Royal Rumble in the Arena’d Jungle
Featuring Damian “Blades” Gerard, Roseletta “Black Rose” Griffonbane, Nolan “Ashen Ghost” Waltz, and Penny “The Phoenix” Hoft
Damian had only enough time to utter a quick curse as he swapped from his twin Hermes Blades to the singular Ares Blade, rotating to block the heavy downward swing. He had made the attack with the Field of Blades as a calculated risk, anticipating she’d have to exit the shadowy dome floor to avoid it. But he’d forgotten she could use Shadow Body and now, well, all he could do was brace. The scythe blade connected with his Ares blade and, for a moment, he resisted, pushing against the force of the blow before his lack of contact with the ground played out against him and he was sent sprawling.
Flying through the air, Damian had about half a second to process what just happened before he impacted Nolan, having passed through the flames at high speed and sending the two careening into the ground.
”Alright, well, that hurts.”Even in the face of consuming fire Nolan did not flinch. He was just watching Penny, waiting to see what she would do rather than rush in recklessly like a fool. Her attacks were chaotic and stupidly wasteful of her own magic all for the sake of being showy.
Balls of ash collided against the wild spray of flame all the while Penny rushed him down, trailed by her flame conjured rats with wings that spun around him as a means of distraction, which briefly worked just long enough for Penny to come in with her burning vortex of death and spun around her like a fly.
”Are you done?” He said about how condescending that would sound. Ashes swirled around his fist in a violent spherical vortex and was about to strike the ground, but just before he could, Damian careened through the vortex of fire and smacked the two out of the flames.
”The only thing that hurts is my pride.” He grumbled as he stood back up and pointed his blade at the older mage.
Rose smirked, twirling her scythe between her hands trying her best to hold back a laugh as she enjoyed the fact of sending Damian flying. Even if she didn't win this battle of wits with her senior mage. She still called taking him on and getting a few good hits in a win in her book. She tapped the end of the scythe handle against the ground while resting her right hand on her hip looking towards penny
"Hey Penny! How about we let the boys be while we have our fun." She asked with a smirk. She was determined to take on each of the others as all could probably take her out but she was determined to put on a show and make her magic known.
Mildly annoyed, Penny sighed softly, stepping back, letting her flames die down, before she looked towards Rose. She gave the other woman a smile, and nodded, turning towards her and waiting, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. “You got it”
Damian chuckled as he picked himself up, brushing the dust off his armor from the landing and dismissing the Ares Blade.
”Suppose wounded pride is only fair. If it’s any consolation,” the former soldier drew Andor, the silver of the metal clashing only ever so slightly with the fang core of the blade,
”I wasn’t trying to interrupt yours and Penny’s bout.” His magic swirled around the blade briefly before changing from black to an almost royal purple. While Damian wasn’t too keen on swapping dance partners so soon in the match, he felt it was only fair that he introduced the God-Slayer to a reforged blade.
”In any case, it would seem that the girls want to talk, so I hope you don’t mind crossing blades for a bit.” By this point, the royal purple was joined by crimson.
”So with that, en garde!” Ethereal dragon wings appear on his back and the Blade of Phoenix Wing lanced forward at high speed, the katana poised to deliver a quick slice across Nolan’s gut.
Damian’s blade would clash against Nolan’s own with a one handed grip, sort of. To reinforce what would be a block there was a white arm protruding from the Slayer’s back gripping onto his sword too. Well, Damian wasn’t the only one that could make some ethereal limbs out of nowhere.
”You know, I wasn’t that interested in fighting Hot Wings anyway. If it’s you though then I can let loose a bit.” The Ashen Ghost smirked at his own remark.
The magical pressure Nolan had exuded shot up while ashes gathered around his free hand.
”I’m gonna give you a real welcome back so don’t die on me yet. Ashen God’s Wayward Wind!” At point blank he swung his free hand at the Blade of Phoenix Wing and from it came a cyclone of ash with the purpose of lifting Damian up and smashing him into the ground.
Rose smiled as she lifted her scythe up allowing the black shadow magic to change shape into mist before moving to both of her hands and feet, forming black bandage,s as she took a defensive stance deciding to go hand to hand with penny “I’ll let you go first.”She said sweetly taking a deep breath. She had managed so far but she barely handled Damian, she needed to focus on maintaining Penny for the time being as her main issue was the god slayer and his damn ash magic.
Shifting, Penny waited a beat or two before giving a shrug- if Rose wanted to go on the defensive, so be it. “Fire tornado” The simple attack seemed like a good place to start, as the flames began to whip into a frenzy, shooting towards Rose.
The spell certainly caught Damian off guard, but as it lifted him up, he used the Dragon Beats to soar up higher out of it and laughed.
”No holds barred then? This oughta be fun!” Spinning Andor in his hand, Damian rushed towards Nolan again as four ethereal blades, two on the left and two on the right, before they rushed ahead of him, attacking in a series of “ricocheted” strikes as Damian attacked in well practiced form with the katana, the purple glow still permeating the blade. After a quick exchange, Damian would land on the ground before dancing back and unleashing a pinwheel of his blades.
”Pinwheel Strike!” The spell flew right at Nolan, spinning like a saw blade.
The Slayer pushed forward in the face of a wind wheel of blades and kept his body low. The wheel of blades would fly over Nolan’s head while he closed the distance between Damian and himself. Black ash seeped from his mouth and they formed into two strangely scraggly, featureless humanoids that had a malicious air to them save for two glowing red dots that could be likened to eyes. If Damian had a discerning eye, he would have been able to guess that they were spirits clad in ash though far more violent compared to the benevolent beings that helped Nolan.
”Ashen God’s Assassins.” Those malevolent constructs split from Nolan’s side and honed in on Damian from both his left and right in a pincer strike at the same time as Nolan charged him from the front. Their arms morphed and twisted into spears with the aim to drive them through the knight while Nolan closed the gap and as his body rose from its crouched stance would perform a rising slash.
Rose kept a close eye on Penny as she kept her balled fists up, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She watched the flames whip into a frenzy, moving barely out of the way of each strike. She just needed to focus, conserve and take her time getting to Penny and maybe bring her back down to her level. It would be a lie if Rose wasn’t too intoned with her magic since until recently, she preferred not to use it if possible. Why she didn’t like using it until now will probably remain a secret in her heart. However the refusal of using it and sharpening it for years has taken a toll for her days before joining the guild. She just needed to keep in touch and get through this, and hopefully not be first out in this battle royal.
Penny kept up the fire, shifting her focus slightly, and slowly drawing closer with each turn of the turnado, the flames moving into a frenzy. Her aim was not to cause injury- she trusted in Rose’s abilities, no, Penny’s goal was to get closer and take Rose by surprise. When she deemed herself close enough, Penny let the fire die out in a rush of air and leaping towards Rose.
Damian didn’t have much time to respond, but then, he didn’t need it as a grin grew on his face in response to a pair of growls ripping through the air slightly behind him.
”Attacke!” In a flash of light, the two dire wolves, Carmilla and Jaëger, leapt out and struck at the two ash-clad spirits, aiming for their red-eyed head to avoid the sharp spear points as the Blade of Phoenix Wing quickly throws up a Shield Blade on his left arm, blocking Nolan’s uppercut, but due to being a quick summon, the defensive spell shattered instantly and leaving a shallow dent on his forearm armor. Sliding back from the force of the blow, a fierce smile adorned the swordsman’s face as he sheathed Andor and summoned a Hercules Blade.
Spinning it around by its haft, Damian stops with the tip aimed at Nolan.
”Forged upon the anvil of Hephaestus himself and imbued with the power of Cratus, strike now, Ragnar Blade!” Exploding from the base of the Hercules Blade, the Ragnar Blade was a black magical construct that gave Damian increased strike range, both reach wise and width wise. Focusing for a moment, just long enough to gather the wind magic inherent to the blade, he unleashed a wind-enhanced strike towards the Ash God Slayer, testing to see how he would defend before committing to a full attack.
One fancy incantation for that? Nolan did not particularly appreciate the fact that Damian was testing the waters while he was going for full on assaults.
”Ashen God’s Fell Tail.” Five large, bladed tails of ash sprouted from Nolan’s tailbone, swishing around with dark particles loosely floating about them. Rather than defending against the attack the Slayer, with his constructs bent and compressed quickly as Nolan bent his knees, he jumped in the air and was propelled far more quickly due to the strength of the tails.
He twisted in the air like a gymnast and the tails began to twist and morph into one, towering over Damien as the bladed edge quickly came down on the senior swordsman of the guild.
Rose kept her moves sharp and nearly as unpredictable as Penny’s tornado, keeping herself bouncing on the balls of her feet, keeping near the tornado, but keeping safe from the flames as she was trying to figure out what Penny was up to and what she was going to do next. Seeing the tornado die down, Rose was a bit surprised to see Penny take a jump at her, however Rose was ready to react. She back pedaled a few times to get in a good spot of Penny’s jump before she took a sharp turn sending a roundhouse kick straight at Penny as the shadows on her feet flew forward, spreading out like a net trying to encase the phoenix slayer.
Wise to such tricks, Penny let her flames encase her once more, moving back in a quick dash of flight, and for a few brief seconds, she could almost imagine she was just enjoying herself in a lazy flight, but it wasn't the case. This game of cat and mouse could go on forever, and a well of determination washed through her. She had more than a few tricks up her sleeve, but few she'd use with a crowd of innocent civilians around them. Letting her flames die, Penny dropped to the ground, catching herself in a crouch, gaze darting about, and she waited, waiting- her heart beating fast, she was ready to move at a moment's notice, but she waited, making her body relax as much as she could.
Damian grinned to himself as Nolan’s attack, towering over him as it was, came down towards him and he spun the Ragnar Blade enhanced weapon in his hand before swinging to intercept, the two blades clashing in a brilliant show of sparks and magic.
”And who said that I was done with just that?” Several black magic circles appeared behind the Ragnar blade and launched additional blades out, reinforcing Damian’s force before the enhanced Hercules blade cleaves through the Fell Tail.
Wonder if he realizes that was a pun…Pivoting after, he summons a Striker Blade to ride up towards the still airborne Nolan and swing around in a vicious overhead strike. It would seem the Ash God Slayer wanted an all out assault from the former child soldier, and so Damian would indulge him. Following the overhead strike, he would trade out the Hercules Blade for his twin Hermes Blades and launch himself from the Striker Blade right at Nolan, the Hermes Blades lancing around for a series of thrusting strikes.
Rose watched Penny back up quickly avoiding the net like shadows. Rose took this opportunity to hop backwards a few times before allowing both of her feet to rest on the ground. Her shadows twisted and turned retreating to her own before climbing up her body, reforming her signature scythe in her hand.
“You alright Penny? It is alright if you wish to surrender,”She spoke, trying not to taunt as was actually a bit confused at Penny's reaction of crouching down and waiting. What exactly was she waiting on. What could she be planning? Rose tapped the end of her scythe against the ground, as if to get a better grip on it before dragging the tip behind her, walking towards the phoenix slayer.
Yes, Nolan would still be airborne after such an attack, but Damian would be forgetting one thing; Nolan was a tricky bastard to fight in the air. Streams of ash were pulsing from the soles of his feet, keeping him hovering in place. It was how he was able to regain his sense of balance after their collision. He also knew that simply trying to take that overhead swing of Damien's head-on was foolish; it would have exerted more effort on Nolan's part to stay balanced while balancing himself in the air, so he took the more efficient route. Nolan swung his sword in an outward arc, the blade of Asi pressed against the flat of Damien's and simply pushed it enough to divert the slash away from him.
"I don't think you're actually getting it. You're not ahead anymore." The ashes around his feet increased in thrusting power, causing him to leap just above Damian.
"As I said. Don't die on me yet." The signature spell of every Slayer, that destructive breath, was the next thing to come out of his mouth. That destructive tornado of searing hot, shredding ash, if Damian were not fast enough to react to that attack, would consume him and blast him against the ground.
Heart beating fast, Penny flicked her gaze around at the others, even as her attention was brought back to Rose. What were they all doing? This wasn't meant to be a fight to the death, and yet a part of her was certain they were all getting carried away. "Fuck" Shifting, Penny turned her back on Rose, flames engulfing her once more as she dashed towards the searing, deadly tornado.
If that got out of control, it would harm the spectators, and while she was certain Sasha could protect herself, and little Faith, there were innocent citizens there. "Phoenix Flame: Booming Lotus" The typically delicate flower was a sheer display of harmless power, but it eagerly sought to gobble up any source of fire or heat, Penny's own will embedded within the flames.
A delicate melody filled the air, Penny seeking to put an end to what could be destruction, what could be the end of the still tentative acceptance of magic- for if even they, supposedly S class mages, would lose control, what hope would the people have that something disastrous wouldn't happen once more? "Phoenix Song: Peace." She wasn't even sure she could execute the song, still learning the various differences between the Phoenix Song, she had only successfully gained control over Sleep, but she hoped that it would help keep any fear the crowd had at bay.
Just when the fuck had she become the voice of reason?
t
”Dying was never the plan here, Ashy boy.” Summoning a Striker Blade, Damian pushes off of it, flipping to make sure no part of him was caught in the Ash God Slayer’s breath attack. He landed on the ground and slid back a few feet before dismissing the twin Hermes Blades and grasping the hilt of Andor again, sliding into a Iaijutsu stance and channeling his magic into the blade, the sheath glowing with power. This was a spell that Damian hadn’t yet used with the dragon fang blade yet, but he had every reason to believe it would work.
”Alright then, I’m thinking we’ve danced around here long enough. How about we end this with a bang? Time for the big one!” This was said loud enough for everyone to hear and even as Penny tried to calm the crowd, it wouldn’t work, the extravagant show of magic sending not spikes of fear but excitement into the air. And as the mages fought and traded blows, a chant began to go up from the crowd.
”Phoenix Wing! Phoenix Wing, Phoenix Wing!”
Once, Fairy Tail had been the city’s champion guild, bringing pride to the town and its members. It would seem that now, that would be Phoenix Wing’s job and as the mayor looked on with pride, he only hoped that they could fill such large shoes.
Almost as if he was weightless, Nolan landed back on his feet with hardly a sound. At this point, he looked completely disgusted with this ridiculous show. Why in the hell did accept to partake in this event? He hated everything about this; he hated being the center of attention, he hated the fact he couldn't even enjoy this fight because it was a fucking show, and he hated that he got roped into one of Damian's schemes again because that damn shitty swordsman wanted to be the big damn town hero, which was an entirely big issue on its own, but what he hated the most was that he let himself go along with it just because he was trying to be what he thought an S-Class Mage of Phoenix Wing should be and fit in with this blinding guild. He was just done.
"Nah." Nolan sheathed his sword.
"I've had enough. This is as enthralling as watching paint dry and I'm the one fighting. I can't imagine that this is any fun to watch." The Slayer turned around and just walked off from this god forsaken shit show.
"Laters."Rose kept an eye on Penny as well as the others. This was a battle royale yes? As in all for one? She had to admit she kept herself held back for the fact of ensuring not to affect the innocent citizens, after all, she had her own daughter in the crowd. She didn’t want anyone to find magic scary, that was not who she was at least not anymore. She turned her attention to Nolan and Damian kinda getting out of control “and here I thought I wasn’t going to be able to contain myself.”she whispered to herself while noticing the crowd chanting their guild. She moved to the center of the ring seeing and feeling Penny's magic affect the arena feeling herself calm down as she let her shadows expand and grow across the battleground “nocturnes garden” she spoke using one of her more non combat showy moves if only to distract. The shadows lifted up forming a garden of all sorts of black flowers before the petals twisted and turned flying around the arena within the magical dome, playing around Penny's flames.
Towards the end she called her shadows back before allowing her scythe to disappear up her arm as she rested her hands on her hips watching Nolan up and leave as she honestly wasn’t sure what she was to do. She looked toward Damian and Penny while waving at the crowd, trying her best to look like she knew what she was doing.
Relieved, Penny let herself relax, wondering if somehow, a crisis had been averted. She let out a soft breath, and feeling like they had to at least give the crowd the full show, she lifted a hand, waving it to the crowd- and amplified her own voice with the Phoenix magic within. "None of us would be here today, without the combined efforts of the guilds. Today we honor our friends, and the bonds we developed together. Today, we celebrated something many of us hadn't ever dreamed to feel again: Hope. We're here to make the world a better place- for all of Magnolia and beyond!" There. That had to be alright, didn't it? Speeches weren’t her type of thing.
Well, Damian couldn’t say he wasn’t disappointed, but then he’d know that the Ash God Slayer wasn’t one for any kind of showboating and he was personally impressed he’d put up with it for so long. Damian’s magic aura flared up around him as Penny delivered his short but impactful speech, waiting eagerly for the release that it knew was coming, almost alive. Damian wasn’t entirely convinced that some piece of the late poison dragon besides his magic
wasn’t alive, but that could be investigated at a later time.
”Born upon the wings of great dragons, he started quietly, so as to avoid interrupting his Fiancè, he spoke, growing in crescendo as her speech continued,
”gifted to man in the hopes that he would rise above his place in the dirt and stand tall amongst the most noble of creatures. Gilded in the light of the Sun Dragon and guided by the light of the Moon Dragon,” as Penny finished, Damian said the last part loudly, enhanced by a spell cast by the event announcer at this particular moment, “Born upon the brow of Man, the Light of Hope, Venturia!”
The Blade of Phoenix Wing drew Andor in an arc aimed into the sky, unleashing the spell he’d charged to reveal the guild emblems of all the current registered guilds of Fiore, with Phoenix Wing the most prominent among them. With that up, Damian faced the crowds as he quickly resheathed the blade.
”One hundred years ago, the Black Wizard Zeref left the kingdom of Fiore scarred and afraid of one of its greatest gifts. And now, we’ve brought back that light. Let’s never let it be extinguished again!” The crowd was already cheering after Penny’s speech and the subsequent light show and short speech from Damian only made it louder. Almost on que, the band started up again and it became clear that the festival had started proper as the three remaining S-Class mages were led off the field of the arena as the festivities kicked into full swing.
Damian faced the two girls in the locker room area and let a large grin spread across his face.
"That was great! Thank you two, I mean it."
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