Bab 231: Waving the Checkered Flag
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Worth Woodsea.
November, x784.
As soon as Ultear caught sight of Brain again, she opened fire with her gatling gun. In response, Brain raised his staff, a sentient magic item named Klodoa.
"Oh, you want me to use a defensive spell, huh?" Klodoa spoke, the mouth on the skull part of the staff moving as it did. "Who would have thought the mighty Brain, master of the Oración Seis would need help dealing with a little girl."
"Just cast the spell." Brain ordered as he channeled his magic power into Klodoa.
"Fine, fine, whatever." Klodoa said.
Just as the ice bullets would rip through Brain, a shield made of [Darkness Magic], originating from Klodoa appeared, stopping them in place before they fell to the cave floor. Meanwhile, Brain simultaneously cast a second spell that he channeled through Klodoa, using it to amplify the spells effect.
"[Dark Rondo]." Brain chanted as several fear stricken skulls appeared around the head of the staff.
After a few moments, the number of skulls increased greatly. Then, Brain condensed them and fired a blast of [Darkness Magic] through the shield at Ultear.
Noticing the incoming attack, Ultear abandoned the gatling gun immediately. Then, she took her casting posture before casting a spell to defend herself.
"[Ice-Make: Sphere]." Ultear chanted as she pushed her hands forward.
A moment later, a sphere of translucent ice formed around Ultear just before Brain's spell could reach her. Then, when the [Dark Rondo] spell made contact with the sphere, it, along with Ultear, was pushed back, slamming into a wall of the cave.
*Boom!*
The forced of impact was so great that part of the wall collapsed, burying Ultear and the sphere under the resulting rumble.
"That should be enough." Brain said, lowering Klodoa before he turned away.
"[Ice-Make: Ice Geyser]." Ultear's chanting could be heard from under the rubble.
In the next instant, an uncountable number of ice shards shot up from the ground below Brain. As a result, he was sent upward towards the caves ceiling.
Instead of trying to stop his ascent, ignoring the pain and injuries Ultear's spell caused, Brain pointed Klodoa upward at the ceiling.
"[Dark Capriccio]." Brain chanted, the pain he was in evident in his tone.
A moment later, a beam of[Darkness Magic] left the head of the staff and punched a hole through the ceiling, allowing Brain to avoid the fate of being crushed between the rock and a number of sharp ice shards.
Once Brain was back on the upper floor, he checked his condition. Though he was covered in bruises and shallow cuts, he paid his injuries no mind. Then, he scanned his surroundings and quickly realized that he was in the same room where Wendy healed Jellal.
"He left." Brain said in irritation.
Then, Brain looked into the hole he just created. Seeing and hearing the ice shards either shooting through the hole or crashing against the lower floor's ceiling, Brain decided that fighting Ultear was not the biggest priority at the moment.
Instead, he left the room through the path Natsu made.
Meanwhile, Ultear, just after pulling herself out of the rubble looked around the room. Noticing that Brain was no longer present, she flared her magic power in anger and stomped her foot on the floor.
*Boom!*
As a result of her stomp, the floor beneath her cratered. On top of that, the pressure from her magic power caused thin cracks to appear on the cave's walls.
"Don't think you can get away from me, Brain!" Ultear shouted, loud enough that anyone still left in the cave would be able to hear her.
Naturally, Brain, who was still in the cave heard the angry roar. However, he paid it no mind. Instead, he made his way out as quickly as possible in the hopes that he would be able to find Jellal. Then, as soon as he reached the outside and saw all the frozen dark wizards standing around the cave entrance, he snorted in disdain.
"Useless." Brain said as he raised Klodoa. "[Dark Rondo]."
Like before, Brain manifested a number of fear stricken skulls around Klodoa's head. Unlike when he used the spell against Ultear, however, he did not condense the attack into a single target attack. Instead, he fired it in a wide area, all the skulls splitting off and destroying the ice sculptures that used to be the dark wizards he tasked with protecting the hideout.
As a result, more than a hundred fifty dark wizards, including Erigor died.
A moment later, Cobra approached Brain from the forest.
"What's the situation in the forest, Cobra." Brain asked, not even looking in Cobra's direction.
"That woman, Ur Milkovich, is going around decimating all the weaklings from the other Dark Guilds." Cobra replied.
"I'm actually surprised she did not come for me directly." Brain replied. "Instead, she sent her daughter."
"I assume you took care of her?" Cobra asked nonchalantly.
"No." Brain replied as he started to walk forward. "There were more important things to take care of. Killing her can wait until then. For now, I need you to track down Jellal. He escaped during the confusion in the hideout."
"Got it." Cobra replied before walking away in another direction.
A moment later, Brain came to a stop as one of the markings on his face disappeared. Then, without paying it any mind, he continued walking without a word.
About an hour ago, around the time Ur and Ultear caught up with Natsu, Gray, Lyon, and Sherry found another member of the Oración Seis, the self-proclaimed fastest man alive, Racer.
"Looks like you three have some pretty bad luck." Racer said from his seat atop a bolder. "Running into me means you're gonna die faster than you ever thought possible."
"We'll see about that." Gray said, immediately taking his casting posture. "Ice-Make: Bullet Storm]."
A moment later, nearly five hundred bullets created from ice appeared around Gray before they were shot forward at nearly the speed of sound.
"Oh, that's pretty impressive." Racer said, raising an eyebrow at the attack. "Pretty fast, too. But…"
A moment later, just as the ice bullets were about to hit him, Racer vanished from his spot. As a result, the bolder he was sitting on was riddled with holes before collapsing into a pile of rubble.
"… you're still too slow." Racer said as he appeared behind Gray.
*Bang!*
"Gah!" Gray grunted in pain.
As soon as he appeared, while still speaking, Racer punched Gray in the middle of his back. As a result, he was sent flying forward.
Meanwhile, Lyon and Sherry both cast spells of their own.
"[Ice-Make: Water Serpents]." Lyon Chanted.
"[Doll Attack Magic: Mud Doll]." Sherry chanted simultaneously.
A moment later, Lyon created a coiling ice serpent that immediately lunged at Racer upon creation. At the same time, the ground behind Racer began to liquify. Then, a large, bulky, humanoid arm made of mud extended from the ground, grabbing at Racer.
In response, Racer simply vanished from where he stood, avoiding the [Mud Doll's] hand. Then, as soon as he reappeared, he came face to face with the ice serpent.
"You all are better than I expected." Racer said with a grin. "Still, you're too slow."
Once again, Racer simply vanished. However, when he reappeared, a giant ice hammer was less than a second away from slamming into his position. Noticing quickly, Racer disappeared once again.
With that, Lyon, Sherry, and their two creations ran over to Gray, who cast the [Ice hammer] just now, and regrouped.
"He's too fast." Lyon said in a frustrated tone.
"Yeah, my [Mud Doll] would never be able to catch up." Sherry added. "Even with all my… Love."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Gray said, his eyes focusing on Racer once he reappeared. "But something feels off about this guy."
"What do you mean?" Lyon asked.
"I'm not sure." Gray said. "but I've been punched by someone moving at high speed before, and it hurts a lot more than that. It's almost like he's not really moving that fast, or something."
"What are you talking about, Gray?" Lyon asked with skepticism in his tone. "If he's not moving that fast, then why can't' we hit him?"
"That's why I said something feels off." Gray replied nonchalantly.
'What makes it even weirder, is that my [Magic Power Detection] is telling me that he's not moving all that fast either.' Gray thought to himself. 'But for some reason, I just can't react fast enough.'
"Well, have you had enough time for your little strategy meeting?" Racer asked, almost sounding bored. "If so, then I think it's time to bring this to an end. [Motor]."
A moment later, Racer appeared between Gray, Lyon, and sherry with his legs spread and spinning in an upside down position.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
As a result, before they could even react, all three were kicked away from where they stood. Then, before Lyon's ice serpent and Sherry's [Mud Dol] could attack, Racer vanished once again.
And just like that, for the next few minutes, Racer would appear and disappear frequently. As a result, every time he appeared one of the three wizards would be struck and sent flying. While his disappearances would be followed by an attack crashing into the ground where he once stood.
*Sigh* This is getting boring." Racer said, finally coming to a stop to look at the three allied wizards. "You're just too slow. So, why don't we change things up a little bit? [Vehicle Magic: Dead Grand Prix]."
With his chant, Racer raised his right hand into the air. Then, once it was over, he swung it down. In the next instant, more than two dozen magical motorbikes appeared to surround Gray, Lyon, and Sherry.
"I hope you're ready for a motor show from hell." Racer said as he jumped onto the nearest motorbike, which was the only one equipped with a pair of multi-barrel magical machine guns.
"As if he wasn't fast enough." Lyon said in an irritated tone. "Now, what do we do?"
"We have to destroy these bikes." Gray said.
Before they could continue any further, however, Racer took the lead in driving his motorbike towards the trio.
Immediately, all three jumped away from where they were standing. Unfortunately, that meant that they were once again separated.
Then, just as the three allied wizards landed, all the other motorbikes, which did not have riders, started charging forth, as well.
"Let's see how long you can survive." Racer said with a grin as he turned around and accelerated towards Sherry.
"Sherry, look out!" Lyon, having seen Racer out of the corner of his eye, shouted in panic.
Turning around, Sherry knew she would not have enough time to evade the incoming vehicle. So, instead of trying to dodge, she created a pair of [Mud Dolls] to stop Racer. Unfortunately, when they tried to grab on to him, their arms were destroyed by the momentum.
"[Ice-Make: Ramp]." Gray chanted as he slammed his palms onto the ground before rolling out of the way of an incoming motorbike.
At the same time, a ramp made of ice appeared in front of Racer's bike, too close for him to maneuver around it. AS a result, Racer and his motorbike were sent soaring over Sherry's head.
"Not bad." Racer commented as he flew through the air. "But not enough. [Vehicle Magic: High Side Rush]."
As he chanted, Racer removed his righthand from the handle bars of his bike. Then, after pointing his palm in Sherry's direction, several spinning, rubber tires appeared and were launched at her at high speed.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
With Racer even closer than before, Sherry was completely unable to react to his new attack. As a result, she was pelted by nearly a dozen flying vehicle tires, falling unconscious due to the damage she took from the attack.
"Damn it!" Lyon shouted angrily. "[Ice-Make: Eagle!"
From Lyon's hands, nearly fifty ice eagles were created and flew towards Racer. Unfortunately, none of them were able to hit as Racer's skill on the bike was quite impressive.
Meanwhile, Gray, having seen what just happened to Sherry gritted his teeth, feeling helpless to do anything. However, he noticed something strange out of the corner of his eyes a few moments later. More precisely, after the ice eagles slammed into the nearby trees.
Unsurprisingly, when the trees were struck, all the birds living on their branches flew away in fear. However, after they got more than a certain distance away from the battlefield, they started flying much faster. And when Gray saw that, he was finally able to put together all the pieces.
"So, that was what's going on." Gray muttered to himself as he dodged an incoming motorbike. "Now, we just have to do something about it. But first, we have to move this fight away from here."
Gray, after dodging another motorbike, grabbed the handlebar of the next one that passed. Then, letting himself be pulled away, he eventually flipped himself onto its seat.
"Oh, it even has an SE plug." Gray muttered to himself as he connected the SE plug to his wrist. "Who even uses these old things anymore?"
Despite his complaints, Gray took control of the magical motorbike and steered it towards Sherry. And he was just in time to side swipe Racer's bike that was about to run the unconscious girl over.
"Oh, now things are starting to finally get interesting." Racer said as he was forced away from Sherry.
At the same time, he instructed all the other motorbikes to attack Gray as well, deeming him the most interesting opponent on this battle field.
Gray, on the other hand, steered his bike towards Lyon. Then, once he was close enough, he reached out his left arm as he passed by.
"Grab on!" Gray shouted.
In response, Lyon reached up, caught Gray's arm, and pulled himself onto the back of the bike. Then, Gray drove the motorbike towards the trees to distance himself from Sherry.
"[Ice-Make: Water Serpent]." Lyon Chanted as he and Gray made distance from the clearing where they were fighting Racer.
A moment later, another ice serpent appeared. This time, it was coiled defensively around Sherry.
"Hey, Hibiki, can you read me?" Gray asked to no one in particular.
{"I read you loud and clear."} Hibiki replied with his [Telepathy].
"Sherry got taken out." Gray said while avoiding the obstacles in the forest. "Get Eve or Ren to pick her up and get her out of harm's way."
{"Will do."} Hibiki replied.
"I'm glad you're trying to keep her safe, but what are we gonna do about that guy?" Lyon asked from the backseat of the motorbike. "We still can't hit him. He's just too fast."
"Actually, he's not all that fast." Gray replied, avoiding a burst of magical bullets that Racer fired at them from behind. "We're just too slow right now."
"What are you talking about?" Lyon asked with a frown. "Isn't that the same thing?"
With that Gray told Lyon about the escaping birds. Then, he explained his hypothesis about Racer's magic. After that, he explained the plan he came up with to deal with him.
"Now, we just need to find a place where we can put that plan into motion." Gray said, concluding his explanation.
"Well, we better hurry up, then." Lyon said, looking back at the pursuing motorbikes. "He's starting to gain on us."
"I know." Gray replied. "I have to keep some of my magic power in reserve for the plan. We'll only get one shot at this."
"Then, I'll do something about those bikes, I guess." Lyon said, making his casting gesture. "[Ice-Make: Snow Tiger]."
A moment later, several tigers made of ice, as large as two of the motorbikes stacked on top of one another appeared between Gray and Lyon and the pursuers. While Racer was able to avoid them easily enough, the bikes he was controlling remotely were not so lucky, as they were quickly destroyed by the [Snow Tiger's] claws and fangs.
"Damn you little shits." Racer growled. "I'll make you pay for destroying my toys."
Like that, the chase continued for a little while longer with Racer firing bursts of his magic bullets that Gray struggled to avoid. Eventually, Gray made it out of the forest onto open ground. Then, after getting a good distance away from the trees, Racer was finally able to land a hit on the bike's back tire. As a result, Gray lost control of the bike. And he and Lyon were forced to jump before it crashed.
At the same time, Racer came to a stop not far away.
"I'll admit, that was a pretty good chase." Racer said with a smile. Then, his expression morphed into one filled with anger as he continued. "but you're still going to die. And I'll make sure that it is painful for destroying my toys."
A moment later, Racer's bike disappeared as he dismounted. Then, he vanished from where he stood and started rag doling both Gray and Lyon like he had done in the earlier battle.
"Ugh… For someone so fast… Ahh… Why do your… Urgh… punches feel so weak?" Gray asked while being beaten repeatedly.
"Yeah, Argh… Are you really even… Ugh… that fast?" Lyon asked while taking just as many hits as Gray.
As soon as Lyon finished speaking, however, the beating stopped.
"Are you mocking my speed?" Racer asked, sounding angrier than he had at any other point during the entire fight. "That is a mistake you will not live to regret. [Gear Change: Red Zone]."
With that Racer disappeared from where he stood once again. This time, however, neither Gray nor Lyon could perceive him with their five senses.
"Lyon, now!" Gray shouted as he flared his magic power.
Lyon simultaneously flared his own magic power as well. Then, both he and Gray slammed their hands into the ground. A moment later, an ice pillar large enough to hold both of them started rising from below them.
As time went by, Gray eventually stopped supplying his magic power to the growing pillar. Then, he created a weapon that he propped on his shoulder.
"[Ice-Make: Bazooka]." Gray chanted as the weapon was completed.
"How much higher do we have to go?" Lyon asked, fatigue seeping into his tone.
"Not much… I think." Gray replied. "No, that's enough."
At that moment, Gray could see Racer again. And he was running toward them from a considerable distance away.
"It looks like he was trying to build momentum, or something." Gray said. "But it's exactly like I thought. He uses his magic to slow down everything around him in a certain range while he continues to move at normal speed. That's why his punches didn't hurt all that much."
"Whatever, just take him down already." Lyon said, flopping down on his back on the top of the tower.
"Right." Gray replied with a nod.
A moment later, Gray fired his [Bazooka].
Meanwhile, Racer, who had no idea what Gray and Lyon were doing by raising such a large pillar sneered at whatever attempt they were making.
Then, before he could react, Racer saw a large shell made of ice coming at him at high speed. Immediately coming to a stop to avoid getting hit directly, he was unable to avoid the shrapnel that spread after the shell impacted the ground. As a result, Racer was flung through the air at high speed by the shockwave from the shell's explosion while being pelted by ice shards.
"Damn it… I wasn't fast enough." Racer muttered as the world around him started turning dark.
As he was losing consciousness, Racer, or Sawyer as he was called in the past, remembered the day he was captured to serve as a slave in the Tower of Heaven. At that time, the only thing he could think of was wanting to be faster. Fast enough that he would never be caught and forced into anything, ever again.
And with that, his link to Brain's [Six Prayers] seal was cut.
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