"Fight you?" said Mikoto feeling stunned.
"What's the matter?" said Phantom Erza. "The Railgun that the real Erza knew would have openly accepted my challenge.
"But.." MIkoto knew that Phantom Erza was right. MIkoto would have taken the real Erza's challenge to a fight as a sign of respect, and openly accepted. But this Erza was different. She could tell that losing to this Erza didn't mean a knock out. It meant death.This wasn't any ordinary trial.
"Why do I have to pass this trial?" Mikoto asked. "What's the meaning behind it?"
"My job is test your resolve." said Erza. "Only those with true resolve can follow through with what will happen in the end...the end of all things. Your resolve must be stone cold, unshakable, like the power of Igneel, lord of the flame. So Mikoto Misaka, will you show me your resolve, or will you back down and let the multiverse die?"
Mikoto clenched her fists determindly. Her wings burst to life with radiant power. "If I remember correctly, last time I fought the real you, you beat me pretty easy."
"Last time, you didn't have the power of dragons to aid you." said Erza. "But unlike your previous battle, I will not hold back."
"Neither will I." said Mikoto.
Erza smiled. There was a sudden blur, Erza's black wing armor seemed to turn into nothingness as Erza moved at an incredible speed. She slashed down her sword at Mikoto who closed her wings over herself and blocked the blow.
There was a bright spark of lightning as the electricity travelled up Erza's blades and coursed through her body, blasting her back.
"Of course, those wings provide a defense fused with a powerful offense." said Erza. "But that won't be a problem for me."
Erza instantly requipped into her Lightning Empress armor. She dashed at Mikoto, slashing her blades with even more power and speed.
Mikoto was barely able to blocke the blades with the tip of one of her wings. Even then though, the blades powered through the electric surface thanks to the effect of Erza's armor. Mikoto was forced to leap back in order to avoid the blades. She landed right on the edge of the arena plat form and waved her arms to balance herself as she nearly fell into the pit of magma below.
Erza didn't waste any time stabbing her blades foward at Mikoto who narowly jumped out of the way again.
"Whoah!" Mikoto said. "She really is serious!"
Erza dashed along the arena, moving so quickly, Mikoto barely had any time to read her movements. Mikoto touched her wings with her hands. "Secret Art: Great Flashing Lotus Blade!"
Mikoto's wings instantly changed into two large swords made of lightning in Mikoto's hands. Mikoto slashed her electric blades outwards, blocking Erza's swords. A shockwave enimated from the impact of the blow causing electrical waves to blast into the walls of the heated cavern.
"Not bad." said Erza. "You have some unexpected skill with a sword."
"Unexpected?" said Mikoto with a grin. "I thought you said you had all of Erza's memories..she's the one who taught me how to use a blade."
Mikoto pushed Erza back with her lightning blades and dashed forward, slicing and dicing at extreme speed. Erza blocked every single blow, the entire cavern seemed to shake with the ever increasing magic power that was coming from the two combatants.
Erza then somersaulted over Mikoto and sliced at her from behind. Mikoto, sensing the danger, leapt out of the way, but not before the cold blades from Phantom Erza sliced across her back, leaving a bleeding gash.
Mikoto gritted her teeth and whirled around, throwing flecks of blood that flashed in the light of the molten magma. Several massive lightning bolts soared from her bangs and collided with Erza. Erza blew through the lightning bolts, her Lightning Empress Armor halving the power of the blow.
Erza then did a roundhouse kick straight into Mikoto's side, causing her to roll and tumble across the arena right on to the edge.
Mikoto backed away from the edge quickly, her swords dissapated and her wings reformed.
Mikoto looked down at the ground where she could see drops of her own blood..no not just drops..small puddles. "You really tried to kill me just now."
Erza smiled, a fiery challenging look in her eyes. No..this wasn't Erza..this was merely a phantom imitating Erza, her skills, her magic, and her memories...Mikoto needed to remember that. This wasn't a friendly fight with a friend..this was a fight of wills..a fight for the fate of the world.
Phantom Erza seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"I'm not your Erza." said Phantom Erza. "The sooner you realize that the better. All life as we know it is at stake..stop holding back."
Mikoto yelled out and slammed the ground with a lightning engulfed fist. A tremendous earthquake shooke the entire cavern and magma blasted out from all sides of the arena. "You want me to get serious...alright then..LET'S GET SERIOUS!!"
Mikoto's wings spread wide and blasted out a massive barrage of lightning from it's edges, boosting Mikoto forward like a rocket. Mikoto began punching at Erza with her lightning engulfed fists at top speed, the electic power seemed to light up her determined face as she strove to defeat Phantom Erza with all her power.
Erza continued to block all of Mikoto's punches with her blade, her face had an exuberant smile on it. "Yes..this is what I was looking for!! Such will!! Such determination!! Well then!! It's time I went full force!!"
Erza dodged another punch from Mikoto and kicked her aside with a powerful blow. As Mikoto smashed into the rock with a boom, Erza requipped in a flash of brilliant light...when the light cleared, Erza was wearing a brilliant golden and silver armor with the insignia of a silver dragon on the front. Massive metalic feathered wings spread out from Erza's back. Lightning bolts arched out of each of the wing's silver feathers with tremendous power. Erza now wielded a massive sword, electric power ran down the blade with impressive charge.
"That armor." Mikoto's eyes widened in recognition. "That's..."
"Golden Railgun Armor." said Erza. "You helped forge it..So, can you defeat your own power?"
Erza raised her massive blade into the air, a massive collection of lightning bolts blasted down at Mikoto with amazing brilliance. Mikoto thrust her hands out and blasted back her own lightning. An explosion rended the air as heated air allowed the power to combust with more power then usual.
Mikoto launched herself through the smoke and fire, blowing apart the debree with her wings and letting her lightning engulfed fist throw itself at Erza with incredible force. Erza blocked with her massive blade.
Erza pushed back with tremendous strength, with every inch of magic power she used, more powerful lightning blasted out from her armor, ripping gashes in the surrounding rock. Erza jumped into the air and sliced her blade outwards, letting the powerful blade smash right into Mikoto in mid air, had Mikoto not closed her wings at the last second, she would have been completely cleaved in two. The force of the blow caused Mikoto to explode into the ground with such force, that a massive fissure split the entire platform.
With a mighty rumble, the massive platform began to sink into the magma as the walls of the cavern cracked and molten liquid started pouring out. Rocks fell from the cieling of the chamber.
Mikoto stood on the sinking platform as magma began to creep up the surface, making the standing area smaller and smaller, Erza was hovering in the air, using electromagnetic energy sparking out of her wings to keep herself aloft within the chamber.
"So, this chamber must be pretty far underground to be able to do that." said Mikoto as she leapt into the air and did the same with her own lightning wings. "That must mean there's a lot of iron."
Mikoto didn't have time to think on this though, Erza had just shot at her smashing her blade repeatidly against Mikoto's lightning engulfed arms. Mikoto was now barely able to defend herself, her wings too preoccupied with keeping her electromagnetically alift to defend her.
Mikoto pummeled back at Erza smashing back at her with her fists, letting powerful lightning blast out at the same time, forcing Erza back.
The two warriors both attacked at the same time, the collision of their blows caused a shockwave so powerful, that they both were blasted back into the collapsing walls of the cavern.
Mikoto braced the walls with her legs and proppelled herself back at Erza as she did the same on the opposite end. The two of them continued to leap off the walls and collide with each other as all around them, magma, steam and rocks exploded from all directions of the slowly shrinking cavern.
Then, in a burst of bladed grace and power, Erza swung her blade in a motion Mikoto wasn't expecting, before they collided in mid air, Erza smacked the flat of her blade into Mikoto's shoulder, causing her to fly downards at the magma below. Mikoto managed to use electromagnetism to redirect her fall to a large sinking rock platform, colliding with it in a splash of magma. Mikoto screamed out in pain. as a drop of magma splashed out and caused the back of her shirt to catch on fire. Mikoto tore part of her burning shirt off so that the long bleeding scar from Erza's earlier blow was visible on her back.
"I am not going to end up like Anakin Skywalker." Mikoto growled as she threw the burning fabric into the magma.
Erza hovered above Mikoto looking at the collapsing chamber. "Do you see? This place only has minutes before you'll be buried beneath it...what hope do you have now?"
"If you really have all of Erza's memories." Mikoto said. "You should know by now that I'm too stubborn to care about that!"
Mikoto concentrated, gathering every ounce of magic and esper power within her body. This chamber..it was filled with iron..and not just iron...magma...magma filled with molten metal..under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be able to control it. Molten metal was amorphous, meaning it didn't have a crystal structure, so it couldn't be magnetized...however, by using her magic in combination with her personal reality to extend her control deeper into individual electrons...
"Hey Erza? Ever heard of electron degeneracy pressure?" said Mikoto as she concentrated all her power.
"What?" said Phantom Erza, not understanding.
"It's where all the electrons in the sun compress together to prevent the star from collapsing in on itself." said Mikoto. "With enough electrons causing pressure, it actually manipulates heat and dense gas...crushing even solid matter and plasma...something like this!"
The magma around Mikoto suddenly glowed even brighter as arcs of lightning ran all over it. A massive tornado of magma swirled up around Mikoto and blasted at Erza.1
Erza, taken by absolute surprise, swiped her blade, blasting the magma aside, but not before Mikoto hand boosted herself into the air with electrically charged heated air.
Mikoto punched her lightning engulfed fist straight into Erza's face, causing her to fly back into the wall.
Erza recovered quickly and launched herself off the wall, swinging her sword back with deadly force. However, her blade met a massive wave of magma that threw itself up and shielded Mikoto. Mikoto screamed out and electric power arched all over the magma, the rocks, the walls...and random boulders and magma as well as lightning began to throw itself all at Erza who agiley dashed across the wall and avoided every projectile.
Erza jumped towards Mikoto again, her blade alit with lightning powerful enough to light an entire district, possibly even a city.
But Mikoto held out a hand and stopped the blade. Electromagnetic power exploded out of the blade as Mikoto held it tightly in her hand, using the electron pressure to hold it at bay like an invisible shield over her body, she could feel the use of this power draining her magic away quickly, she had to finish this now..
With a final battle cry, Mikoto threw Erza into the air and rose up to meet her. Mikoto brought her hands together and raised them above Erza, her fists engulfed in the power of the Sparking Skies.
"Jaws of the Thunder Dragon!!!!" With that Mikoto smacked her fists down into Phantom Erza, causing her to fly down into the magma with an explosion of lightning so great, that the entire cavern whited out.
Just then, a second light seemed to glow from the phantom that lay floating in the magma...a light that had nothing to do with Mikoto's power. There was a massive white out in Mikoto's vision...and then she found herself standing in a strange dark chamber.
Below her, glowed a blue pool of water. And for some reason, she found she could walk on the water's surface just fine.
"Well done..." Mikoto turned to see phantom Erza standing only a few feet away, back in her normal armor.
"You have passed with flying colors." said Erza. "Now I can give you this."
Mikoto felt something on her collarbone glow red hot. she looked down at the area right under her neck, right abover her chest to see a small black flame tattoo.
"You must gather all three marks before you can recieve the piece of The Lord Of Destruction's heart." said Phantom Erza. "Remember Mikoto. None can even hope to go through with a destiny like yours, unless they possess the resolve to even lay down their life."
"I know that." murmured Mikoto. "I've known that for a long while."
Mikoto saw ripples in the blue water that was once still..it took her a moment to realize they were the result of tears coming down from phantom Erza's face and hitting the water below.
"My apologies." said Phantom Erza. "But due to the nature of Erza Scarlet's memories...I am currently feeling exactly what she would have felt had she witnesse this moment...and it is that she is eternally proud to have you as a member of Fairy Tail..."
"She actually feels that.." said Mikoto as she began to feel tears coming from her own eyes.
"Farewell Railgun." said the phantom as her form began to dissapate into dark mist. "Two more phantoms await you at the Gates of Thundaarix and Phasmaticana."
And with that, there was a massive glowing light, and Mikoto found herself standing in the black rocky field next to Natsu, Lucy, Nicole, Happy, and Elli, who all looked rather stunned to see Mikoto in such a state..covered in burns, bruises, her clothes in tatters, and a long scar across her back.
"M-Mikoto!" said Lucy. "What just happened!?"
"I'll let you know.." said Mikoto as drops of blood continued to drip off her back. "After I find a good doctor."