I really should write some chapters in advance so I don't end up having to rush through them. I dunno. Maybe I just need to have more self control to not take two weeks to write a chapter. Oh well, here goes!
Also, I want to remind you guys that the last two chapters have taken place at the same time as the Neptu vs Hades fight that happened right before. If you recall Hades said Hermes had been defeated, which has yet to happen. So this is catch up for everyone I haven't mentioned in a while.
Enjoy!
"Iron Dragon Spears!" The weapons that flew from Elise's hand were easily blocked by Venus, who was watching them with vague irritation on her face.
"Did you think you're weakened attacks would be able to do anything against me?" She demanded. "You're strategy isn't working as well as you thought it would is it?"
"Shut up!" Elise shouted. "I'm more than enough to take you on!"
"I'm so sorry," Azzie hissed, sweat dripping from her forehead. "I'm trying my best to only target any of her magic in your system." Despite the bad position they were in, Elise managed a smile.
"You're not making it that hard," she said with a reaffirming smile. "We can handle this, trust me."
Luna wanted to agree with her, but so far their odds were not looking so good. At first the plan to have Azzie pump them full of her Dispelling magic to take away Venus' strengths was a good idea. That was until, of course, they figured out that it was hurting them too. It took an immense amount of power from Azzie to not target Elise's magic, and she had slipped up more times than any of them were comfortable with. It wasn't like they had an option either, as letting go would mean Venus was able to take control of them again. And seeing as Luna was no fighter, it was essentially a one on one.
"I don't have time for this," Venus said as she crossed her arms. "I need to get the girl and retreat before we lose more warriors. Please be nice and let me take her away from you."
"How many times are you and your lot going to ask that?" Elise demanded with a growl. "It's a no! And the answer won't change!" Venus sighed.
"I know that, but this is such a pain in the ass." She said. "I seriously need to finish my mission. Please?"
"No!" Elise shouted again. Venus frowned, and Luna didn't like how dark her face became.
"Fine," she said, tone low and foreboding. "I guess I need to do this myself."
In a blur, the woman was right in front of them.
The three of them tried to jump backwards away from her, but the surprise burst of speed left them uncoordinated. Elise jumped quickly while Luna did not, and Azzie trying going a different way. This caused all of them to fumble and trip, opening them wide for Venus' attack. In one swift movement the woman brought her heel down on Azzie's arm, causing her to cry in pain as her elbow obeyed the pressure applied to it. Thanks to their hard grip on one another, Luna went down into the dirt too. Venus wasted no time in grabbing her and ripping her from Azzie's grip, and as soon as she did Luna's mind went murky as Venus invaded her mind.
"Go stand over there and wait like a good girl," Venus instructed. "I need to make sure you're friends here don't follow us." Without wanting to Luna obeyed, wandering over to the other side of the clearing against her own wishes.
"No!" She shouted angrily. "Wait! I don't want to do this!"
"No one asked you," Venus replied simply. "Not wait and watch as I tear your friends apart." Luna's head whipped around as Venus went after the other two, who had no choice but to evade. This time they seemed much more in sync with one another, both managing to get away while connected.
"Don't worry about it Luna!" Elise shouted. "We're better off like this! Now Azzie can fight too!"
"A-Are you sure?!" Luna asked as they dodged an explosion Venus caused. "I-I might be able to help!"
"We'll be fine!" Azzie said, trying to soothe her with a smile. It didn't work. "Just you watch! We're not so weak to lose to this bitch!"
"Says the woman who's running away!" Venus called back, raising a leg to kick at the two of them. They jumped away in time, but they weren't fast enough to dodge the next attack, a burst of light under their feet. The two sprawled in the air weirdly, trying their hardest to not get separated.
"Left!" Azzie shouted as Venus bore down on them. "Go left!" Elise did as she was told, but in the panic pulled to hard and Azzie toppled over her, causing them to awkwardly roll away from the fight. Luna watched, trying to not have a panic attack as she watched the two get blown around.
I need to do something! They're going to get hurt! B-But I'm not a fighter! Someone! Anyone! Please help us!
"You're a better fighter than anyone else here."
Luna's world froze around her, her spine going cold as another voice echoed inside her head. She knew the voice. Aside from her primal instincts telling her she knew the voice, it was the same one who warned her about Demeter before. Who was this?
"You have another consciousness living in your body. One that's far more powerful than I can even imagine."
In the chaos, Drake's words came back into her head. This must have been what he meant! This was END!
E-END?
"So you've remembered my name, have you?"
I-I need your help! The Olympians are hurting my friends! Our family! Drake said you're strong, can you help me fight?!
"No, I cannot."
Huh? What the hell did she mean by that?!
Why not?!
"I...I don't know what The Olympians did to us. Our power has been...fractured. I'm not all here. I am here with you, but I'm also somewhere else...Somewhere dark, where pain is constant."
Huh?
"I will explain to you everything I've learned at a later date, when a plan can be formulated. As we are, I can't fight for you. But I don't need too. You're more than capable on your own. I know you are."
But I've never fought before!
"Lies. You fought countless enemies before you let me out. You may not remember, but your body will. Here, I will free you from that woman's control. That, I can do."
A-And then what?
"You fight, and you win."
Drake dodged the explosion caused by Taros's stolen magic and rolled to his right, quickly getting up and shooting poison at Mercury. The man blurred into the wind, his attack missing. He sharpened his hearing, and as he did so Terra's earth pillars sprung up all around him as a defence. Mercury was caught and came to a stop before he slammed into one, and that was the opening Winter was waiting for. She controlled the winds to slam him into the pillar, before Terra slammed him between two pillars. This trapped him long enough for Drake to sprint to him and punch him square in the face, poison exploding outwards as he did so. Mercury flew back with the rubble from the pillars, flipping in mid air and coming to a stop.
"All three of you certainly are a nuisance," he said. "But that doesn't matter. Once I get my hands on you, Dragon Slayer, it'll all be over."
"Come and take it if you can, asshole." Drake hissed as he raised his arms to defend himself. The scales lining his arms were harder than he remembered, but they didn't impede his movement that much. "Or our we causing too much trouble for you?"
"As if a bunch of children could stop me from completing my mission." Her burst forth again, this time just barely visible. Drake thought quickly and exhaled poison out of his mouth, giving himself a barrier. Mercury stopped just short of it and raised a hand. Taro's air magic coming in handy once again. He quickly absorbed all of the venom inside a sphere of air and, in one swift motion, tossed it in Terra and Winter's direction. Winter wasn't having any of it though, quickly redirecting the ball will a blast of air and had it harmlessly disperse off to the side. Terra took action before Mercury closed the distance with Drake, a massive earthen wall rising between them. With a slap of her hands it slammed down onto the ground, but it was clear she'd missed the man in question.
"Too slow!" He shouted. Drake gritted his teeth and he turned, the man having reappeared behind Terra. "I suppose I might need to deal with the back line first after all!" He didn't get the chance to follow through with that threat, as rocks spring from the earth in the blink of an eye and encased him in stone.
"What was that about slow?" Terra demanded as she looked over her shoulder at him. Mercury gritted his teeth and, with only a small struggle, freed himself from the stone prison. He swung his staff at Terra, who gathered rocks around her fists and blocked the attack. The two traded blows so quickly Drake could barely keep up. He didn't need too, though. He just need to find an opening that let him in to give an attack of his own.
And he soon got it as Terra realised she was fighting alone. The rocks around her around burst outwards as she met his staff, pushing him back and making him stumble. Drake was on him in an instant, swinging his foot downward with as much strength as he could muster. He felt the wind at his back as well, and his foot impacted with three times the strength he'd been expecting. Despite this Mercury still escaped, skidding to a stop a ways away from them.
"Even the boys stolen Speed magic is barely enough to get away," he said pointedly. "Interesting."
"Jackson might be strong, but he's got a lot to learn." Terra replied. "It's as if you just told us the stolen magic doesn't scale to your own strength." Mercury's face flickered in annoyance at this, and it was enough for Drake to think that this was true. He could steal spells from people sure, but it seemed he wasn't able to scale them to his own strength. Jackson's stolen speed, or Taro's air, it was only so powerful. That made it a lot easier on them.
Although that would mean little to nothing if he managed to get his hands on Drake's Dragon Force. It might be game over for them after that. Which was why he couldn't let it happen.
"Terra, Winter." he said, gaining their attention. "I know this is obvious, but we need to stop wasting our time with this guy. We need to find where Luna was sent too."
"No shit," Terra replied. "Do you have a plan?"
"If he really can't scale Jackson's speed with his own magic power, than that makes this easier than we're making it. We just need to do what we did before. Force him to slow down so we can get him."
"That's where I come in, right?" Winter asked. Drake nodded. He knew Winter had a good enough command of her God Slaying magic to make someone to fight against gale force winds. She'd already done so before they'd been split up. If she could do it again, he and Terra could pounce.
"Create a gale around us," Drake said to her. "The entire battlefield. I know you're strong enough to notice where he is and force the winds in front of him."
"And if I'm not?" Winter asked weakly.
"You are," Drake replied. "I know you are." Winter seemed to not believe him, but she nodded weakly. "After that, we'll-!"
Drake look out!
He heard the words echoing in Terra's mind before she spoke them, as well as Mercury taking off from where he had been. Bending his back he dodged the mans outstretched hand, causing him to fly over him/ Reaching out, he blasted poison directly into the mans midsection. It melted his clothes in an instant and burnt his stomach, making the man flinch as he was thrown back. Drake got his feet and watched Mercury land painfully, gripping his stomach.
"What the hell is this?" He demanded as he wiped the remaining poison off of his chest.
"Poison is pretty volatile," Drake said. "Taking a direct hit usually isn't good for ones health."
"Good job, Terra said. "That'll slow him down a bit."
"We can only hope," Drake replied. "You two ready?" He sensed them both nodding, so he steeled himself. This would be it, the deciding moment in this battle. They were going to put an end to this right here, right now. They had too.
With this in mind, Drake burst forward. He gathered magic in his hands, poison leaking from them as he did so. He spun himself around, creating a small tornado of movement as he moved right for Mercury. The man easily dodged the attacks, but Drake wasn't done. He unleashed his magic, causing it to fly out every which way. Instead of dissipating, the magic became sludge-like and clung to everything it landed on. The shrubs and trees melted underneath the poison, and the grass fizzled as well. But that wasn't what Drake was waiting for. Gathering up magic in his core, he let it explode outward. More sludge flew every which way, and he got what he was looking for. Mercury stopped and raised his hand, using Taro's magic to keep the sludge from hitting him.
Winter made sure he didn't escape again.
"Sky God's Tailwind!"She shouted. At her call, the wind picked up and spun violently around the clearing. More specifically, it pushed against Mercury as hard as it could, forcing the man to use his staff to plant himself to the ground and prevent getting blown away. Unfortunately for him, that had been exactly what the trio had been waiting for. Terra brought her hands together, humming to herself.
"Supreme King's Rock Crush!" The earth sprung up from underneath Mercury and encased him inside of it, and Drake launched himself into the air. He was going to hit this poor bastard with everything he had, and end this now. As magic hands formed around the encased wizard, Drake gathered all of his magic into his hands. He forced himself to exert more than he ever had before. As Terra's magic hands slammed into Mercury with all the force she could muster, it cracked the prison opened and gave Drake the opening he was looking for.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" He shouted, "Poison Dragon's Bane!" The poison that gathered in his hands changed colour. Instead of it's usual dark red colour, it changed to black and red. This attack wasn't aimed to disable or stop Mercury.
It was aimed to kill him, plain and simple. The strongest poison he could conjure. The deadliest, the fastest. If Mercury valued his life, he would dodge it. Otherwise, it would eat away at him.
"I'm not a fan of taking lives either..."
Drake's world seemed to slow as he descended towards Mercury.
"I don't want blood on my hands anymore than you do."
He saw Magnolia's ruins flash in his mind.
He saw Blake disappear into the air before his eyes.
He saw Nashi's burnt unmoving corpse.
Growling, he reared his fist back as the poison extended behind him like the tail if a viper ready to strike.
"YOU STARTED IT!" He shouted. "YOU TOOK LIVES, SO I'LL TAKE YOURS RIGHT BACK!"
The resulting explosion sent smoke into the air as far as Drake could see. He felt his fist impact flesh, and a satisfying crunch came with it. He held his fist down with as much strength as he could muster, digging his knee into Mercury's chest to make sure he didn't escape the poison.
"Y-You're so foolish..." Drake's stomach dropped as the smoke began to clear. Mercury was still below him, hand stopping Drake's fist. The poison had clearly latched onto the man, but it wasn't spreading.
"W-What?" Drake demanded. "This isn't possible! Dragon's Bane is my strongest spell! And it was coupled with Dragon Force! How the hell did you-?!"
Drake saw Mercury raise his other fist out of the corner of his eye. It was holding Drake's poison, yet he was unharmed.
"You're an idiot," Mercury said with a dark grin. "I can steal the spells I touch! Why would you attack me head on huh?! Now I've got all I need!"
Scales spread across Mercury's face, and Drake's poison leaked from his form. Drake was pushed back by a gust of wind, stumbling and coming to a stop by Winter and Terra.
"You okay?" Winter asked weakly. Drake gritted his teeth angrily.
"I played right into his hands," he hissed. "I gave him exactly what he wanted..."
"No time to mope, Cyanide Breath." Terra said, standing in front of him. "He's getting back up." Drake watched as Mercury got to his feet, scales spreading across his face and limbs even more. He could tell Dragon Force was working, his magic power was being amplified drastically.
"This is it!" Mercury shouted at the top of his lungs as the wind whipped around him. "The power of the Dragons! Humans could only dream of feeling this much power! To feel so invulnerable! I'm immortal! Dragon's can't be killed by such mere-!"
Mercury stopped shouting. Drake made a face, unsure as to what was happening. The winds surrounding him stopped, and the magic died down a bit.
"What's happening?" He asked.
"I don't know," Terra replied as Mercury began to shutter. "But keep your guard up, who knows what he's about to-!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Mercury screamed as he collapsed to his knees. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS POWER?! I-I CAN SEE EVERYTHING! HEAR EVERYTHING! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! HUMANS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE LIKE THIS!" Drake watched as the man rolled around on the ground, magic exploding out from him in waves.
"W-What the hell is happening?" Winter asked weakly.
"Want to fill us on, Drake?" Terra asked, looking lost. Drake felt just as lost, though. He had no clue why the guy was freaking out, so why were they asking?
Unless...
"So that's how it is," he said as Mercury cried. "What Gajeel and Wendy taught me was true."
"Huh?" Winter asked. Drake frowned as he watched the man squirm, screaming his heart out.
"The first Dragon Slayers were unable to handle the power the magic gave them," he said. "They started to go insane from being able to see, hear and smell so much more effectively than the average person. It's part of the transition to becoming a dragon if you don't have protective antibodies." With this said, he forced himself to look away.
"For someone who isn't a Dragon Slayer to activate Dragon Force, a spell designed to let the caster take on a Dragonic body...It must be a pain I can't imagine."
"MAKE IT STOP! WHAT IS THAT SMELL?! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING! THE VOLUME OF THE GRASS! IT'S LENGTH! PLEASE SOMEONE PUT AN END TO THIS, PLEASE!" Deciding to put an end to the man suffering, Drake walked up to him. With one swift kick to the skull his screaming stopped, and a few moments later the magic flowed out of his body and back to Drake. He felt it enter his body and settle, and did the magic stolen from the others.
"Is...Is it over?" Winter asked weakly as the others began to stir around them.
"For him it is," Drake replied, cracking his knuckles. "But it's not over yet. There's still Olympians out there, and Luna's still not safe."
"Azzie you can't let go!" Elise shouted as the purple haired girl did her best to obey. "If you do, than I'll be forced to kill you!"
"Is that an insult or what'll actually happen?!" Azzie demanded as Venus stomped down on her elbow, a crunching sound coming from Azzie's arm.
"Both!" Elise said. "I got this! Don't let go!"
"And what exactly are you going to do?" Venus demanded as she turned and looked at Elise. "If you let go of her, you'll be consumed by my magic. If you don't, your spells are too weak to stop me. What's next?"
Elise knew she was right. The more concentration Azzie lost, the easier it was for Venus to kick them around. Growling in anger, Elise made a fist and aimed it for the woman's thigh. The attack was easily dodged and Venus raised a leg to kick her in the head. Elise instinctively tried to harden her skin to block it, but nothing happened and she was sent into the dirt with a thud and black spots in her eyes.
"Enough of this," Venus said. Elise realised to late the woman had grabbed for their conjoined hands, and in an instant separated them. It didn't take long for Elise to feel her body resisting her, and going under Venus' control.
"And that's the end of that," Venus said as she walked away from the pair. "Now I can let the small one do all the work while I watch!"
"Elise don't!" Azzie shouted as she jumped to her feet, cradling her wounded arm.
"I can't help it!" Elise said, trying as hard as she could to stop her arms from turning into swords. "But I can't! Grab me!" Azzie made a move, but Venus sent out a blast of light that stopped her from reaching Elise. Growling, she glared at Venus angrily, who smirked at her.
"What?" Venus demanded. "Are you mad you lost? Don't be. I am more powerful after all. You're mere children who thought you could stand up to those more powerful than you, and look where that got yo-!"
Venus was sent flying forward with a mighty explosion, freeing Elise from her mind control. the woman rolled and eventually came to a stop, angrily glaring where she'd been. Elise too looked, trying to see what had happened.
As the smoke cleared, she saw their saviour.
Luna stood where Venus had been, flames cloaking her right arm. She looked weakly between Elise, Azzie and Venus before she coughed.
"I-I didn't know that would be so powerful." She said. "Have I always been able to do that?"
I wasn't sure if I wanted to include the END Luna talk in the chapter, but I decided I would. After all, it helps set up how Luna actually, you know, fights for the foreseeable future. Can't have her being useless, can I?
I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!
Chapter 335: Cusp of Victory