Chapter 52 - Erza vs Minerva
Disclaimer: Hey guys! Firestorm40 here with a new chapter for you all. except my own OCs. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it. So without further ado, Enjoy!
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Somewhere inside Cube...
"Your evil plans stop here." Sora grinned as he, Natsu, Gray, Juvia and Gajeel stared at the remaining demon gates. Lucy was still laying on the ground after her exhausting battle with Jackal but she was consciousness enough to know what was happening around her.
"You..." Gray spoke as he made eye-contact with Silver. Ever since he first laid eyes on the man he couldn't shake off a feeling that he knows him from somewhere. "No...there's no way."
"He's the one who froze the titans' village." Natsu said, referring to the mission back at the Sun Village where the Fairy Tail mages resurrected Atlas Flame. "And on top of that, he froze me!"
"Hm?" Gajeel blinked as he wiggled his nose for a minute. "His smell reminds me of you Gray."
"The same perfume as Gray!?" Juvia gasped as a blush made its appearance evident on her face. With a sneer on his face Silver rushed past Natsu and Sora with speed that even the dragon slayers couldn't react fast enough and latched onto Gray much to everyone's surprise, separating the ice mage from his friends.
"Gray!" Sora yelled in alarm.
"I'll get him." Silver said as he took Gray to another location via teleportation. With everyone thrown into confusion, Tempester began to attack the Fairy Tail mages in a giant swirling vortex. Even Lucy was swept off her feet as she was swallowed by the winds.
"That's not gonna work on iron!" Gajeel announced loudly as he rushed towards his enemy, pulling his right arm back and aimed a Iron Dragon's Club at the man.
"Hmph!" Acting quickly Torafuzar intercepted Gajeel's attack with his right arm and countered attack swiftly. Managing to get out of the whirlwind, Natsu looked up to see Ki-su turning into mist and attempting to strike Gajeel.
"Woah! Hey!" Gajeel grunted as the fire dragon slayer used his back as a springboard, attempting to attack the bishop demon with a flamed foot, but found out that his magic did no damage.
"Water Slicer!" Juvia swung her arm towards Ki-su as Sora fell back, summoning a single wave of multiple blades that resembled scythes. The demon wasn't fazed by the attack as he weaved in and out of the blades like they were nothing. Slithering towards the woman, he struck her soundly just as Torafuzar slammed his elbow into Gajeel's gut.
"Gajeel! Juvia!" Natsu yelled when he noticed the two of them being pushed back by their opponents.
"Brooooam." Taking his eyes off of Tempester for a split second, the slayer was struck by a lightning attack and crashed into the ground with a yelp.
"Solar Dragon's Lighting Sphere!" Sora yelled and threw the large golden sphere at the demons, causing to jumped back.
"Everyone..." Lucy groaned as she tried to move after the whirlwind disappeared but her body was screaming with every move she made. She still needed time to heal.
"No problem!" Sora roared, picking himself up and made a dash towards the demons with Natsu, Juvia and Gajeel running right behind him. "Let's go!"
"Come on." Tempester taunted, his eyes set on Sora as his other companions flanked him on both sides. "This is going to be fast and painless."
"It's not over yet." Ki-su spoke in an ominous way. "It's only just begun."
"Bring it!" Sora shouted.
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Elsewhere in Cube...
"Happy, are you okay?" Panther Lily and Lucas asked when they noticed the blue Exceed standing in the hallway. The two had met up sometime ago and were looking for their friends. "Thank goodness, I seemed to have lost sight of Gajeel on my way down here and..." When they got close, the cat turned his head and that's when Lily saw a mushroom growing out on top.
"Owaaaah! What is that?!" Lucy yelled.
"I thought I was saved after being sucked in by the wall," Happy told him in a small voice. "but then I saw this..." He pointed with a paw at the fungus on his head.
"I-I see..." Lily answered as he folded his arms over his chest.
"What if Carla hates me...?" Happy started to cry at the thought.
"No...well...depending on how you see it, it doesn't look that ugly...maybe." Lucas told him, unsure if the cat should be worried about his relationship at the moment. "It doesn't come off?"
"Aye."
"Let's just see about it." Lily walked over, wrapped his paws around the stalk and pulled as hard as he could. "Ngggggggggghhhh!"
"It hurts!" Happy yelped, flapping his paws around every time Lily pulled. "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"
"I don't think it's going to come off just by brute force..." Lucas spoke up.
"Ok..." Lily conceded defeat and let go. "It's useless."
"Are you sure it looks cool?" Happy asked. Unknown to the trio, the mushroom suddenly grew one eye, two stubby arms and a mouth. It appeared to be Franmalth who merely shrunk to a very small size when Hell's Core exploded.
'Gehehe...thanks to my Curse I can also make people absorb me...animals too I guess.' The demon cackled as he felt his host starting to move. 'I'll wait for my chance to attack when they least expect it...gehehehe.'
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"That square thing just got destroyed." Cana growled as she and some of the other members glanced around in confusion. After being released from the red materials they found themselves in the wreckage of Magnolia, somehow they weren't on top of Cube anymore.
"Where are we?" Macao asked as he helped another member who had his foot caught in the debris.
"Maybe south of Magnolia." Laki took a guess as she adjusted her glasses with a finger.
"By the way, where is the master?" Another member asked.
"He said to go back to the guild once." Romeo told them, pointing in the direction of the town.
"But wasn't it destroyed too?" Max asked.
'What a horrible sight...' Makarov thought as he trudged through the street, glancing at the plumes of smoke that were still floating up towards the sky. 'Even the Kardia Cathedral, the symbol of the city...' Clenching his hands into fists, he walked briskly past the smoldering structure towards his guild. 'The words left by Hades, the second master...it's not over yet...'
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Somewhere further out from town...
Hidden underneath a giant rock structure Wendy lay asleep on top of a leaf bedding with bandages wrapped around her head and arms. Feeling a small breeze glide through her hair, the girl slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times.
"Where are we?!" The sky dragon slayer asked as she sat up abruptly, any signs of sleep gone in an instant.
"Wendy!" Carla exclaimed with happiness. The white Exceed had bandages wrapped around her head as well.
"Glad to see you're okay." Lexi said with a smile. Though, she had a few bandages just like them.
"How are you feeling?" Kiki asked, with her forehead wrapped up too.
"I'm fine..." The girl turned her head from side to side in a frantic manner. "Didn't we...explode...? And Face!? What about Face!?"
"Thanks to all of you, it stopped moving." A voice told her.
"Doranbolt!?" Wendy exclaimed when she recognized him leaning against the wall.
"Hey! You're the guy we saw on Tenrou Island." Lexi said, pointing at the man.
"What are you doing here?" Kiki asked.
"He saved us the moment the explosion happened." said Carla.
"It was by a hair's breadth." The ex-council member released a sigh of relief. "But a miracle no less."
"Then..." Wendy whispered as she looked at Carla with tears threatening to leak out. "Carla...We're alive!"
"Yes Wendy..." The Exceed leaped into the girl's arms as they celebrated their victory, tears trickling down their faces. "We are alive!"
Lexi and Kiki smiled at the scene.
"Thank you, Doranbolt..." Wendy said happily.
"No...it's kind of...hard to tell you..." The man scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face. "But...nothing's over yet."
"What?" The four females asked in shock.
Asking Carla and Kiki to use their magic, the four of them flew out to look at their surroundings. Much to their horror they bared witness to over two thousand Face bombs ready to detonate. "That..." Wendy's body trembled as she couldn't help but felt like she failed everyone. "This is just..."
"You can't be serious...!" Lexi muttered.
"We have currently located 2 thousands faces." Doranbolt said when they returned to him and the three of them turned to stare at the multiple stone structures rising over the horizon. "This is perhaps how the continent-sized magic pulse cannon will look like."
"After all we did to destroy one..." Carla said with a frown. "There are so many. It's the e-"
"Don't say it, Carla." Wendy interrupted her. "I don't want to lose hope anymore. I decided that I'm going to live with you." With one quick motion of a hand, she used her magic to cut off her long blue hair without hesitation.
"Wendy!" Carla gasped as the blue locks fluttered limply to the ground. "Your hair..."
Lexi, Kiki, and Doranbalt all looked at the young girl in shock.
"I won't whine..." Wendy vowed with determination gleaming in her eyes as she looked at her four companions. "Nor will I cry when things become tough. I can't give up...while everyone else is fighting!"
Lexi smiled at her. "You're right Wendy. We still gotta job to do."
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'What the King of Hades said is nagging at me'. Meanwhile back in the Cube, Franmalth continued to ponder what Mard Geer said just before the connection was severed. 'Hm? The reason the predicted location of appearance of Face was wrong is that...it was lagged...?' Suddenly he realized something that he would have never thought of before and it made his mouth widen even bigger.
'Could it be...?! There's more than one Face bomb on the surface!' He held in his shriek of enlightenment and delight. 'Yes! Yes! YESSSSSS! Finally! The world will soon be rid of magic and those obnoxious wizards will soon bow down to the demons. Everyone...is going just as he planned.'
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Somewhere inside Cube...
"Minerva...You..." Erza growled as she and Minerva kept on clashing within their own little battlefield and away from everyone else. Neither one of them seemed to have the upper hand in the fight but the scarlet-haired beauty knew that she wanted to end the fight as quickly as possible.
"I'm Neo Minerva." The woman corrected as she continued to pressure her opponent with her attack. "I was reborn as the strongest wizard."
"Ugh..." Erza grunted when her sword broke after deflecting a lot of the blows. Unfazed by the lack of a weapon, she jump and twisted her body mid-flight, aiming a kick straight towards the woman's face.
"Territory." Minerva smirked as she swapped their positions and delivered the attack instead, sending the Fairy Tail mage flying through a wooden structure. "Let's have more fun. Er-..." She didn't get to finish her sentence as Erza got back to her feet and launched back with a surprise attack, slamming a fist into the ex-Sabertooth woman's face.
"I am...the strongest wizard!" Enraged Minerva started to swing her fists wildly and almost predictably, fueled by emotion and hatred for her father. "The strongest...wizard!"
"What are you fighting against!?" Erza roared, striking her opponent down with her fist. Minerva then briefly reminiscences her early childhood, with her father, Jiemma, beating her for being weak and crying in front of him.
'Why are you so weak?' His voice rang through her ears, his cold gaze freezing her in place and she couldn't help but cry in his presence, causing him to become infuriated and hit her with his hand. 'Are you pleading for mercy? Stupid daughter!'
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Minerva howled, standing back up and stuck Erza with a right hook across the cheek; the Fairy Tail mage gritted her teeth as her head snapped to the side from the blow.
'You're my daughter, you have to be strong.' Jiemma's voice continued to flow through her head. 'I'll get rid of any weakling, and you're no exception.' The young girl just sobs uncontrollably and begs her father for forgiveness. 'How long are you going to cry!? Tears are a symbol of weakness! How many times do I have to tell you!?'
"I must...I must be...strong." Minerva uttered over and over, as if she was under a hypothesis spell. "I must be strong."
"Minerva!" Erza yelled at her, trying to get the girl to open her eyes and face reality but it soon fell on deaf ears as she was forced to block another right hook aimed to the face.
'Take off your clothes.' Minerva's mind immediately jumped to a memory when her father forced her to strip naked. 'When your tears have dried you can go home.'
'No...' The younger Minerva whimpered as she shivered alone, her father was nowhere to be seen and she could hear the howling of the animals in the distance. 'No...I don't wanna be alone...'
"WAKE UP!" Erza punched the demon woman who didn't seem to defend herself against the blow at all and tumbled along the ground. "I don't agree with all you did during the Grand Magic Games...but I can understand it. Wasn't it all for the sake of Sabertooth!?"
"Ugh..." Minerva propped herself up against a broken wooden pillar, unable to continue fighting anymore.
"My fist is crying while hitting you." Erza told her. "What's the meaning of this fight?"
"I know..." Minerva spoke shakily as she lifted her head up. "I know...that's why...I want you...to kill me."
'What?' Erza stared at her in silence and lowered her arms to her side.'She wants to die so easily...just like this?'
"I'm weak." Minerva admitted as she found herself begging her opponent for salvation."That's why I feel to the dark side...I can't live with this body anymore. Please..."
"You're you." Erza said as she approached the woman, gazing down on her with a somewhat kind expression. "I'm sure someone is waiting for you to come back. Don't forget that."
"Humans..." A voice spoke and the two woman turned to see Mard Geer approaching them, the book of END tucked away in his arms. "Do you like talking about life and death so much? Hideous."
"Who are you?!" Erza growled wearily as she turned to face him. 'No...I've heard this voice before...the King of Hades, Mard Geer!'
"Uff...all the garbage I thought I cleaned up is still around." Mard Geer gagged as he came to a halt, standing about a few feet away from them with his eyes narrowed with disgust. "Damn Celestial Spirit King. Luckily...I still have some time. I'll clean up the garbage by myself..."
"Are you the Master?" Erza asked. Mard Geer's eyes widened and with one sweep of a hand, knocked Erza off of her feet. "What's this magic?!"
"First one." He smirked before turning his attention to Minerva, launching an attack towards the woman who wasn't able to defend herself in time.
"Minerva!" Erza screamed, skidding to a halt but couldn't move her body fast enough to help.
"Run away, Erza..." Minerva whispered just as the attack connected, resulting in a huge explosion. The Fairy Tail mage raised her arms in front of her face as dust and other particles shot into the air, limiting her field of vision. The howling of the winds screamed past her ears but once she managed to open her eyes a bit, she noticed two figures hidden within the cloud of smoke.
"Phew. Just in time." A voice spoke, a familiar voice. "Sorry for being late." The cloud cleared up to reveal the new comers Sting and Rogue; Minerva was safe in the White Dragon slayer's arms. "We came to pick you up, Lady."
"It's been a while!" Lecter exclaimed with happiness.
"Your guild is Sabertooth." Rogue commented while Frosch agreed.
"Oh." Mard Geer watched his new prey with interest. "And what do we have here? More useless garbage to be disposed of?"
'I'm sure someone is waiting for you to come back.' Recalling Erza's words from earlier, Minerva began to shed tears of joy as she stared up at her old comrades.
"Why are you guys here?" Erza asked the dragon slayers, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Didn't you send us a letter, Erza?" Sting reminded her as he set Minerva to the side carefully, making sure that she was well out of danger.
'Now that I remember...' The scarlet-haired knight recalled such a thing when she told Makarov about encountering Minerva in her new form for the first time during her visit to the Sun Village. She immediately went to a room and sat down with pen and paper, hand-written letter to Sting.
"By the way Erza, the way you wrote that letter is...kinda..."
"It sucked." Frosch said blatantly while Lecter was trying to ease into the problem as carefully as possible so he didn't have to feel the scarlet-haired knight's wrath.
"Because of that...we couldn't understand the contents and it took us time to come here." Rogue said when she looked a bit confused.
"We're going to return to the guild together, Lady." Sting returned his gaze to Minerva, giving her a warm smile.
"Return to your guild?" Mard Geer questioned as he looked at his opponents with glee. "The wizard world will end. But I don't mind, I won't stop you."
"Face was destroyed." Erza told him angrily.
"Just one." He replied, chuckling when he noticed how fast her eyes widened with horror.
"Erza, on the way here we saw many eerie face-shaped statues." Sting told her.
"If that is Face, there's really lots of them." Rogue added.
"What?" She uttered, unable to believe what she was hearing. "There are...more than one Face?"
"One hour. In one hour, all Faces will be activated." Mard Geer grinned as he held his arms out in glee. "About 3000 magic pulse bombs...will erase all magic from this continent."
"No way..." Erza whispered as she felt a shiver crawl up her body. "That's...impossible..."
"What do you mean!?" Sting demanded.
"All magic will vanish from the continent...?" Lecter asked.
"Frosch won't be able to fly anymore?"
"Heheh." Minerva chuckled as she dried her tears away and looked at Mard Geer. "It's a bluff. Face can't be remotely controlled. It's impossible to activate 3000 of them at the same time."
"If I remember correctly, the president should have the authority to allow remote control..."
"That person died." Minerva cut the King of Hades off, feeling Erza kneel down beside her. "I know because Kyouka told me."
"What she didn't tell you was that our guild has a necromancer." Mard Geer proclaimed as he could feel Ki-su's aura somewhere within Cube. "He's controlling the dead president...and having him activate Face from the control room."
"Erza, go." Sting said before cracking his knuckles, his expression stern and collective. "Stop Face from activating."
"Leave this to us." added Rogue as he stood beside his partner.
"But..."
"Take care of the Lady, Lecter and Frosch." Sting continued, not bothering to turn to look at her but had his eyes set on the enemy before him. "They'll be fine with you."
"We'll defeat him."
"Some humans are really amusing." Mard Geer said humorlessly as he merely glanced at the Twin Dragon slayers. "Do you think simple humans can defeat the King of Hades?"
"I do!" Sting answered as he and Rogue rushed forward to engage in combat. The King of Hades just smiled as he weaved in and out of their attack patterns with ease. The dragon slayers relentlessly attacked the man, trying out different strategies but it was like the demon could read their minds as he danced around; none of the attacks were connecting with their target.
"Get going Erza!" Rogue said after his kick was blocked, somersaulting backwards into a crouch. "The more you waste time here, the less time you have in stopping Face!"
"He's extremely powerful. Be careful!" Erza advised them as she helped Minerva to her feet, allowing the woman to lean against her for support.
"Not as much as Natsu or Sora." Sting stated confidently.
"Destroy Face!" Rogue said before blocking a punch from Mard Geer.
"Sting. Rogue." Minerva whispered as she wished them luck in their fight.
"Frosch wanna fight too."
"Don't be stupid." Lecter exclaimed as he dragged his fellow Exceed by the tail and away from the battle. "We're going with Erza!" Then he smiled. "I believe Sting."
"Frosch too." Frosch waved his paws into the air in a cheer for both Rogue and Sting before following Lecter after the two ladies.
"White Dragon's...Roar!" Sting took a deep breath and unleashed the attack, the small laser barreling straight towards the demon. With just his finger, the king directed the roar into another direction where it smashed into a rock column. However the slayer wasn't discouraged since his attack was used as a distraction so that Rogue could appear right behind the opponent for a sneak attack.
"Shadow Dragon's Slash!" He roared as he aimed a punch towards Mard Geer, his punching arm covered with the shadows. The King of Hades didn't bat an eyelash as he blocked the attack and tossed the slayer towards Sting. With his hands, he summoned a spell which created a large explosion that swallowed up both slayers. The power of the attack even blew away some of the left over debris and kicked smoke into the air.
"I don't like...that petty humans handle dragon slaying 'magic'." Mard Geer commented as he watches for the dust to disappear, keeping an eye out for his opponents.
"Yeah...I also don't like...that you hurt our friends." Sting snarled as he and Rogue stood back up, pissed off expressions on their faces. Their clothes were slightly ruffled and they looked battered but they were filled with determination to wipe the floor with the King.
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Somewhere else...
"2000 Faces...?" Gray said almost in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing.. After being taken away by Silver, the two of them ended up in a different part of Cube where they wouldn't be disturbed. It would seem that they haven't fought yet but decided to talk about what is happening. "The council built one hell of a weapon..." He stood back up and kept his gaze on Silver. "...So, did you bring me here just to tell me that?"
"No way." Silver replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I hoped I could see despair on your face."
"Unfortunately that doesn't really work."
"That's too bad..." Silver commented as he looked off to the side. "I thought simply killing you would be boring."
"You know me, right?" Gray asked him, prompting the ice demon slayer to return his gaze.
"Yeah...really well."
"I also know your face...and voice." Suddenly Gray got serious and his blood was boiling with rage as he demanded to know the man's true identity. "I know them, but you're a different person. Who the hell are you?"
"You've probably already guessed it." Silver said with a smirk. "I am...your father."
That's a wrap for this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter will be updated soon, look forward to it. Comment on your favorite parts and don't forget to vote!
Be sure to review. Until then, see ya!!!
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