Kia knew that she was making the best decision to end this battle, to stop these enhanced soldiers from mowing over everyone from Fairy Tail. However, she also had other fears. If she was right about who had reconfigured all of Fiore, then that would also reset when she took the Scarlet Despair down and that meant there was no telling what would happen to everyone then. They could end up anywhere on the continent again. And that could also potentially open up the possibilities for anyone else showing up too.
It would be very bad for all sides if their old scaly enemy decided to make an appearance. But Kia couldn't worry about conserving her power to deal with him if she was going up against the Scarlet Despair. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to face her on her own, Kia had been able to feel the amount of power she had before and the redhead hadn't even been using any magic. There was a part of her that feared that she might even have to almost transform completely, and she really didn't want to do that infront of the entire guild. But if she had to in order to keep them safe, she would.
Even though she knew that the faster she could end this the better, she didn't burst herself across the sky at full speed. She was taking that time to amass energy in her chest. Her silver flame grew warmer and warmer as she continually took in rapid breaths until she could make out the outline of her target standing before the guild hall.
'Sorry if I miss, Master.' Kia braced herself for the backlash as she poured her magic forward, "Phoenix Piercing Cry!"
Everyone for miles found themselves momentarily distracted by the tight dark red spiral of magic that cut through the air. The Phoenix Slayer had concentrated that massive attack into the smallest form she could, hoping that all of that power in that small of a space would do at least some damage to the Spriggan.
A look of amusement crossed Irene's face as she held her staff out in front of her. The impressive display of fire magic was met by a different red blast that redirected it high into the sky. But Kia didn't let that deter her. She just continued forward, clapping her hands and wrists together, "Phoenix Tornado!"
The fiery disaster was much larger than anyone was used to, engulfing most of the ledge that loomed over the battlefield. There would have been no place for Irene to move except by diving over the edge in Kia's direction. That also meant that the building behind her was likely smoldering ash.
But the guild hall survived, as did everything else inside the shimmering dome that encapsulated the platform. None of her flames had reached their target.
An amused smile sat on Irene's lips, "So you have finally come out to play."
Kia contained a frustrated growl as she let her magic lick around her hands and feet, continuing to hover thirty to forty feet away from the Scarlet Despair. "You got a point?"
Irene closed her eyes for a moment, "No. I was just wondering how long it would be until you charged ahead." Her eyelids lifted as her left arms did, palm aimed in the pinkette's direction, "But I do have a question for you, Phoenix."
Every instinct in her body was telling her to run. This was not an enemy to take lightly, but she wouldn't run. Instead she let her muscles stay somewhat tense, ready to spring the minute the redhead made a move. But she did respond, "Which is?"
"Do you really think you can win against me?"
In that split second, Irene shot off a blast nearly as large as the fiery tornado that she had just held off. Kia didn't have time to marvel at the massive power that her opponent was throwing around like it was nothing. She countered.
Forcing more fire out of her feet, she curled her body around the top of the blast, using the cover to get above the Scarlet Despair. Folding her wings, she flipped through the air with gravity's help, flaming kick first. "Phoenix Talon!"
A ring of fire popped from the impact, reminiscent of how she and the Mythics had fought against Atlas Flame barely more than a year ago. But this wasn't Atlas Flame.
"I had been hoping you would have put up a better fight than this."
Kia's eyes widened as she clearly saw Irene casually holding her hand up, her own foot resting calmly in the Spriggan's palm. She should have at least scorched her hand from that attack, but for her to come off unscathed...
Irene let go of her staff, but it didn't fall, seeming to balance itself with just the tip touching the ground. Directing her free hand in Kia's direction, "It's rather disappointing."
Taking in a half shocked breath, Kia had no time to dodge the blast. She tumbled back through the air, having taken the full force of the attack square in the chest. Her body ached as she forced her wings open to stop herself from falling from the sky. Her eyes locked again with her opponent's, trying to get her breath back. She wiped the trickle of blood near the corner of her mouth away while letting the ends of her hair blacken.
"Oh," Irene almost seemed pleased, "are you getting serious now?"
Kia clenched her fists as her mind finished processing what her nose had picked up when she had been closer to her enemy, "Your smell..."
"Oh. I wasn't aware if anyone would have picked up on that beyond another Dragon Slayer."
Kia's mind was reeling, remembering bits and pieces from one of the lessons Anna had given the kids on the history of Dragon Slayer magic over 400 years ago. "...was created as a way for humans to fight alongside their dragon allies...... allowing them the power to fight dragons......It was brought to be by a queen named Irene..."
The fire that flickered around her wrists began blazing with both red and black flames. "You're much older than you look, aren't you?"
"Now, now." Irene raised her hand again, "With your own circumstance, you should know better than to ask a lady her age."
And magic was flying through the air again. Kia tucked and rolled around or over every blast that was fired in her direction. Irene's spells progressively grew bigger and bigger until just dodging no longer became an option, but Kia had started on a plan.
"Phoenix Tornado!"
The two spells collided, exploding. Taking her chance, the Phoenix Slayer closed her wings and dropped far below the other's line of sight. With fire coming from her heels and her wings freshly snapped open, Kia climbed back into the air right along the face of the cliff. Her fingers brushed against the rough surface as she let her seal open a little more. The black crawled further up her hair, taking over the bottom half as more of her flames flickered black.
Above red and black flaming chains were erupting from the ground, creating a full assault against the Scarlet Despair. Irene lifted her hands toward each attack, her palms simmering with enchants to deflect each attempt to damage her. But she quickly found that there was an issue with her idea: the black flames were not deterred.
This created a wave of delight for the redhead as she was forced to actually dodge each approaching attack, though with ease. And that was when Kia crested the cliff, immediately bringing her foot up behind and over her head, her multicolors fire encasing the kick.
"Phoenix Cursed Talon!"
Irene turned, catching the kick against her staff, but Kia wasn't done.
"Phoenix Slayer Secret Art: Cursed Chains!"
From both of her hands, black flames began coiling around Irene, working to pin her arms to her sides. And it almost worked.
Irene narrowed her eyes at the girl before opening her mouth, "Sage Dragon Roar."
Kia's concentration on her blackened chains broke as she was sent through the air again. Her entire body ached, but nothing felt more than cracked at the moment. 'I'm going to have to go further. Even if there's a chance that he could show up, it won't do me any good if I can't defeat her.'
Finally catching herself, a pulse of power came from the Phoenix Slayer as the black began creeping up her hair again. She wasn't going to fully transform, but she was going to need the power to heal and attack Irene, especially now that she knew the Spriggan was similar to Acnologia.
The power rushed through her veins as she clenched her jaw, holding back the last little bit from completely shifting into her Etherious form, but then it stopped. A wave of exhaustion hit Kia so hard that she nearly lost focus on her flaming wings. Black spots danced across her vision as she tried to figure out where the backlash was coming from. Was it because she wasn't used to using that power anymore? But she had been living with her seal broken since Verani shattered it over a year ago...
The black spots began to grow and swirl around her. And that was when Kia knew that the black spots and her exhaustion were connected, but not in the way she had been believing. Her onyx eyes shot toward the guild hall, finding the Black Wizard just outside the threshold. A sigh escaped him as he made the magic expand and move faster. It slowly looked more and more like a sphere to hold her captive.
Then he closed his outstretched hand.
Dozens of magic-made rods pierced through Kia's body, blood flying from her lips. The world blurred as her body screamed out in pain where no sound left her.
Irene looked back over her shoulder to her leader, "It's rare to see you take such a forward approach."
But he didn't react to her words. Zeref opened her hand to dispel his magic from the air as he turned to re-enter the building, "I leave the rest to you, Irene."
"As you wish."
The Scarlet Despair turned back, her palm already glowing as she raised it. Her magic lit up the sky, but it never got the chance to hit its target.
Kia's wings crumbled away, letting her miss the added pain, but that was all they did. And the Phoenix fell from the sky.
||~x~||
"This is actually kind of fun!" Alexa cracked her whip toward Amber as she turned to look at Verani, "Solar God Howl!"
Amber immediately threw her arm up with a Blood Guard to block, managing to avoid the damage, but her small shield cracked all the way through. Her blonde friend wasted no time in zipping away from the roar-like attack, stopping at her side.
"I'm really sick of this." V half-growled, "I don't remember Violet over there being this strong before."
Amber created a new Blood Katana, "We also fought her at night last time."
"Just great."
That happy smirk still hadn't left Alexa's lips, "There's no time for talking! Solar God Helius!"
With a snap of her fingers, the space between the two Mythics glowed for a moment before exploding. They were thrown apart, but their opponent had already planned her next move. Before either of them could right themselves from the sudden attack, Alexa wrapped her radiant whip around Verani and threw her into Amber. When they stopped, they began untangling themselves as Verani pushed herself back onto her feet.
"Yeah. Definitely not this strong."
Amber shifted, acting as if she were taking a second to catch her breath as she stealthily began to quickly write blood runes on the ground.
The Spriggan giggled, "So tell me Fairies," both of her arms were raised, palms toward the sky. Her magic glowed brightly as it condensed and formed a small sun, at least six feet across, above her head. "Are you ready to bask in the glory of the sun?!"
"Shit." Verani crouched down, ready to grab Amber and split, but she didn't have time. But she didn't need to.
"Blood Barrier!"
"God Slayer Secret Art: Parhelion!"
The small sun was hurled through the air in their direction, colliding with the barrier that had appeared in front of them. Amber continued adding runes to the base of the barrier, trying to keep it strong enough to withstand the full attack. It stopped most of it, but it couldn't hold up to the power of a sun.
A loud explosion echoed across the battlefield, catching the attention of some of those in the guild who had still been facing the Berserkers not that far away. One of those had watched in horror as the solar body had crashed through that red barrier and into his little sister. A cloud of dirt blocked his field of vision to even see how she was now.
"Verani!"
No one answered him, but their fight was far from over.
A blue blur shot out of the cloud of dust, crashing straight into the purple-haired Spriggan.
"Striking Knuckle!"
Verani straightened up from her strike, clothes still smoldering as her glare never left her tumbling and flailing enemy. Lightning still crackled around her fist as she clenched it in Alexa's direction, a power ringing in her voice, "Are you ready to face the wrath of the Storm?!"
Behind the blonde, Amber had gotten up on one knee, firing off a Blood-Make: Needle Barrage that soared around V. She half-mumbled, "Drama queen."
But Verani heard her, "Just set me up."
A pair of Blood Daggers were already forming in the Blood mage's hands. Alexa had just begun righting herself, but she easily ducked out of the way of the thrown blades. But Amber had not been aiming for her.
One landed off to each side of the Spriggan and one behind her, morphing into a tall curved wall that gave her little option for where she could go from there.
"Storm Torrent!"
Having nowhere to go, Alexa did the only thing she could against the rapidly approaching storm clouds, "Solar God Howl!"
And that was exactly what the duo had wanted her to do as Amber dashed forward behind Verani's attack, a Blood Katana in each hand. Their movements only gave the Spriggan time to summon one whip to attempt blocking and parrying the myriad of slashes that were coming in her direction. As Alexa was pushed further and further back, she failed to notice the sudden lack of a Blood Barrier behind her. Unfortunately for the girls, she did not miss the blonde who was coming in for the pincer attack from her blindspot.
Alexa focused her magic in the center of her stomach, letting it settle for only a second before that power burst out from her. A radiant ring of magic expanded from the God Slayer, slamming into both Mythics. "Solar God Halo!"
Too close to dodge, they were both forced back, flipping along the ground. They tumbled, but quickly controlled themselves enough to land on their feet.
Amber straightened herself to prepare her next move, "Okay. I'm tired of being a ragdoll."
"You got that right." Verani spit out a bit of blood as she took the moment to take in their surroundings. They had managed to push their fight further away from the rest of the guild. This way they wouldn't have to worry about any of them getting caught in the crossfire while also not having to worry about those Berserkers interfering with their fight.
Alexa's smile returned to her features, "But we're only getting started. The day's still so young." She stretched her arms to her sides as she appeared to be basking in the warmth given off by the sun. Her body began to softly glow as she absorbed the energy from the heavenly body just like any other slayer would eat their element, "Sun's Rays."
A growl escaped Verani as they watched as the few injuries they had managed on the God Slayer began to heal. "God damn it."
"You got that right." Amber pulled from the numerous cuts along her hands, creating a new Blood Katana in her hand as she pulled an actual dagger free with her left. "But we still have to take her down."
"Nah shit." V let loose a few chuckles as she looked at her best friend on the other side of their enemy.
The Spriggan just found this determination amusing as both her hands began to glow. Two of her radiant whips grew, brighter than they had been so far. "You can certainly try."
There were no more words traded between the mages as they stood ready for any of the others to make the first move. That was when there was a bright light engulfed all of them from the battlefield they had left behind. And they charged.
||~x~||
Just wanted to pop in really quick to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you're with someone to celebrate today or not, remember to love yourself as well!
See you soon,
Kiki