The Phoenix Guild 3: Fighting Against Time

Chapter Twelve

  "Damn it." Hotaru cursed. He suddenly went into the ground in shadow form and quickly went past the group, making his quick escape. As he left, the mages stuck to the bookshelves all fell to the ground as the shadows disappeared. Natsu was about to run past the group to go after Hotaru, however, Erza stopped him.

  "Not now." Erza said, making Natsu frown. He pushed Erza's hand off his shoulder.

  "He could lead us to Etsuko and the others!" Natsu exclaimed. Erza had a vein pop out as she placed her hand on his head tightly.

  "Going against me? You've got guts Natsu."

  "Kiyomi!" The two heard a scream. They turned their heads to Naomi, who was running to her sister with Yuuji running close behind her. Naomi fell to her knees with tears running down her face as she pulled Kiyomi onto her back. She placed her ear near Kiyomi's mouth and could hear faint breathing. Naomi then riped her cloak off and put it over her sister's wound. "Come on Nee-San! Use your magic! Regenerate yourself! Please!" Naomi begged, tears running down her face. Wendy quickly ran to Naomi's side and went to her knees to try and heal the wounded demon. "Come on Nee-San, please keep breathing." Naomi begged as tears ran down her face. Wendy gritted her teeth as she tried to focus more of her magic on Kiyomi's wave.

  "What happened to her?!" Daisuke exclaimed as he looked at the group. Hakuoh looked down with a shadow forming over her eyes while gritting her teeth. 

  "She tried to help Haku... But Hotaru used his shadows to attack her while we were all down." Lucy explained as she looked down. All of a sudden Hakuoh ran off.

  "Hakuoh!" Daisuke exclaimed. Akihito then chased after the female. Erza looked at Wendy, who began to sweat. She gritted her teeth before looking at Daisuke.

  "We should take Kiyomi to Polyushka." Erza said, making Daisuke nod his head.

  "Why don't we split up? Some of us take Kiyomi to this Polyushka while the others go back to the Phoenix Guild and think a plan through." Emiko suggested with a frown on her face as she folded her arms. Daisuke nodded his head.

  "That's a good idea." Daisuke said. Erza then nodded her head.

  "Yes. I think Naomi, Yuuji, Romeo and Wendy should take her." Erza explained. "Juvia, I think you should also go with them. Wendy can keep healing Kiyomi on the way and she can concentrate if you four are there to protect her." Erza explained. Juvia nodded her head as she agreed with what Erza said.

  "I'll go too. I can carry both Kiyomi and Wendy on the way." Jinsune said.

  "Good. Hurry." Erza said. The six nodded. Jinsune picked Kiyomi up in his arms carefully and kneeled down so Wendy could climb onto his shoulder so she could keep healing Kiyomi. The six then ran out the area, leaving the rest of the group. Carla ended up going with them too to make sure Wendy will be ok. "Were you able to find anything?" Erza asked as she looked at the group.

  "Only this writing. That's when Hotaru appeared." Lucy explained as she pointed to the wall with the writing. The group walked towards the writing to examine it. Hibiki then pulled up his archive.

  "I managed to look up the sentence Hotaru said as he attacked. Apparently, this secret message used to be a gateway the Akuma's used to escape if being attacked. It also said that some have old hidden weapons and ancient spell books that once belonged to Akuma's, however, only a full-blooded Akuma can open the doors." Hibiki explained as he typed on his archive.

    "So we need Yukichi, Kaisai or Hana for this..." Erza said as she placed one hand on her chin with the other on her hip. She frowned as she began to think on what to do next.