Ashlyn Johnson, Jasmine Lockwood and Rajah
@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@Hatakekuro@t2wave@Burthstone@Silver Fox@CitrusArms
@Demon Shinobi@LightningMaiden@Joshua Tamashii@Oblivion666@YipeeXD@Zarkun
Oof
That was the only sound that escaped Ash as she felt the hand made from dark magic slam into her side, completely defenceless thanks to Patrick's holding spell. She couldn't dodge, she couldn't defend herself. She could only watch as what seemed like the hand of death itself came and backhanded several metres back, tumbling and rolling before finally coming to a crashing halt inside a tree trunk. She almost snapped the tree in half, such as the force she hit it with.
And fucking oath did it hurt. Her body cried out, both in pain from the blow, the tumbling and the lack of oxygen that she was no confronted with. But also due to the fact she was fucking embedded in a goddamn tree, that bloody hurt and wasn't recommended for anyone. Goddamn, she was going to kill that little runt! Kill him till he died from it! "Fucking little shithead, I'm gonna beat him till he's black and blue. No, till he's red. Just a blood stain on my fist." Though she found the going tough when she first when to move, soon visible heat radiated off of her as her anger both at being restrained as well as so carelessly backhanded away, like she was an afterthought, began to take root. With enough effort, she pulled herself free and cracked her neck.
Payback time!
...Or so she thought, but by the time she had pulled herself free of the tree it seemed like every mage gathered here and their grandmas had begun to pile in on Zeref. Oi, they had better leave some for her! Suppose if everyone else wasn't holding back...then she shouldn't either huh? Blue flames soon began to replace the red ones that were swirling around her hands, her normally fiery eyes turned the same shade as she pointed with no small amount of hostility towards Zeref. "Burn." As the words escaped her lips, flames shoot forth from her hand towards the black wizard like a wave. Thankfully there was a nice, cold ice wall behind him so it wouldn't spread that way as it slammed into the wizard. How nice.
With Lazarus healed, Jasmine gave the older couple a weary smile. She was glad to be of help, and she was sure there were more hurt mages who could use her healing. However, when she felt the sudden spike in magic her face grew pale. Wide-eyed, she slowly turned towards the ominous source. While most of the mages, battle-hardened or at least experienced in fighting powerful dark mages, managed to fight through the fear or even outright ignore, for Jasmine the feeling that washed over her was nothing like she had experienced before.
Death. He was death itself. As his gaze fell upon the guild mages, she stopped functioning. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't talk. She was frozen on the spot, petrified as he seemed to deal with them the same manner as one would a fly. She was gripped by such a primordial and raw fear, he was unlike anything she had seen in her short time with the guild. What should she do?! What could she do?! She didn't stand a chance against that....monster!
"P-Penny..."
She couldn't stop the tears that began to well up. Not from sadness, nor even from joy. She was just so lost, so out of her depth that that was all she could do as she waited for her seemingly inevitable demise. She accepted the fact that she couldn't do anything, though it didn't stop her hands from clenching tightly, filled with dirt as her fingers dug into the soil beneath her. Even now as the various constructs Zeref made rained down around them, she couldn't find it within her to move. She was too weak...
"So, you'll just let it end this way? You came all this way just to die then?" Like a light beaming down on her, Ryujin's voice cut through to the petrified girl. His tone was filled with disappointment.
"I-I can't...I can't fight him. He's right, I don't have it in me to fight...I-I can't even hope to think I could." It was one thing for her to be here to stop dragons, but this man? This magical power? It was frightening. How could one ever hope to overcome such a thing?
"Perhaps so. If that's what you truly believe, then you do stand no chance against this man." Even though she knew he spoke the truth, his words still cut deep. "Or perhaps, if you look at it from a different perspective...you do."
She was quick to deny him, shaking her head as her dirt-stained blond hair fluttered about. "No, no, no. I can't. I just can't!" That was when she felt herself be picked up. Looking up, she could barely see through her watery eyes but could make out just enough of the small cat-like creature that had grabbed hold of her and began to move her out of the way of Zeref's attack.
It was Rajah. The exceed was visibly straining herself as her little arms held on tightly, her tiny little wings beating as fast as they could as a sword plunged into the ground where Jasmine was kneeling just before. "You. Are. Pathetic!" The exceed seemed to scream at the slayer, barely avoiding a hammer that came crashing down to their right.
'Sir Ignatius told me you were my partner, and like fucking hell am I letting my partner look so pathetic! So get up and fight!" With a glare that could melt ice, Rajah looked down at the teenager with a burning fury.
"But..but I can't-"
"Don't you 'but' or 'can't' me! Those are the excuses of the weak! And like that damned annoying Phoenix keeps saying; you're not weak! Get your head out of the sand and fight! Otherwise, you, me, everyone else are going to die damnit! And I won't be losing my first disciple so damned quickly and easily, you got that?!"
Rajah was in no mood to debate with the frightened girl, and while this wasn't exactly the best way to deal with this it wasn't like the exceed was necessarily wrong. There was no telling what could happen, all she had to do was try at least.
"While I hate to side with that...creature." The disdain he showed towards Rajah was evident. "You are here to help your comrades, no? If you do not think you have the strength to stand against him...then I shall grant you it." Before he had even finished, Jasmine felt magic beginning to course through her. A strength unlike anything she had felt began to well up inside her. While it still paled in comparison to the dark powers of Zeref...it was still exceptionally large.
Ryujin knew he had no choice. While he was uncertain if her body could handle it, she could very well die from this, it was a risk that had to be taken. If they didn't try, she might just end up dying anyway. So with that, he allowed her full access to her magic. And the knowledge on how to use it. Including what she had tried years ago, but had never really been given a chance to master.
Digging her heels into the ground, she and Rajah now came to a sudden and abrupt stop. So abrupt in fact, the little cat went flying off face first into a nearby rock. Her body still trembled in fear, but watching as her guildmates...her fellow dragon slayers starting fighting Zeref, the magic that coursed through her...she had to stand and fight. Ryujin was right, no matter how afraid she was there was no excuse for just accepting things were going to happen. If she and the others want to leave...go home to the guild, then they needed to fight.
"Dragon Slayer: Secret Art!" Feeling the magic begining to take shape, a bubble began form in her hands. The drain was...incredible, even more so as she felt it draining every drop of magic she had. An unintended consquence of using a spell she had yet to master.
Though she paused for a moment when a new presence arrived. What the hell was that thing? Oh well, it seemed like for now it was here to help them so it was best to concentrate on her spell and only her spell.
"Liquidation!" Almost immediately after launching the bubble, which was no larger than a baseball , towards the dark mage she fell to her knees as a weakness overcame her. Not like the fear from before, but as if she had just finished running a 300km marathon. Or more specifically, like she had just used every ounce of magic in her body. Her vision was already going blurry so she couldn't even tell if it hit.
But if it did, it was after the attacks by Zero and Ash. Upon impact it would wash over him....and do nothing?