Erza approached the door to the room she believed to be where the leader was waiting. The door was a large, black wooden door with a semi elliptical shape. From behind the door, she could feel a dark yet dense magical power.
'The others haven't made it up. I can only assume they are still stuck in the maze. But I can't let this mage get away with what he's done.' Erza thought as she pushed the door open. In front of her was a wall of pitch blackness. There was not a single light that illuminated the room.
Erza took a few steps forward, the door she came through slamming shut behind her. Rows of lights mounted on pillars began to illuminate a pathway. A dim spotlight shined down at the very end of the pathway. There she saw a lone man sitting down on a black throne, his right leg crossed at the ankle over his left leg. He sat over slightly hunched to his right side, resting his chin on his right hand as he looked at Erza, his red eyes glowing visibly in the dim room.
"So you've arrived, Titania." The man said.
"You must be the one who was behind all of those killings!" Erza shouted. She began to walk towards the man but stopped in her tracks as the man emitted a strange dark aura from his body. She felt a strange pressure in the air as her body refused to take another step.
"Allow me to introduce myself." The man said with a grin. He stood up from his seat slowly, his dark magical power releasing an even greater pressure.
"I am Doryu, the "mastermind" behind those killings." Doryu said with a grin. Erza grit her teeth as she stared at Doryu in awe. His magical power surpassed even Zero's and felt even darker. She clenched the sword in her hand tightly as she stood her ground.
"What you've been doing...taking the lives of those villagers. This ends now Doryu!" Erza shouted as she charged at Doryu her armor glowing as she requipped into her Blackwing armor.
Doryu drew his own blade from his waist. It was a dark grey scimitar adorned with red jewels. As she swung her blade at Doryu, Doryu blocked it with his own.
"Quite a good amount of force behind that swing." Doryu commented with a smirk. Erza retained her serious look as she continued slashing at Doryu. Doryu grinned as he blocked each one, causing sparks to fly from the blades colliding as he parried each one. As Erza lunged towards Doryu once more, Doryu swung his blade back at her. Erza quickly leaped back from her lunge, landing several meters away. A gash formed on her right arm as blood dripped from it.
"You have good instincts. If you went through with that attack, I would have cut your arm right off." Doryu commented.
'That sword speed...he's faster than me. I don't think I can land a single hit with only one sword...in that case…' Erza's armor began to glow again, requipping into her Flight Armor. With two swords in hand, she charged towards Doryu.
'Oh she got faster?' Doryu mused as Erza lunged at him. Doryu prepared himself as Erza unleashed a flurry of slashes.
Doryu raised his blade once again, parrying each slash as the blades were just about to hit him. Erza continued her onslaught, attempting to keep Doryu on the defensive as she tried to find an opening. 'There!'
"Sonic Claw!"
Erza seemingly disappeared, reappearing behind Doryu with both blades held out at her sides. She turned around and to her surprise, Doryu was nearly unscathed, with only one small cut on his hand.
"Huh...I must be rusty." Doryu said as he looked at the wound on his hand. He looked back at Erza and grinned.
"Your skill with the sword is quite good. In a one on one fight, you could maybe defeat each member of my attack squad. Perhaps if you had another few years to train you could defeat me." Doryu commented. Erza remained silent at the remark as she gripped her blades firmly and stared at Doryu.
"Well then, now that I'm done testing the waters, how about I get serious?" Doryu said. He sheathed his blade and glared at Erza. Doryu's magical power began to rise drastically as he flared it up. A strong wind was emitted from his body, swirling in a vortex with Doryu as the epicenter as Erza tried to keep her feet on the ground. Around her she noticed parts of the castle were beginning to crumble around her. Bits and pieces of the wall began to break off, with rays of light peeking through them from the setting sun.
"Evil Storm!"
The strong winds became harsher. Erza stood her ground and put her arms up in front of her as black bits of magic began to pound her body. Her armor began to glow once more as the color of the wind became a visible black color. More of the walls and ceiling began to break off, getting caught up in the vortex of darkness magic.
"I'll show you...what real power is!" Doryu shouted as the room seemingly exploded. The top portion of the castle erupted in an explosion of darkness as the roof came flying right off, being caught in bits and pieces by the vortex of winds.
The winds began to die down, before coming to an abrupt stop. The debris caught in those winds fell to the ground. The dark room they were once in was now illuminated by the setting sun. Doryu looked forward to Erza. She remained standing firm, albeit heavily bruised with large chunks of her Adamantine Armor missing.
"Something like this...won't bring me down!" Erza shouted as the remains of her armor began to glow again. Doryu felt a large surge in magical power and his eyes widened with interest.
"That magical power...it's not bad at all." Doryu commented as he stared at Erza's new attire. She now wore a dual toned pink armor with a feathered collar and wings protruding from the pauldrons. Her waistguard consisted of layered pink plates over a lighter colored skirt along with layered pink boots that had a wing design on the knee guards. In her hands she wielded two swords with wing shaped guards.
"I believe all of your armors have names. I'm curious about the name of this one." Doryu commented.
"This is Armadura Fairy, my most powerful armor." Erza responded.
"I see. A fitting armor for the Fairy Queen." Doryu said. She unsheathed his sword once again and placed his hand on the blade.
"Enchant: Darkness."
A veil of dark magic covered the blade, turning its dark grey color into black. Doryu and Erza raised her two blades in front of her as a green magical energy leaked from them, taking form like lightning.
Both Erza and Doryu charged at each other, their blades colliding with each other as their initial clash and creating a large shockwave that leveled what was barely still standing on the top floor of the castle.
Erza slashed at Doryu in a cross cut fashion, her blades imbued with a green magical energy. Doryu raised his blade up in response to block the attack, causing a large explosion of magical energy as they collided. Doryu hopped out of the smoke and Erza gave chase.
Erza unleashed another flurry of slashes towards Doryu, with Doryu retaliating with his own flurry. Blood splattered on the ground as both Erza and Doryu received cuts on their bodies.
Both Erza and Doryu finished their flurry with one large swing, their blades clashing and creating another shockwave. The two of them paused for a moment, their blades still touching before jumping away from each other.
"This is the most fun I've had in years. It's a shame I'll need to finish you off now. You truly were a worthy opponent Titania." Doryu commented.
"I'm ending that fun of yours right here Doryu! I can't allow you to get away with what you've done!" Erza responded.
Both Erza and Doryu began infusing a greater amount of magical energy into their blades. More green lightning began to leak out from Erza's swords as more darkness flowed into Doryu's blade, causing its veil to flare up.
Without another word, the two of them charged at each other, clashing swords.
---