"So, Eisenwald is done for?" Lucy asked hopefully, as she gazed at the dozens of knocked out guys lying around Cassian.
Erza and he shook their heads at the same time, but it was Erza who responded, "No. A guild like theirs doesn't care about their members… only about their mission. People like them would likely sacrifice everyone to complete their real goal."
While Lucy paled, upon hearing this, before being once again glad that she joined Fairy Tail and not such a wicked guild, Cassian was considering Erza's words, from just now.
"Real goal, huh…?" He mumbled, in his mind, there was no way that Eisenwald actually wants to use Lullaby to just kill off half a town, at most. "Erza! Is there any kind of meeting of powerful, or influential mages at the moment? Possibly around this area?"
She thought for a moment, before she replied, "There is the council in Era, and the Meeting of the Guild-masters…!"
While saying these words, she also finally realized what Cassian had in mind, "Erigor is after the Guild-Masters! We need to head out immediately! If Natsu and Gray were unable to slow him down, then he had this entire time to head there!"
"What about Natsu and Gray?" Lucy asked, just as the other two wanted to head out.
"They can take care of themselves, but just in case stay here, and regroup with them! Tell them about what we found out, we'll go on ahead!" Erza called out, as she and Cassian were now indeed heading out, more specifically towards the roof.
"...stay here? Alone?" Lucy's eyes widened, and her mouth hung wide open. She couldn't believe that she was just left here, on her own.
Happy, who was still standing besides her, had no clue that she wasn't even counting him as even half a portion.
Running up the stairwell alongside Erza, Cassian stopped for a moment, looking over the railing up towards the top, 'Whatever!'
"Erza, take my hand for a second."
She was unsure what to make of that, and even blushed a little, but still did it. Moments later, both of them were rushing straight upwards, heading towards the roof.
"You can fly?" Erza asked, after they arrived a few moments later.
Cassian shrugged, "Only with this armor on… Though, I'm trying to work on something that hopefully helps in that department too. On that topic, you use Requip Magic, right? Can you help me reverse-engineer it after this job?"
"Can't you just learn it the normal way?" She couldn't fully understand his reasoning. From her understanding, Requip Magic was in its essence a rather common and simple magic.
Being met with a shaken head, the reasoning followed promptly, "I wish! My teachers once tried teaching it to me, but were unsuccessful in that endeavor. Apparently, I have nigh zero aptitude for normal magic…"
There was a small chuckle coming from her, a sound that was somewhat unfit for the personality of her, at least the one he had gotten to know, until now.
"Of course. We, at Fairy Tail, are family. I don't think that there are many, if any at all, who would decline such a request. ...No. There are some, but… they have their own circumstances…" Erza began with such conviction in her voice, only to lose most of it by the end.
Nevertheless, it wasn't his business to question the way other people thought about such things.
Enjoying the moment of peace for a second, Cassian leisurely walked over towards the railing, gazing downward. When he saw that no one remained there, a sigh of relief washed over him, as the station worker must've understood that he wasn't talking bullshit to him.
Then, as Erza suddenly leaned against the railing right next to him, he asked what was on his mind, without even gazing at her, "So, where is Erigor? He ran towards the roof, but seems completely gone now. You think…?"
"That he already moved towards Clover? Unlikely. Someone like him, especially with this entire plan definitely wants to settle scores, and make a big spectacle out of it." She replied calmly, basking in the peaceful moment, just like him.
Alas, they were only able to enjoy the relative silence for mere seconds, before they suddenly heard masses of wind from nearly every direction.
Both their gazes snapped instantly, not towards where the wind was being created, but where the sudden spike of magic had come from.
And right there, about ten meters above buildings highest point was Erigor, still flying with his wind magic.
"Its over, Erigor! We know your plan now!" Erza called out, to which Erigor merely laughed maniacally.
"Over?! What's supposed the be over?! We are only just starting Titania!" He shouted like a madman back towards them.
Then, before Erigor could do anything else, Cassian grabbed Erza's arm, and took off towards the guy.
For a moment Erigor's eyes went wide, only for a savage grin to appear on his face the next second, "So eager to die, huh?"
After those words, he swung his scythe freely, sending a multitude of wind slashes flying at the approaching duo, but Cassian didn't slow down, much to Erza's worries. Just in case, she already began summoning her swords into her hands, but it was doubtful wether they would appear in time.
Then, the very instant before the slashes of wind, released by the Scythe hit them, Cassian changed his posture, pulling Erza closer to him, and mumbling something, which even Erza could barely make out.
"...dragon scales!"
When the wind slashes hit their target, a wave of magical resistance could be felt all around, before it completely extinguished a second later.
Following which Erigor saw the previously fast approaching mages suddenly begin falling towards the ground.
His victory was secured. Now he only needed to kill of all those old geezers.
With a smirk on his face, he quickly went back to finishing the spell on the station, containing it in a huge cage of rotating winds.
When that was taken care off, he suddenly noticed a small reflection of light, at the very edge of his peripheral vision. Erigor's head snapped to the right, but the pain still came.
He reached his right hand to his left shoulder, and as he looked at it, it was entirely painted red. The smug grin that was on his face moments ago vanished, and got replaced with a deep frown.
"You bastards tricked me…" His voice seemed to drip with poison, as his gaze tried to pierce directly through his assailant.
"There was no trick. You simply got overconfident." Erza replied confidently.
Up there, in the air above the street of Kunugi, two figures were hovering in the air, giving each other a stare down.
One was dressed in dark clothes, with the two most notable features being a black scarf, and the huge scythe in his right hand.
The other, meanwhile, was a red-haired woman, who seemed to be dressed in a dress made entirely of metal, with dozens of swords hovering behind her back.
This all could be witnessed by Cassian, who was currently lying on the street below. "Goddamn. Never fighting in a city again!"
His curses went unheard, as he simply lay there, leaning on a house wall in exhaustion. It felt embarrassing, but he nearly had no more magic left, and it still did not regenerate.
Cassian understood that he once again seriously had to work on the sustainability of his magic, as they currently still required way too much magic to work.
Normally it wasn't a problem, but now… he had been too reliant on his magic regeneration.
Defending against that attack had been rather simple, but his magic had simply run dry, and he couldn't sustain the flying enchantment of the armor.
As he was falling, he simply did the last thing that suddenly appeared in his mind… and threw Erza towards Erigor.
That it would work was more a wish, than certainty.
While lying there on the ground, Cassian heard a sound coming from his left, only to notice a boy suddenly peeking around a corner, looking at him with no small amount of fear, but also worry.
"Boy! Is there a flower shop nearby? Or anything similar?" Cassian called out to the boy, who quickly hid behind the corner again.
It was only seconds later that he peeked his head out again, nodding his head at the earlier question.
"How far is it?"
The boy merely raised one finger, as an answer.
'Alright, so, likely one block… doable.' Cassian thought, and wanted to get up, but merely got two meters, before falling to one knee again. 'Okay, not doable…'
"Hey, Boy! I'll give you 10.000 Jewels, if you get me a bunch of flowers, or plants here!" Cassian said this, while taking out a few bills, summoning up to the promised 10.000.
He hesitated for a moment, but then rushed towards the weakened Cassian, snatched the bills, before disappearing.
'Let's hope he is a good kid…' That was the only thing Cassian could hope for, as he laid himself down on the ground, watching the battle in the sky unfold further.
Up there, Erza and Erigor were contentiously exchanging attacks. One with swords, the other with his winds.
But, it was clear who held the upper hand.
Erza's swords came not only in never ending waves, but were also all timed to a degree that left Erigor with very little space to maneuver. And that was even though he was in his element right now.
Nevertheless, he was way too occupied with simply evading all the swords heading straight towards him, to even think properly.
After multiple bursts of sword waves, Erza circled the already wounded dark mage with swords from all directions. It seemed the battle had been decided.
"Give up, and surrender! There is nowhere left for you to go, Erigor!" Erza called out to the trapped mage, who was already bleeding heavily at this point.
But then, Erigor reached into his pocket and pulled 'it' out, and held it close to his face.
Lullaby was too close to his lips that Erza couldn't risk attacking, without the melody definitely being released. She had messed up, and got too cocky.
Seeing her hesitate, another huge grin formed on Erigor's face, this one showing his bloodied teeth, in a disgusting display, "It seems we have reached an impasse here, Titania. It doesn't matter, if there are not many civilians around here, anymore. If I play Lullaby now, I will still be remembered as the one who killed Titania!"
Erza's face contorted into indecisive rage. It wasn't her life she was worried about, but that of her comrades. If it was just her, then she'd be fine with taking him down, even at the cost of her life, but that wasn't an option right now.
Erigor saw her moment of weakness and pressed further, "Let me go, and this town, as well as your own life will be spared!"
It took entire ten seconds, but in the end, Erza lowered her swords, after having made her decision.
Erigor's grin seemed to reach up to his eyes, by this point, and he did not dare to hesitate. Rushing straight through the opening of the sword dome, in the direction leading straight towards Clover.
Erza could only bitterly gaze after him, before heading towards the ground, to where Cassian should still remain, if he was okay. She hoped he'd be. No, he must be. He had taken the brunt of the attack, but didn't seem to be too hurt.
-x-
I think i need to change the update schedule temporarily, to one every three days, since i'm currently busy with some stuff.
About the chapter, though, I know some may say that there was basically nothing there, but in my opinion that is how the charakters would have acted, in such a scenario.
Don't worry, though, the next chapter should end this arc! Sorry that it is dragging on, but i just don't want to add the 'Emotional-Magic' part, yet. Since that is basically extreme plot-armor, even if it is a vital part of Fairy Tail