Chapter 76 - Expectations

                                    

                                          
***Third- person p.o.v***
                          
"You bastards," Natsu growled. 
                          
The dark guild snickered as their master grinned. 
                          
"Ah, don't move now or the girl here gets it," he smirked as Asuka whimpered in his hands. 
                          
The guild frozen place not knowing what to do. 
                          
An hour ago, it was just a casual day in the guild until this dark guild busted in and grabbed Asuka.
                          
One of their mages was a rune mage and apparently, he had a prepared rune barrier as all he needed to do was write the last rune to lock us all in. 
                          
In order to make sure we didn't try to rewrite the rune barrier, their guild master held Asuka and threatened to harm her if we even got close to the barrier.
                          
"Hmmm, looks like everybody's pretty much here. That's good," the dark guild master who we learned was known as Kaiser spoke. 
                          
"You won't get away with this," Gray growled. 
                          
"Oh?" Kaiser smirked as he tightened his grip on Asuka. 
                          
Asuka whimpered as Bisca and Alzack yelled in a panic, "Asuka!"
                          
"Don't hurt her!"
                          
"Then behave like good little-"
                          
"Spirit Blow!" Rachel shouted as she burst through the wall and knocked back Kaiser, catching Asuka in her arms. 
                          
"Are you alright Asuka?" She asked. 
                          
Asuka nodded with a smile, "Thanks to you!"
                          
Rachel nodded back as she turned to the guild. 
                          
"Thanks for the message Freed," Rachel smiled giving him a thumbs up. 
                          
Freed nodded with a smile. 
                          
***Rachel's p.o.v***
                          
Turning back, I analyzed the enemy. 
                          
'Ten mages including their guild master. Not much of a dark guild more like a small group of troublemakers. I've still got to be cautious though,' I thought. 
                          
"Freed, Levy, Lucy, work on rewriting the rune barrier!" I shouted to them. 
                          
"We're on it!" Levy responded. 
                          
"Asuka, stay close. I won't let anything happen to you," I told her as she nodded. 
                          
'I'll have to hold them off until the rune barrier is down. My priority is protecting Asuka!' I thought determined. 
                          
"So, the star of the show has finally arrived. Perfect," Kaiser stated as he rubbed his jaw and stood up. 
                          
'Star of the show? Do they want me for something? No... did they let Freed send a rune message to get me here? If that's the case then this is a trap, but if they think I'll just surrender then they better think again,' I thought to myself.  
                          
"Rae! Be careful!" Laxus yelled. 
                          
I smirked as I faced the now charging enemy giving Laxus a thumbs up. There's no need for them to worry, because...  I got this!
                          
"Spirit Wave!" I shouted knocking back a few goons. 
                          
"Spirit Slash!"
                          
"Spirit Burst!" I shouted blowing goons away left and right. 
                          
I kept Asuka behind me as I focused on long range attacks aiming to keep them as far away from me as possible, but there was one problem. 
                          
"What's with these guys?!" I exclaimed as I fought them back over and over. 
                          
"They just- 'punch'- keep- 'kick'- coming!" I exclaimed as I relentlessly knocked back the same seven goons over and over. 
                          
Every time I knocked them out, they would just keep getting back up. 
                          
'There must be a mage reviving them with their magic or something,' I thought as I gazed around. 
                          
'Kaiser and two other goons are hiding in the back. One must be the rune mage and the other must be the revival mage, but what magic does this Kaiser guy have? I have to be careful, right now I need to make a path and protect Asuka at the same time!' I thought desperately. 
                          
One of the goons tried to slip past me and blast Asuka with a fire attack but I cut through his flames and knocked him back with my Spirit Slash attack. 
                          
"Come on guys, hurry up! We have to help!" Natsu yelled. 
                          
"We're doing our best! Be patient!!" Lucy exclaimed, frustrated. 
                          
"They made these runes quite complicated," Freed muttered with a frown. 
                          
'So they're trying to overwhelm me huh?' I thought before I moved. 
                          
"Prism!" I shouted. 
                          
Prism and I blasted the goons off of us as we cleared a path. 
                          
"Stay close Asuka!" I told her as I moved ahead. 
                          
The goons in front jumped in front of me to block my path. 
                          
"Sorry Master! But I'm going to need to make a mess!" I yelled to him. 
                          
"Spirit... Blast!" I yelled blasting them away hard as they got thrown into the guild's wall roughly. 
                          
I ran up to one of the two goons in the back by Kaiser and engaged him in a fight. 
                          
I kept Asuka in the corner of my eye as I engaged him in hand to hand combat. 
                          
He flicked magic from his hands as the other goons got up from the wall. 
                          
'The revival mage,' I realized. 
                          
I quickly spun behind him and grabbed his arm and twisted it before knocking him to the ground and kicking him in the face, knocking him out. 
                          
I let out of breath before I turned towards the approaching revived goons. 
                          
"Asuka, hang on tight," I told her before she latched onto my leg. 
                          
I charged up my magic as I planted my feet. 
                          
"Spirit... Wave!" I shouted blasting away all the goons and one fierce wave of light. 
                          
"Game set, match."
                          
 I turned sharply at the voice and widened my eyes at the sight. 
                          
Prism shrieked out to me as she gazed at me panicked. 
                          
Kaiser smirked as he held Prism up in a rune cage. 
                          
He snapped his fingers as he and his men started disappearing. 
                          
"Oh, you didn't think we were after you, did you?" He smirked as I moved to stop him. 
                          
I reached out to grab Prism, but Prism disappeared with them right as I swiped my hand. 
                          
I stumbled on my feet as I stared forward. 
                          
"I'll always protect you I promise!"
                          
"I never want you to go through what I've been through."
                          
"I won't let anything happen to you."
                          
Freed and the others finally swiped away the rune barrier as I fell to my knees. 
                          
A heart-wrenching cry escaped my lips as I screamed in anguish. 
                          
The guild came up from behind me as Freed fell to his knees beside me as he embraced me for some attempt of comfort. 
                          
But I couldn't be comforted. 
                          
Not now. 
                          
I just lost a friend. 
                          
Today I broke a promise. 
                          
Today, I failed.
                          


                          


                          


                          
A/N: So, due to how late this chapter came out I won't update the next chapter until Thursday or Friday. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to Vote, Comment, and Enjoy your day everyday!!!