Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Shirotsume.
June 1, x792.
*Flash!*
The light obscuring Dimaria from view faded a moment later. And when it did, Dimaria was once again revealed. Yet, very little of her original features could be seen.
Now, Dimaria seemed to be coated in shadow with only her jaw and mouth visible. Her eyes were replaced with two small points of light, and her clothing was replaced with what looked like a full bodysuit made from shadows while the shadows on her head billowed like smoke. {Pic}
"Your time has come." Dimaria said in a completely unnatural tone of voice. "You have done well to push me to this point. But the end has arrived."
"So, am I talking to Dimaria or Chronos right now?" Ultear asked while dropping into her fighting stance.
"The distinction is unnecessary." Dimaria said without much inflection. Then, she raised her right hand and pointed at Ultear with her index finger. "[Age Ray]."
*Buzz!*
In the next instant, Dimaria fired a concentrated beam of magic power from her fingertip. Then, at almost the exact same time, a hole just a bit bigger than the tip of Dimaria's finger appeared in the wall of a nearby building.
Yet, Ultear was nowhere to be seen.
Just before the beam was fired, Ultear vanished in a burst of speed before reappearing to Dimaria's right with both arms raised as she swung Kinsi down at Dimaria's chest and back.
*Clang!*
However, before the claws could bite into Dimaria's body, she swung her arm and knocked both claws away before throwing a side kick at Ultear's abdomen.
*Bang!*
Luckily, Ultear was able to cross her claws in front of Dimaria's kick, negating the damage. However, the force behind the kick sent her flying backwards, though she managed to land on her feet with little issue.
However…
"[Age Scratch]."
… before Ultear could rush back in, Dimaria chanted a spell. Then, a number of, what appeared to be, clock hands appeared around her before shooting at her from all directions.
"[Ice-Make: Sphere]." Ultear chanted while making her casting gesture. However, she did not stop there. "[Ice-Make: Bullet Storm]. [Arc of Time Magic: Flash Forward]."
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
While the clock hands hammered against the [Sphere] Ultear manifested around herself, she also fired off a hail of [Ice Bullets] at Dimaria. On top of that, she increased their time with her [Arc of Time Magic].
Yet, before any of the [Ice Bullets] could get within five feet of Dimaria they all came to a stop.
"How foolish." Dimaria said in that unnatural tone. "Trying to manipulate time before the God of Time. It seems I've overestimated you."
"Not really." Ultear replied with a smile as she crossed her claws in front of her. "But I figured getting you talking for a moment would be the best way to create an opening for this. [Soar Upon the Frozen Winds, Kinsi]."
*Voom!*
With Kinsi's [Release Command] spoken, Ultear's already sizeable reserves of magic power increased to a whole new level as the air began to shake. At the same time, the claws she wore were flash frozen. Then, the ice began climbing up her arms until it covered her arms, shoulders, and back. After that, the claws changed shape to look like the talons of an ice phoenix while ice phoenix wings grew from Ultear's shoulder blades. {Pic}
"What is this?" Dimaria asked, the lights serving as her eyes flashing a bit brighter as she did so.
Despite the fact that she asked that question, Dimaria raised her right hand and once again pointed her index finger at Ultear.
"[Age Ray]." Dimaria chanted calmly.
*Buzz!*
And once again, a beam of magic power was fired from the tip of Dimaria's finger. However, this time, Ultear did not dodge. Instead, she raised her right hand, spread the ice phoenix talon acting as her hand, and caught the beam.
*Scrape!*
The force of the beam sent Ultear sliding backwards. Yet, once she came to a stop, after leaving two tracks in the already damaged street, she held the magic power fired from Dimaria's finger in her hand with a grin on her face.
"Hmm... You actually managed to push me back." Ultear said with a hint of intrigue in her tone. "Not bad, I guess. But I expected more from a god. I guess the vessel is holding you back."
Instead of responding, Dimaria simply vanished from where she stood. Ultear, on the other hand, clenched her right hand, crushing the magic power she held, before slightly tilting her head to the right.
*Swish!*
At the same time, Dimaria appeared to Ultear's left, her right foot blurring past the location where Ultear's head was positioned only an instant ago.
"I understand that your control over time is even stronger than before." Ultear said as she turned her head to look at Dimaria. "But it's a little insulting that you just walked over here and tried to kick me. You could at least put some effort into it."
"[Overflow]." Dimaria chanted instead of responding to Ultear's mockery.
*Flash!*
In the next instant, a burst of magic power expanded from Dimaria's body in the shape of a dome. And because Ultear was so close, she was almost instantly engulfed by the overflowing magic power.
Yet, when the magic power settled, the lights serving as Dimaria's eyes brightened, showing a sign of surprise, when she saw Ultear standing there in the same position with no signs of damage on her body.
"*Sigh* I guess the release was too much." Ultear said in a disappointed tone. "It's been so long since I've been able to go all-out against someone not from the guild. Oh well, I guess it's time to end this. Maybe next time I'll get to have some more fun. [Ice Age]."
With Ultear's chant, everything in a half a mile radius was instantly frozen over. And that included Dimaria. Yet, not a single civilian or knight was caught in the magic's effects. Thanks to her magic power control and [Magic Power Detection], Ultear only froze what she wanted to freeze.
Unfortunately, that did not keep anyone from feeling the cold, made obvious by the sneezing that could be faintly heard from the distance. Luckily, thanks to the activated barrier, none of the people who had their houses and belongings frozen would have to worry about it after the barrier was deactivated.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Open Skies.
"Good job, Tear." Ur said into an earpiece connected to her lPhone. "Standby until I come back that way. I'll take you to the next battlefield after I drop off Lici."
Shortly after Ultear finished her fight with Dimaria, she called Ur to get a ride to the next location that needed her help. But since Ur was already delivering Elicia to face Greed, she told Ultear to wait.
"That ended faster than I expected." Elicia said calmly while texting Alfonzo. "I thought she'd have some more fun before she ended it."
"Tear knows her priorities." Ur replied casually. "She can play with her prey after the war is over. Until then, ending this as quickly as possible is the best course of action."
"Well, I can't deny that." Elicia replied with a shrug. A moment later, she flinched slightly. Then, she put away her lPhone as she continued. "We're here. Greed should be below us."
"Yeah." Artemisia just told me the same thing." Ur replied. "Give me a minute to land, and---"
"No need." Elicia said as she stood up. "I'll get out here. You can go back to pick up Tear. I'll ask Fonzie to pick me up when he's done."
"What?" Ur asked as she whipped her head around to look at Elicia who was walking towards the hatch of the Fairy's Tail. "Don't tell me..."
*Whoosh!*
"See ya later, Auntie Ur." Elicia said cheekily after opening the airship's hatch.
Then, before Ur could make a fuss, Elicia jumped out of the Fairy's Tail and started free falling.
"Damn it..." Ur grumbled with the hint of a smile on her face. "I'm gonna teach that brat a lesson someday."
With that, Ur turned the Fairy's Tail around. Then, she flew past Elicia on her way back to Shirotsume. And when the two made eye contact through the airships wind shield, Elicia made a funny face at Ur while Ur raised her middle finger before the Fairy's Tail flew off into the distance. {Pic}
Earth Land, Ishgar, Fiore/SSeven Border.
"*Sigh* How do I keep ending up in situations like this?" A young man with slicked back, shoulder-length white hair said while walking across the border and crossing into Fiore from Seven. "First, it was that decrepit, wannabe old man. But I managed to get away before he got himself killed."
Reaching that point in his monologue, Greed stopped for a moment. Then, he looked up to the sky.
"After that, I left Fiore and found an island to hide." Greed muttered while still looking up at the sky. "And that was the best few years of my second life. I actually came across Hotel Moscow and started living the life I've always wanted. The women... The money... The subordinates... I had it all."
Stopping his monologue once again, Greed gnashed his teeth before continuing in a growl.
"But just as I was living comfortably, that bitch!" Greed shouted angrily. He then took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. Before continuing. "*Pant* *Pant* That bitch, Balalaika sent word of me to the Alvarez Empire when her informants found out they were looking for people to fill the vacancies in the Spriggan 12. Then, that monster of an old man showed up and dragged me away. I could barely even fight back. I swear, if I survive this, I'll make that bitch--- Huh?"
Yet, before he could finish his thought, Greed noticed a fast moving object fly by high above him. But before he could start tracking it with his eyes, he noticed a dot that was growing bigger at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"What the hell is that?" Greed asked while squinting at the dot that was enlarging in his field of vision. "Is that... a human?"
After asking himself that question, Greed chuckled while shaking his head. He then looked up again to get a better look at what was falling towards him.
"No, there's no way." Greed muttered. "If a human fell from that high up, the only thing that would happen is a new modern art painting showing up on the ground."
While he continued to mutter to himself, Greed kept an eye on the dot just in case he needed to move away. However, just before the dot grew large enough for him to start making out details, his eyes widened when the dot suddenly tripled in size.
"That's gotta be some kinda weapon." Greed muttered while continuing to watch the sky.
Yet, as time passed, the thing falling towards him started looking more and more like a human. He also figured out how they would survive a fall from that height, as the human was holding onto something meant to slow their descent.
And before long, he was finally able to recognize that it was, in fact, a human. Not long after that, he could identify the figure as a woman. And when he saw that, he relaxed quite a bit.
However, it did not take long for Greed to go back on high-alert. Because it did not take much longer for him to see the woman's features. And those were features he was rather familiar with, despite the fact that he had only seen them once. {Pic}
"Oh, you gotta be shitting me..." Greed muttered while staring up at the woman descending from above. "Of all the women in this country I could run into, why did it have to be one of those crazy women who can kill my kind?"
At that moment, as if she was able to hear him, Greed saw the woman, Elicia, start waving at him like they were old friends. However, the act of waving her hands did not seem to be a particularly well-informed decision, as Elicia started to panic when she started to veer off course.
Lucky for Elicia, nothing bad came from her ill-thought out decision to wave. And before long, she landed on the ground a short distance away from Greed with a wide smile on her face.
"Hey! You're Greed, right?" Elicia asked cheerfully. "Lone time, no see! Do you remember me? Do you? Do you?"
Apparently, the impromptu sky dive was enough to raise Elicia's spirits after her run in with Neinhart. Because her smile was as radiant as it usually was. Meanwhile, Greed once again raised his head and looked up at the sky again.
"Why can't I be happy?" Greed asked in a forlorn tone. "All I wanted was money, women, status, fame, eternal life, and everything else the world has to offer. Is that really so much to ask?"