illogical Conclusion