Chapter 23 - Erza enters into the background!

(A/N: WARNING! This chapter got really DARK for some reason... I was listening to Love/Sad songs with some friends and stuff kinda escalated from there... I know it makes no sense but seriously! You've been warned!)

About ten minutes earlier.

(Erza POV)

"Erza. I want you to stay back a little." Arthur said after turning around towards me

"What!? Why? I'm going to help you! It's a two versus two we can handle this!" I replied angrily.

After all I can't just sit back and let him fight by himself against two people!

"Erza, I'm sorry but you're just not strong enough yet. These two are dangerous and definitely possess either some weird or strong magic. I cannot let you fight them!" Arthur looked me straight in the eyes and said with a stern voice.

I was taken aback.

"… I don't get what any of you were talking about just now, about teams and 'chosen ones' and what not… But it doesn't matter right now! If I don't help you then it would be just you versus two of them!" I really don't understand what his connection is with those two but I had to argue back with him

I don't want him to have to have to fight them alone…

But then… Arthur just…

Smiled.

"Don't worry Erza… I've got this! I might not seem it but I think I'm pretty strong!

You just need stand back there and watch from a safe distance with Rowl." He said with a grin on his face.

Arthur is usually so nonchalant about any fight he gets into, yet now with the way he's acting… it seems like he's lost part of that confidence…?

Or am I just overthinking things?

I just stood there together with Rowl who was uncharacteristically silent and watched Arthur's fight silently for a while.

Those three talked for a while in between clashes.

Arthur has been dodging well so far and he even has the upper hand on them right now!

Encasing one of them in ice and engulfing the other in an inferno.

I want to help him… I really do, but… The scale of this fight is truly out of my league.

I'm too weak as I am right now…

"Move your ȧsses' men! We've got a job to do!" A hoarse voice belonging to a man suddenly spoke.

The man had short silver hair, green eyes; he wore a black leather coat and also black leather boots.

He looked like he was in his mid-thirties.

Oh no, those must be the first division's members!

Are they coming to back up their commanders!?

"Wow! The first division commanders are going all out!"

"That other kid's not half bad either! He's fighting toe to toe with the commanders!"

"Incredible!"

Some of them were chatting while staring in awe at the fight.

"This way, we need to get to the sword now!" the hoarse voice spoke again.

So the hoarse voiced man is leading the dark mages towards that sword Rowl mentioned huh?

Thankfully they haven't seen the two of us yet, if they're not going to interfere with Arthur's fight I should at least follow them and see what they're going to do…

"And w-why should I do that you r-red scorched blazer fly!?!" He asked me seeming a bit frightened, but still going on with his weird insults…

"What the hell even is…? Never mind… Because if you don't help me, those people over there are going to 'sacrifice' you anyway. Instead why don't you help me here and MAYBE I'll do you a favor with your future sentence." I answered

If I can get his help, it will be allot easier to move around unnoticed.

"You do bring up a good point miss Erza but…" Rowl replied

"Miss…? Never mind. Rowl it's a choice between either death or imprisonment. I think the choice is clear? Now get moving!" I edged him on

"F-fine, I'll help you out so promise that you'll help me out with the law enforcement people!" Rowl finally agreed

"Of course! I give you my word. Here's your staff." I said and gave Rowl his staff back.

"Ah, much better… {Illusionary Concealment}!" Rowl said and turned us both invisible to the nȧkėd eye.

"Hm, good job. Now let's get going!"

"Master. Are you sure that we should do this…? Doing this feels really wrong…" A member of the division spoke with concern in his voice

"Of course I am! We're this close… Just another small nudge will be enough to awaken the artifact!" The hoarse voiced man replied

So he was the Master here huh?

This is going to be pretty troublesome then…

In any case, they must be talking about the sword.

"Rowl, what will happen if they awaken that sword?" I asked him as we kept sneaking behind the group in front of us.

"I don't know for sure… But my best ȧssumption is that one of Zeref's demons will appear."

"Zeref…" I muttered under my breath.

That name again…

Jellal was…

"D-did you say something? Is there something wrong …?" Rowl asked me seeming a bit shaken up

"No. No it's nothing…" I replied after taking a breather.

"A-are you sure…? You got really scary looking there for a second Miss Erza…" He replied

"Stop calling me Miss." I glared at him

"Y-yes, my lady!" He yelled out.

"SHHH!!!" I put a finger to my lips and shushed at him hurriedly!

…

No one noticed.

"Haha..ha.. Don't worry milady, my illusion muffles sounds as well! Thus we're still safe. I think…" he said after a short laugh.

"I know… But don't do that again! Also, lady? That's even worse than miss! Just call me Erza." I scolded him.

This guy is seriously getting on my nerves…

"O-of course, if that is what you wish for Erza-san." Rowl replied

"Are you kiddi- No never mind. I'll just take what I can get. Come on, they've gotten allot farther since we started talking!" I said and we rushed towards the group of dark mages we were following.

After a while they reached the bottom of the fifth watchtower that is behind the asylum.

We climbed the stairs leading up to the top together with the first division members and the dark guild's master.

At the top, there were many white orbs circling around a black beam of light.

Those white orbs must be the souls of the missing people…

Damn it! Were we too late to save them…?

At the center of the beam of black light there was a sword set into a pedestal

The sword looked sinister, with a shade of blood red all over it, demonic symbols and a hilt with the form of a jaw.

"Hand me the deck." The master said.

"Master, I really think this is unnecessary! Can't we just kidnap some oth-" The man speaking was cut off

"I said. Hand me. The DECK!" The master roared at his subordinate.

"Y-yes master! Right away sir…" The man got frightened and handed a deck of cards to the master.

What does he need a deck for?

"Ah, perfect. This amount of souls should be enough to awaken the artifact!" He said with his hoarse voice while grinning at the cards.

Souls? Wait you don't mean!

"You lot might have lost against those children, but in the end you still get to prove useful to me. Rejoice! My former guild mates!" The Dark guild's master said and took out a card from the deck.

On the card, I could see the silhouette of a human, but it was moving.

Knocking hard on the surface of the card creating waves like those you'd see when a rock is thrown into a pond.

Those cards…

They're the different division members!

They're people!

"Rowl we need to help them!" I said and took out the two new swords that Arthur made for me beforehand, dashing towards the dark guild master.

"Wait Erza-san! We can't face the guild master! He's too strong!" He warned me to stop, but I ignored him and kept on running.

The master was about to throw the card into the black light, I had to stop him!

"Stop right now!" I yelled in order to get his attention.

"Hmm?" He turned around in surprise and placed his right hand in the direction of my voice.

I jump towards him without a second thought and swung both swords downward at him.

However the blades suddenly slowed down, and then a powerful force shot me backwards.

The illusion magic cast on me disappeared with me being sent flying.

"A girl?"

"What's a girl doing here"

"How'd she even GET here?"

"Hey! Someone go grab her!"

"Wait a second… She's that red haired girl who beat the 5th and 3rd division commanders! Theod and Jorris!"

"Seriously?!"

A bunch of comments were being made by the dark mages about me.

"Hmpf! Take care of the child. I have some business to attend to as you can clearly see." The master said with his hoarse voice, throwing a card into the black light.

The card disintegrated and the soul of the person in it was absorbed.

"Damn it… How could you!" I roared in frustration.

"How could I what?" He asked mockingly

"That person… He was your own guild mate wasn't he?! How could you do that to one of your own men?!" Rage filled my voice as I kept on berating him

"How could I do… this?" He said tearing a card in half and throwing both pieces into the black light. It once again absorbed the soul of the person trapped in the card.

"Stop!!!" I roared and ran in a straight line towards him.

"Not so fast little missy!" three people stood in front of me.

Two were swordsmen and one was a mage.

One of the swordsmen swung his sword at me from above, however it was extremely slow compared to Jorris' strikes and I dodged it easily, hitting the man with the back of the sword handle in the stomach.

Loosing his breath from of the strike, he fell to his knees next to me in pain.

The second swordsman slung at me vertically from behind his comrade who was still falling to the ground, at the same time the mage shot out an icicle at me from my left side.

Cutting the icicle in half with one sword and blocking with the other, I pushed the swordsman back making him stagger.

Before he could balance himself I jumped in the air and kicked him in the chin sending him flying at another one of the members that was standing in the back.

He fell on him and the both collapsed on the ground.

When I landed on the ground I instantly dodged the mage's second attempt at an attack and rushed at him kneeing him in the face for a takedown.

"Who's next?!" I raised my head victoriously and glared at my opponents.

What I didn't realize was that four people had already gotten within range to attack me.

I was caught off guard, but readied myself to block when…

The four people each struck one another knocking each other out!

"W-what?" I was confused

"What are those idiots doing!" allot of the dark mages were also confused

"Heh, you think you stand a chance against this wonder duo now do you? You Sluggish cyan imbeciles!" Rowl suddenly stood next to me and pushed some kind of invisible glassed with his middle finger.

"Haa?" He caught me by surprise.

"Rowl!? You traitor! You've sided with the enemy!" one of the female mages exclaimed

"Traitor? Me?! Sweat heart you're sacrificing the rest of the guild to the damn artifact as we speak! Who's really betraying who you inconsistent pile of oranges!" Rowl yelled out furiously at the woman

"That…" She had nothing to say to that.

Really what can you say to that?

"Come on Erza-san! Let us purge these humanoid cretins!" Rowl said all excitedly and cast a spell on everyone

"W-what is this?!"

"I feel sick!"

"Blleeeahhhhh"

Everyone just started collapsing and puking. What are they experiencing right now?!

"Rowl, what did you do?" I asked him curiously

"Me? Oh nothing, just spinning their whole wide world right now, hehehe" He said while twirling his finger.

However one of them was able to stand up after a while.

"Rowl.. You bastard! I'll gut you for that!" the muscular man who managed to get up said and charged towards Rowl at full speed.

"I'd like to see you try! Erza, do your thing!" He said and stood proudly with crossed arms while the man ran at him with bloodshot eyes ready to cut him in half with his great sword.

Hey, he dropped the 'san' at least... I really don't get this person at all…

"Ugh! You're unbearable!" I said and blocked the muscular man.

After doing a quick combo and slicing at over a dozen places on his body he fell to the ground unable to move.

"That was dangerous, Rowl! What if I couldn't stop him in time?" I scolded Rowl for his thoughtless actions

"Ahhh! But you did!" He replied with a grin.

I could feel my eyebrow twitching at that reply.

"You're seriously getting on my nerves you know that Rowl?"

"And that's exactly why he never got promoted." The master replied

"Wha- Seriously?! What do you mean by that former guild Master?!" He was shocked, surprisingly.

"That you're annoying." He said bluntly and threw another card into the black light.

"Tch. Come on Rowl! We've got to stop him before he throws anymore cards in!"

As much as I don't like this guy we'll have to cooperate if I want to save those people.

"Darn… To think I'd end up fighting the guild master of all people… How'd this ever happen… Damn iiiiiitttt!!!! {Illusionary Perception Redirection}!" Rowl cast an illusion spell on the guild master with his staff

I then rushed towards the master to try and strike him again with my sword.

Again, he stretched a hand out, but this time it was in the wrong direction!

That allowed me to strike him during his moment of surprise, inflicting a good cut across his body.

"Hooh? A spell that shifts the senses of the target. Very impressive Rowl. You've gotten more skilled under the tutelage of your master Wolt." The master stepped back to make some distance and said.

"Hahaha you flatter me sir." Rowl got all embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

"Too bad he won't live to see your downfall." The master said and took out the card that had Wolt in it.

"W-WHAT! Master.. NO!" Rowl reached out but to no avail.

I went full speed at the Dark guild master but it was already too late.

He tore the card in half throwing it on the ground.

Wolt then appeared. His body split in two halves…

"MASTER NOOOOO!!!" Rowl roared with tears coming down his eyes

He ran to his master, only to find he had already breathed his last.

Not even a parting word was able to be uttered by the master to his disciple.

"Master… No.. Please… Please tell me this is but an illusion! Please!!!" Rowl screamed in sorrow.

"You monster… How dare you do something like that?" I was furious, what kind of sadistic bastard would do something like that?!

"Perhaps because I can." He stretched his hand out and a powerful force pushed me away, forcing me off the tower.

"Truth be told, I don't even need your measly soul. Hahaha!"

"DAMN YOU!" I yelled out while falling from the tower.

Luckily I was able to lodge my two swords into the tower killing the fall in the process.

But…

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(3rd Person POV)

The Dark Guild Master walked back to the black light emitted by the artifact.

"Time to harvest your soul my dear Wolt." He said as he had Wolt's soul enter the dark light.

"No… You can't have master soul you drugged hater of spaghetti and kebab sauce!" Rowl let out another one of his weird insults and crawled towards the master

"Shut your mouth up Rowl." The master said and kicked Rowl, sending him flying a dozen feet to the edge of the tower.

"Now, to harvest the rest of these souls... Haha, after I awaken the artifact I'll be able to kill both of those brats easily! To think they were plotting on stealing the sword from me… You're ten years too early!"

He proceeded to throw the rest of the cards into the dark light one by one until none were left.

"Hm… Needs a bit more huh…? Oh, I know!" The master turned and faced his unconscious subordinates.

"Hahahahahahaaha!"

Erza who was at the bottom of the tower now, could hear a maniacal laughter coming from the top.

"I need to make it back up there…! Please let me get back up in time!" She murmured to herself while running up the stairs.

However by the time she arrived at the top…

A scene of carnage was all that was left.

Blood and guts of people who seemed to have been smashed and squeezed until they burst open were all over the place.

"T-this…!" Shock covered Erza's face as she looked in horror at the scene

The culprit of this horrible scene was in front of her eyes… But not in the shape one would expect him to be in.

The master himself, was being devoured by a black mass with the form of a mouth, razor sharp teeth had dug into the body of the dark guild's master.

More than half of his body had been devoured. He was surely dead.

At the base of that black mass was the artifact. The sword.

After biting off a large chunk of the master's upper body the creature…

Spoke.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA! FLESH! PURE FLESH FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CENTURIES! HAHAHAHAHHAAHA!" It roared happily, like it had won the lottery or something.

"Oh the ecstasy, oh the delicious food that's been served to me! Whahahahahhaa! The centuries now feel like but a blur WAHAHAHAHAHA!" It just laughed like a maniac.

Erza stepped backwards in fear.

Suddenly someone came from behind her and covered her mouth.

"MMMmmm!" She tried to struggle but soon realized who the person was.

"Shhhh! We need to be quiet! I've cast an illusion so we should be safe for now Erza-san."

It was Rowl.

"You're alive!" Erza felt relieved to see that he was alright.

Even if she thought him to be annoying, Erza isn't a person that would wish death upon someone for a reason like that.

"Yes, yes I am. Now we need to get our ȧsses out of here before that damned monstrous monster with the big teeth sniffs us out!"

The two of them descended the stairs while listening to the sounds of a demon gnawing on the bones and flesh of the deceased…

…

While Arthur himself…

Still has no idea of what has been transpiring behind the scenes.

Too focused on his own fight to notice anything.

But how did that go?

Well…

Let us turn the clock back a few minutes and find out shall we?

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(Arthur POV)

These two aren't letting up at all…

The way things are going, it will be me who ends up losing won't it?

I might not have any other choice…

Should I try and use…

That…?