The Shadow [Fairy Tail]

Sixteen of "The Shadow"

~Unedited~ ✖️

Soon, everyone was locked into battle. Asaya was keeping her cool as she fought with the blonde guy, who was surprisingly fast. Alex was throwing blow after blow at the black-haired dude, and was dodging his iron arm-thingies. Luna was grumbling to herself as she threw some sort of star thing at the younger mage, to which said girl quickly ducked. Akura had pulled out two spirits, Flicker the Teleportation Exhibitor (who looked like a giant metal ninja), and Snake the Poison Spirit. The blonde girl had also called out two spirits, one of which was Taurus the Golden Bull, and the other was Virgo the Maiden. Gray had luckily gotten into battle with only Sora, not Shadow, and both were holding up quite a fight. The redhead was now in what she had called, 'Heaven's Wheel Armor' and was throwing silver swords at Crescent, who simply flicked her wrist and the swords flashed white before disappearing. That only left the pinkette, who was all Shadow's.

The Afterlife dragon slayer faced him, her eyes narrowed as her cloak gently whipped in the breeze.

"Hey! You can't just talk to Erza like that!" He yelled angrily, before getting in a fighting stance. "So now we have to fight!!"

Erza...? It can't be... No. I have to focus.

"I see that today dragon slayer must fight dragon slayer," Shadow mused, her right eye slowly turning crimson. "I am sorry to cause any damage to you, but we must duel for the safety of my guild."

"Wait, you're a dragon slayer?" He asked, confused. "The stench of death must have overpowered it, sheesh."

"I am an Afterlife Dragon Slayer, so I suppose that explains it," Shadow said calmly.

"Oh cool! I'm Natsu Dragneel, or Salamander, of Fairy Tail. And you must be The Shadow!" He smiled brightly.

"Yes," she confirmed, before she looked up. "Now let us fight."

His expression changed completely at those words, flames alighting his hands as he faced her. "Now I'm all fired up!"

Shadow softly mumbled, "Children, do not come forward in this duel. I do not want bloodshed."

She then took off her hood, her black and purple hair slightly blending in with it. Her right eye was red, her other one a calm, dark violet abyss. Dark transparent flames erupted from her palms as she faced him, her expression showing nothing.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted, giant burning flames bursting from his mouth and towards her.

"Spirit Form: Engage," she commanded calmly, causing a ripple to spread through her body, making it grow transparent. Once the attack hit her, it went straight through, exploding behind her.

"Spirit Form: Disengage," she muttered, to which her body returned to normal.

Ignoring the surprising turn-out, the fire dragon slayer readied another attack.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" He exclaimed, his arms crossing into an X as flames rushed at Shadow.

"Afterlife Wall: Rise!" She commanded, making the ground begin to rumble, and a misty but strangely solid wall rose, blocking the attack completely.

Once she ordered it to fall into the depths of the afterlife once more, a ball of fire came hurtling at her. With widened eyes, she panicked and launched an offensive attack.

"Dragon Roar of the Afterlife!" Misty translucent flames flew out of her mouth at a quick pace, clashing with the brilliant flames of Natsu, causing an explosion.

Once the dust cleared, a scowl was placed on his face, showing how he was displeased.

"You're holding back!"

Shadow slowly blinked. "Yes because we were ordered to," she stated calmly.

Around them, everyone's battles were with one on offensive and one of defensive, the Misty Grins member being the latter. The only ones really fighting were Fairy Tail.

"Why is that!? I wanna fight!" Natsu whined.

"Our master does not want to cause any bloodshed," Shadow replied emotionlessly.

"Well show me your real power anyway! I can handle it," he said, giving a toothy grin.

"Aye, sir!" His exceed saluted, a happy but determined smile on his face.

"Very well. Wisteria, go take on Natsu's exceed please," Shadow complied, before directing her own exceed to his.

"Yeah, Happy. Show 'em the power of Fairy Tail!" Natsu added to his cat, who shakily flew upward toward Wis.

"Now is when it starts to get serious," Shadow said, translucent mist flowing around her.