Chapter 18

I track down the battle ahead of me with a heavy heart.

My pace isn't hurried because I already know that Erza isn't there, at least, not yet. The two magic sources that are clashing ahead of me are both far beyond what Erza Scarlet is capable of. One of them I can recognize is Bluenote Stinger, he is the weaker of the two. The other can only be Gildarts Clive of Fairy Tail. He's the only one capable of releasing such ridiculous amounts of magic power.

From what I can tell, Bluenote is being beaten badly. He likely won't be able to hold out much longer. This will be a good chance to take his power. After losing to Gildarts, he won't be able to fight back. Having Gravity Magic could make catching that pig-headed woman that much easier. If she tries to flee I could send her crashing back to the ground. Even her speed advantage in the air would be nullified.

Once Bluenote is taken care of, only Hades will remain a threat from Grimoire Heart's side. That old fox is strong, but he won't be able to deal with the entirety of Fairy Tail on his own. Even if I kill Erza now, I won't lose anything for it. There is no longer any reason for me to fear either side in this war. I can do as I wish now.

I no longer care about the story from my past life. Elfman's death has severed any attachments I had to it. Worrying about maintaining the canon story is what caused all this to go south in the first place. If I had just disregarded it early on, I could have tried to take Nirvana, or even Lumen Histoire for myself and rebel against Hades. Maybe doing so would have changed things for the better. Maybe not. Since I never even tried, I will never know.

I was too concerned about the repercussions and butterfly effect that my changes could cause. I failed to realize that my very existence here means that the story has been an entirely different one from the start. I failed to realize that not everything will work out like a fairy tale just because that's what I want to happen. Those failures have led to my brother's death.

That naivety ends here. No longer will I restrain myself for the sake of a story that may or may not even be real. No longer will I let such a thing limit my options and dictate my actions. No longer will I live according to some script.

From now on, I will do what I want to do, save who I want to save and kill who I want to kill. I will do everything based on my personal feelings and intuition. I will live based on my own terms.

My inner monologuing is interrupted by the sound of trees crashing to the ground a short distance in front of me. Now that I have almost arrived, I can't afford to be lost in my head. I need to decide on what I will do with this new outlook. My pace falters for a moment as I think about how I should proceed from now on, but my answer comes easily.

My course will remain unchanged. I will harvest Bluenote Stinger's magic and then hunt down and kill Erza Scarlet. The boiling rage that I feel at the thought of her name can only be satiated with her death.

Regardless, I need to get to Bluenote first. I'll have to step in if it looks like Gildarts is going to kill him. After all, I can only get his magic if he is alive.

The first eye on my sword blinks open and a cage of silence surrounds me, hiding my movements from the outside world. I jump up into the tree branches to further avoid detection as I get nearer and nearer to the two magic signatures.

Finally, I peek through the foliage to see a middle-aged ginger smash Bluenote into the ground with a prosthetic arm. The amount of raw magic power imbued into that strike was probably more than most mages contain in their entire bodies. I have to dig my toes into the tree branch to avoid falling off from the tremors. It feels like the entire island shook.

"Now then," Gildarts talks down to him with a challenging grin. "It's about time I see you off this island. The punishment for picking on my cute young guildmates is a one-way ticket to nowhere."

"What are you talking about?" Bluenote's speech is surprising even for a man lying in a crater made from his body.

"You kept going on about flying earlier, so I figured you wanted to try it." Gildarts shrugs. "With the right angle, I can punch things pretty far you know. I wonder where you will land."

Not good. If Gildartly does send Bluenote flying, I'll lose my opportunity. It sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but with this man, I don't doubt that he can do it. I need to stop that from happening, but fighting Gildarts isn't a good idea.

Gildarts approaches the fallen Bluenote step by step and I no longer have time to think about the best plan. I have to act now if I don't want to lose my opportunity.

With my silence magic still applied, I dart out from the trees behind him and grab hold of Gildarts's shoulder.do not doubt that he would have been able to sense my approach had there been even the slightest hint of killer intent in it. As soon as my hand touches him, the silence magic cancels and the second eye opens. We are in the sky high above the island before Gildarts can even react.

"What the-"

Gildarts starts to whirl around to face me, but before he can complete the motion our location changes once again. We are now free-falling from the air only about 20 feet above the sandy beach on the island's coast.

"-hell is going on?!" Gildarts finishes his sentence right before hitting the beach.

I don't stick around to answer him and return to Bluenote with two quick teleports. I couldn't send Gildarts off the island since he would be my main force against Hades, but the coast should be far enough away to keep him out of my hair.

"White, huh?" Bluenote grumbles, still lying on his back. "You never struck me as the type to save a comrade."

"Save you?" I look at him with an expression that shows exactly how stupid he sounds. "It's the opposite. I was merely preventing that fairy from allowing you to escape."

"Hmph. So you allow the light mages to do all the work, then you scavenge from their leftovers?" Bluenote spits in my direction. "I never knew you were such a coward. So, What happens next? What does a traitorous coward want with me? Are you going to take my magic with that vulgar sword of yours? Are you going to torture me?"

"Well, at the very least I can promise that this will be nothing pleasant for you." I walk until I'm standing directly over him before crouching down and looking at him from above. "Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the indication to enjoy this as usual. It's a bit odd, but the idea of slowly dragging this out just doesn't appeal to me any longer. I have someone else who I wish to toy with far more than you."

"You coward. Just because I've been beaten doesn't mean I'm powerless!" Bluenote raises his hand towards me and a massive pressure crashes down upon me. "Did you think you could do as you wish because Gildarts Clive defeated me? A weakling like you will never fly!"

A sword pierces right through his left eye socket and his disdainful smirk melts into shock and agony. The blade isn't deep enough to reach the brain and cause a fatal injury, but it twists around in a circle to carve out his eye and the pain causes his magic to cancel.

"How?! How did…" Between his wails of agony, Bluenote chokes out a few words of disbelief.

I merely pause the movements of the sword for a moment and stare down at him with the same amount of interest as when looking at an insect.

"Even at your best, you couldn't beat me. Gravity magic is just support magic if you don't have anything else with it." I open my mouth to say more but close it when I realize it's pointless. He won't remember any of this soon anyway.

My sword plunges and a trail of brain matter crawls up the blade before settling behind a steel grey eye. The fifth eye.

.....

Erza Scarlet was worried.

She hadn't expected her foe to allow himself to be run through by her sword like that. The shock of seeing someone willingly get stabbed in the chest caused her to falter and allow him to escape. Normally, such a wound would be fatal, but she didn't believe that White was dead. There were rumors that he was immortal, but even if she disregarded those as rumors, his eyes were not those of someone resolved to die. He knew he would survive that.

She wanted to chase after him immediately before he could harm anyone else, but she was worried and Natsu and Master Makarov. Their safety came first, so she had stayed to check on them. Master Makarov was unconscious but seemed to be uninjured. If anything, he somehow looked healthier than she had ever seen him. Natsu was also unconscious, but he had some pretty severe wounds. They weren't from a sword, so they likely came from the man White had killed.

There may have been some truth in what White said, but it doesn't matter. He killed Juvia. He is a villain with a silver tongue, trying to deceive and manipulate them into turning a blind eye to his treachery. Erza Scarlet is not a woman who will be swayed by such evil. She will show him the strength of her resolve when she defeats White and defends her guild.

That resolve was strengthened even further shortly after she had declared it to herself. She had made a discovery that made her eyes wet with sorrow and her blood boil with rage.

The scent of blood had led her to a clearing a short distance away. In the clearing, she had found Wendy sobbing and casting healing magic over and over again above Panther Lily. When she approached, intending to comfort Wendy, she froze at what she saw. Lily's body had been cleanly cut into two halves. There were clear signs in the grass that Wendy had dragged his upper half over to his lower half and pressed them together. She was trying to heal the gap together, but there was no use.

Lily was already dead.

Erza said nothing and merely embraced Wendy in a hug. It wasn't that she didn't have anything to say. She was merely too enraged to properly comfort the poor child in front of her. Wendy, on the other hand, looked up at her with tears in her eyes and a heartbroken expression.

"Erza." After only saying her name, Wendy passed out from the exhaustion of using so much magic.

Erza silently picked up the small girl and walked back to Natsu and Master Makarov. She had also found Happy and Carla in the clearing near Wendy and brought them back as well. They were both unconscious, but they had only suffered minor injuries. After carefully laying them down beside Master Makarov and the dragon slayers, she went to work moving the Grimoire Heart man's corpse away.

During this, she thought back to Lily's corpse. Such a clean cut could only come from a blade. Based on Natsu's injuries, this Grimoire Heart mage's magic should be fire, or maybe acid. Either way, he isn't carrying a blade and his hands don't have the calluses of someone trained with a sword. It was obvious to her that White must have killed Lily as well.

At that point, there was no longer any room for hesitation in Erza's heart. It's probably true that White is an enemy of Grimoire Heart. That doesn't mean he is an ally of Fairy Tail. He is the long-lost youngest brother of her precious guildmates. That doesn't mean he is a good person.

For the sake of her guild, and her family, Erza Scarlet has decided that she must kill Cyrus Strauss. She will apologize to the Strauss siblings after this is all over. She will accept their anger and hatred towards her. She will even accept exile from the guild if Master Makarov sees this as a betrayal of her guildmates. However, no matter what, she will protect her friends.

From their fight, Erza figured out that White could only teleport to the places he could see. Otherwise, he would have teleported earlier and he wouldn't have made a stop in the air like that. She remembers the direction he was looking when he escaped and sprints after him, determined to stop any more tragedies from unfolding from his hands.

While she ran, she felt Gildarts's magic power as he fought with someone. She didn't know who he was fighting, but they were strong. Even so, Gildarts proved why he is the ace of Fairy Tail and the fight ended rather quickly. Thankfully, that seemed to be the only fight on the island at the moment. Hopefully, that meant the rest of Fairy Tail had regrouped at the camp. They will be safest if they are all together.

After a few more minutes of running in silence, Erza began to feel uneasy. The forest was getting too silent. It was almost as if something had chased all the animals away from this area. The only sound was the incessant cawing of crows as they circled the skies in front of her. That, coupled with the stench of death and gore coming from that area told her that nothing good was waiting for her.

When she entered a clearing directly below the crows, Erza had to cup her hand over her mouth to prevent the bile from rising. It was a sight that nearly made her vomit.

The area was a clearing, but it wasn't natural. An explosion had blown away the trees and created a small crater in the ground. The entire area was covered in dried blood and body parts. As she frantically looked around, Erza realized who they were.

Evergreen's head was partially crushed and buried in rubble, but it was still enough to identify her at a glance. She could only recognize Elfman from his hair and the bulk of some limbs that had been blown off him. His skull had been crushed beyond facial recognition. There was another corpse in the clearing. A silver-haired Grimoire Heart mage.

"How could this…" Erza's voice trails off into a choked sob as she sinks to her knees.

Why was this happening? Why had so many of her friends died today?

"This is your fault. I hope you're happy with yourself." A familiar voice comes from behind and has Erza turning to face him. "It was your stubborn refusal to accept my help that caused this to happen."

White is standing there with a blank look. If she had looked carefully, Erza might have spotted that he was trembling with emotion, but in her distraught state, he appeared to be calmly chatting about the deaths of her friends.

"You bastard!" She screams. "Did you do this?!"

For a moment, White says nothing. Then he erupts into a rage. Even Erza can see the anger rolling off of him now.

"You did this, you pig-headed bitch!" He shouts in his fury. "Do you even have a brain in your skull? Or is it just filled with pretentious phrases and useless pride? I told you over and over again! I was trying to save Elfman! You just couldn't accept that though, now could you? 'He's a villain. Everything he says and does must be evil.' You see everything in black and white and refuse to believe that a 'bad guy' could help you!"

Erza is unphased by his words. Her rage surfaced and took over the sorrow that had previously consumed her.

"Shut up! You're a silver-tongued villain, trying to shift the blame from yourself to get away." She wipes away her tears and glares at White with an expression of sheer hatred. "You killed Juvia! You killed Lily! You were about to kill Master Makarov and Natsu! Do you want me to believe that you are helping us? I'm not surprised that a monster like you could even murder his elder brother."

"How much of that did you just make up on the spot?" White scoffs. "This is what's wrong with you light mages, you see someone commit one crime and then you decide that they are evil. Yes, I killed Juvia, but that's it. I haven't touched anyone else from your guild. You just hate me, so you want to pin everything as my doing. Even Juvia, if I hadn't stepped in and killed her, Meredy would have died. How is it fair that only you people can defend yourselves? How is it fair that when you kill, it's self-defense, but when I kill, it's murder?"

"Because we are defending ourselves and our friends. You are killing for your own agenda and pleasure. That's the difference." Erza requips into her Clear Heart Clothing. "Enough. I don't care if you are related to my guildmates. I'm going to make sure you can never threaten my family again!"

"You mean that you are going to kill me. Call it what it is." White gets into a stance. "Fine then. I didn't come here to talk philosophy with you. I already know that you light mages are too obtuse for that. I came here to kill you."

Erza lets out a shout as she charges at White with a sword in each hand. White sinks lower in his stance and digs his toes into the ground. He dashes forward at a blinding speed, nearly disappearing from Erza's vision.

"Narukami Flash"

Erza barely manages to duck under the scythe of dark magic released from the blade and get her two swords in position to parry White's sword strike. Only, she feels no weight when their blades come into contact and the bone-white sword passes straight through her guard. A deep cut appears on her side a few inches below the point of contact.

"White Sword Art: Hidden Blade."

"An illusion?" She jumps back and clutches her side.

White gives her no time to rest and charges her once again. Erza struggles to guard against the flurry of attacks as White dashes at her from every angle, his morphed legs allowing him to move at speeds that she can hardly react to. Small cuts begin to pile up on her body and her strength is being whittled away.

She knows that if this continues, she will lose. Erza is forced to acknowledge that her opponent is too strong for her to defeat unscathed. She needs to take a gamble if she wants to win.

She sees White getting ready to dash at her again and can tell from his stance that this attack will be a thrust. This will be her only chance. She will shift her position just enough that the thrust misses her vitals and cuts off his head while his sword is stuck in her. This is the best chance she will have to kill this monster.

Erza's eyes are locked onto him as White dashes forward. She captures every movement he makes as he thrusts his arm out and she grits her teeth as the blade sinks into her side, right above her hip bone. She watches White's eyes widen as he realizes what's happening, but it's too late. Her sword is already halfway through his neck.

Then it stops.

No, not just the sword. Erza can't move at all. She can only look forward as White pulls his sword out of her stomach and removes her sword from his neck. He knocks both of her swords out of her hands as his neck reforms and reattaches itself.

What is going on? Teleportation, Illusion, Regeneration, Paralysis: Just how many different types of magic does he have?

"Wow, you really scared me there." White rubs his neck and twists his head a little bit. "I really didn't expect that at all. I thought you Fairy Tail wizards would always just think that your feelings would be enough and you wouldn't need to risk your lives in battle."

All Erza can do is glare at him as he talks. Still, she readies her Requip magic to attack as soon as she can move again.

"It appears that either I've gotten better at this, or you are much weaker than Zero was. Honestly, I only expected this to hold you for a couple of seconds. Still, I don't trust it to hold you much longer."

An excruciating pain comes from Erza's right knee and she falls to the ground. She can't turn her eyes down to look, but she knows what happened. White had just kicked her knee in, shattering her kneecap.

"Since I know you'll be moving soon, I should at least make it a bit difficult for you. Don't you agree?" The same pain erupts from her left knee. "I could just kill you, after all, you tried to kill me, but I won't do that. You killed Elfman. I won't be satisfied if you don't feel at least as much pain as his death caused me."

Erza grits her teeth and ignores his words. She focuses everything on her magic so that she can use it as soon as she can move.

"I don't think that mere physical pain can compare to it," White shatters her left elbow next. "But we can try to find out."

When White lifts his foot above her right arm and stomps down, the Body Restriction magic wears off and a sword appears in Erza's right hand.

"Demon Blade Benizakura!"

She swiftly moves it upwards and uses every bit of magic power in her body in one strike which cleaves White in half, from his crotch to his shoulder. The two halves fall to the ground with a thud and Erza's arm falls as well.

She lies in agony, completely drained of magic power and with three broken limbs. However, a smile touches her lips. She has won. She has protected her guild from that monster. No more of her family will die.

Her consciousness fades away and darkness begins to take over. She thinks to herself that it is okay though. Her enemy is already defeated. She can rest now.

"Damn, that hurts."

Her eyes snap back open and her mind is filled with denial. No way! There's no way he is still alive! I cut him in half! There's no way he's actually immortal! Otherwise, he wouldn't have been scared earlier!

"You nearly killed me, you bitch!" White's voice is unmistakable. He is alive. "Ahahahah! Well, I suppose I deserved that. I was so blinded by rage that I wasn't even defending myself at all this entire fight. I don't think I've ever been so sloppy and careless."

The sunlight on Erza's face is blocked by a shadow and she strains her eyes to see White standing above her. There is still a gap between his shoulder and his neck, but she watches as the bone and muscles connect and pull themselves together. Within seconds, he is back in perfect condition. He was just laughing, but his facial expression was anything but amused.

"H-how are you alive?" Erza's voice is weak, she is struggling to maintain consciousness after using all her magic power. Only the pain from her broken limbs is keeping her awake.

"Haven't you heard? I'm immortal." White approaches her and raises his sword above her throat. "Enough games. I'm not in the mood to play anymore. Be grateful for this painless death. It's more than you deserve."

He raises the sword and brings it back down with force. Erza can only close her eyes and wait as an inevitable death approaches.

*Clang*

When that death doesn't come and a noise resounds from above her, Erza opens her eyes. The clang was the sound of a sword being blocked by claws.

Mirajane Strauss had pushed White away and was standing protectively above Erza.