Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Fight To The Death

{LEXI'S POV}
Apophis appears from the seal in a tight coil. He lashes his tail at me. The last time this happened, it went straight through me, the snake's intensely unstable magic power causing my own magic to rampage. I brace myself, raising my arms in an X.

This time he's solid. Not expecting a physical blow, I get whipped back into a charred tree, bark digging into my back and knocking the air out of my lungs.

I should've expected this. Before, Apophis had just been freed from a rock. While sealed inside Reiki, he had plenty of magic power in there with him to grow stronger. We're more powerful, but so is Apophis.

His aura is so powerful, the blue sky turns black as night. It feels like I'm getting sucked up towards Apophis. Reiki is by my side in an instant. My head spins but we manage to resist the vacuum pressure.

I feel nauseous as Apophis' malice fills the air. I grit my teeth and glare up at him. My body trembles unconsciously. Then the sky is blue again.

Reiki helps me to my feet. "Pull yourself together."

"Thanks." I wipe the blood from my nose, bracing myself for the bloody battle incoming. Reiki is here with me. We trained for this.

Reiki doesn't look good. The same thing as yesterday is happening now that the Seven Sins Seal is gone again. Barely contained vibrant blue magic swirls around Reiki. Glowing cracks reform on his arms once more, gradually picking up speed.

My magic power destabilizes in response to his. My wrist cracks where Reiki touched me. Glowing yellow mist leaks out, jolting me.

I wince. Our human shells are breaking. No wonder Apophis isn't attacking us anymore. He just has to wait until our magic overwhelms our bodies.

"We've gotta hurry, we don't have much time left." Reiki pants. He stumbles, clutching his stomach as another pulse of blue magic power frees itself.

"I have an idea." I tell him. "Unison raid with me!"

"That'll cause resonance!" Reiki protests. "You want to create even more magic power?!"

"Trust me." I look into his eyes.

Reiki swallows hard, then nods. He believes in me. We get back to back and link hands. Apophis watches but doesn't interfere. He's amused by the bugs in front of him, so caught up in his own superiority.

His cockiness isn't unfounded. Right now our chances of survival, let alone beating Apophis, are next to nothing. This gamble has to work or our human shells will be destroyed from the inside out.

Reiki leaves the chanting to me. Our magic power pulses and resonates. My yellow sphere combines with his blue; the air and ground are tinged green.

"Futaken kaminari seiiki!" I cry.

All of the magic power trying to force its way out of our bodies is given an exit via our twin sword thunder sanctuary. It flows into the land rather than staying near our bodies and causing us pain. If you have too much magic power, the solution is to use it.

Territory spells are a huge continuous drain on magic power. That's why no one uses them, because they'll suck even a wizard saint dry after ten minutes. You pretty much have to be a magic power source, able to continuously make magic power to feed the territory. Now we'll perpetually be at a less than full tank of magic power and it won't accumulate enough to destroy us, so long as the sanctuary is active.

It's working! Yellow and blue cracks knit together, and we still have plenty of magic power left over to beat that smug expression off Apophis's huge face.

"You're brilliant." Reiki grins at me over his shoulder, and I feel warmed by the compliment.

"Be careful." I whisper back. "His lightning attacks will also be much stronger."

"Got it." Reiki summons his twin swords.

These look like his slayer magic-infused swords. Since the blades are made of magic and not physical, hopefully they'll do more damage to a monster who's body is made of solidified magic power.

Reiki's body glows white within the emerald green territory and for the first time in nine years, he uses heavenly body magic. "Meteor!"

Reiki blasts off, aiming directly at Apophis's chin, and lands a direct hit, stabbing both swords in up to the hilt. Reiki's attack actually has an effect this time.

Apophis's head is thrown back by the force of the blow. Dark grey mist seeps out instead of blood when Reiki removes his swords. He flies back, knowing better than to touch the unstable magic power.

"Grand chariot!" Reiki yells. Rays of white-golden light pierce Apophis in several places.

Apophis hisses and lashes out, whipping his tail at Reiki. I fly up to intercept the attack. This time I'm prepared for a solid tail. Yellow lightning strikes his tail, slowing it down.

I brace my body to not get thrown back. I charge every pore of my body with electricity and let it all rip when his attack connects. "Static!"

Like touching a doorknob and getting shocked but a million volts worse, Apophis is zinged back. My hair sticks up in weird directions, fully charged. I won't let him touch Reiki.

Infused with heavenly body and knight magic, Reiki turns his body into his greatest weapon and rams into Apophis's scales over and over. I cover Reiki's blind spots, trying to numb Apophis so his movements slow and his attacks become dull.

Electricity crackles in the sky, the clouds swirling in a dance of blue and yellow. I loath to admit it, but his chaotic lightning is much more powerful than mine—like Dad's red lightning versus his normal attacks.

Apophis's scales are sharp, and getting bashed by them repeatedly is leaving us battered and bruised. Hundreds of small lacerations like papercuts burn across my skin. Reiki isn't in better shape.

He slashes and hacks, while I zap and block. We're causing damage, slowly but surely. I'm beginning to feel confident that we can win.

So naturally, everything goes wrong. Reiki and I have been so focused on Apophis's head and tail ends respectively, we didn't account for the middle of his body. Giant and coiled and full of power.

He's been slowly unraveling himself over the course of the battle, and now he's fully uncoiled.

He body slams me from behind, where I'm completely unprepared and undefended. He crushes me into the ground and I can't breathe. Multiple bones break. Everything throbs. I can't rise.

I can barely turn over to see Apophis lunging at me with fangs bared. He's going to eat me.

Reiki desperately stabs his swords into Apophis's neck scales, trying to knock him off course, but it's not enough. Reiki reaches for me, panic in his eyes.

"LEXI!"

"Reiki..."

Apophis swallows me whole and the lights turn off.