Fairy Tail: Rainwater: Chapter 4

&lt;- Fairy Tail: Rainwater, Chapter 3 "Wh-wh-what is that?" stammered Olessia as Tsugu and her exited the eyewall of a sandstorm and entered the sandstorm's eye. Before Olessia and Tsugu was a forest of bioluminescent cacti which were situated along the boundary of a lightning bolt-shaped fissure. In spite of the fact that it was in the middle of the day, because the forest was foggy with a dark plume of embers and soot that was arising from the fissure, the cacti's shine was as clear as the twinkle of stars on a new moon's night. Unfortunately, because their glow was as sanguine as freshly spilt blood, the cacti were less beautiful to Olessia and more foreboding. In fact, if Olessia didn't know better, she would have mistook the cacti as the hungry gazes of thousand demons...

"Sivatag..." answered Tsugu in a whisper. "..the Slave Pits of the Eternal Toil!"

"I see," gulped Olessia. Subsequently, Olessia tensed up. She curled her toes and clenched her fist. Her breathing became ragged and eyes darted about. For a second, just a second, she considered turning back...

"Let's go,"

...and then Tsugu took a step foward and began the long walk to the forest.

"Right," murmured Olessia as she followed after Tsugu and dragged along the casket that Tsugu and her had placed Kanki in.

"When we get there, leave the talking to me, alright?" asserted Tsugu as Olessia and him strode into the plume. Olessia nodded in acquiescence to Tsugu's assertion and then shivered as the light of the open sky gave way to the darkness of the plume. It was as if the sunny day had abruptly became a cloudy night. At one moment, the world was bright and hot. But by the next, it had become dark and cold.

Not long after their entrance into the plume, Olessia and Tsugu came upon a somber and wizened woman draped in willowy scraps of crimson textiles. Though the Crimson's eyes may have been veiled, her gaze was not. Both Olessia and Tsugu could feel the Crimson's stare. As if the Crimson's eyes were hot irons being pressed against their skin...

"Any further..." murmured the Crimson as Olessia and Tsugu approached, spooking Olessia and Tsugu into a halt as she did so. "...will set you on a path to the Eternal Toil,"

"If that is so, then you must be the slave merchant Crimson, right?" asked Tsugu with a glance at Olessia, whom proceeded to place the casket before the Crimson and then open the casket to reveal Kanki to the Crimson.

"I am who I am..." answered the Crimson with a shake of her head. "And what I am is toil,"

"Mhm," hummed Tsugu in dishonest tone of voice. Subsequently, Tsugu cracked his knuckles. "Alrighty then..."

"For this toiler, you will be given-"

And then Tsugu grabbed the Crimson by her throat.

"Tsugu!" gasped Olessia in horor and surprise as Tsugu lifted the Crimson off her feet and then began to electrocute the Crimson with a non-lethal yet torturous amount of electricity!

"Listen here old woman, either you buy this slave from me, or I'm gonna shock you till ya boiling blood pops ya like an overblown balloon!"

"Graugharublargha!" garbled the Crimson with dilated pupils as she clawed at Tsugu's arm in a futile attempt to liberate herself from Tsugu's grasp.

"You think this is a game? You think I'm playing?She-dog, if you don't buy this slave from-"

"What are you doing‽" exclaimed Olessia in an ear-piercing scream that elicited a flinch from Tsugu. "Seriously! What are you doing‽"

"What does it look like? I'm bartering!"

"That's not bartering! That is extorting!"

"Same thing!"

"No! It's no-" began Olessia an instant before she abruptly leaned as far back as humanly possible in order to dodge a blast of air which had been aimed at her face! "Ahh! Now look at what you did!"

"Crimson! The Crimson! We must protect, the Crimson!" groaned and growled a horde of scraps-wearing men and women with a decayed complexion and a fetid odor. Like ants with a damaged nest, the undead arose from the plume in haste and rage! Olessia could not help but to shriek at the highest pitch that she could reach as the undead discharged spell after spell at Tsugu and her...

" Aqua Lash! (Romaji: Akua Rasshu; Kana: アクア・ラッシュ)"

...and as Tsugu diced all of them — and their spells —to morsels with a whip of condensed water!

"Stop!.." demanded Olessia as she punched Tsugu in the back of the, causing Tsugu to drop the Crimson. Subsequently, as the Crimson scurried away, Olessia grabbed Tsugu by the collar of his shirt and then began to shake Tsugu to and fro! "...hurting and killing things! J-just stop it!"

"Shut up! Don't lecture me!" hissed Tsugu as he swatted Olessia's hands off of him and then pushed Olessia away. Subsequently, Tsugu pointed at Olessia in an accusing — and childish — manner. "And stay out of my way! I know what I'm doing!"

"No you don't!" asserted Olessia with a stamp of her foot. "You don't know a damn thing about bartering and diplomacy! The only thing you know how to do is hurt and kill people!"

"Shut..." began Tsugu with an indignant wave of his hand, as a wisp arose behind Olessia! In an instant, the wisp took on the facial features of the Crimson and then caught aflame a moment before it hurtled towards Olessia like fastball pitch!

"For those who wrong the Crimson, the toil will be-"

"...up!" continued Olessia as she backhanded the wisp with a hand which was alit with glitter and sparkles. "Sacred Bright! (Romaji: Seikureddo Buraito; Kana: セイクレッド・ブライト)" chanted Olessia as her backhand knocked the wisp into the air!" "We're trying to have..."

"...a conversation here!" finished Tsugu as, with a downward wave of his left hand, he conjured an invisible hand of compressed air into a drop onto the wisp! "Drop! (Romaji: Doroppu; Kana: ドロップ)" changed Tsugu as the invisible hand smacked the wisp onto the ground and then crushed the wisp into a bloody stain within a crater.

"...you idiot!" snapped Olessia at the sight of the Crimson's demise. "You just killed our buyer!"

"Shit you're right!"

"No shit I am!"

"Damn it!"

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stu-"

"Shut up!" screamed Tsugu with a throw of his arm into the air. "Ahh! Forget this guile villain shit! It's action villain time!"

"What?" asked Olessia in a flat tone of voice as Tsugu closed the casket that Kanki was in and then lifted the casket overhead. "What are you-"

"Going in guns blazing!" answered Tsugu as he burst into a sprint towards the fissure and then leapt into a diagonal drop down the fissure!

"Are you insane‽"

"No! I'm Tsugu!" laughed Tsugu as he diagonally dropped into a crash through one of the fissure's walls. Subsequently, after a quick drop into a skid along a tunnel of sorts, Tsugu put the casket on the ground and then took a look at a number of emaciated and pale-skinned people whom were chained together and mining with pickaxes.

"What have I gotten myself into?.." grumbled Olessia as she looked down at the hole that Tsugu had made in the fissure's wall.

"Listen up you maggots! If you don't tell me where this place's healers are, I'm going to murder every single last one of you!"

"First he tries to extort them into buying Kanki, and now he is trying to bully them into healing Kanki?" murmured Olessia with a shake of heard. Olessia then jumped with fright as fire and thunder exploded out of the hole in a manner that made it very clear to Olessia that Tsuyu had just detonated an explosion of some kind. "Oh dear..." groaned Olessia with a smack of her face. Subsequently, with a sigh of resignation, Olessia leap into the fissure and towards the hole.

❧❧❧ "What was that?" murmured a chained-up young man as the thunder of an explosion reached his ears. While the young man stopped mining to look over his shoulder, the rest of the chain gang did no such thing. They ignored the thunder and kept on mining. As if none of them had heard a thing. "Hey! Guys! Didn't you hear that‽"

"Rebellions come and go..." grumbled a slave as he struck and struck and struck with his pickaxe without aim or purpose. The slave was less mining and more working. Toiling for the sake of toiling, rather than for the sake of discovering or excavating any amount of minerals or ore. "...but none succeed. This may be your first, but it is my 108th. And none of our lasts..."

"Well..." sighed the young man an instant before he broke his chains with naught but a flex of his muscles! "...we'll see about that! ❧❧❧ "''Did you hear me old man! Tell me where the healers are, or you're through!''"

"Yes!"

"What?"

"Yes! Please! Please kill me! End my Eternal Toil!"

"Shut up! Don't get off on my threats! If death wont fright you, then maybe a bit of torture will!"

"Stop it Tsuyu!" demanded Olessia as she dropped into the tunnel and then jump kicked Tsuyu away from a chained up and emaciated elder. Subsequently, as Tsuyu was knocked face-first into one of the tunnel's walls, Olessia slammed raised her right hand into the air. "Sword of Mercy! (Romaji: Sōdo obu Merushī; Kana: ソード・オブ・メルシー)" chanted Olessia an instant before a radiant blade elongated from her right hand. Immediately afterward, with a single swing of her Sword of Mercy, Olessia broke the chains off all the slaves. "Behold! By the grace of my divine edge, you have all been-"

"Blade of Breeze! (Romaji: Bureido Būrīzo; Kana: ブレイド・ブーリーゾ)"

"Shite!" cursed Olessia an instant before she lowered her Sword of Mercy just in time to block a blade of ice which was elongated from Tsuyu's left hand. Immediately afterward, the Sword of Mercy's heat vaporized a bit of the Blade of Breeze's surface into a steam explosion that knocked Olessia throgh the air and into an embedment within the cavern's ceiling! "Tsuyu! What the hell‽"

"You think you can just hit me, whenever you want, without punishment‽" snarled Tsuyu as he leapt up at Olessia and assaulted Olessia with an overhead swing of his Blade of Breeze! "Well think again!"

"Glowing Grace! (Romaji: Gurōringu Gureisu; Kana: グローリング・グレイス)" chaned Olessia a moment before Tsuyu would have bisected her. Immediately afterward, Olessia shone like the noontime Sun and then erupted with a light which blasted Tsuyu out of the air and through the ground rather than just into it! "Stupid darkling!" spat Olessia as she floated down from the ceiling and towards the new hole in the ground. "Did I not tell you that, after I recovered my power, you would stand-"

"Air Blow! (Romaji: Ea Burō; Kana: エア・ブロー)"

"Bwa!" cried Olessia as a fist-shaped gale slammed into her stomach. Subsequently, Olessia cried some more as she was ping-ponged throughout the cavern by the sheer force of the gale. "Uwa!"

"Shut up and fight!" roared Tsuyu as he leapt out of the hole and then used a swing of his Blade of Breeze to launch a blizzard of razor-sharp snowflakes at Olessia! "Arctic Edges! (Romaji:  Ākuteikku Ejjisu; Kana: アークティック・エッジス)"

"Sword of Mercy! (Romaji: Sōdo obu Merushī; Kana: ソード・オブ・メルシー)" cried Olessia as she elongated a radiant blade from both of her hands! Immediately afterward, Olessia's arms blurred into a flurry of hacks and slashes as she cut down each and every last one of the snowflakes! "Ha! Is that all you got‽"

"Grrr!" growled Tsuyu as he conjured a sphere of scarlet electricity within the grasp of his left — and only — hand! "Redshock! (Romaji:  Reddoshokku; Kana: レッドショック)" exclaimed Tsuyu as he thrust his left arm in Olessia's direction and losted a bolt of red lightning towards Olessia. Before Olessia could so much as think of casting a spell, the lightning bolt blasted Olessia through not one and not two but three ceilings! "Bitch!"

"..."

"Had enough?"

"Blessed Light! (Romaji: Bureseddo Raito; Kana: ブレセッド・ライト)"

"D-d-did you just heal yourself‽" spluttered Tsuyu in disbelief. "Th-th-that's cheating!"

"O~hohohohoho!" laughed Olessia as she dropped out of the rooms above and into a drop kick aimed at Tsuyu's face. With a grant, Tsuyu grabbed Olessia's feet before they could impact against his face, but then... "All is fair in love and war!" ...Olessia's feet blasted Tsuyu with an explosion of light! "Glowing Grace! (Romaji: Gurōringu Gureisu; Kana: グローリング・グレイス)"

"Ahh!" screamed Tsuyu as he was blasted out of the caverns and into the air within the fissure. Not long after, Olessia came flying towards him with a Sword of Mercy elongated from her right hand and a handle of Kanki's casket in her left hand. "Blade of Breeze! (Romaji: Bureido Būrīzo; Kana: ブレイド・ブーリーゾ)" growled Tsuyu as he righted himself in midair and then elongated an icy blade from his left hand! "Bring it!"

"That wont work a second time!"

"I didn't say speak it!" screamed Tsuyu as Olessia neared. "I said bring it!"

"Fine!" roared Olessia as Tsuyu and her crossed blades! Subsequently, a steam explosion blew Olessia and Tsuyu towards opposite walls of the fissure.

"Tch!" snorted as he landed into a sprint up the fissure's wall. Tsuyu then glanced to the side and growled at the sight of Olessia doing the same with Kanki's casket in hand. "Redshock! (Romaji:  Reddoshokku; Kana: レッドショック)"

"Holy Ward! (Romaji: Horī Warudo; Kana: ホリー・ワルド)" chanted Olessia just an instant before Tsuyu would have blasted her with yet another bolt of scarlet lightning. As a result, this time around, Tsuyu's lightning bolt was reflected by an aura of sparkles!

"Yikes!" screeched Tsuyu as he kicked off the fissure's wall and into a leap into the air in order to avoid his reflected bolt of scarlet lightning! "Drop! (Romaji: Doroppu; Kana: ドロップ)" screamed Tsuyu as, with a downward wave of his left hand, he conjured an invisible hand of compressed air into a drop upon Olessia. Olessia couldn't help but to cry out in fear and surprise as the hand broke off the piece of the wall that she had been running up and then slammed into her face-first, causing her to drop Kanki's casket as it did so!

"Sacred Bright! (Romaji: Seikureddo Buraito; Kana: セイクレッド・ブライト)" hissed Olessia as she used a light-enshrouded fist to punch the Drop hand into oblivion! "Oh! That does it!" raged Olessia as she turned to face Tsuyu while in midfall and then thrust the both of her arms in Tsuyu's direction. "Glowing Grace Ultima! (Romaji: Gurōringu Gureisu Arutema; Kana: グローリング・グレイス・アルテマ)" chanted Olessia an instant be she discharged a blue whale-sized beam of godliness towards Tsuyu!

"Holy hell!" exclaimed Tsuyu as the beam of godliness roared an rushed towards him like the most rapid of rivers! "Redshock! (Romaji:  Reddoshokku; Kana: レッドショック)" chanted Tsuyu as he discharged a bolt of scarlet lightning from the soles of both of his feet and thereby launched himself into a hurtle through the air and away from the godly beam! "Ahhh..." screamed Tsuyu as he crashed through the wall of Olessia's side of the fissure and into a cavern!

"Coward!" yelled Olessia with an indignant shake of her hand. Subsequently, Olessia alit herself with light and then used the light to fly after Tsuyu! "Fight like a man, not like a swallow!"

"Aqua Lash! (Romaji: Akua Rasshu; Kana: アクア・ラッシュ)"

"What‽" exclaimed Olessia as a piece of the fissure's wall exploded into a miniature tornado of dust and rocks! Subsequently, Olessia found herself being assaulted by a flurry of whiplashes from a whip of condensed water! "Eep!" screeched Olessia as she flew, spun, and somersaulted away from the whiplashes. As this occurred, the whiplashes carved vacuums into the air and slashed gashes into the fissure's walls! "H-H-Holy Ward! (Romaji: Horī Warudo; Kana: ホリー・ワルド)" chanted Olessia naught but an instant before she would have been decapitated by a whiplash. As a result, instead of having her head chopped off, Olessia was knocked into a hurtle through the wall of Tsuyu's side of the fissure and into a cavern!

"Tch!" grunted Tsuyu as he walked up to the edge of the cavern and looked down at where he had knocked Olessia to. "Combining defensive and healing magic is cheating!"

"Ow..." groaned Olessia with a rub of her throat. It was at this point that she realized that she no longer had Kanki's casket in hand. "Shit!"

"Zeus..." began Tsuyu as he leapt out of the cavern and into the air. "...Mantle! (Romaji: Zeusu Manto; Kana: ゼウス・マント)" screamed Tsuyu as he shone with electricity as a means of blinding Olessia with a flash of light!

"Ahh!" screamed Olessia as she was blinded by the lightning-enshrouded Tsuyu.

"It's over!" laughed Tsuyu as he elongated an elephantine blade of ice from his left hand and then diagonally dropped towards Olessia. "Blade of Breeze! (Romaji: Bureido Būrīzo; Kana: ブレイド・ブーリーゾ)" chanted Tsuyu as he raised the icy blade overhead and then swung at the blinded Olessia. "Die!"

"Really‽" snorted Olessia as she began to sparkle with light! "Holy Ward! (Romaji: Horī Warudo; Kana: ホリー・ワルド)"

"Nani‽" exclaimed Tsuyu in surprise as his icy blade slammed against, and was shattered by, Olessia's Holy Ward. "Damn it!"

"I don't need to see the spells if you chant the name aloud, stupid!" spat Olessia as she returned her vision to herself with a rub of her eyes.

"...sh-sh-shut up!" spat Tsuyu as he landed in front of Olessia. Immediately afterward, Olessia and Tsuyu headbutted one another and then glared into one another's eyes! "Grrr!.."

"Grr!"

"...where's Kanki?"

"I dropped him,"

"What‽" exclaimed Tsuyu with a leap away from Olessia. "You dropped him‽ Here‽ Of all places‽"

"And whose fault do you think that is‽" snarled Olessia with a stamp of her foot!

"Yours!"

"Ahh! You're impossible!" screamed Olessia with a throw of her arms. "Completely impo-"

"Excuse me?"

"What‽" snapped Olessia and Tsuyu with a fire in their eyes and a growl in their throats! However, as soon as Olessia and Tsuyu saw the one speaking to them...

"I believe this is yours?"

...they immediately calmed down and became filled with joy at the sight of a young man carrying Kanki's casket to them.

"Kanki!" cried Olessia and Tsuyu with sighs of relief.

"The name is Dino..." began the young man as he handed Kanki's casket over to Olessia and Tsuyu. "...Dino Might! And I couldn't help but to notice that the two of you seem to have some sort of ruckus going on, yeah?" Fairy Tail: Rainwater: Chapter 5 -&gt;