VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

51. True Freedom.

The scream died down, red remnants of a malicious magic dissolving in the wake of Eir's greater blue magic.

Jellal fell, weak-limbed, onto his knees, gasping for breath, his voice hoarse. "W- What did you do..." he choked out, "you bastard–"

Eir sighed in relief. His headache was ebbing away– that meant that at least, the possessing presence was gone. Millianna mentioned a former head of this tower– that must have been it, then. But now that it's gone, there's nothing Eir can do to pursue it.

Eir looked upon the runes in his arms.

He couldn't read it, but it was glowing dangerously. The purple writing trailed from his fingers all the way up to his face, and much more laid under his clothes. Some of the wording looked clumsy, which made sense, seeing as it was applied in an irrational mind.

Whatever this was, it was going to be trouble if Jellal activated it now. Eir literally ran loads of magic through Jellal and into this spell right back to Eir's own body, just to ensure Jellal wouldn't die from Magic Overload.

Jellal choked out a laugh. "Too bad for you," he says, "that spell can't be deactivated without the cancellation code."

"What is it?" Eir asked.

"A self-destruction spell," Jellal answered.

Eir cringed. Of all the things you're not supposed to put on a human being. "So, it'll take the magic you put in the runes, inflate it, and cause a great rupture before absorbing the force, destroying my body while preventing huge collateral damage."

"Wha–" Jellal gasped, "how do you know so much about–"

"Well, I've seen it before. Slightly different version, but same thing," Eir said, filling the spell with even more magic, until it began to glow a dangerous pink. "Looks like you were sloppy on a few spots of the runes, so if I fill it with too much magic for it to handle–"

"You still have magic? And no– if you do that–" Jellal cursed, ducking his face under his arms.

"Eir, wait!" Erza yelled, "that doesn't look safe–!!"

A loud explosion thundered through him, leaving cracks in his skin briefly before the fire and light engulfed Eir's upper half, the blast sending shockwaves reverberating through the hall, a strong wind that pushed Erza back against the throne as Jellal struggled to stay grounded.

Erza's jaw dropped in horror. "No– EIR!"

The wind settled. The smoke dissipated.

And Eir stood, his clothes burned away– and the right side of his body was scalded dangerously, seared through to his neck, mildly around his face– but there was no blood, and the burns were surface level.

"...They'll explode by failed activation," Eir finished, picking up the remnants of his charred jacket to wrap around his hand, forming a glove. "You know– without the spell actually working to make it explode in the first place. Meaning it's a lot less lethal."

It stung, though. The incredible pain, the horrid burns– but hey, it hurts a lot less than the one back then. Still hurts like a bitch though. Ah, Jura's going to be so mad that I got another injury. Let's hope this one doesn't scar.

("But it's gone!" she celebrated. "We can go. We can run!")

(Two children, their backs burned through, their heads aching and their ears ringing, tears in their eyes and their hands held dearly against each other's faces.)