Celestial Heart (A Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 23: Vanished Sunlight

Candor's POV

This was going rather depressingly, if I'm to be truthful

Staying true to her name, Juvia was incapable of being struck by a physical blow, her body dissolving into water the moment the projectile (Gray's Ice Lances) pierced her would-be flesh. Which left us completely at square one.

I leaped backwards, narrowly dodging the scythe of water that had been aimed at my chest, ready to slice me into unproductive ribbons. I skidded back, losing my balance, forced to drop to a knee, fingers dragging through the ground I stood on to halt my sliding. 

This Juvia was quite the formidable opponent; even I had to concede that.

Gray wasn't faring much better. His Ice-Make magic was rendered useless by Juvia's liquified body, and that wound of his was looking worse with every glance I spared it. 

We'd learned that catching her by surprise wasn't a valid way of fighting, as when I lunged at her from behind, the magical knife flashing in my hand, I sailed clean through her, though she grabbed me by the collar at the last second and tossed me in the direction of another of her Water Locks; I would have been captured without Gray's intervention.

And I could not have been more furious with the fact.

If only I could have a clear shot at her neck... She was dressed so mundanely, without a hint of provocative intentions, that the only exposed skin I'd witnessed on her was her neck and face, but, with my magic, I preferred to leave my mark on the neck. Less questions if it was found there, than say, the forehead. That would take a considerable amount of energy, to explain why one obtained a tattoo in such a visible place.

Though I suppose that didn't really matter, given the situation. In any case, I needed an opening.

"Candor, move!" I was shoved roughly to the side, only to feel the sting of a liquid whip slit a diagonal slash across my cheek as I fought to regain my balance and keep off the ground (I was dirty enough as it was). The whip retracted, coiling up again around Juvia's clenched fist. I watched it a moment, making sure I was in no immediate danger, before giving Gray - who stood opposite me, his breathing harsh, face steamy despite the unstoppable force of rain pounding down on us - a curt nod of thanks.

I was losing focus. Black spots danced at the corners of my vision, drawing my attention away from the matter at hand. The world blurred, righted itself, tilted at an impossible angle.

This fight had to end soon, before I slipped back into the dreadful waters of unconsciousness.

I gathered the knife again, my white-knuckled grip lending an unhealthy dose of shivering to the short blade. The world tinged with shadows as I darted to the side, moving out of the way of another Water Slicer. Something tore, a sound lost to the deafening rain around us; I assumed she'd caught the tail of my jacket. Unfortunately, I'd grown rather attached to this jacket.

Just another reason to drown her in own watery oblivion.

"You're making Juvia have multiple heart attacks!" the water woman shouted as she just barely scraped her whip over Gray's chest. "Surrender, please, Gray-sama, before Juvia is forced to seriously injure you!"

"Who the hell you callin' Gray-sama?!" He threw his hands forwards, summoning another of his Ice Lances, another wasted bit of magic that caused Juvia no real harm, apart from her cracking heart, as she kept reminding us. "Any ideas yet, kid?" he added, catching my eye as we passed on another , dodging two separate Slicers that had a grand time trying to decapitate us both.

I shot him a pointed look, and he groaned, understanding. If I'd had anything up my sleeve, this fight would have been finished ages ago. 

But then, it dawned on me. A rough, risky idea that would no doubt cause me to lose my already shaky standing among the guild, but necessary if we wished to leave this battle as soon as possible. "Gray," I called, already gathering speed, flipping my knife into existence as I moved, "I assure you what I'm about to do is not out of animosity, but necessity. Summon an Ice Lance and launch it.... now!"