Bab 91: The Necromancer
Erza continued running through the many branching paths of the maze. As she tested earlier, the walls were sturdy and any damage they received would be instantly regenerated, leaving her no choice but to traverse the maze. As she continued running through the long corridors, she stopped in her tracks as she sensed a large magical presence ahead.
'An enemy?' Erza thought as she looked ahead. Erza continued forward until the corridor eventually opened up into a large forest, filled with tall trees.
The trunks of the trees in the forest were a pitch black color and the trees themselves had no leaves. Erza looked around the dead looking forest.
'That magic I sensed...it's further up ahead…' Erza thought. She immediately rushed forward and ran deeper into the forest. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a movement and immediately ducked down as a large tree branch swung just above her head. Her eyes widened as she noticed the tree now had a sinister face on it. The trees around her began to form faces as they swung their branches at her.
Erza placed her hand out in front of her as a bright light began to glow in her palm, taking the shape of a sword. The sword stopped glowing, revealing a steel sword. She swung the blade as she continued running forward, cutting through any trees that got in her way. 'Whatever is controlling these trees is definitely up ahead. But that won't stop me! I'll keep going forward!'
Erza continued toppling over the possessed trees as she ran full speed towards the magic she sensed, leaving a trail of stumps behind her. Eventually, the forest opened out into a large clearing. Standing in the middle of the clearing was a lone man. The man was of average height with fair skin and a bald head. He had sharp black eyes and a silver piercing over his left eyebrow. Covering the right side of his face were strange tattoos that ran to his neck. He wore a long black robe with purple outlines and had a necklace of small skulls.
"Oh? So it's Titania I'm fighting?" The man commented as he watched Erza approach him. Erza stopped several meters away from him.
"I assume you're the one who was controlling the trees earlier?" Erza asked.
"No. That would be the creator of The Great Maze. I am Fallion of the Doryu Attack Squad." The man answered.
"A squad? Then there must be more of you. And I'm guessing Doryu is the leader of this squad and is also the one behind all those attacks on the towns?" Erza continued.
"That is correct. However, you will never make it to Doryu. Your journey ends here, Titania!" Fallion yelled as he raised his left arm up in the air with his index finger pointing towards the sky. The ground around them began to shake as skeletal hands and arms began to stick out of the ground, pulling themselves up and revealing their skeletal bodies.
"Behold, the army of the undead!" Fallion yelled. "The bodies of those we've slain are now under my control!"
"Necromancy? It does not matter if you raise ten, one hundred, or one thousand bodies to attack me. I will defeat them all!" Erza shouted as she charged in. The clothes and armor around her body began to glow as they changed shape, revealing a revealing cheetah patterned top piece, black shorts, a belt holding a green waist cloth to her left side, dark colored stockings, and white boots. In her hands were two shortswords with elaborate red rose shaped handguards.
Erza seemingly vanished from Fallion's sight, reappearing right in front of him before he even had the chance to blink.
'That speed?!' Fallion thought as Erza swung her blades at Fallion. As Erza's blades sunk into Fallion's body, she quickly realized she was not cutting into flesh. In front of her for some reason now, was the body of a skeleton. The skeleton, now cut into tiny pieces, collapsed onto the ground.
'So he swapped himself out…' Erza thought as she looked around. On all sides she was surrounded by an army of skeletons with Fallion nowhere in sight. 'I guess it wouldn't matter even if I did find him. Based on that last attack, he can swap himself out with one of these anyway.'
Erza charged in at the other skeletons at blistering speed, cutting through their bones before they even had a chance to counter attack.
"You may be fast and strong, Titania, but even you can't kill what is already dead!" A voice echoed throughout the forest. Erza looked around and saw the skeletons she had cut up were now forming back together again as a strange magic enveloped the bones. 'I see…' Erza thought. 'Even if I destroy them...then he uses his magic to fix them. Then all that means is that I need to keep destroying them until he is out of magic. This will be a battle of attrition! My stamina or his magic!' Erza gripped her swords tightly as she charged in at the skeletons once more.
"Just because they won't die if I kill them, doesn't mean they can't die if I keep killing them!" Erza shouted as she mowed through dozens of more skeletons.
'W-What kind of logic is that?!' Fallion thought as he watched Erza from afar continue to cut down his skeletons. 'These skeletons can really only handle normal mages. Someone of Titania's caliber...requires something different! She'll deplete my magic reserves at this point so I have no choice!'
As Erza cut through another skeleton, the skeletons around her began to glow. Erza looked around and the bodies of skeletons went flying past her, all convening into one point behind her.
'What is that?' Erza thought as the skeletons formed one massive skeletal body, that towered over the rest of the forest.
'Let's see how you deal with this, Titania.' Fallion mused.
Erza looked up at the giant figure as it reached one of its massive skeletal arms towards her. She quickly jumped into the air, landing on its arm as she ran towards its head. 'I'll finish this right now!'
Erza jumped in the air just above the hulking skeletal figure. Her armor began to glow once again, changing as her previous armor was replaced with a heavy black spiked armor that surrounded her body. In her hands, she wielded a large black spiked mace.
From above the skeleton, she dove down onto its head, cracking its skull as the rest of the skeleton's body collapsed in on itself.
'Dammit! She destroyed that?!' Fallion thought to himself. He grit his teeth as he took a knee. 'Using this kind of magic pushes my magic reserves...I'm just about at my limit…'
Just behind Fallion, a loud crash followed by a shockwave knocked him over. Fallion tumbled across the ground but quickly got back up. From a cloud of dust behind him, he saw Erza's figure walk out, still donning her Purgatory armor.
"Looks like you're at your limit." Erza said as she approached Fallion. She held her giant spiked mace up to Fallion. "Tell me how to get to the main castle."
"My limit?" Fallion questioned. Erza's eyes immediately widened and she quickly jumped backwards as a large surge of magical energy erupted from Fallion's body. Fallion was engulfed in a bright purple light as his features began changing, his human skin beginning to peel off, revealing only a skeleton.
"Behold!" Fallion shouted. "The true nature of my magic! Takeover: King of the Undead!"
Fallion stood in front of Erza. His head became a skull surrounded in a spectral purple fire as his robes turned into black armor radiating purple flames. In his right hand, he donned a large black greatsword.
'His magical power is much higher than before…I thought he was at his limit?' Erza thought as she stared at Fallion.
"If you won't tell me, then you leave me no choice. I'll defeat you right here and keep moving forward!" Erza yelled as her purgatory armor began to glow, being replaced by a white sarashi around her chest and red hakama with a yellow flame pattern. In her right hand, she held a katana.
Fallion charged straight at Erza with his greatsword wound back behind him. Erza leaped forward at him, with her katana wound back. As the two were within striking distance of each other, they clashed blades before seemingly going through each other. A crack formed in Fallion's black armor as they both remained still.
"You've bested me...Titania…" Fallion said as his armor shattered like glass onto the ground and his body collapsed. "But...that power is not enough to even contend with Master Doryu…"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
ShayZero
ShayZero I gave Erza a Katanagatari quote here.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone