Lucy held Aquarius's gate key in her hand, watching as it trembled. Even in this dim, demon-ridden light, it shone lustrously, as though to announce its importance to the world – but Lucy knew the truth: the Spirit that resided within was no saint or angel, nor was she anything close to the image that the word "Celestial Spirit" called to mind. No, Aquarius was vindictive and nasty. She was cruel, often seeming to make it her goal to make Lucy's life hell. A creature so fiendish that she might have well been more of a demon than a Spirit.
And yet the creature inside the Golden Gate Key was also one of Lucy's best friends.
She held the item, cradled it, like it was some sort of precious treasure. In a sense, it was. Even barring the rarity of Golden Gate Keys or ignoring the fact that each Celestial Spirit was themselves unique, there was still something irreplaceable about Aquarius. She might have been a chore to deal with, considering her personality and constant need for rule-following – rules she never necessarily felt the need to follow herself – but she had also been with Lucy the longest. Since day one. She was one of the only things that Lucy had to remember her mother by, and though their relationship could sometimes be twisted, even she could tell that Aquarius wasn't nearly so mean as she let on.
That's why her words… they stung. "I was the Spirit of your mother," she said, looking at Lucy with a glare that could wither stone. It was a familiar look – the one Lucy knew best. "When she died and I was handed to you, I was really disappointed. I mean, have you looked at yourself in the mirror even once in these last sixteen years? You're nowhere near as graceful as Layla was. You're nothing like her."
The words hurt even if Lucy knew that they were lies. Because this whole time, Aquarius had the power to wriggler her way out of their tenuous contract, yet she hadn't – so, surely, those words must have been lies.
Lucy repeated that assertion to herself, asking if they were real over and over again as her heart throbbed. Around her, the water that had so recently swept away the creatures chasing her swelled and pulsated, flickering around any remnants of Tartarus. As though betraying Aquarius's true feelings, however, those same waters that had killed so many Etherius moments ago closed around Lucy like a hug.
Yes, she was sure of it; Aquarius's words were lies. She didn't mean the things she was saying in the slightest, just as Lucy didn't believe them either.
"I only endured it because you're Layla's daughter," said the Spirit, wincing as she continued. "But actually, I've been hating you the whole time."
The Celestial Spirit mage's heart snapped in two. "I don't care if you hate me! I like you – you're my first friend, my –"
"Stop relying on others!" Aquarius hissed. "Only you can save your friends now! What's more important – keys, or feelings of guilt? It's the power to save your friends, the power of a Celestial Spirit Mage! Do it! Break my key, you damn brat!"
Lucy knew what she had to do.
She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know if she had the strength to do it. Her back was to the wall, and she found herself in between a rock and a hard place, yet she still struggled with the decision.
Was that the reason that she screamed? Frustration? Or was it the other emotions that flooded her body as Lucy remembered all of the time spent with Aquarius – both the good and the bad. Being so overwhelmed by the Water Bearer's sheer beauty the first time she saw her. All the petty arguments that they've had over silly things, about where she's summoned and how it's done, about whether or not Lucy was up to her standards. The time she swept away the entirety of Hargeon's harbor, indirectly creating the situation in which Lucy got to become part of Fairy Tail in the first place.
If not for Aquarius, she wouldn't be here. If not for Aquarius, her body wouldn't be screaming in pain the way it is, and her mind wouldn't be screaming just as loudly.
If not for Aquarius…
"Do it, Lucy!" the Spirit screamed. "Do it – break the key! Break the key or you're all dead anyway!"
She did it.
Lucy's remaining magic power wasn't nearly enough to summon even a silver or bronze key, let alone a gold one, but she condensed whatever residue she could scrape from her internal core as much as she was able to, shoving it through the summoning instrument. She had no way to know if what she was doing was the correct method, no one to guide her through it, and yet her heart screamed that this is what she was supposed to do like it was some sort of innate knowledge.
Like her body was made to make this sacrifice.
"Open!" she shouted. Her throat hurt. Burned. She was choking. "Gate of the Spirit King!"
Momentarily, everything stopped.
The grasp of the water.
The lull of the air.
The glowing of the key.
It shattered in her hand, and with it, the advent of the Celestial Spirit King commenced.
.
.
.
Mercury could feel the moment that Alegria took hold, turning his body into putrid stone. He felt his senses taken away, first the feeling of touch as his body became hardened rock, then sight as his eyes turned into something less than organic. Even his hearing faded away, for the first time in his life leaving him in complete and utter silence.
But his mind – it was still there
He could still think.
That's how he knew he was still alive. It was as though he'd become plunged into a vacuum where nothing can escape, no sound, no light, no nothing – and frankly, he was terrified.
Because what if this was permanent?
What if he was stuck like this until his mind corroded entirely? What if every waking moment of the rest of his life was spent like this, unable to feel anything but the weight of his own brain?
It was practically unfathomable. He struggled to keep himself calm, trying to think only in terms of strict logic. If he could think, he was definitely alive – he knew that much. If he was alive, then there had to be a way out of this. Somehow. Nothing in the world was permanent. All things, even magic, had to come to an end eventually. Plus, though he was like this, surely someone managed to escape. And that person, whoever they might be, wouldn't just sit back and let the rest of the guild stay like this.
No, they'd fight tooth and nail to make sure everything went back to normal. It was just a matter of waiting. And so, Mercury waited. He was quite used to doing that now. How long had he waited in total? One year… seven years… fifty years… his mind frantically wandered in an attempt to distract himself, to stop his body from attempting to thrash despite being made of hardened rock.
To keep himself even more sane – if such a thing was even possible – he counted in his head in place of taking breaths. Though his sense of time was destroyed without anything to tell him how long "one second" was, he did it anyway, slowly making his way up. He started from one and made it all the way up to approximately nine hundred before he heard the earth-shattering sound – literally – of rock breaking, and then he was free; his stone hands turned back into skin and scales, his muscles and sinews returned from a stone bust to what they should have been. Mercury nearly faceplanted when his eyeballs suddenly popped back into existence. His scales felt like they'd been ripped off and sewn back on with a shaky hand, but a careful glance told him that they were the same as always – still grey, still thick, still covering every inch of his body.
Nine hundred seconds later – nearly fifteen minutes later – and he was free. He was fine.
Something told him that the others weren't necessarily so lucky.
A skitering rock in front of him suggested that Natsu was already free too, but the boy was already on the move without saying anything. He sprinted off in the opposite direction, noise in the air like some sort of dog. Mercury only spent a couple of seconds trying to mentally contact Warren before he gave up and quickly followed, grabbing the flimsy remnants his sword and the sheath, then sprinting behind the boy without paying much attention to where he was going.
It was sort of disorienting, but he still couldn't hear like normal, so there was little other choice.
Still, as usual, following Natsu led him right where he needed to be. They sprinted through a hallway and down a flight of stairs before they found themselves in a wide open space that had too much moisture in the air for how dry it was otherwise, revealing more than a handful of their guildmates who'd already joined in on the fighting; Gajeel had his fist slammed into a shark-like demon whose face was so ugly that Mercury nearly flinched, while Juvia and Gray fought back to back against a skeleton and what appeared to be entirely human rather than demon. Behind them was the very girl Mercury had demanded save them – an unreasonable demand to be sure, but one he had no choice but to make. And it had clearly worked out somehow, because she'd managed to get free of the spell, seemingly saved them, and was now laying on the ground, huddled and drained of her energy.
When the Fire Dragon Slayer burst in and knocked back an attack by the shark, he jumped over her without looking back. Mercury was right behind him, but he slid down the slope caused by eroding waters – something he was more than familiar with – and went straight to the side of the fallen blonde mage.
"Lucy?" he asked. "Lucy, are you alright?"
Her body was battered. Her leg looked broken, and her skin was a mess of burns and slashes, but worst of all were the tear tracks running down her face.
She'd been crying? For what?
Mercury's heart hurt as much as it trembled. Who dared to make a member of his family cry?
"I – I'm fine," she said. Her voice kept trembling as she looked up at him, trying her best to give a small smile. "I saved you all, didn't I?"
He returned the look easily, though it was hard to hide the way his magic swelled at the sight of her. All she needed to know now was that they'd pick up the slack with the reprieve she'd provided them – not his anger, nor his worry. "Yep, you saved us all. We'll handle it from here, okay? Just rest a bit. It'll be over in just a couple of seconds."
"Yeah, okay…."
With that, Lucy passed out.
The water mage stood and looked at the fighting nearby. Gajeel and Natsu were handling the shark. The human-like demon, if he truly was that, suddenly grabbed Gray and teleported away, leaving Juvia to handle the skeleton, but she was standing her ground with relative ease. Despite the demons' cruel nature, none of them quite seemed like they were trying very hard yet.
Did they underestimate the humans or did they just not see a point in going all out from the very start? Mercury couldn't tell.
Natsu punched the shark in the nose, sending him reeling then turned his head slightly in the water mage's direction. "Is she okay?"
"For now," he responded easily. "She'll need someone to look at her leg, but I think she'll be fine."
"Good. I dunno what's goin' on here, but I get the feeling that she just did something big."
Mercury agreed. Whatever happened, it was clear that their release was due to Lucy. Without her, they'd still be stuck as pieces of the walls and floor – and though she probably wouldn't expect him to, it was a debt that needed to be repaid.
Just like the debt he now felt he owed to whoever caused her tears. A debt of equal pain and sorrow.
He squared his shoulders up to the oncoming demons and launched himself at the one grappling with Juvia, set to do his part. Of course, this was the third demon he'd fought today, so his body was a little worse for wear – those anti-Ethernano particles were still fluctuating around inside his lungs, trying and failing to do any damage, and he was already more than a little tired, but that was no excuse to not try his hardest. Besides, Mercury wasn't like these humans that he'd surrounded himself with. Aside from their dragon slayers, he was the closest thing to the ancient race of creatures that once ruled the continents: the dragons themselves. While not a perfect replica (nor would he ever want to be), he was still more than able to embody some of that ancient power.
More than enough to handle a couple of demons, anyway.
Mercury's sword, now sheathed like a baton again, nearly found the skeleton demon's shoulder, but the creature easily slipped away, dancing out of his reach. Despite its size, it was surprisingly limber. If the water mage didn't know any better, he'd say that it had no weight or mass at all, except he could see the shadow it cast and the small stones it scattered as it moved.
"Merc-san!" Juvia shouted as he got close. "Juvia can't hit him with normal attacks!"
He nodded. "Just keep trying – it's gotta have a weakness somewhere!"
The two tried their best to do so, with Juvia using her Water Slicer to gouge thick lines into the demon's body while Mercury got in close for an enchantment-boosted physical attack. He swung his sword harshly, aiming for blistering attacks strong enough to shatter bone, but despite their best efforts, nothing seemed to connect. Every time Juvia's magic got close, the demon's body erupted into a black mist that made it impossible to hit, like it was ethereal.
One of Mercury's own attacks brought him in just as close. He punched through it, but that same mist burst from underneath the demon's cloak, forcing him into a coughing fit as he felt the anti-ethernano in his lungs stir into a tizzy.
"Merc-san?" Juvia asked, rightfully concerned.
"Careful," the water mage said somewhat bitterly, realizing what this feeling was. "It's got that stuff they used on Laxus and the others in it! Try not to get too close. Don't breathe it in."
That, apparently, got the demon's attention. It suddenly appeared behind Mercury's back, making the water mage shiver. "You… You've ingested the Magical Barrier Particles, have you? You must have been the one to kill Tempester."
He turned and swung, earning himself another slice through empty air. "Is that what they're called?"
"Indeed. But the way you're still able to move around so freely – curious. As a corpse, I'm sure you'd be fascinating to study."
Somehow, those words triggered a feeling Mercury hadn't felt in a while – some mix between fear and disgust. Goosebumps prickled beneath his scales as he took a step back in an attempt to put some distance between them. "I'll have to pass, thanks."
He'd already spent enough time as the subject of some sick study, thank you very much. His stint this morning didn't make him any more willing to go back.
"A shame," said the demon. "My name is Keyes. I'm a necromancer, so you'll likely soon find that the matter of your willingness is of no consequence."
Keyes, as it turned out its name was, danced away in the form of mist, leaving the water mage coughing again. The sounds around him got louder as the "Magical Barrier Particles" were reactivated, and he suddenly was reminded of the fact that the vial in his pocket needed to get to Porlyusica at some point – and that Happy, who had the other one, was nowhere to be found. However, he forced that thought out of his mind to focus on the task in front of him.
There'd be no point in having fought Tempester at all if a distraction got him killed (or worse) here. Laxus would never let him hear the end of it.
Keyes turned its attention to Juvia without quite taking its focus off of Mercury, and both water mages went on the defensive as it began to wave its staff around wildly. Then, just as suddenly, the demon paused to say, "Gray's story will end here today."
Mercury's reaction was fairly simple. "What?"
Juvia's, on the other hand, was gritted teeth and anger. Her eyes went wide. She stopped moving entirely, focusing on what Keyes had just told her. "What did you just say?"
"I can see him losing hope again in front of the calamity," Keyes repeated. "He's going to die making the same choice as his master."
Frankly, Mercury had little idea what was going on, but he could pick up enough of the context to know it wasn't good. He was vaguely familiar with Gray's backstory and what happened with his master in the past, though they'd never outright spoken about it before. Still, he had faith that whatever the Ice-Make mage had found himself in, he could drag himself out of it, too.
After all… how many times had Mercury thought that it was a very Fairy Tail-like quality to be able to pull themselves out of unreasonable disasters they'd suddenly found themselves in?
"Gray's not dumb enough to throw everything away just so he can fight one guy," he said. "He's got higher ambitions than that – and he's not going to die before he fulfills them."
"And if that 'one guy' is his own father?"
Mercury flinched. "... It might be a little more complicated, but I don't think he's going to give up as easily as that."
"Is not understanding the human psyche perhaps part of being non-human?" Keyes asked, looking directly at the water mage. "You may feel that way, but looking at how humans act has always been a fascination of mine. Why do they keep fighting when it is certain that they will always come out as the loser? Why do they continue to struggle when their only outcome is death?"
Mercury shared a quick look with Juvia. For a moment, the demon seemed to be rather well-spoken, but now it was clear to both of them that it was just as insane as the rest.
"Gray-sama's father," said Juvia, her limbs trembling. "That's just horrible – who are you?"
Keyes made a sound that was almost like a laugh. "My curse is necromancy, which allows me to control corpses. I have always been curious – at what point does something turn from a human into a corpse? Is it simply when death comes, when the heart stops beating and blood stops flowing? Or is there something different that defines 'humanity?'"
"You'd be pretty hard pressed to come up with a singular definition of humanity," said Mercury. "They're a pretty diverse bunch."
"Father-in-law is not someone you can experiment on!" Juvia shouted, becoming even more heated. She nodded fervently in agreement. "Even if he's – even if he's already dead, Father-in-law is still Father-in-law!"
… The water mage chose to ignore that, feeling like the Juvia-isms were just being laid on a little too thick for the moment. Suddenly, however, the female mage jolted, and he had to cover for her, knocking away the necromancer's staff with his forearm. It didn't hurt. Despite Keyes' abilities, the demon didn't seem to be physically strong at all.
"Er, I think – I think Father-in-law is speaking to me!" Juvia declared.
Mercury wondered if she's gone insane, too. He pushed Keyes back with a kick and a follow up slash, refusing to turn to look at her in case he saw something weird on her face.
"I know that Silver wanted to rebel against us," said Keyes. "He became strong and mastered ice demon slaying magic so that he could take revenge on us, but that was fine. I realized that his anger and desire for revenge were the driving forces that allowed him to live on."
"How cruel," the water mage muttered.
He knew what that was like more intimately than most could ever begin to imagine – to be a puppet attached to strings you can't cut no matter how hard you try, but forcing yourself to live on through sheer spite alone.
In fact, it was a near perfect mirror of his own life.
If only there was some way for Silver to be free.
"He was an interesting puppet to have."
"Humans are not puppets for you to control, you demon!" Juvia shouted, her magic becoming red hot with her rage. Mercury caught a few stray droplets, flinching as they touched his scales to burn through them near instantly.
Keyes was unbothered. It hummed to itself with an impassive look on its face. "Father and son, dead and living, will kill each other. This is my story – a story in which I try to create more perfect dead bodies."
"That's why you're trying to activate Face?" Mercury asked. "To kill more people? I know all demons are crazy, but are you insane?"
"I assure you, I'm quite confident in my mental capacities. After all, humans are just tools for my experiments."
Juvia motioned for Mercury to duck, so he did, throwing himself off to the side as a blast of boiling water swirled through the air as smoothly as steam. It hit Keyes, who dissipated into dust and smoke once more. "Humans won't just do as you please!"
The demon continued, unperturbed. "I can make them do so. I have no need for wills and wants, you see. Next time, I'll kill you and use your corpse to kill your friends."
"I won't –"
"Then try to destroy me." It appeared behind Juvia, wrapping its dustlike body around her. Smooth, black tendrils tangled around her arms and legs, tightening around her chest, arms, and neck. "The moment he loses his master, Silver's life will also come to an end."
Mercury froze mid magic cast. Whether intentional or not, Keyes now had a hostage – and he wasn't hte only one. Urged by the curse, skeletons began to rise from the ground, the remainder of any skin or muscle still wrapped around their bones decaying before they could fully stand. One grabbed at Mercury's arm, but he slashed through the ribcage, shattering the spine. Another one appeared right at his feet to grab his ankles. He jerked his foot away.
Around him, the others were facing the same. Though nothing appeared even close to the fight ongoing between Natsu, Gajeel, and their shark demon, several more cropped up around the unconscious Lucy, attempting to grab her.
The water mage shot tendrils of his magic at it to shatter the skull, but not before Lucy's apparent protector noticed. "Lucy!"
"This is the city of corpses," said the shark-like demon to Natsu as Mercury protected the blonde from afar. "To Keyes, it's like a treasure box." He then took advantage of Natsu's distraction to punch him straight in the gut. He flew back several feet before regaining his standing.
Mercury let a spinning circle of water mage surround himself to knock away anything closer than arm's reach, then turned his attention to the fallen blond, who he gave the same treatment. A small cage of water encased her. He could see her face through the grates, but her visage was distorted. She didn't seem like she'd even noticed the skeletons, which was fine with him. Anything that got close enough to touch her received a piercing shot of water through whatever the magic can manage to target, though he knew it wouldn't be long before the defensive attack lost strength.
"What?" Keyes pressed towards Juvia, who was hardly struggling at all. "Aren't you going to erase the ghost of that boy's father?"
She groaned.
"Cut the bond between father and son. Isn't that what you want? For your precious Gray to live?"
Mercury brought his hands together and let his magic take control, separating like vines to attack the exposed parts of Keyes, but the demon danced away again. Even with a hostage, it was still able to easily dodge, though it refrained from turning to dust again.
"Juvia, do it!" the water mage yelled. "Keyes is using him as a puppet – that man is already dead!"
She wriggled slightly, then closed her eyes. "Juvia can't… I – I can't do it!"
"Oh, come on! Your other option is for Gray to –"
"This is why humans are fools," Keyes interrupted, squeezing tighter. "We know humans." Black tendrils began to constrict around Juvia's body, pulsating around her thighs and arms as they tore through her clothes. "They're simply lumps of ego. Fools."
And then with one more squeeze, a blackened spray sprung into the room, coating everyone nearby – Keyes, the skeletons, and Mercury himself – with it. A disgusting noise followed, telling everyone exactly what just happened.
For a moment, there was dead silence.
Mercury couldn't bring himself to breathe, let alone speak, but Keyes had no such issue. "One down," it says with finality.
As though Juvia is already –
"You basta–" Mercury lunged forward to grab the demon, more roughened anger flooding through his body, but he was cut off when Keyes coughed as though he was a real person instead of a skeleton. The demon keeled over, grabbing at his chest as a circle of water began to surround him.
"She got –" Natsu said, finished by Gajeel's, "– into the enemy's body?!"
Apparently, they'd stopped their fight to watch. The shark-demon, too, paused his match to watch over Keyes with widened eyes, a look of shock evident on his face.
Mercury heard Juvia's voice resounding from the inside of the skeleton's body, but he couldn't see her anywhere, so he came to the same conclusion as the two dragon slayers – she was inside the demon's body. Her water filled the cracks inside the skeleton's ribs, the spaces between bones and cartilage, and tore it apart from the inside.
… If only she'd told Mercury about her plan ahead of time. Then, he wouldn't feel nearly so dizzy after seeing it.
"You can't sever the bond between two humans!" Juvia protested. "Gray-sama's feelings, his father's feelings – they'll reach each other!"
"I wasn't careful!" Keyes proclaimed. "How could I fall into a human's trap?"
Keyes' admissions were lost to the void as the water-make mage continued. "Even if they physically vanish, their feelings remain in others' hearts! I believe in the power of love!
She ripped herself free of the skeleton's grasp, exploding from the inside out to send bone shards in every direction. Then, she fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Mercury slid in and caught her before she hit the ground, a thin trail of blood falling from her mouth. "Juvia? Juvia, are you okay?"
She gave no response, but when he put his ear to her chest, it's beating heartily. She was alive – just unconscious. And if she was inside that demon's body, then she was probably suffering the aftereffects of the Magic Barrier Particles that made it up.
(Mercury felt it, too. His head spun. It was getting worse than when he inhaled Tempester's. Is it the effect of extended exposure?)
"Hey, is she okay?" Gajeel shouted, momentarily distracting himself from his own fight.
"Fine for now!" Mercury repeated a second time – the same as Lucy. "She inhaled those anti-magic things like Laxus and the others!"
"Er, that's not good."
But it would have to do, because the shark-like demon broke itself out of its reverie. "Keyes was… defeated?!"
"Of course he was defeated!" Natsu roared. "He wasn't anything special compared to Fairy Tail!"
"I see," said the demon – the last one standing against the gathered group of three. "I guess it's time to acknowledge you guys then, huh? Not as humans, but as dragon mages." He turned to Mercury, who had just finished setting Juvia next to Lucy. "And one other, I suppose. Weren't you supposed to be locked up somewhere?"
"You're the second thing to ask me that," replied the water mage easily, bristling with irritation. "Though, the first one who asked me is already dead."
"Eh? You're saying a scrawny dude like you fought one of us already? And they're dead? Don't make me laugh," the demon taunted. "If you're gonna lie, at least make it believable!"
Mercury laughed too. It wasn't a nice one at all. "Why the hell would I lie to a demon?"
"Aww shit, we're fighting with this guy now too?" Gajeel demanded. "Go back to being a cripple! This one's ours – you got your demon already!"
This time, the water mage's laugh was almost humorous. "One? No, this'll be number four." Besides, he didn't do much to fight Keyes other than move things along, but wasn't going to voice that to Gajeel of all people.
"Well, you better watch out – I'm not goin' easy on you just 'cuz we're in the same guild!" the Iron Dragon Slayer proclaimed loudly. "I'll take you out with him if you're not careful!"
"Huh? What're you talking about? I'm takin' this guy out," Natsu shouted, grabbing at Gajeel's collar.
"Are you daft? It's gonna be me."
The two grinned at each other in a way that perhaps only people raised by dragons could and let their magic power explode into the room. Of course, Mercury couldn't hear it again yet, but he was almost certain he knew exactly what it would sound like: two roaring dragons, just like what was already inside of them.
"My Lightning Flame Dragon mode is more than enough to take all of you freaks on," the Fire Dragon Slayer announced. It's clear that "freaks" included both the demon staring down at them like they're idiots and both Gajeel and Mercury.
Gajeel sneered, his body encased in black shadows. "It's nowhere near as cool as my Iron Shadow Dragon mode!"
"Since when did you get that? Man, that looks really nasty."
"I don't wanna hear that shit from you! I ate Rogue's shadow powers, and now I've become stronger than you!"
Mercury stood back, more confused than anything. He wasn't here for these "power-ups," so it felt like he'd missed a chapter – but that was fine.
He'd never be disappointed about learning someone had gotten stronger in the face of danger.
"Bring it on, Iron Bastard!" Natsu grabbed the other man's shirt, gripping it tightly as he shouted in his face.
Gajeel, however, wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "Alright, the loser has to make a praise song for the winner, how's that sound? And 'yer included too, fishy bastard! Don't try to wriggle your way out of this."
Mercury put his hands up, finally managing a grin that's halfway humorous. "Hope your song writing isn't as bad as your singing."
"You bastard –"
"What the hell is going on?" the shark-demon shouted so loudly that Mercury winced, though he's not particularly alone in that fact. Natsu and Gajeel did too. The ground and ceiling both trembled, sending rocks scattering around. "Are the three of you guys idiots? You're supposed to be fighting me, not each other!"
"Shut the hell up!" Gajeel shouted at the exact same time that Natsu yelled, "We'll get to you when we get to you!"
But, contrary to the latter's announcement, both Dragon Slayers exploded in the direction of the demon with their enhanced abilities trailing through the air with them. Natsu's magic exploded into a ball of fire as he cried out, "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade," while Gajeel's sunk into the air like silt with his "Iron Shadow Dragon's Roar."
Unfortunately, since they were both aiming for the same target, both attacks managed to hit each other head on the moment the demon stepped back, creating a shockwave. Mercury put his hands up to block any debris, but wasn't ultimately worried.
At least, he wasn't worried about himself. Those two, however…
The dust cleared, revealing that they had just punched each other in the face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, punk?!" Gajeel demanded.
"Come on, I didn't even hit you that hard!"
"You hit me as hard as you were trying to hit that guy! And it didn't even hurt!"
Natsu raised a flaming fist into the air. "I know! That's why it didn't hurt at all!"
"Yeah, I thought a little kid had just punched me!"
"They're fucking idiots," Mercury muttered, standing off to the side, just as shocked as the demon they were intending to face was.
"I'm gonna win!" Natsu exclaimed.
Spit flew in Gajeel's face, though he didn't so much as flinch. "Screw that, I'm gonna kick his ass first!"
But as focused as they were on each other, neither noticed that the demon that they had been ignoring had an angry look on his face – one that said he was done waiting. "Are the three of you inept, or just idiots? Two of you can only hit each other, and the other one just stands back and watches! I was worried about our reputation as Tartarus, but it seems like there's nothing to worry about anymore with the kind of idiots we're fighting."
His body rippled with power, though none of it stemmed from magic. The water mage braced himself to be hit by a blast of energy, but when he opened his eyes, the demon had gone through a transformation not unlike the one that Tempester had once undergone. Its scaled nature had been taken to the extreme, with frills adorning its head and cheeks and even more scales plating its body, giving it the appearance…
… of a fish of all things.
Perhaps calling its head shark-like wasn't a bad comparison at all.
Mercury finally found it within himself to grin. His fight with Tempester had been the first one, making it not necessarily easy, but at least he could go all out without issues. His second fight had been one he'd had advantage in by the very nature of his soul. He'd still had to be wary of any oncoming attacks – his ribs had been broken at one point and he was certain that wasn't the only damage that had occurred – but it wasn't as though he was in much danger other than the lurking threat of Face activating at the time. The third demon he'd faced hadn't been much of an offensive threat, and he hadn't done much other than support Juvia, anyway.
But this demon wasn't just any random demon – it had aquatic features, and if Mercury knew anything about these creatures that were apparently "created" and not born (like himself), it was that those features would be used in tandem with its natural abilities.
In other words, this demon's abilities were related to water.
It was a gimme.
Gajeel clearly picked up on this too because he turned to the water mage with a scowl on his face. "Shit, it ain't fair –"
"With the name Torafuzar, I invite you into the deep seas of Hades, " said the demon – Torafuzar. "Tenchi Kaimei!"
Black water sprung up from nowhere at all, encasing the entirety of the room in seconds. No one was spared, not the dragon slayers, nor the fallen girls, nor Mercury himself, who, despite knowing what was coming, still flung himself backwards to cover Lucy and Juvia. He could breathe underwater no problem, but they were just humans – they'd drown in minutes, if not immediately.
He used his own magic to create a barrier before the room was entirely full of water, blocking off a section where black water met regular blue water around the girls. It wasn't a foolproof solution – they only had so much oxygen until they'd start suffocating – but it was the best he could do on such short notice, especially considering the fact that their other option was drowning while unconscious.
That being said, even Mercury struggled to deal with the blackened water. It wasn't just a matter of breathing – touching it made him feel viscerally ill, like he was swallowing dirt or garbage. If not for the fact he was focusing on breathing through his gills rather than his mouth, he probably would have vomited. There was obviously something mixed in with it – some metal, maybe, or another toxin like the one Tempester and Keyes used, but it wasn't as though he could simply not do his best because the water was gross.
Even if it might have had unwelcome consequences later down the line.
Mercury fully plunged himself into the water, feeling like the black water was corroding his scales, clawing away at them. He shook the sensation off.
Elsewhere in the water, he could hear someone gurgling and immediately pinned it as Gajeel. As expected, he was also struggling with the water. "Salamander! Where'd 'ya go? Take the girls and find an exit somewhere!"
Since the only light that wasn't immediately blotted out by the heavy black tint of the water were Mercury's small yellow scales, Gajeel spotted him immediately as he got close. His eyes were wide. He opened his mouth to say something, but the water mage made a large 'X' with his arms and shook his head.
'Don't speak,' he tried to say. 'This water isn't normal. You don't want to breathe it in, no matter what.'
Gajeel nodded. Small metal plates slipped out of the skin on his lips, effectively sealing his lips shut. Mercury gave him a thumbs up, then gave him enchantments – the bare minimum, really, since he had a feeling Gajeel would have an issue with it if he got stronger "artificially," but still enough to give him a boost in terms of strength and defense so he didn't find himself at too much of a disadvantage even in the water.
The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes widened. Then, as expected, his cheeks puffed up and gave Mercury an indignant middle finger, which he gave right back and swam away to grab Natsu.
Gajeel could be irritated all he wanted. It wasn't going to make Mercury un-strengthen him. That would just be stupid.
As expected, Natsu was already unconscious in the water. He floated aimlessly like a dead body – something that made Mercury's stomach turn until he got close enough to see that the boy was still definitely alive. He grabbed Natsu by the shoulders, clipped his own sword to the boy's belt so that it wouldn't get lost, then roughly pushed him towards the safe-zone he'd created, knowing the dragon slayer would get there eventually.
Fortunately, Mercury doubted that Natsu was ever going to be much use in this fight, unconscious or not. This wasn't the sort of thing you could overpower with sheer willpower. It was a simple fact that water always beat fire, especially with amounts such as this. For once, the boy's flames would be quenched, no matter what he tried.
The water mage turned back when Gajeel made a grunting noise, attempting to alert him that something was coming without speaking. What he saw was more or less what he expected – the hulking figure of the demon sitting hidden among what seemed like an even darker mix of blackened water, as though whatever was in it flowed freely from its body. It stared down Mercury and Gajeel like they were prey, haughty and arrogant.
"It appears your friends have swallowed some of the black water of darkness," it said, glaring. "This water is poison – it brings death within five minutes. Not that a human would be able to hold their breath for five minutes, anyways."
Its eyes flicked over to Mercury, who gave him a twisted sort of grin. Whatever toxins were in the water would probably have an effect on him eventually, but so long as he didn't breathe it in – so long as he didn't breathe much of it in – he probably would be able to fight forever.
Assuming he didn't manage to kill the demon first. That would, of course, be the preferable option, considering there was still much to do.
The dragon and the dragon slayer made eye contact before both started to move, each aiming to wipe the smug grin off of the demon's face. It clearly already considered this its victory, but there were two very large things it had already forgotten to take into account.
One, that neither Mercury nor Gajeel would let a simple lack of air stop them.
Two, that they were both members of Fairy Tail, a guild that did the impossible every day.
Gajeel's body turned black as it flickered into shadow, sinking down to what had once been the floor like it was nothing. At the same time, Mercury compelled his own water to shoot himself forward, to use his natural advantage in the water. He was on Torafuzar in less than a second. Around the two of them, the waters became wicked and tumultuous like the open seas as the two opposing forces began to make contact with each other.
"Who'd have thought that there'd be a demon fighting for the humans?" Torafuzar asked.
Mercury's face immediately twisted in disgust. He'd told Gajeel not to speak, but he couldn't help it – being called a demon made him feel angry in a way he couldn't put into words. "Don't lump me in with a bunch of gross freaks like you. I'd rather be human than be a demon."
"It's not so bad though? Getting revived every time you die has its perks."
"Bold of you to assume I'd ever die in the first place."
"Cocky, aren't we?" the demon asked.
Mercury snorted. No, this wasn't mere arrogance. Time and time again he'd shown it, getting back up after blows that should have killed him and continuing to fight until his body gave out, only to stand up and do it again.
No matter what, he wouldn't die. That fact had once been something he hated – after all, the very humans he wished to be were nothing like that – but it was now one of his greatest advantages.
He'd keep getting up for everyone else's sake.
Gajeel's shadow exploded up from the ground, knocking an iron fist into the bottom of Torafuzar's face. The demon's head moved, but that was it – in fact, it was Gajeel who pulled away, apparently taking the brunt of his own attack. He held his fist out like it was in pain, then shot a glance at Mercury.
His face said, 'What the fuck?'
That was all Mercury saw before Torafuzar countered, slamming its enlarged fist into the Iron Dragon Slayer's stomach like a bludgeon.
"Gajeel!"
"Heh." Torafuzar turned back to the water mage. "See? This is what Tartarus can do – you'd definitely be better off as a demon."
Mercury grimaced. He condensed the water magic in his body and began to spread it out, quickly producing salt water to counter Torafuzar's blackened version. If there was one thing he was confident in, it was his output, especially since having accepted a portion of Fiernen's power. The dim light of the yellow scales lining his body turned from dark gray, tinted by Torafuzar, to a pure, shimmering gold.
Then again, maybe the smarter option would have been trying to consume the tainted water. If Natsu and Gajeel could do it, then Mercury certainly could too – but was this the situation to try? In darkened, blighted water created by a demon?
Probably not.
At least, doing it like that would probably take him out for the rest of the fight. It would end up being self-sacrifice, which he'd already promised not to do.
(A promise nearly rendered void because someone decided to do the same thing anyway. Bastard.)
"Got some tricks, do we? Well, magic's definitely not as strong as curses, that's for sure. I'll show you," said Torafuzar.
The demon's strange power rippled in the water, putting the water mage on guard – and for good reason. It used the power of the water to boost itself violently in Mercury's direction, getting on him in a flash; he only had a moment to get his arms up to block the blow that probably would have shattered his sternum entirely, limiting the damage to something in his arm popping.
He wasn't going to let it end there though. It wasn't the water mage's style to allow his enemies to give out big hits and run, so he grabbed onto the shark's wrist with his non-injured arm, hoping that this "toxic" water wouldn't do anything to stymie his regenerative abilities.
"Two can play at that game," he said, then swung himself around and threw Torafuzar into the ground with all of his strength.
This may have been toxic water created by a demon, but it was still definitely water – and in water, Mercury's strength far exceeded what it was on land.
Torafuzar crashed into the bed of the very soggy room-like-lake and stayed there for a second, at which point Mercury felt a foreign presence enter the water. Though probably not something that should be here, the water mage could at least recognize that it wasn't hostile – the opposite, in fact, because it (she) swam down to the place where Gajeel was still laying, struggling through the water just to reach him.
… And then she – Levy – kissed him.
Mercury turned away.
That was a little too intimate for him in this situation. Also, a little too inappropriate. There was a time and place, or something like that.
He returned his attention back to Torafuzar, then directed all of his momentum downwards. The extra force added by the water turned it into a piledriver with Mercury slamming both of his feet into the demon's chest before it could get up. His hope was that he could knock some of the air out of its lungs, but that didn't seem to happen – instead, its chest barely even deflated, and the water mage suddenly felt like his ankles had snapped.
What hard scales this demon had… dare he say it, he was the slightest bit jealous.
Torafuzar quickly recovered and pushed Mercury off of itself. The water mage was sent flying back several dozens of feet, but he recovered quickly and righted himself.
Elsewhere, the Iron Dragon Slayer and Levy were seemingly communicating (though how remained to be seen) in a pocket of clean water created by Mercury, so there was little risk of them being poisoned to death. Whatever they were trying to get through to each other, it wasn't subtle – or perhaps the kiss had just sent Gajeel off his rocker.
As though he was ever on one to begin with.
Torafuzar lunged upward to Mercury, grabbing him by the shoulders, but he managed to get a foot between them so that he wouldn't be crushed. Every time the two touched, the waters became violent, pushing all else away. A small whirlpool formed as they began to clash, pushing and pulling and shoving at each other in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Torafuzar pulled at Mercury's hair while he pulled at its fins, each fighting exactly like what they were – beasts. Pain blossomed on the Fairy Tail mage's arm as the demon shoved him into the wall, just as Torafuzar's scales began to show scuff marks from the number of times that Mercury managed to throw it into the floor or ceiling, all the while filtering out more of the toxic water with his own. By the time that the water surrounding them was halfway clear, both were more than a little damaged, though the demon's scales still hadn't been broken.
But as usual, the show was soon to be stolen by someone else. The back of Mercury's neck tingled and he flung himself out of the way as the same black shadow as earlier – Gajeel – catapulted upwards to get in between them. He brought back his fist with no fear, despite his other hand being a dark shade of purple, and swung with all of his might.
– and finally, Torafuzar's scales had taken the first big hit.
Gajeel, somehow, had managed to increase the hardness of his iron to create a sizable crack in the demon's body. Mercury was impressed. His own hand felt like it was broken from hitting the creature just a couple of times.
Then again, whether or not it was broken… it would heal in a couple of minutes. Probably.
He took the opportunity to pull the cleansed ocean water closer to Torafuzar, creating a barrier of pure blue water surrounding both Gajeel and the demon, though the dragon slayer seemed less inclined to accept Mercury's help a second time. He shook his head, then started yelling, though Mercury's head hurt too much to even begin translating the frenzied shouts. Even though it had already been longer than five minutes, the putrid nature of the water was starting to get to him.
Fortunately, with Mercury's water holding it in place, Torafuzar couldn't move very well. Gajeel got the opposite treatment. With the water mage's focus solely on them, he could more or less boost one while debuffing the other, making Gajeel's next actions that much stronger.
(It was the same thing that Deluge was good at. Mercury felt gross stealing his brother's moves, but he could accept it for what it was this time.)
The Iron Dragon Slayer said something incredibly loud that was still lost to the thickness of the water, then turned his hand into a giant metal claymore, ramming it vertically through Torafuzar's body. Since the demon couldn't get away, it was a direct hit, tearing it in two pieces – two symmetrical pieces, since the blade cut it through from the groin to the head.
It killed him near instantly.
Half of the water in the room disappeared immediately, leaving the two mages standing about waist-deep in regular salt water. Mercury heard a sputtering behind him and recalled that Levy was still there, too. He quickly forced the water through an open doorway, attempting to drain the room before the girl actually choked to death.
Gajeel shot him a tired glare. "What's wrong with you? Can't you do this shit any faster?"
"Trying my best… here," Mercury grunted. The feeling of dizziness overcame him, but he remained standing, leaning against some debris for better stability.
If Gajeel thought his response was lackluster, he said nothing, hurrying over to Levy, who'd barely managed to stand and was hacking out water. They exchanged a few quick words, mostly the former berating the latter for being stupid and coming to his aid, though he quickly sheepishly thanked her with what had to have been a blush. Then, they hurried over to their fallen friends, who were also starting to wake up now that the room had cleared.
Meanwhile, Mercury just sat there, more or less struggling to get in a full breath of air. He couldn't tell what was causing the almost asthmatic-like reaction, only that he wasn't quite a fan – if he'd thought the Magic Barrier Particles, or whatever they were called, was uncomfortable, pairing them with whatever the hell was in that water just made it twice as bad.
"Merc, you okay?" said Levy when she'd successfully checked in on Natsu, Lucy, and Juvia. "You don't look so good."
He fought to give her a thumbs up. "Just a bit tired. It's been a really long day."
It really had been. From trekking all the way to that bastard ex-Chairman's house to getting drugged and dragged to Tartarus's base, then fighting off four demons back to back… Yeah, that would take a lot out of anyone, especially with the stupid anti-magic still floating around
"But I'll be fine in a couple of minutes," he said after a moment.
It didn't look like she believed him, nor did the others who began to congregate. "You sure?"
Natsu added, "You look like you swallowed some of that hag's old medicine." He looked slightly pale from the water, but otherwise fine – nothing on his face indicated he was bothered in the least about nearly drowning, which was probably better than what could be said about Lucy, who was still gently coughing.
Mercury managed to laugh, though it didn't make his gills feel any less strained. "I think you of all people would understand what it feels like trying to ingest magic that tastes gross," he explained, then rubbed out his neck, trying to drag out whatever was in there. "Geez, what was that 'black water of death' all about? It's disgusting."
"Carbon," said Levy. "Gajeel managed to absorb some of it to create steel." She looked strangely proud as she said that, eyes flicking to the aforementioned man and back quickly.
"Didn't you tell me not to breathe that crap in?" Gajeel asked. "Fuckin' idiot. I'm gonna be waiting for my song."
Still, he reached out and gave Mercury something to grab onto, which he did gratefully. The room only spun a little bit when he managed to stand up with the dragon slayer's assistance.
"Is carbon toxic when, er, breathed in?" Lucy asked.
Mercury shook his head. "Only if you breathe it in for a long time. I've just been breathing in too much other stuff, so it hurts a little bit. But I'll be fine, promise."
She seemed to at least trust him on that. While the others began to chat amongst themselves about what was going on, Mercury tested out each part of his body, which had already started to slowly heal. Everything was more or less fine. His ankles hurt, but that wasn't because they were lastingly damaged more than it was because they were sore, and his gills and lungs ached, but they'd already discussed that.
He sighed. At least there was no need to go back to Laxus and explain exactly how he'd gotten hurt and provide a ten page document detailing why he shouldn't have done exactly what he did, or something. Whatever that man was going to eventually force him to do.
While the conversation was ongoing, Gray showed up, still prepared to fight. Juvia ran over to him and started crying, but he shook her off, more or less content with the way things had turned out despite still harboring a (frankly, very relatable) grudge towards demons.
"So, what do we do from here?" asked Levy. "There's still Face bombs out there that need to be stopped."
"What? I thought Wendy destroyed all of them," Mercury said. "There were more?"
"There's… over three thousand Face bombs out there," Lucy explained. "And we need to stop all of them."
The water mage said nothing. He wasn't sure he could say anything. If there were that many Faces out there, then they only had two options, and neither seemed particularly doable.
First, they destroy all the Faces before they all detonate in approximately half an hour.
Second, they destroyed all of Tartarus before Face went off.
He shuffled his arms, somewhat uncomfortable with each decision. For the former, it seemed almost impossible from the start. If Fairy Tail was doing it alone, each member would have to destroy at least sixty bombs apiece – something that just wasn't feasible to begin with. And even if they sought help, they didn't have much time to prepare.
On the other hand, if they destroyed all of Tartarus and let Face go off… Well, one could say that would solve quite a few issues. They could technically live without magic just fine. Edolas did it, right? Without magic, Fiore would be back to fighting with things like guns and swords, which had a far smaller reach even if they tended to be more fatal in the long run.
But on the flip side, Mercury would definitely die if Face went off.
He hadn't said anything yet, of course, but the moment that he'd heard it was going to destroy magic, that became a very distinct possibility. His body still ran on magic. If there was none in the air, his heart would probably stop beating immediately. Knowing that, he was… less inclined to go off and fight Tartarus with the remaining time.
Had to keep his promise, after all.
"Let's first go meet up with the others," Levy suggested. "Warren is still recovering from getting his telepathy hijacked, so we should go find him and Master."
"Lev, do you know the way there?" Lucy asked.
"Mhm! I ran all the way here, you know."
Quickly, the group got up and started heading in the direction indicated by the bookish mage. Gray disappeared into a side hallway, likely on his way to search for the remaining members of Tartarus so he could take them down. Mercury said nothing and let him go.
It was his decision to make. If the situation wasn't what it was, he'd have joined him.
Along the way, the water mage focused on the steady heartbeat in his chest so that he wasn't overwhelmed by the sound, only vaguely paying attention to the others' slightly nervous chatter. His head still throbbed with dizziness, though not enough to halt him in his path.
"How many leaders does Tartarus have, anyway?" Natsu asked. "I need to make sure that there's still some left so I can fight by myself." He seemed a little peeved that he'd been taken out of the Torafuzar fight simply because the matchup was bad.
"Nine," said Levy. "I don't know how many have already been fought though."
Mercury cleared his throat. "I've seen four go down already. Tempester was the one that Laxus and the others fought, then there was that weird soul-stealing one."
"His name was Franmalth," explained Lucy.
"Juvia and Merc-san fought Keyes," said Juvia. "The necromancer. And Keyes summoned Gray-sama's father, who was another of the Nine Demon Gates."
"Then the fish and I fought another fish. Coulda done it without Fish Number One though," said Gajeel.
Mercury scoffed. "I can breathe underwater and you can't." His heartbeat was getting oddly loud and fast. He couldn't tell why, but wrote it off – he wasn't fighting but it hadn't been long since he'd done so, and as such, it was probably just leftover adrenaline.
Probably.
"And look what it got you!"
"I… fought Jackal," said Lucy, interrupting the two before they could start arguing. "I don't know if he's dead though."
"I'm sure you knocked him down, Luce," Natsu said, hovering oddly close to the girl. Or, perhaps it wasn't "odd" anymore considering that's just what it did when it seemed like Lucy was down. It was just normal now.
She didn't acknowledge him at all.
"There's also the one that Elfman and Lisanna encountered," said Levy. "Mira said they knocked her out, but she's probably still alive.
"And the one that Erza was fighting earlier," said Natsu.
"... Would that one even be alive? They'd have been fighting for a while, I think," said Mercury. "They were outside when we fought that one... Franmalth, right?" He spat the name as though disgusted by the fact that these demons would even have such a thing.
"She seemed like the leader."
"I see." So, in other words, it made sense for that to be the strongest and the hardest to take down. And if that demon was still fighting, then Erza was surely right there along with them. Privately, Mercury breathed a sigh of relief, realizing not for the first time that the two women he'd come here with were more than strong enough to take care of themselves.
By now, they were both probably fine.
"That's eight," said Levy.
Lucy shifted on her feet. "I wonder if Wendy had to fight one. I doubt they would have left the original Face undefended."
"Then that would be nine," the Solid Script mage amended. "Five confirmed dead, two more probably dead, one unconscious, and one fighting Erza."
"Sounds like we've got our… work cut out for us…" Natsu trailed off, then turned over to an open gap in the wall that led outside, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "Is that…?" Even after trailing off, he continued to stare, an intense look on his face. His eyes blazed as though something had just been ignited in them– a feature that wasn't necessarily unusual on the boy, but since they weren't actively in a fight, it triggered alarm bells ineveryone'sheads.
"Huh? Natsu?" Lucy asked. "What's…?" She turned to the rest of her party, where Gajeel and Mercury were looking in the same direction, the latter looking far paler than he had earlier. While Gajeel had an unreadable and even somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face, the one on Mercury's was pretty damn cut and dry.
Pure terror – and for something none of them could see yet.
"What's going on?"
"He's here," said Gajeel.
"Who's here?" Lucy demanded. She looked between both him and Natsu, noting the discomfort on both of their faces – a very uncharacteristic look for the both of them, considering they never gave a second thought to insurmountable odds.
And in unison, the two dragon slayers said, "Acnologia."