章 27: Futile Resistence

Earth Land, Ishgar, Isvan, Nameless Mountain Forest.

August, x774.

As soon as Ur, Lyon, and Gray arrived at Ur's house, Gray immediately rushed toward his bedroom. Seeing this, Ur and Lyon were both suspicious of what Gray was up to. So, they both followed him up to his room.

When they arrived, they saw that Gray was quickly packing a bag and filling it with clothes and other things he thought he would need to survive outside for a few days.

"Gray, what are you doing?" Ur asked, having an idea of what Gray was up to.

Like Gray, Ur also overheard the two men chatting at the stew stall. However, she hoped with every fiber of her being that Gray would understand that he was not yet strong enough to deal with Deliora. Although she did not know that Deliora was a demon, one created by Zeref a long time ago, she knew that even she would probably be no match for a monster that could casually destroy entire villages.

"I'm leaving to get revenge for my village." Gray said in a determined tone, proving Ur's fears correct.

"Are you serious?" Lyon asked while Ur remained silent. "You're talking about the monster that destroyed your village, right? I saw the way that thing left your village. You going there would be suicide!"

"So, what?" Gray replied, not even looking up at Lyon who was yelling at him. "That thing took my parents away from me, and I'm gonna make it pay."

Just as Lyon was about to shout at Gray again, he was stopped when Ur placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ur?" Lyon asked at he looked up as his teacher.

"Let him go." Ur said with a smile. "This is something that he feels he has to do."

Not only Lyon, but even Gray looked at Ur with bewilderment. Even though it would not stop him from going, Gray did expect Ur to try to stop him. Seeing that she only smiled at him with affection, however, caused him to hesitate momentarily.

That hesitation lasted only for a moment, however. Then, with renewed resolve, Gray continued to pack his bag. Once his bag was packed, Gray stood up and looked Ur in the eyes. Then, with sincerity, he bowed.

"Master Ur, thank you for rescuing me that day." Gray said in an extremely sincere tone.

"You shouldn't thank me for that, Gray." Ur said, never losing her smile.

"I promise, once I get my revenge, I'll come back." Gray said before he started walking toward his bedroom door.

After Gray left, Lyon, who watched him leave, turned toward Ur and spoke once again.

"Are you really gonna let him go alone, Ur?" Lyon asked in an agitated tone.

"Of course not." Ur said, making her way out of the room as well. "Hurry and pack some essentials, if we take too long, we'll lose his trail."

Hearing that, Lyon smiled slightly before he also rushed out of the room and began to pack.

Meanwhile, Gildarts, who had been tracking Deliora for the past eight months had finally found a solid lead. Like Gray and Ur, he had also heard news that Deliora was headed toward a certain village near a mountain.

Unlike Ur, Lyon, and Gray, though, Gildarts had no idea what the monster was called. The only thing he was concerned about was taking down the monster so that he could make his little girl proud of her dad.

"Just you wait, you bastard." Gildarts said in a determined tone. "I finally got a clue about where you are. And when I find you, I"m gonna put you down, just like my little princess asked me to."

As he spoke, Gildarts used his immense magic power to speed up his movements. However, he came to an abrupt stop not long after he finished speaking. The reason, he saw a little girl laying down on the road, seemingly exhausted from travel.

"Why would a little girl be out here in the middle of nowhere, by herself no less?" Gildarts muttered to himself as he approached the unconscious little girl.

Though he did not know it, this girl was the same girl that had been watching Ur train Lyon and Gray earlier in the day.

Removing his cloak, leaving himself naked from the waist up, Gildarts wrapped it around the little girl. Then, he took a rope from his back pack and securely tied the girl onto his back.

A moment later, with a level of control he rarely showed, Gildarts coated himself and the little girl with his magic power. This way, the little girl would not suffer from the cold, nor would she be injured by Gildarts' high-speed movement.

Like that, Gildarts continued traveling toward the village that would most likely be attacked in the next day or so.

A few minutes after Gildarts left, high in the sky, an all-black metallic airship flew over the spot where Gildarts found the little girl. However, because there was nothing there, the airship simply continued to fly forward.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Isvan, Unnamed Village.

The next day, at sunset, Gray finally arrived at the village west of the town closest to Ur's house. When he did, he saw the monster that took everything away from him casually destroying another village.

When Gray saw that monster, his eyes reddened immediately. Then, with rage burning in his heart, Gray sprinted toward the village and entered it in only a few minutes. Once he was in casting range, Gray took off his backpack and tossed it to the side. A moment later, he took the stance that Ur had taught him and made the necessary hand motions to unleash his [Ice-Make Magic].

"Ice-Make: Lance]!" Gray shouted as he pumped nearly half his total magic power into the spell he cast.

An instant later, a silver-blue magic circle appeared in front of Gray's hands and just over two dozen ice spears formed and shot toward Deliora. To Gray's surprise, however, instead of piercing the monster in front of him, the spears shattered on impact.

"Wha...?" Gray exclaimed in confusion. "They didn't even... scratch it?"

Although the ice spears did not damage it in the slightest, they did succeed in catching Deliora's attention. Unfortunate for Gray, however, all that did was annoy Deliora and add Gray to its list of things to kill.

"*Roar!*" Deliora bellowed in annoyance.

A moment later, Deliora took two steps toward Gray, forcing Gray to crane his neck in order to see the monster's face. However, while Gray was distracted by Deliora's size, Deliora had already flung its leg at the unsuspecting child.

"[Ice-Make: Shield]." Ur's voice rang out over the destroyed village.

Just as Deliora's leg was only an instant from bursting Gray's body like a watermelon, a purple ice wall sprung up between Deliora's foot and Gray. Unfortunately, the wall was not strong enough to halt the kick's momentum completely.

*Crash!*

Upon contact, the ice wall was broken. However, it did succeed in slowing down the speed of deliora's kick. So, when the kick landed on Gray, instead of killing him instantly, it sent him flying into the distance with several broken bones. Luckily, Gray was still alive, and his injuries were not life threatening.

Before Gray could slam into the ground, Ur who had been flying atop an ice eagle she had created with Lyon, landed on the ground in Gray's flight path and caught the unconscious boy.

"*Sigh* I'm glad I followed you." Ur said with concern lacing her tone. "I don't know what I would have done if I had let you go off to your death alone."

A few seconds later the ice eagle that was still carrying Lyon landed next to Ur. Then, Lyon hopped off its back. When Lyon landed on the ground, the eagle melted and turned back into magic power that dissipated in the air.

"Ur, is Gray... okay?" Lyon asked, also concerned about his fellow disciple.

"He's hurt, but he'll be fine after some medical treatment." Ur said as she handed Gray to Lyon. "Now, get some distance from here with Gray. I'll do what I can to stop this monster."

"But Ur..." Lyon said, clearly concerned for Ur's safety.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to the two of you." Ur said with a reassuring smile on her lips. "Now, go!"

With that, Ur pushed Lyon away before making the hand movements to use her magic.

"[Ice-Make: Rose Garden]." Ur said, chanting a new spell.

In the next instant, Ur's icy purple magic circle appeared in front of her hands. Then, several dozen purple ice roses grew in front of Deliora and began to climb up the demon's legs in order to bind and freeze it. However, before they could get very high, Deliora roared once again. This time, rather than annoyance, his roar was filled with rage as the thorns on the rose's stems were able to pierce its skin.

With force, Deliora kicked at the rose stems, causing them to shatter. Then, hit looked at Ur, the tiny human standing before it, with anger swirling in its eyes.

Since her [Rose Garden] was able to stop Deliora for a moment, Ur was able to take her first good look at the titanic creature she was facing.

Deliora was a massive dark-blue, humanoid creature. It's large torso and neck had spikes growing from each side while its equally large arms ended in a pair of scaly claw-like hands. And its feet resembled the talons of a bird with spikes growing out of the backs of its ankles. Meanwhile, it appeared to have a mane that grew to the nape of its neck, pointy fangs that protrude from its mouth, a pair of horns that point upward growing from a plate on its forehead, and a pair of hollow eye sockets.

"Damn that's one ugly... whatever it is." Ur said, taking her stance once again.

Just as Ur was ready to cast another spell, Deliora opened its mouth and began gathering energy in its throat.

"This doesn't look good." Ur muttered as she cast another spell. "[Ice-Make: Shield]."

This time, Ur pumped much more magic power into her spell, causing a much thicker ice wall to grow from the ground. Then, just as the wall was finished forming, a lime green light beam was shot from Deliora's mouth, impacting the ice wall less than a second later.

*Crash!*

When the energy beam struck the ice wall, the wall did not break immediately. However, it was clear that it would not last long as cracks were spider-webbing across the entire structure. This did, however, give Ur enough time to move away from the destruction.

*Boom!*

Just as Ur got out from behind the ice wall, the entire wall, along with part of the ground surrounding it exploded, sending shards of ice and debris in all directions.

"[Ice-Make: Geyser]!" Ur shouted, casting another spell.

Just before the debris from the explosion could catch up to her, Ur spun around and cast yet another spell. This time, purple ice exploded from the ground like a geyser, stopping the debris and shockwave from reaching Ur.

Unfortunately, before Ur could react, Deliora charged through the new ice construct as if it were wet paper and kicked Ur, sending her flying just as Gray had before.

*Bang!*

Ur was then sent flying into the ruins of a building, causing the destroyed wall she slammed into to crater.

"*Cough* *Cough*" Ur coughed up a mouthful of blood on impact.

Unfortunately, before Ur could gather herself once again, a large ice shard buried itself in the wall, cutting off her right leg from below the knee.

"Argh~~~!" Ur screamed in pain.

Instead of falling, however, Ur gritted her teeth and pushed away from the wall. Balancing on one leg, she used her magic once more.

"[Ice-Make: Leg]." Ur chanted.

A moment later, a leg made out of ice grew from her bleeding stump. She then used her [Ice Magic] to freeze her severed leg, hoping that there would be a chance of having it reattached once this whole mess was over. Provided she lived through it, that is.

With her leg now usable once again, Ur continued to throw spell after spell at Deliora while avoiding all his counterattacks. Unfortunately, although she was able to deal some damage to the demon, its regenerative ability was too much for Ur to handle.

"If things go on like this, I'm gonna run out of magic power before I can take that thing down." Ur said through labored breaths. "I'd better go all-out before I'm forced to use my last resort."

With that, Ur decided that she would use her most powerful spells to hopefully put an end to this fight, once and for all.

"[Ice-Make: Rosen Krona]." Ur chanted.

Then, one extremely massive rose grew from the ground at Deliora's feet. As it climbed, its thorns pierced Deliora's body, injecting large amounts of freezing energy into the demon from the inside. Unfortunately, Ur could tell that this would be far from enough to stop Deliora for good.

"[Ice-make: Volcano]." Ur chanted once again, channeling all the magic power she could spare.

With that last spell, A mountain made of ice shot up from the ground right under Deliora. When it did, it sent the giant demon flying up into the air. Then, as Volcano's due, the mountain erupted. With its eruption, the volcano shot out an uncountable number of sharp ice fragments, most of which cut into Deliora as he flew through the air.

Eventually, the magic empowering the volcano ran out, causing the mountain to melt away into motes of magic power. Then, Deliora fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

*Boom!*

Now, breathing even harder than she had been before, Ur waited for the final result of her attack.

Unfortunately, that attack was not enough to finish off the demon in front of her. From her position, she could see the wounds inflicted by the numerous ice fragments were healing at high speed. At the same time, Deliora was picking itself up from the ground. And although it did not have any eyes, Ur could feel its rage radiating from its eye sockets.

"*Sigh* I guess I have no choice." Ur said in a resigned tone.

A moment later, however, Ur's eyes were filled with resolve. Then, she took a stance that she had never shown to Gray. However, Lyon in the distance had seen it once before and knew what it meant.

"Ur... You can't!" Lyon shouted loud enough for Ur to hear. "Come on, just run away!"

'I wish I could, Lyon.' Ur thought as she glared at Deliora who was creating another energy beam in its mouth.

At that moment, Gray woke up. When he did, the first thing he noticed was Lyon begging for Ur to run away. So, he turned his attention toward the direction Lyon was shouting at. And when he did, his face grew even paler than it already was due to the pain he was feeling.

"No, because of me, Ur is about to die." Gray muttered.

Just before the energy beam was ready to fire, Ur had completed the spell she was about to cast.

'Lyon, Gray, I hope you'll be able to lead happy lives once this thing is gone.' Ur thought as she flared her magic power.

"Iced she..." Ur said, about to invoke her final spell.

Before Ur could finish, however, she felt a gust of wind rush past her.

"Haha! I finally found you!" Said a male voice from Deliora's feet.

*Bang!*

Then, just before Deliora could shoot its energy beam, its head was knocked upward, violently. Then, the energy beam was shot up into the sky while Deliora was sent flying with a clearly shattered chin.

"Damn... Howe the hell did it take me eight months to find this thing?" Gildarts asked as he landed on the snowy ground where Deliora once stood.