Chapter 70 - Tale of a Dragon

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

Vax and Axel watched at each other, surrounded by the humming machines all around the room. Axel couldn't believe Vax knew his dragon parent, he couldn't even imagine the odds of something like that happening. He watched for some sort of reaction, some tell that he was lying. But he just continued to stare at him through the visor of his featureless mask.

"Axel the Dragon Slayer..." Vax hummed, resuming his chuckling. "It seems fate has something in store for the two of us..."

"You're lying." Axel growled. Hearing about Jelonghoul made him forget the main reason he came here, if only just for a moment. Amber must've told him about Jelonghoul, that was how he knew. Had he told her that much though? He couldn't remember exactly, but there was no other way he could've known otherwise. "I don't care about that. I'm here to rescue Amber."

"Why?" Vax tilted his head. "She doesn't mater."

Axel gritted his teeth. "She matters to me!"

Electricity crackled all around him, sparking off the floor and through the chilly air. Vax half shielded his face, appearing as if the display was only a mild annoyance. "Oh my, how violent..." Vax chuckled, teleporting closer to his console and typing something up on the display. "My operation is almost ready, all that I need is a bit more time." He teleported towards Axel, clasping his hands behind his back. "But... You're related to that Dragon... Your last attack reminded me of him, he must've been a fine teacher." He nodded up to the hole Axel had blown in the roof in the process of dispatching Siri. A sudden feeling an intensity filled the room, Vax's voice seemed clearer and his tone grew harsher. "If you possessed even a fraction of the Dragon's magic... I must have it!"

Gathering electricity into his fists, Axel let out a slow breath and took a fighting stance. "Come get it!"

Vax disappeared in a flash, and Axel felt a chill run up his back. He ducked instinctively, just in time to see Vax's hand shoot over his head. Axel turned to counterattack, but Vax disappeared. The same chill ran up his back, and he spun around, facing the masked man as he reached for him again.

This seemed to catch him by surprise, which Axel took full advantage of. He swiped his electrified hand at him, but he disappeared before Axel was able to make contact. Axel spun again, and was lucky enough to catch Vax just as he reappeared, having just enough time to thrust his hand into Vax's stomach. "Lightning Dragon's Bolt!"

Vax was launched backwards with a clap of thunder and a bright flash, the pit of his stomach smoldering and glowing with heat. He crashed into the far wall and dropped to one knee, coughing and clutching at his smoldering jacket. "Oh..." He groaned painfully. "That's a familiar feeling."

Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Axel charged again. He'd caught him once, and if he played his cards right, once more was all he'd need. Axel drew back his fist, gathering as much magic into his hand as he could muster in an attempt to end the fight in one punch. “"Lightning Dragon's Fist!"

Vax’s head shot up at the last second, and he extended his hand. "Wall!" A dull blue sphere of magic formed around him, which Axel's fist collided with in a large flash of lightning. Vax let out a breath, slowly pushing himself back to his feet with his arm still extended. "That was surprising..." He mumbled, smothering the embers around his stomach with a single pat. "Fighting the man you call guild master must've taken its tole on me..." He moved his hand, and through the hole in his stomach, Axel could see a myriad of clockwork parts. Many damaged, some coated with blood, but the site was obscured by small trickle of blood running down Vax's magical shield.

Axel drew back his fist, becoming instantly aware of an excruciating pain in his torn knuckles. He stumbled back a few steps, gawking at Vax's unmarked magic wall, before sinking to his knees with his hand clutched against his stomach. He tried his best to fight through the pain, but the moment he tried to take a breath, Axel unleashed a pained scream of frustration.

"I am sorry, Axel the Dragon Slayer." Vax spoke, retaining the intensity in his voice. "Your guild master put up a good fight... I almost died battling that old dragon years ago... But you?" He clasped his hands behind his back again, and his magic wall faded from existence. "You're no match for me."

 Shelly stood in the middle of Jaina’s field, a training stick clutched in each hand. Her brow was covered in a thin veil of sweat thanks to the early afternoon sun beating down on her, and she had just finished her warm-up run when Jaina burst out of her hut.

"Ok, so you want to use two swords." She grumbled, looking over a notebook Isa had written up for her. "The biggest disadvantage you'll have is a serious lack of striking power. It's simple math; one weapon in one hand will never trump one weapon in both hands." She flipped through a few pages, then grinned up at her. "But, as I'm sure you remember from Isa's little lesson, charging in with brute strength isn't your forte, shrimp."

"Please stop calling me that..." Shelly muttered, turning a little red in the face.

"The big advantage though..." Jaina continued without acknowledging her. "Is that you can attack and defend at the same time. All as one motion." She closed her notebook and stuffed it into her back pocket, then picked up a training stick at her feet and gave Shelly a smile. "You with me so far?"

"Uh..." Shelly glanced at her training sticks, trying to visualise what Kaina was describing. "I think so."

“Maybe it'll be better to show you.” Jaina approached with her training stick resting over her shoulder, then held it over Shelly's head. "Ok, if I come at you from overhead, you block..." She nodded for Shelly to play along, which she did. "And now, attack."

Shelly slowly poked her in the stomach with the end of her other training stick and, after looking at the scenario, she backed away and her eyes lit up a little. "But, wait... I've never seen Geno or Rift do this. They use two weapons all the time."

"I reiterate: Geno's an idiot. And flinging blades at every problem he comes across doesn't exactly make Rift a swordsman." Jaina chuckled. "But stop worrying about what they do. You need to learn how to fight your way." She stepped back and took a long drink from a canteen hanging from the fence surrounding her garden. "Focus on your strengths: you're small, light on your feet, quick thinking... And you've got more magic potential than most people in the guild. You can definitely do this."

Shelly took a fighting stance as Jaina stepped up, nodding her head despite her expression of uncertainty. "Ok..."

"Don't think to hard about it. It’s not that easy to put into words." She smiled at her, spinning her training stick between her fingers and taking a fighting stance. "C'mon, let's do this. The more experience you have, the easier it'll be to figure out." Shelly nodded again, but Jaina raised a finger just as she was about to make her first attack. "But, if I see you pull that headbutt move again, I'm turning your little butt around and sending you home."

 Shelly gasped for breath, running down the sand covered streets of Silunna and following the footprints Amber had left behind. It'd creeped her out a bit that there hadn't been even the slightest breath of wind the whole time they'd been here, but was thankful for it now that it wasn't wiping Amber's footprints away. Without them, she'd have no way of knowing which direction she went. The whole way through, she played the events of Jaina's training sessions through her mind. Looking back, she'd never considered how scary it wound be to actually clash swords with someone. Training sticks where one thing, but her heart-rate spiked the moment she felt the metal of her swords reverberate in her hand.

She slid around a corner, spotting Amber running down a main street a few blocks away. She was definitely a faster runner, but Shelly had a plan in mind to box her in. She threw up her hand, clutching her sword between her pinky and index finger, and called. "Solid Script: Wall!"

Four large, brick letters rose up from the sand, blocking the street. Amber skidded to a stop, clanging her sword against the wall in frustration. She slowly turned around, bearing her teeth when she and Shelly made eye contact. "Stop following me!" She barked at her. "Go away!"

"We want to help you, Amber." Shelly said slowly, continuing to approach her. "Whatever it is, we can help. You just need to talk to us."

Amber took a step backward, flattening against the wall of letters Shelly had created. Seeing Shelly slowly get closer, her eyes turned frantic, like those of a cornered animal. "Armeria: Crimson Eye!" She threw her sword, which split apart and morphed into her whirling blade rings. Shelly gasped in surprise, never imagining she'd see these weapon's telltale red glow coming at her, but she braced herself all the same.

She deflected the first ring with one of her blades, but the second came at her much faster. Shelly braced her sword against her forearm, and doing so kept her from being cut. But it hit like a hammer, causing her to stumble back a few steps.

The two rings circled around her, leaving a glowing red trail of light in the air behind them. Shelly took a defensive stance, trying to watch both of them at once, when a broadsword came flying over her head and knocked one of Amber's blade rings out of the air. Shelly spun around to see Rift sprinting at them from down the street with Zeke flying not far behind him.

The moment she turned away, the rings flew back into Amber's hands, and she turned to run. She only made it two steps however, before a chain shot up from the ground and coiled around her wrists, anchoring her in place. Shelly took a step forwards, hoping that getting a little closer would make Amber listen to her, when she felt a rough tug on the back of her shirt.

"Shelly!" Rift barked in annoyance. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm fighting." She said, trying to wriggle free of his grasp. "Amber, please listen!"

"Yeah, she's not in a listening mood right now!" He barked, yanking her back again to stop her struggling. He glanced up at Amber, frantically twisting and turning her wrists to get free of his chains, and slowly shook his head. "Look, that masked prick has her freaked out. She's not going to listen to us." He took a long breath, calming his agitated tone. "I'll just... capture her or something. Then we can wait for her to calm down."

"You can't do that!" Zeke said, hovering to block his path. "You'll hurt her."

"She, is going to hurt us. Or herself." He growled in annoyance. "I don't want to hurt her either, but if this keeps up-." A loud clang interrupted that thought. In their moment of distraction, Amber had flung her blade rings out to the side, and they'd just circled around to hit the chain connecting her to the ground on either side, scissoring it apart. The weapons flew back into her hands, and she took off running down a narrow alleyway. Rift took half a step to chase after her, but stopped and threw up his arm in annoyance. "Dammit... See, Shelly? Doesn't matter what we say, she's going to just-."

"Just keep fighting..." Shelly interrupted, turning towards the ally with a somber expression. "I know that. But she's not fighting, Rift."

Rift glanced at the ally as well, but didn't get what she was saying. "And... What do you call this then?"

"She's running." She mumbled. "If Amber wanted to fight, she'd stay and fight. Even against an S-Class mage like you." Rift stared back at her in confusion, but Shelly spoke up just as he began to mouth a question. "She doesn't know what to do, and she's scared. To scared to ask for help."

"Really?" Zeke said hopefully.

"That's why it has to be me to fight her. Just until she wears herself out." She nodded confidently. "Amber's in like... Full survival mode, we need to make her calm down. And just overpowering her isn't going to do that."

Rift ran his hand through his hair. He found that argument to be rather lacking, but he couldn't remember a time when Shelly had ever been wrong about something like this. Figuring people out was her forte, after all. "You're sure about this? Because there's about a dozen ways this could go bad for you if your wrong."

"People listen when they're tired." She shrugged simply. "It's how Dad taught me to deal with Leo."

"I seriously doubt that ever involved a sword-fight though..." Rift huffed, scratching the back of his neck and racking his brain to come up with a bettor solution. Unfortunately, no mater how much he through, no better option became apparent. Just that alone got on his nerves, but he forced himself to smile all the same. "Alright, if we do this, we got to do it right. No more running around this hell hole, we've got to box her in somewhere." Shelly huffed, but nodded begrudgingly. "And bet your ass I'm jumping in if you get in trouble. Because I still ain't convinced you know what your doing." Shelly nodded again, but puffed out her cheeks in annoyance at that last part. With a grunt, Rift threw up his arms, frustrated that it had come to this, and nodded towards the short swords in her hands. "Man, where the hell did you even get those things from, huh?"

"They where my mom's." She muttered. With the apparent details of their plan nailed out, and after realizing that they where wasting time, Shelly began running down the street after Amber. "C'mon, we need to keep up."

Rift and Zeke where stunned, looking at each other to reaffirm what they'd just heard. "Her mom's?"

Axel rolled from one knee to the other, taking deep breaths to quell the throbbing, excruciating pain in his hand. It felt broken, but he could still move his fingers. He couldn't remember if that mattered, but the pain he was experiencing made it difficult to think at all. He's put as much force as he could muster behind that last punch, magic and otherwise, and Vax still stopped him cold.

"It's unfortunate..." Vax mumbled, summing his sword to his hand. "Amber was distressed enough as it was. If you die, I don't know what she'll think." Gritting his teeth, Axel dove to the side, just in time to avoid the swing of Vax's sword. He rolled over a few times, hearing the metal of the blade reverberate off the floor. "Perhaps afterword, I could turn you into another vanguard. Maybe that will make the news a little easier for her to take."

"Like hell!" Axel charged again. Vax's movements where slow, that last sword strike especially so. He must've still been recovering from his fight with the guild master. Axel figured he had a chance if he could only make it past that shield spell of his.

He clenched his fist, gritting his teeth through the pain of his torn knuckles, and drew back his arm. He threw another punch, but Vax flashed out of existence before he could connect. He saw another flash out of the corner of his eye, and instinctively ducked just in time for Vax's sword to sore above his head. He spun again, trying to keep up the attack, but it slowly began to dawn on him how outclassed he was when Vax disappeared again.

This trend continued for a while, Axel would turn to attack, and Vax would simply teleport to safety. With each new attack however, Axel began to recognize a pattern. Vax never came at him from the front, and had yet to put forth any sort of magic attack. Taking a gamble, he took a wide step after dodging Vax's sword. When Vax disappeared, Axel spun again, swinging his arm out behind him.

Equal parts surprise and satisfaction filled Axel's mind as he felt the back of his fist connect with the side of Vax's head. A slight grunt escaped from behind his mask as Vax was sent twirling away, loosing hold of his sword and crumpling to the ground in a heap.

Axel was about to pounce on him, when he suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath for the length of the duel. He gasped for air, quelling his burning lungs as Vax slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position. "How... Startling." He held the back of his neck as he talked, violently cracking it to the side. "Your dragon was able to strike me like that as well. I foolishly thought I could slay him without expending any magic..." He floated off the ground, coming to a standing position only inches off the floor with his hands clasped behind his back, and he began to chuckle. "It seems I've made the same mistake with you, Axel the Dragon Slayer." His chuckling grew into a full laugh; he bowed his head and covered the mouth of his mask with his hand. "Impatience seems to be a weakness of mine, wouldn't you agree?"

Axel huffed, already tiring of Vax's rambling. "I don't care about you. I just want to find Amber." His stomach twisted itself into a not; he hated not knowing her condition, considering his sense of smell told him she was so agonizingly close. "I just want to bring her home..."

"You have." Vax’s laughing ceased, and his voice took on a very mater-of-fact tone, free from the frantic changes in voice that seemed to accompany his rapidly swinging mood. "This is her home. It's where she grew up, where she was raised. That bedroom was hers. Hers... and her familiar's." Axel shook his head, about to scream an argument at him, when Vax's tone shifted yet again. "I brought her to keep her safe. Safe... From the likes of you!" Vax's voice spiked, conveying a sudden anger. Axel barely had time to register what he'd said, when he raised his hand towards him. "Wave!"

A blue blade of magic raced towards Axel from Vax's hand. He ducked, knowing that whatever it was couldn't be good, and saw it slice through the stone wall behind him like it was nothing. "Holy-."

"Wave!" Vax called before Axel could get his bearings. "Wave, wave, wave!"

Axel dove out of the way as one sliced across the floor at his feet and quickly brook into a run to avoid the rest of the oncoming barrage. The blades slashed at the floor at his heels, slicing through anything unfortunate enough to be in their path. "Lighting Dragon's Horn!" Thinking quickly, Axel ducked under one wave and landed in a crouching position, then surrounded himself with electricity and launched himself into the air.

Having the whole room to maneuver seemed like a good idea at first, but Vax's magic blade spells where still hot in his heals. He landed on one wall and quickly rocketed across the room to another, just quick enough to avoid three more waves that cut a triangular chunk out of the wall. Realizing that the open air wasn't the best place to be, Axel quickly angled downwards and shot towards the ground. A wave sliced across the floor just in front of his foot, causing him to stumble in surprise. He ducked under another wave attack that had been poised to take his head off, and cartwheeled out of the way a third that passed just under his stomach.

He came to rest behind one of Vax's machines, and the attacks stopped instantly. At that same moment, Axel became aware of a growing sting across his stomach, just beneath a small slit in his shirt. That last attack was closer than he thought, and a slight chill ran up his back when he saw a thin line of blood pool around the cut.

"Stay away from my machines!" Vax yelled at him. "You'll damage something if you're not careful!"

"You're the one wrecking the place..." Axel muttered, observing the trail of slash marks in the floor, up the walls, and across the ceiling along the path he'd flown. As he caught his breath, he thought back to the last thing Vax had said before beginning his assault. "What'd you mean when you said you where protecting her?" He was honestly curious, but was also hoping that getting Vax talking would allow him time to think of a plan. "You said you where protecting Amber from me."

"I am..." He sounded calmer now. While Vax's mood swings where hard to predict, his mannerisms where fairly easy to follow. "She's been attacked before... By people she called friends. They failed to stop me, and they blamed her for it." Axel froze, his stomach twisting again. The memory of Amber's terrified face as she disappeared with Vax flashing through his mind. To think she'd already gone through that once before was sickening to him. "They chased her, attacked her, called her a traitor. I saved her from you, just like I saved her from them." His tone was ramping up again. "I saw how you looked at her, back at your guild hall. You blamed her for the fate of your guild master."

Axel gritted his teeth. This guy was nuts. When they first met, Vax shook his hand, thanked him for taking Amber in. Now he was accusing him of wanting to go after her for something he had done. The thought alone turned the twisted knot in his stomach into a burning pit of anger. "I'd never blame her!"

"Liar!" As Axel turned to peak out from his hiding spot, a hand closed around the collar of his shirt, and he was yanked up and over the machine. Axel gasped as he landed on his back, crashing through a stack of pipes that had been stacked near the wall. As he clutched at the throbbing welt on his head, Vax's hands closed around his throat, cutting off his airway with his icy, metal fingers. "I'll take your magic, then make sure you can never get close to Amber again!"

Axel pushed and clawed to fight him off, gasping for air the while way. All the while, a soft blue glow emanated from Vax's hands, and Axel felt an odd, draining feeling in his entire body. He couldn't channel his magic, not in any great capacity. Vax really was draining his magic away! Grasping desperately, his hand landed on one of the pipes he'd crashed into and his fingers closed around it. With a grunt, he swung the pipe into the side of Vax's head.

The pipe rung with a metallic thud against Vax's mask, and he recoiled in surprise. Axel gasped suddenly when Vax's grip loosened, realizing as his lungs filled with air that he had control of his magic again. "Lightning Dragon's-." Vax looked back again, and Axel unleashed another lightning bolt from his mouth. "Roar!"

Practically standing over Axel, Vax had almost no time to react. He brought his arms up over his head to defend himself, but was none the less blown away by the spell. It carried him across the room, where he disappeared in a shower of debris as the spell slammed into the far wall. Axel jumped to his feet, but found himself feeling nauseated the moment he was upright. He felt weaker, like he'd used up most of his magic already. That didn't make sense though, despite that last spell hitting the mark, he didn't put that much power behind it. Had Vax really been able to drain that much of his magic away in just a few short seconds? That thought sent a chill up his spine, how could he fight someone so powerful if he didn't have any magic left himself?

Leaning over to rest on one of Vax's machines, Axel suddenly had an idea. The hum of the machine made him recall something Vax had said: that he used magic to power them. Power meant electricity, and more electricity might be just what he needed. "Well..." He glanced at the pile of smashed concrete and twisted metal where he assumed Vax to be, trying to judge how much time he had. "This better work..."

Hoping he'd assumed right, Axel slammed his fist into the top of the machine with a great thunderclap. The machine sparked, and electricity began arcing into the air around it. The blinking lights on it and many of the machines around him began to flicker, and with a deep breath, Axel began drawing the electricity into his mouth.

"No!" Vax roared, charging at him with his sword in hand. This leather of his coat was charred black, and bits of mashinery poked through the cloth when he raised the blade over his head to strike. Axel dove away, and Vax sliced almost half way through the machine with his swing. Despite breaking contact, electricity continued to flow to Axel until he landed, rolling up into a fighting stance. "You... Can consume magic?" He didn't sound angry, or at least, his confusion seemed to overtake his anger for the moment. "How? How have you done this?"

"Figure it out." Axel barked back with a grin, surging electricity to his hands.

Vax dropped his sword as Axel charged at him again. "Very well..." He bought his fingertips together, forming a small glowing bubble between his palms. "Pause!" He threw his arms out to the sides, and the bubble rapidly expanded, growing to encompass the entire room. The moment this happened, all movement seemed to slow to a crawl. Vax's Seeker insects, which had been buzzing around the room as the fight grew in intensity, froze in mid air. Axel stood on one foot, his one fist drawn back in a punch while the other acted as a balance. It looked like someone had taken a photograph of the room, but instead of just a picture, the room itself was caught in that single moment. "Axel the Dragon slayer..." Vax mumbled and clutched at the jaw of his mask, being the only thing in the room still able to move. "You've lost..."

Next Chapter – Chapter 71 - A Bloody Brawl