Here's the next chapter.
Linkonpark100 – Interesting question. Hmm…you actually gave me an idea which you'll see in this chapter.
NinjaFang1331 – No problem, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
human dragon – Thanks so much, hope you like the next chapter.
wellingtonlucus282 – Thank you so much for your support as always.
Morregen – It's definitely going to be exciting. I hope you will like it.
Temna Kirin – Here's the next chapter.
Djinn – Thanks so much. I get what you mean. Soon you will see how that one mistake changed Fiore completely.
MDM11 – I see what I can do. I don't want to interrupt too much from the main series, but I'll try my best.
danielsnow – Thanks so much. I was worried about all the flashback and everything. The Phobos Slayer will be the main core of the story and will be the adversary to Night Terror, so putting them down won't be easy. As for the girl... well, you have to see.
Neo Infinity – No problem, I'm glad you are enjoying it so far.
Lelouch of Zero – That would be a good alternative, but I have some plans for when he faces Gajeel. Why doesn't he shadow travel all the time? Yes, he does enjoy the scenery. You got that 100% correct. However, there's another reason. Shadow travelling involves the user becoming one with darkness and no longer having a physical form. Since Night Terror hasn't been through the proper initiations, it is harder for him to navigate or even getting out of the shadows without an insane amount of focus. There's a risk of him being stuck in the darkness.
His fight with Gajeel will be interesting, to say the least and I hope you'll enjoy it.
ikusatsunagi – Your welcome, thanks for reading.
Guest – Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter 12: War of the Guilds
Night Terror easily avoided the punch and swiped Gajeel on the back with one of his claws.
Gajeel gritted his teeth to avoid shouting in pain and quickly turned around. He continued to bombard the Phobos with punches and kicks made more powerful by encasing them in iron, but Night Terror calmly avoided every single one. It was like fighting a shadow.
"Stop moving!" Gajeel growled in frustration as he sent a sharp kick to his hooded head.
Night Terror caught the kick in his claw and, using his balance against him, threw him back by his leg. Gajeel flipped and landed on both feet roughly before starring up at the Phobos in anger.
"Forgive me for not fighting back. I couldn't help but take pity on your poor attempts to hit me," Night Terror taunted, making Gajeel growl again.
"I'm an Iron Dragon Slayer," Gajeel told him, "I've taken down thousands of wise-cracking whelps like you."
"And I am the Night Terror," the Phobos responded, "I have defeated thousands of arrogant fools who think they can defeat me...rather like you."
Gajeel leaped in the air and took a deep breath.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" he bellowed before releasing a powerful whirlwind of air and metal debris aimed point blank at Night Terror.
The tornado rushed through the back streets of Magnolia, sending pieces of brick and mortar flying into the air. Once Gajeel finished, he looked back up with a malicious grin, hoping to see Night Terror lying on the cold pavement. The grin instantly disappeared as soon as he saw Night Terror standing and completely unharmed.
Night Terror gently brushed away some dirt that had got onto his robe, "Is this what they teach you at Phantom Lord? Simple attacks with no thought behind them. So inelegant."
"We don't do 'elegant' at Phantom Lord," Gajeel responded through sharp gritted teeth.
"That has become abundantly clear," Night Terror responded.
"Iron Dragon Lance!" Gajeel roared as he aimed his right arm at Night Terror.
An iron bar, similar to the ones that had destroyed the guild, extended from his hand, ready to batter the Phobos. From under his robe, Night Terror positioned his legs and held his claw in front of him and braced himself to catch the iron bar.
The iron bar impacted the palm of his claw, making him grunt in pain and slide back along the cobblestones. However, he fought back and resisted the attack.
The two mages became engaged in a reverse tug-of-war. They pushed the iron bar back and forth, trying to overpower the other. Beads of sweat started to roll down Gajeel's forehead as he pushed forwards while Night Terror maintained his calmness. Although, he had to admit that he was struggling as well.
He had to end this.
In one quick motion, Night Terror suddenly released the iron bar and ducked underneath it. The unexpected lack of resistance made Gajeel lose his balance and fall forwards. Once he got halfway down the iron bar, Night Terror swiped his claw at the bar, severing it in half. The Phobos grabbed onto the now loose iron bar and swung it into Gajeel's face.
The Iron Dragon Slayer only had time to encase his face in scaly metal before he was knocked back by his own iron bar. Night Terror used Gajeel's vulnerability and controlled the darkness around them to wrap around his wrists and ankles.
Gajeel struggles against his restraints. He even tried to use his magic to try and break free, but Night Terror kept a from grip on him.
"I tire of this," he said, calmly approaching the trapped Gajeel, "I do not know the purpose of you attacks, but frankly Mr Gajeel I do not care. Return to your guild and tell Mr Jose that if does anything else to Fairy Tail or its members than I will have word with him. Do you understand?"
"I don't take orders from you," Gajeel spat, "I'm not scared of you either. Phantom Lord will crush you and the rest of your weak guild into dust."
"I think that you will find that our guild is vastly greater than yours," Night Terror said leaning towards Gajeel's face intimidatingly, "however, there is one thing that Phantom Lord is superior than us."
"Oh yeah. And what's that."
"You are better at being defeated," Night Terror turned away and started calmly walking back to the guild, "the proper authorities will deal with you. Good night, Mr Gajeel."
Night Terror had only made a few steps before Gajeel's chuckling caught his attention. He turned around and raised a curious eyebrow at the manically laughing mage.
"May I ask what is so funny?"
"You really think you've defeated me, fairy trash?" Gajeel questioned back.
"Indeed," Night Terror sighed turning back again, "now please accept it. I have had a rather long day."
Night Terror was, again, about to walk away when Gajeel called out to him one more time.
"Deimos!" Gajeel proclaimed.
The Phobos stopped in his tracks in shock.
It took him a while to process what he had said. At first, he thought he had misheard him. His exhaustion starting to take over him and now he starting to hear things. Then he was confused as it was impossible that he would know that word. Then he became furious for various reasons.
How dare he call him that?
How does he know that word?
Who gave him the right to call him that?
Gajeel grimaced slightly at how much power the Phobos was radiating. He had heard that his Fear Magic radiates off him and people who have encountered him always describe it as a cold feeling that washes over you. However, now Gajeel was witnessing something else entirely.
His fear wasn't cold and foreboding.
It was hot searing rage. Pure anger. As if Gajeel had wronged a powerful entity and was now feeling regret ever making the mistake.
But Gajeel didn't regret it. He told him that this will happen and so he resisted the fear and smirked triumphantly at the Phobos. As long as he said the exact words that he told him, he will win.
Night Terror slowly turned around to face Gajeel, "What did you call me?" he snarled. Gajeel could have sworn a deep animalistic growl came from his throat.
"Deimos!" Gajeel repeated, "you have turned against your teachings and betrayed the values of the clan!"
"SHUT UP!" Night Terror roared, "I HAVE DONE NO SUCH THINGS!"
"As punishment for your crimes I must denounce your actions-ack"
Night Terror grabbed Gajeel around the neck, making him stop his sentence with a strangled yelp. The fear he was admitting was unbearable, Gajeel had to finish it now.
"I do not know who told you this Gajeel, but you need to stop right now," Night Terror growled, too livid to add his title.
"I…name…thee…" Gajeel gasped.
"Do not dare…"
But before Night Terror could stop him, Gajeel had already said the dreaded word.
Sgeulachd nan Deimos
Or The Story of the Deimos
Long ago,
A Phobos belonging to the kin of Gun Agaidh rampaged through a city, terrifying the population in its wake,
His Fear Magic has overtaken him, turning him into a giant monster causing him to lose control,
He had become what we know to this day as,
The Deimos.
Fear is powerful and can become lethal if the user was careless,
But despite the charms and the woad that help prevent them from becoming Deimos,
There are times when anger or hate or any potent emotion can release their hold on their magic.
Many Phobos tried to keep the Deimos under control,
Some were injured, some had perished, but none had succeeded,
That is until the Grand Master had found a solution.
The Grand Master had found a daonna and told him a secret they should never have known,
The daonna approached the Deimos and announced the secret for all to hear,
The secret had triggered a charm imbedded into the woad of the Deimos,
Restricted his movement and took away his magic,
The Deimos collapsed into a paralysed state and soon turned back into a Phobos,
And the city was saved.
But what was that secret that could take a behemoth down,
And phrase that can topple any Phobos or Deimos.
It was only one word.
One single but significant word.
The Phobos' name.
Night Terror cried as his body was racked with burning pain. It was so intense that he was forced to drop Gajeel from his restraints and drop to his knees in agony.
'My wode...it is...burning...me,' Night Terror thought as the charm took place.
He tried to fight it, but the speed had already restrained his arms to his sides and kept his legs together. His back was straightened forcefully and his throat seized up.
Night Terror was completely paralysed and laid rigidly on the cobblestones. He could not talk, use his magic or make any sort of movement.
For the first time in years, Night Terror had been defeated.
Gajeel chuckled as he rubbed his aching throat and looked over the incapacitated Phobos. He kicked his side to test whether he was really down and grinned when Night Terror didn't fight back. Using his foot, he rolled the Phobos onto his front and leaned down to his hooded face.
"Not so tough now, are you," Gajeel taunted, moving his hand towards his hood, "they say Phobos never reveal their faces because people die of fright, but I think it's because you don't want anyone to see your ugly fa-"
He was about to take down his hood, but stopped in surprise when it wouldn't budge. He tugged once more however it seemed to be completely stuck to his head.
Night Terror had prepared for something like this. He had placed a spell on his clothes years ago so if he had been defeated in battle or left paralysed, his robe would become permanently attached to himself.
Gajeel tried a few more time before giving up. He looked up and saw the morning sun coming over the roofs of the houses, signifying that he needed to leave.
He chuckled to himself before he started walking away, "An easy win," he said out loud, "now those fairies will have no choice. Our guilds will go to war and Fairy Tail will lose. And it's all your fault, Phobos."
He continued menacingly laugh as he made his way back to Phantom Lord, leaving behind an immobilised Night Terror behind.
It was only a few minutes later that Fairy Tail found Night Terror.
Team Shadow Gear had gathered as many members as possible to help with Gajeel, but once they had returned, they saw it was too late. They crowded around Night Terror in shock and concern. Night Terror seemed invincible to them, but now they couldn't help but gape in astonishment at the defeated Phobos.
"No," Mirajane gasped through sobs as tears streamed down her eyes. Lisanna hugged her comfortingly, but it was clear that she was also distraught.
Lucy, Grey, Erza, Ur, Natsu and Happy happened to be walking to the guild when they saw the crowd. They approached it and worked their way through the crowd to see the fallen Phobos. Lucy gasped when she laid eyes, assuming the worst.
"I don't believe it," Grey muttered in disbelief and anger while Ur nodded in agreement.
She had never known of any member of the Phobos Clan to be defeated in battle. If she wasn't looking at Night Terror now, she wouldn't have believed it.
Happy, who was perched on Natsu's head, looked sadly down at the Phobos while the Fire Dragon Slayer gritted his teeth in fury. His fists were starting to smoke, showing his want to burn down the Phantom Lord guild.
Erza tried to show a calm visage, but it was clear her distress was coming through. She gripped her sheathed sword, itching to use it.
Lucy was just as upset as Mirajane. She held a hand over her mouth, trying to keep the sobs from escaping her mouth as she looked sadly down at her friend. Team Shadow Gear stood beside her, looking guilty for leaving their comrade behind.
"Lucy," Levy quietly said, "I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have left him."
Lucy shook her head but didn't turn her eyes away, "It's not your fault," she told her as she slowly approached Night Terror, "Is he..."
"No," a serious voice called from the crowd. They stepped away as Makarov, his head bowed and his eyes covered in shadow, approached the centre, looking solemnly down at the Phobos, "he's still alive, but he's magic is sealed. Somebody in Phantom Lord has found a Phobos' weakness."
The entire guild shivered at his tone. Unlike yesterday, Makarov was not his cheery self. He was serious. Deadly serious.
"I need two volunteers to take him back to the guild," Makarov stated, making the Fairy Tail members jump at his sudden request, "I will find a way to break him out of it later."
Jet and Droy volunteered since the Phobos was the reason they were unharmed. Jet grabbed his shoulders while Droy took what he assumed was he feet and carried him carefully back to the guild. Elfman would've helped as well but he felt that he should wait for what the master had to say.
Once Night Terror had been removed, everyone turned back to the eerily quiet Makarov. Waiting for him to speak once again.
"Damage to an old beer hall I can let slide," Makarov suddenly said, clutching his hands into tight fists, "but I will not stand for them hurting my children!" he yelled, lifting his face up for all to see.
His eyes were filled with fury, making the veins around them bulge in rage. A deep snarl etched onto his face and a dark aura surrounded the elderly master. The others were taken back by this. They have never seen their master this angry before.
"THIS MEANS WAR!" he declared.
Phantom Lord Guild
The members of Phantom Lord were in the middle of a celebration.
They had heard that Gajeel had taken down one of Fairy Tail's strongest mages. Not only that but they were a Phobos as well. The mahority of Phantom Lord had never heard of the Phobos Clan before, but the way Gajeel proudly declared it suggested that they were a strong opponent.
They didn't care, of course, but it just meant all the reason to celebrate.
One of the members, noticing the time, downed his beer and picked up a bag and slung it over his shoulder.
"Ah shoot!" he exclaimed, "I lost track of time."
"Meeting a girl?" his friend asked.
"Yeah," he answered with a shrug, "not too shabby looking either, Though she's just a client," he grinned back at his friends maliciously, "when I threatened her she doubled the reward for me," he said with a chuckle.
"I bet I could have tripled it," his friend challenged jokingly.
He turned to the door and waved his hand over his shoulder dismissively, "Yeah, yeah," he called back as he reached the front door.
BOOM!
Everybody in the guild turned to the door in shock as a loud explosion ripped through the hall and shattered the large wooden door to pieces. The Phantom Lord member closest to the door was sent rocketing back and landed painfully onto a table.
"Hey!" one member shouted at the direction of the destroyed door, "who do you think you ar-" he stopped short when he noticed the figures emerging as the dust began to die down.
Natsu, the person who had destroyed the door, came into view followed by every other member of Fairy Tail. They stood intimidatingly at the door, more then prepared to fight the one that had hurt Night Terror.
Those closest to Night Terror (Elfman, Lisanna, Natsu, Grey, Ur, Erza and Cana) were more then eager to beat up every single member of Phantom Lord. Cana seemed unexpectedly willing especially. Surprisingly, even those members who weren't as close to Phobos were still more then willing to go to war. They may not know him as well, but he is still a member of Fairy Tail.
"We are Fairy Tail!" Makarov declared as he stood before his guild, his face forming a snarl.
The Phantom Lord Guild were obviously taken back. They weren't expecting retaliation from the supposedly 'weaker' guild.
"COME ON!" Natsu roared, "WHO'S FIRST!"
And with that...the guild war had begun.
Fairy Tail Guild
Lucy and Levy stayed behind to look after Night Terror. They had found him a bed large enough for him and made sure he was comfortable. Lucy was distressed as she sat next to Night Terror's head in silence, waiting for him to make any sort of movement. Mirajane was down in the basement, trying to make contact with either Mystogan or Laxus with little success.
Levy walked into the room and sighed sombrely and pulled up a chair next to Lucy. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Levy decided that she should say something to Lucy.
"What should we do?" she asked.
"…I don't know," Lucy answered, not once taking her eyes of Night Terror.
"The master said that somebody in Phantom Lord had found his weakness. Has he ever mentioned…"
"No," Lucy sternly replied.
Levy nodded in understanding and looked towards his concealed face.
"Maybe we can-"
"We can't," Lucy interrupted, "he wouldn't like it if we took down his hood."
"But Lucy. We can see what's wrong with him and-" Levy complained, but she stopped as Lucy shook her head again.
Lucy continued to stare blankly at Night Terror until she heard the sound of crying. She looked around and saw Levy weeping into her hands, tears starting to fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry Lucy," Levy wept, "I'm sorry."
Lucy expression turned from sorrowful to concerned as she instantly hugged her comfortingly, letting her blue haired friend cry into her shoulder.
"Hey, I told you It wasn't your faul-"
"But it was," Levy argued back though sobs, "we should have stayed with him and none of this would have happened. What sort of a Fairy Tail member am I, leaving one of our own like that."
Lucy sighed and patted her back reassuringly, "Levy, Night didn't send you away just because he wanted to fight Phantom Lord. He sent you away because he didn't want you or Jet and Droy to be hurt. And I am sure he wouldn't want you to be blaming yourself for his choices. Levy I mean it when I say I wasn't your fault. I don't blame, no one in the guild blames you. So please stop crying."
Levy sniffed and pulled away from Lucy slowly. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and smiled up at her.
"Okay," she softly said, making Lucy smile as well.
"Levy, I'm sorry for acting cold to you," Lucy apologised, "I…I just never expected him to be like this," she admitted, looking over the Phobos once again.
"Neither did I," Levy agreed, "I don't even know what they did to him."
Lucy hummed thoughtfully, "It doesn't mention anyway in the book about…whatever is going on," she said before a thought struck her, "but that was in the translated version. I wonder if it's in the original," she gasped before turning back to Levy, "You know Timorin, right?"
Levy raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Err…well I'm still learning," she sheepishly admitted.
"But you can still read part of it."
"I-I mean, I…guess."
"Great!" Lucy shouted in joy as she leapt out of her chair and headed to the door.
"Where are you going?" Levy cried out after her.
Lucy stopped and turned to her at the door with a hopeful smile, "I need to find the original and find a way to break Night out of this spell," she explained as she ran out the door.
"Do you even know where he lives?"
Lucy stopped for a moment in thought before turning back to Levy again, "If I know Night, he would like to live in the darkest part of Magnolia," she answered.
Before Levy could ask what she meant by that, Lucy had already taken off, leaving her all behind with a paralysed Night Terror.
Streets of Magnolia
Lucy rushed down the strangely deserted streets of Magnolia. She assumed that everyone had stayed inside when they heard about the Phantom Lord attack. However, she tore her mind away from that thought and focused on finding where Night Terror lived.
'Where is the darkest part of Magnolia?' she thought to herself, 'maybe a backstreet or an alley. It has to be somewhere that nobody would ever think of going down.'
Lucy was so caught up in her searching, that it was only when something wet and cold landed on her nose that she started to notice something strange. She looked up and saw dark clouds rolling overhead and raindrops began to eventually fall to the ground.
Lucy frowned in confusion. It was bright and sunny a moment ago, so where did the clouds come from? Surely weather doesn't change that fast.
The rain was now pouring rapidly around Lucy and she had to hold her hand over her eyes to see where she was going. She continued to job down the streets till she saw a figure down the street. She stopped as she inspected the figure. She was about to call out to it when she heard a soft voice coming back to her.
"Drip, drop, drip, drop," it monotonously repeated as the figure slowly approached Lucy.
She could see the figure now. Her long blue hair which was curled at the ends around her neck. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were large. She wore a long blue coat and a matching Russian hat. The mysterious woman, who looked to be the same age as Lucy, stared straight ahead at her with a look that made her shiver.
"Drip, drop, drip, drop. Yes…Juvia brings rain. Drip, drop, drip, drop," the woman said in her dull voice as she looked towards Lucy, "What do you bring?" she asked unexpectedly.
Lucy was taken back by the cryptic question, "Err…who are you?" she asked.
The woman hummed, brought out a pink umbrella and spun around in the opposite direction.
"I had fun…farewell," she said, before walking away, "Drip, drop, drip, drop."
…
…
…
"What was that about!" Lucy yelled in a mixture of shock, terror, and confusion.
"Non, non, non," a new voice echoed rung out down the street, surprising Lucy and stopping the mysterious woman stop, "non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non, non!" it cried as the ground next to blue haired woman began to bulge.
Suddenly, morphing out of the ground was a tall thin man with green spiky hair. He had fair skin, a pencil moustache and he wore a monocle over his right eye and a brown suit. He moved oddly and was always seemed to be leaning to one side.
"Bonjour," he greeted enthusiastically, "with non in a 3-3-7 rhythm."
"Not another one!" Lucy thought in shock, stepping back in surprise.
The man twirled to the woman with a large smile, "Mademoiselle Juvia. You can't just walk away from your mission."
"Monsieur Sol," the now named Juvia said in surprise.
"My monocle is whispering to me that mademoiselle over the is none other than our precious sible," Sol informed, looking towards Lucy with a crazed grin.
Juvia turned to look as well, "Oh my…so she's the one?" Juvia said, making Lucy step away again.
"Pardon my manners," Sol told Lucy, "I am Sol. You may call me Monsieur Sol," he introduced himself, bowing at her in an awkward position, "we've come from the Phantom Lord to welcome you."
"Juvia and Monsieur Sol are members of the Element Four," Juvia informs, "Juvia brings the rain."
"Phantom," Lucy gasped, instantly reaching for her gate keys, "I'm warning you, get out of my way. I've got something important to do."
Sol chuckled as he twiddled his moustache, "Desole, Mademoiselle. We can't let you go anywhere."
Before Lucy could take her keys off her belt, she was surrounded by a sphere of water. Lucy was shocked for a few seconds by the attack and tried to swim out of it, but as soon as her head broke the surface, she was immediate submerged again.
She saw through the water at Juvia who was holding her hand before her, controlling the sphere of water.
"Juvia's water lock cannot be broken," she said as Lucy was starting to lose air, "but do not worry, Juvia will not kill you. It is Juvia's duty to bring you back."
Lucy kicked and flailed as she began to drown. There was no way for her to escape.
Back with Levy
Levy sighed in despair as she watched Lucy leave and turned back to Night Terror.
"Timorin," she mused as she stood up from her chair and looked over the Phobos.
She had almost translated the Phobos text that Lucy had gave her, but she couldn't say she was fluent.
Well not yet anyway.
Night Terror had been kind enough to provide her with some help. One evening, Levy had found a bundle of papers on her doorstep and, after some close inspection, found that they were passages in Timorin. Before he had left to retrieve Lucy, Natsu, Grey and Happy from Galuna Island, Night Terror had left some vocabulary and grammar used in his language to help her learn. Levy was overjoyed receiving this, but it did make her feel a little more guilty avoiding him for so many years.
Levy looked towards Night Terror's hooded face with a sad look, "I'm sorry Night Terror. I really wish I knew how to…"
She stopped suddenly as an idea formed in her mind.
'If Phantom Lord could do this to him, then why can't I break him out of it,' she thought hopefully, 'If I can just find the right phrase.'
She thought back on all her vocabulary, trying to find the right words to say.
"So I need him to for the spell to release him," Levy told herself, "and the Timorin word for 'release' or let go is 'leigeil' but if I add a 'the', it becomes 'leig às an'. Right, that's a start," she encouraged herself, "now what's the word for spell or curse… it's something like 'gea' or is it 'geasb'?" she growled in annoyance, "why are all these words so hard to pronounce?"
She quickly turned to Night Terror with an apologetic look, "No offence," she sheepishly said before concentrating once more.
She gasped suddenly in realisation, "Gheasaibh! That's the word!"
Levy turned back to Night Terror in excitement, "Leig às an gheasaibh!" she cried.
To her dismay nothing happened.
"Leig às an gheasaibh!" she repeated, but less eagerly.
Still nothing.
"Am I not saying right?" Levy asked herself, "no I am. I just need to try harder."
She placed both her hands on top of Night Terror's chest as if she was performing CPR and shut her eyes tight. Taking a deep breath and focus all her energy, she began to chant.
"Leig às an gheasaibh!" she shouted.
At gasped when she saw one of his claws move slightly. It only twitched but she knew it was progress.
"Leig às an gheasaibh!" she shouted once again.
Two claws moved that time. One more go.
"LEIG ÀS AN GHEASAIBH!" she screamed with all her power.
To Levy's shock and joy, Night Terror sat up and gasped for breath. He briefly looked around before looking down at Levy.
"Miss Levy, I am thankful-"
He was suddenly cut off as Levy wrapped him in a tight hug. He looked down in concern (and slight embarrassment at being hugged by a beautiful woman) at the blue haired girl as she cried into his robe.
"Err...Miss Levy," he started, not quite sure what he should do.
"I'm so glad that you're alright," she wept, "I'm sorry about leaving you behind..l..." she trailed off into mumbling so quiet that Night Terror couldn't hear.
He took off his claw and placed it onto the bedside table. His uncovered hand hesitantly petted her back comfortingly, trying his best to reassure his guild member.
"It is quite alright, Miss Levy. I had ordered you to go," he gently told her.
Levy looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "What happened? The master said that Phantom Lord found your weakness."
Night Terror frowned, "Not exactly. It is more of a safe guard," he explained, showing Levy his uncovered hand.
Levy gasped and leaned back in surprise, "That's...your hand. Your real hand," she uttered.
Night Terror chuckled in amusement, "Of course it is. I make an exception to show you just this once," he told her before he showed her the back of his hand.
She looked and saw a delicate blue swirl that looked to be a tattooed onto his hand.
"Is that a tattoo?"
"We call it wode," Night Terror said, "before we start studying Fear Magic, young Phobos have a blue dye painted on our bodies made from the wode plant. It only grows on the Island of Fear. Fear Magic is dangerous and can corrupt its host, but wode has special properties that allow us to better control over the magic. Every Phobos since the first generation had these designs."
"Interesting," Levy uttered as she looked over the design, "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"As I said before, wode helps us control our powers. But sometimes, when a Phobos expresses a strong emotion like anger or grief caused by an event, they can lose hold of their magic and become... corrupted or, as we call it, become a Deimos," Night Terror explained, frowning at the thought, "The only way stop a Deimos is by activating the restraining spell in the wode and seal the Phobos's magic before they could do anymore damage. Something that some one seemed to have informed Mr Gajeel to which he activated prematurely."
Night Terror briefly thought about the man at the village. He had sworn revenge on the Phobos so it was only natural that he was the one that told Phantom Lord.
"How do you activate the spell?" Levy asked, "Must be something powerful."
"It was," Night Terror said as he put his claw back on, "he knew my name. My true name."
Levy frowned in confusion, "Is that bad?"
"Names are powerful things, Miss Levy," Night Terror told her, "to know of true someone's name is to acknowledge their humanity. And since the catalyst of fear is the lack of humanity, the Phobos clan must hide their names. By revealing my true name, Mr Gajeel had revealed my humanity and activated the spell."
"I see," Levy said.
"What has occurred when I was restrained, Miss Levy?" Night Terror asked curiously.
Levy frowned, "The Master has declared war on Phantom Lord," she informed, "almost every member of Fairy Tail is over there right now."
Night Terror hummed, "A guild war. Miss Levy I have a horrible feeling that there is an another element to Jose Porla's action-"
"Levy I heard you shout," the voice of Mirajane called outside the room, interrupting the Phobos in the process, "is everything alr-"
Mirajane stopped suddenly as she looked into the room. She gasped and ran up to the bed and wrapped her arms around Night Terror's neck. And for the second time in under five minutes, Night Terror was embarrassed at being embraced by another beautiful woman.
"Night!" Mirajane cried as she pulled away, "Are you okay? Who did this to you? I will make them pay. Why...is Levy on top of you?" she rapidly questioned, directing the last question at the blue haired woman with a suspicious look.
Levy looked down, realised that she was still holding onto Night Terror and instantly let go with an embarrassed expression.
"Sorry...I was...just," Levy stammered under Mirajane's intense glare.
Their attention turned back to Night Terror as he snapped his head in a seemingly random direction. He pulled away from Mirajane, who whimpered at the lost of contact, and left of the bed.
"Miss Lucy. She's in trouble," he stoically said before melting into the shadows.
"Wait, Night! You still need to recover," Mirajane tried to convince.
However, Night Terror had already left before she could finish her sentence. Instead of feeling disappointed, Mirajane sighed in a lovesick manner and smiled dreamily.
"He's so wonderful. Going into battle to save his friends after just waking up," she sighed with a small giggle.
"Yeah," Levy agreed with a small blush of her own, "he's amazing," Mirajane gave her a deadly glare, causing her to gulp and wave her hands dismissively, "I-I mean that in a totally plutonic way," she quickly corrected herself.
Mirajane maintained her piercing glare.
'Night Terror come back!' Levy mentally shouted
Streets of Magnolia
Lucy was starting to black out.
The water prison that she was trapped in was wearing her down and soon she would run out of air and be a prisoner to Phantom Lord. She struggled to make her way out of it, but as soon as she reached the surface, Julia would just move it away from her. All the struggling and lack of air was tiring Lucy and eventually her eyelids started to grow heavy as she fell into unconsciousness.
That is until someone broker her out of it.
Lucy gasped for air as she was ripped out of the water sphere and felt herself carried by two strong arms. She blinked and looked up at the hidden face of Night Terror who looked down in worry.
"Are you well, Miss Lucy?" he kindly asked.
Lucy nodded, "You're free from the spell," she uttered in awe.
"Miss Levy assisted me," he briefly explained before looking up at the two members of Phantom Lord.
The two looked shocked by his sudden appearance and backed away as they felt the fear emitting from him.
"Impossible," Sol muttered, "Monsieur Gajeel told us you had been taken care off."
"A temporary setback," Night Terror told them as he set Lucy back on her feet, "I must inquire as to why you are attacking Miss Lucy."
"Non, non, non," Sol denied, "we will not tell you anything. We will have to take the mademoiselle by force, mais oui."
Juvia turned to her partner in concern, "Juvia thinks we should retreat. We must report this to the master."
Sol shook his head and grinned manically at Night Terror, "If Monsieur Gajeel can defeat him than so can I," he boldly declared as he raised his hands in front of him, "Let's see how you face against my Roche Conc-ah!" he cried in pain as shadows surrounded his body, trapping everything but his head.
Night Terror pulled Sol towards him and angled the Earth Magic user so he loomed threateningly over him.
"You are wasting my time, Mr Sol," the Phobos darkly said, making the man sweat slightly, "I will ask you only one more time. What is your purpose with Miss Lucy?" he asked before looking up at the other member of Phantom Lord, "Do not dare move," he threatened.
Juvia gulped and stepped back. She was planning on helping her partner but her instincts were telling her to listen to what he said. So, for now, she did what he said.
"We are rescuing her?" Sol answered, confusion Lucy and the Phobos.
"Rescuing?" Lucy angrily questioned, "What do you mean rescuing? The only people who are threatening me are you two."
"A client of Monsieur Jose has told us to retrieve you from the Fairy Tail, c'est vrai, and bring her back to him," Sol explained.
Lucy frowned and got into Sol's face aggressively, "Who is the client?" she growled.
"Monsieur Jude...Heartfillia," Sol answered, making Lucy step back in shock.
"What?" she whispered sadly, "no."
Night Terror gave Lucy a concerned look before glaring back at Sol, "I see. So the guild war was nothing more than a cover up," he observed.
Sol looked up at him pleadingly, "Can you release me Monsieur Night Terror, s'il vous plait."
The Phobos hummed in annoyance and used his shadows to throw Sol at Juvia's feet. The water mage bent down to see if he was okay, but looked up at Night Terror towered over her.
"Leave. Now," he simply demanded.
Juvia nodded in fear and she and Sol melted into the water and disappeared. As soon as they left, the rain quickly came to a stop and the sun shone down on the street once again.
Night Terror turned back in worry at his friend. Lucy was still in a state of shock at the discovery of who was behind all of this. Night Terror calmly approached her.
"Miss Lucy-"
"I can't believe it," she muttered in disbelief before her expression became enraged, "Actually, you know what, I can believe it! This is exactly something he would do!"
"Miss Lucy-"
"What the hell's wrong with him! He's ignored me for so many years and now that I'm happy he wants to take that away from me!"
"Miss Lucy," Night Terror comfortingly said as he laid a claw on her shoulder, making her stop her rant, "we will discuss the actions of your father later. However, we have other important things to attend to."
Lucy blinked in surprise. How did he know that he was her father? She knows that she hadn't exactly kept her surname a secret, but it was strange that he knew that.
She quickly got over her surprise when she realised that he was right and nodded in understanding.
"What should we do now?" she inquired.
Night Terror straightened himself up and took his claw off her shoulder, "For now, you should return to the guild," he told her, calling up his shadow horse and mounting it, "I shall ride to Phantom Lord and assist my clansmen."
Lucy shook her head in denial, "I want to come to. This is my fault that-"
"Miss Lucy," Night Terror sternly interrupted, "your safety is our priority at the moment. I will retrieve our guild mates and make sure that they are well."
Lucy looked like she wanted to argue but relented when she realised that he was right again.
"Okay," she mumbled in despair, turning away to make her way back to the guild.
"Miss Lucy," Night Terror called out, making her stop and turn towards him.
Her eyes widened when she saw him handing out a golden key out to her. The same one he had confiscated from her at Galuna Island. She reached out and took the key from his claw and observed it in her hands.
"I-I thought you weren't giving it back until you forgave me," Lucy said, looking up at a Night Terror.
"Consider yourself forgiven. Do not ever do that again," Night Terror told her, "now get back to the guild. I shan't be long."
At that, Night Terror ordered Mabel to go and Lucy watched him gallop away to the Phantom Lord Guild.
Phantom Lord Guild
Everything was going well. Too well if Erza stopped and thought about it for a few seconds. But for now, she ignored the feeling of dread and focused on fighting.
Caught by surprise and being overwhelmed by Fairy Tail's superior magic users, Phantom Lord were on the last legs. Erza,, Grey, Ur and Elfman had taken down the most of the guild with their powerful magic. Natsu was fighting Gajeel overhead on the halls' rafters. And Master Makarov had ascended the stairs to confront Jose Porla.
Erza wondered if she should have gone with him but decided that she needed to be helping her comrades.
Everything was going well.
Until the body of Makarov fell onto the wooden floor of the guild, stopping the fighting temporarily. The Fairy Tail members turned in shock to the fallen master. He was still alive, but he was not moving, and his skin has turned into a sickly yellow.
"M-master," Erza stammered as he approached him, unsure what happened to him.
"No gramps!" Natsu shouted as he jumped down from the rafters.
Gajeel chuckled darkly, "What? The fun's over already," he mocked.
Erza kneeled down beside Makarov and inspected his condition.
'His magic,' she thought in shock, 'it's gone!'
Phantom Lord, seeing the defeated master, grinned triumphantly. Now that he was out of the game, victory for them is assured. They began to fight back more confidently this time and now it was Fairy Tail who was on the defences.
Ur, seeing the offence, gritted her teeth in annoyance and turned to Erza who was still kneeling by Makarov.
"Erza we need to retreat now!" she cried as she used her Ice Magic to knock out a few enemies.
"What no way!" Natsu complained, "we can still fight!"
Grey nodded in agreement, "I've still got more than enough energy, Master Ur!"
Some of the other members of the guild agreed although Erza could tell that they were struggling to continue.
"Erza" Ur insisted, "we need to get Makarov out of here! We need to retreat!"
Erza frowned reluctantly, but she knew that the guild's moral was shattered by Makarov's fall. Sighing in defeat, Erza slung Makarov onto her back and stood up straight.
"Retreat!" she announced, "to the guild!"
The other guild members wanted to argue but seeing the number of Phantom Lord ready to fight they had no choice but to carry out Erza's demands.
Carrying their injured, Fairy Tail filtered out where the door used to be and headed towards their own guild. However, they were closely followed behind by Phantom Lord.
"You can't escape from us that easily!" one of them yelled, excitedly pursuing their enemy.
Lisanna looked back at them with an annoyed frown, "They're following us."
Cana stopped, brought out her cards, and faced Phantom Lord, "I'll hold them off. Everybody get going!"
"Are you crazy!" Grey stopped and shouted, "you can't hold them all off!"
"Someone has to!" Cana shouted back.
Before anybody could react or try to dissuade her, a shadow fell over them. Looking up, they gasped as a horse as dark as the night leapt over the Fairy Tail guild and landed elegantly before Phantom Lord. Its rider pulled the reins and made the horse rear back on its hind legs, making the Phantoms stopped short in shock and terror.
The shadow horse fell onto all fours and Night Terror let loose a vast amount of fear onto the Phantom Lord, making them scream in fright and some to feint. He positioned Mabel protectively between his guild and the enemy guild and loomed over them threateningly.
"I-I-It's the Phobos," one Phantom gasped.
"I thought Gajeel had taken care of him," another cried.
Gajeel walked out of the guild and snarled as he saw Night Terror completely well.
"That bastard lied to me," he grumbled to himself.
"Night Terror," Cana uttered in awe, "you're alright."
The Phobos looked towards the brown haired woman and smiled from under his hood, "You seem surprised, Miss Cana. You would think a Phobos would be defeated so simply."
Cana smiled up at him, "I would never think that," she told him.
Erza approached him with Makarov on her back, "Night Terror we need to retreat. The Master has fallen ill."
Night Terror looked at the sickly Makarov and growled menacingly, "I shall deal with these imbeciles."
He turned to face Phantom Lord, directing his horse before the crowd.
"Phantom Lord," he darkly announced, "Mistakes are natural part of life, but there is no greater mistake then doing harm to a Phobos and his clansmen. Tell your cowardly Mhaighstir to not repeat his mistake and stay away from Fairy Tail or else I shall hunt each of you down and drag you to the pits of hell. And you Mr Gajeel…" he pointed a silver claw at the Iron Dragon Slayer, "I have questions that you shall answer later. If I have to force them out of you, so be it."
Phantom Lord shivered in fear and slowly backed away from the Phobos. Gajeel sneered at his threat, but still backed away none the less.
"We shall take our leave," Night Terror continued, his shadow spreading underneath all of his guild and sucking them into the dark void, "Do…not…follow," he threatened as he too melted into the shadows and disappeared.
Jose Porla watched the display from an upstairs window and smirked proudly to himself. Gajeel may have failed to subdue Night Terror for long and Juvia and Sol had failed to retrieve Lucy. But they haven't been defeated yet.
It was time for Jose to take the war up a gear.
Fairy Tail's Basement
He had teleported everybody back to Fairy Tail where Lucy, Mirajane and Levy were waiting for them. Night Terror took a moment to catch his breath back (as shadow travel was not an easy thing for him) before looking over the damage caused to his guild members.
Most of them were unharmed while the rest were injured and receiving treatment. Those who were unharmed sat around in defeat and humiliation. Their retreat and what happened to the Master has taken a toll on their moral.
Speaking of the Master, Makarov has not been responsive. Night Terror had looked over him and saw that his magic has been completely drained from him. What happened to him when he was in Jose's office is still a mystery to him, but he doesn't have the time to investigate. Seeing that curing Makarov was beyond his skills, Night Terror ordered Bisca (a young woman with long green hair, fair skin and always wore a yellow Stetson) and Alzack (a young man with shaggy black hair, fair skin and wore a brown poncho) to take Makarov to Porlyusica for treatment. The two were briefly surprised that he knew their names, but willingly complied.
He overlooked his clansmen gathered in the basement and saw their gloomy expressions. He needed to do something.
"Fellow clansmen," he began, catching everyone's attention, "It is unorthodox of me to address all of you, but, then again, these are unorthodox times. I look around me and I am disappointed with you all. Depression. Hopelessness. We are Fairy Tail. We have no need for them. Are you not the guild who are brave enough to face any challenge? Are you the guild that looks out for their fellow Clansmen? And are you not the guild who will not accept defeat after one single battle?" he looked around staring at each individual face, trying to lift their spirits. And by the looks of things it was working, "Our Mhaighstir may have fallen, but I reject the notion of surrender. We must continue fighting. Fight for the Mhaighstir! Fight for yourselves! And fight for Fairy Tail!" he proclaimed, earning a cheer from the Fairy Tail members.
Instantly Fairy Tail became more active. Some volunteered as lookouts, others help treated the injured and others started building defences. Cana and Mirajane tried to make contact with Mystogan and Laxus. Night Terror couldn't help but smile to himself, not expecting them to listen to him.
A cough caught his attention and he turned around to face Erza. She had a stern expression on her face, but Night Terror could see the ends of her lips arch up slightly.
"Well done, Night Terror," she congratulated, "I didn't know you were one for speeches."
Night Terror wasn't really. He had released some fear as he was talking to spur his clansmen to continue fighting. But he wasn't about to correct her any time soon.
"It was…unexpected," he sheepishly replied.
Erza nodded plainly before walking away.
He saw Lucy sitting on a crate with her head in her hands. Almost everyone has been informed that she was Phantom's target, but only her close friends knew why. Natsu, Lisanna, Grey, Happy and Elfman stood around the disheartened Lucy, trying to cheer her up.
"I don't get it," Happy said as he stood before her, "why did you keep this from us, Lucy?"
Lucy sighed, "It wasn't as if I was hiding it. It…just never came up that's all. And now it's all my fault."
"No, it's not Lucy," Lisanna told her.
"Yeah," Elfman agreed, "It's your cowardly father whose to blam-ah!" Lisanna elbowed her brother sharply into his stomach, "I-I mean…Phantom…it's their fault, yeah," he corrected himself lamely.
Lucy looked up and saw Night Terror approaching, "How did you know about who I really was?" Lucy asked.
"You do not travel these lands for seven years and not hear of the Heartphilia name, Miss Lucy," Night Terror said, causing her to groan.
"But you didn't tell us," Grey said, raising an eyebrow.
"I do not pry into my companions' private lives, Mr Grey," the Phobos replied.
"No, you just restrain them and defeat their greatest enemy for them," Grey retorted.
"...You make a fair point," Night Terror admitted.
"All of this happened because I ran away from home in the first place," Lucy said, her head bowed in sorrow, "Because of my selfish actions...I can't believe I caused so much trouble for everyone. I'm really sorry. Every thing'll go back to normal if I go home, right?" she whispered.
Natsu and Night Terror shared a look.
"Miss Lucy," Night Terror said, "you were the only person brave enough to come and talk to me and now I have found...companionship within Fairy Tail. You may believe that you have only brought misfortune upon us, but to me you are a blessing. A wonderful blessing. Something I will be eternally grateful for. And I am sure that everyone here in this guild feels the same way. So please do not feel as if you are a hinderance, you are Miss Lucy. Our Miss Lucy."
Lucy looked up at him through tears eyes. Nobody has ever said something so kind to her and was deeply touched by his words. She felt her cheeks heat up and bowed her head shyly so he wouldn't see her embarrassment.
"Yeah," Natsu agreed, "you're not the rich girl type. You fit better in a dirty bar, laughing with a bunch of scruffy rogues like us. You said you want to stay here, then stay. Nobody will force you to leave. Fairy Tail is your home," he merrily told her.
Lucy looked up and saw the nodding heads of her guild mates. She smiled happily.
This was her home.
"One moment," Night Terror said, "Am I too considered a scruffy rogue?"
"Yeah totally," Natsu said with a wide grin.
"Aye!" Happy chirped.
Night Terror hummed, "I do not know how I feel about that," he murmured, making Lucy giggle.
SMASH!
A loud noise rang out through the basement and everybody turned to Mirajane standing before a shattered crystal ball that she was using to contact Laxus. Night Terror hummed as he saw the tears steaming down Mirajane's eyes and went over to her.
"I assume the Mr Laxus will not be coming," Night Terror said as Mirajane automatically latched onto his arm.
"I can't believe...someone like him...is part of Fairy Tail," she said weeping into the Phobos' robe.
Cana, who was sat near by with her cards before her, sighed in frustration.
"I can't find Mystogan anywhere," she angrily said, taking a swig from her bottle, "we have no back up."
Night Terror hummed once more, "Mr Mystogan was a long shot, but Mr Laxus... I thought he would show some sympathy," he told himself.
He sensed something and snapped his head in the direction he had detected it from.
'It would seem that my warning fell onto deaf ears,' he mentally sighed as the building began to shake.
Everyone looked around in confusion as the ground beneath them shook as if they had been hit with an earthquake. Mechanical sounds from outside became louder and louder.
"What is that!?" Natsu shouted as one of the lookouts rushed down the stairs.
"Everybody get up here!" he yelled.
Everybody rushed up to the ground floor and out of the back entrance. They gasped and shouted in shock as they saw something they didn't expect walking through the lake.
It was a building as big and as mighty as a palace with four towers on each corner and a dome in the centre. Attached to the building were six ginormous mechanical legs that carried the building across the water. The walking fortress stopped about half a mile before the Fairy Tail guild and from an archway on the front of the building, a large cannon extended out, pointing directly at the guild and its members.
Some of them started to panic and began shouting in shock at the behemoth. Erza stood in furious astonishment. Her eyes wide and her teeth gritted.
"I never imagined...they fight like this," she uttered.
A loud humming noise sounded from the fortress as the cannon began to light up and spark to life. Night Terror needed to do something.
"Everybody get back!" Erza shouted, "they're are trying to obliterate us all," she stopped when she spotted Night Terror walking calmly forwards, shadows starting to grow and form beneath him, "NIGHT TERROR COME BACK HERE!" she yelled, noticing that her own shadow had disappeared, "EVEN YOU CAN'T TAKE A MAGIC CONVERGANT CANNON!"
Night Terror ignored her and stood at the impact zone, the shadows around him swirling in anticipation.
And that's when the cannon fired.
And cut.
Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long.
So first of all, Woad (pronounced like road, but with a 'W' instead of an 'R') is a real thing and it is used mainly in Celtic traditions. You can see some examples online and they are really cool. The stuff relating to spells and helping control the fear magic was all made up by me. I hope I didn't confuse anybody on how the restriction spell works, I know that I explained it twice in the chapter.
If anybody has any questions about it please review and I'll answer either through PM or at the beginning of the next chapter.
Also Juvia is introduced for the first time (she's one of my favourites) and I am more than excited to write more about her next time.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time.
Thanks :)