Fairy Tail: Swallow the Fire

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The Obon Festival was a drug to the people of Himura village.

It didn't matter who died, everyone had a way to communicate with them, at least for a few days every year. 

This concept was a popular message that drew the attention of outsiders to the secluded village, making several thousand from all across Fiore convene at the location. This resulted in last year's festival being extremely lively.

And delicious. 

Souls danced across the streets and flew around the sky in an abundance unmatched by the previous festivals held throughout the century prior. And all of these celebrating souls were substance to the undead demons that had purposely brought them all here through the usage of her thrall.

You see, souls were an easy way for those who carry the genetics of demons to obtain strength. Through their consumption they can grow in power, however this comes with debilitating returns. The stronger the demon the less useful a weak soul will be. Thus, the former demonic princess, Empusa von Ifriti needed to consume the souls of these pathetic mortals in abundance so that she could be powerful enough to devour her true prey.

Her ancestor, the former demon overlord who taught their bloodline the majesty of flame who could stand toe to toe with the gods, Aetna. 

Over a thousand years have passed since his entombment, but despite having been weakened, his soul is still stronger than many wizards will ever hope to match. Such was the strength of his majesty, as even a fraction of his full strength could make volcanoes freeze over as their heat would pale in comparison to his own.

Empusa needed to be confident in her strength. She wasn't planning on using fire against someone who would have much more talent in their art, as even a fool could tell you that would be a losing battle. Instead, she would have to resort to her curses, her masterpieces that would use the sins of the target against them. 

The Eight Curses of Purgatorio. Seven for each deadly sin, and one for the reward of being cleansed from sin.

It was these curses that put a target on her head, though. She was a kind woman, albeit with a slight temper. Thus she created curses that would use the negative emotions of the target to generate the curse power she lacked.

The Etherious, Mard Geer, wanted these curses for himself. He wanted to study them, and use them, but was also afraid of them being used against one as great as himself. After all, of all the demons alive, who would have greater amounts of curse power than himself? No one. And these curses could be used to turn his own power against him.

And thus he hunted her down, killing each and every person that might have even a semblance of knowledge about these curses. He feared them as much as wizards would fear bane particles, even if he wouldn't admit it.

The proud man would rather die.

But Empusa chose to die herself, burning her own body alive so that he wouldn't get the knowledge of these curses as she doubted she would have been powerful enough to fight him even with the curses she created.

She died with immense hatred in her heart, however. She and every other member of the Ifriti clan. They became wraiths, ghosts that sought only revenge, and hearing the last of their line calling for them gave them a chance to get that revenge.

The Ifriti clan began to devour the souls that were summoned alongside them so that they could devour their progenitor and let their youngest of kin devour them, passing on their will in the process.

Which is why they were disappointed with the outcome of the third year of their plan. 

While the second year was a bountiful feast thanks to the machinations of their living servant, Himura Ohta, this year there were no souls to be found. Tourists and citizens alike were panicking and outraged by this fact for various reasons, creating chaos across the village that they had no choice but to act upon...

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Within the heart of the village, guards attempted and failed to calm down the rampaging occupants. Amongst the black-robed pyromancers and enchanters stood a few notable characters.

"Uncle! Do you have any clue as to what's happening!?" Shouted Akihiko, the Vice-Captain who led the village's police force.

"No! This has never happened before! I can only assume the spirits were angered by something and refused to come!" Barely hearing him over the raucous populace, the giant elderly man yelled back. His attention was grabbed as he saw one of his subordinates' two-toned hair which gave him an idea. "Totomaru!"

"Yes, Captain!?"

"Work with Vice-Captain Akihiko to begin guiding people outside of the city! Move quick, I have a bad feeling!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The rampage of angry civilians continued for a long minute before a cloud of pungent-smelling orange flames began to roll above the crowds. Disgusted by the smell, people began to vomit and recoil due to the extreme sulfuric stench. 

"If you want the smell to go away then begin evacuating the town! Move it, people! Move it!"

The sound of the crude Vice-Captain offering them a reprieve from the stench was welcomed, albeit begrudgingly, by the masses. Making her way over to the titanic captain, a young thirteen-year-old girl with purple eyes coughed with disdain towards her colleagues' actions. 

"*cough* *cough* *cough* Was that really a good idea, Captain?"

"Aye, lass," Captain Tatsuo responded, covering his nose with the sleeves of his black haori. "Do you not feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"It's midnight, Lyssa. It should be cold, even in this Himura, but it's growing hotter by the second."

The purple-eyed girl looked around with her senses open, and sure enough, despite the moon sitting at the highest point of the sky it was well over 30 degrees (80 in Fahrenheit) and steadily rising. 

As the hour ticked by more people, citizens and tourists alike, were being guided out of the village. But the ever-aware Captain Ito Tatsuo kept his senses open to anything out of the ordinary. His immediate attention was locked onto the moon that slowly progressed from the pale yellow it's usually beholden to, instead adopting a vibrant violet shading that bathed the basin in a beautiful shade of purple.

The only thing that tore his attention from it was the eruptions of purple flame and rock that shook the ground. 

"Ready up! We've got company!"

The Elite Guards that had stayed behind all heeded their Captain's orders as they too turned their attention to the eruption in the city centre. Hearing footsteps approach him, the captain turned his attention to find his fellow Captain, Ophelia Lockheed, looking at him with concern written on her face. He couldn't help but notice the katana she rarely carries attached to her waist.

"Have you seen that bald bastard Ohta?"

"No. I figured he would be with you."

"I haven't seen him since yesterday. Not even his daughter knows where he is."

"Hmmm." Tatsuo's guard raised even higher at that revelation. He had warned Captain Ohta that if anything went wrong with the festival, then it would be on his head. But his concerns had now pivoted to the potential dangers his colleague might bring if the sudden heat increase was in part his doing. After all, Ohta had become one of the only three captains that governed Himura Village's security, and that took a large amount of power and knowledge of his craft.

This concern rose because he knew what those purple flames and the sudden temperature rise were linked to. They were the reason he had settled down here, after all. He set out in his youth to prove his dominance over the element of fire, and his greatest feat of such power was killing the god of fire by himself. 

He had no luck finding any dragons, as even rumours of the Fire Dragon God Ignia proved useless since he couldn't find the creature. So instead he came to this city in case the fire demon sealed within had managed to free himself somehow, and only one person had the ability to do so to his knowledge. Captain Himura Ohta, whose ancestors founded the settlement in the first place.

His suspicions proved to carry fruit as the temperature skyrocketed the moment a hand punched through the concrete of the village's central trading market, causing several of the weaker pyromancers, healers, and enchanters to pass out due to the heat alone.

"Take the incapacitated and flee! Now!"

Many followed his orders and did exactly that, taking their comrades as they ran from the city centre and passed by the many barriers the original Himura established to cage the heat in the event of the exact events unfolding. But that didn't stop a few brave souls from staying. 

"You're not getting rid of us that easily, Captain. We're staying right beside you to assist in any way we can," said the purple-eyed preteen. Her words were shared with the other seven of the elite guards that had stayed.

"Tsk. Your stubbornness is rubbing off on your disciples."

"Considering the medics that are around, I can say the same to you," Tatsuo said as he smiled at his fellow captain.

"Hmph."

"Alright, listen up!" He barked as the being attached to the flaming purple hand slowly began to crawl its way out of the ground, "Medics, do your job and nothing else! The rest of you, try not to get too close to the fight! Use your heat barriers and speed to protect the medics! Don't try to be heroes! You got that!?"

"""""Yes, Captain!"""""

The sound of corrupted laughter drew their attention to the figure that had finally crawled all the way out of the ground and were met with the feeling of shock and revulsion. Captain Ohta stood there as a disgusting abomination with an insane smile on his corroding face. His flesh burned in several spots and black ink splots were visible underneath his burning robes. Several twisted and malformed wings, tails, and horns formed amidst his body with one of the horns curling backwards to stab into his own eye.

But despite it all, he still bore a psychotic smile filled with nothing but glee. "It burns so wonderfully! My mistress's embrace! I couldn't be any happier! Ahahahahaha!!!!"

"I knew he would become a madman one of these days, but this is a whole 'nother level."

Captain Ophelia began to draw her blade before Captain Tatsuo stopped her.

"Let me take care of this. Something isn't right, here. He's still conscious despite all of that."

With a huff, the elderly lady took a step further back while her fellow captain began to circle around their distorted former colleague.

"What's become of you, Ohta?" Tatsuo spoke with a measured voice.

"Aha! Well, that's simple! I've been enlightened! My mistress, the Violet Flame freed me from the shackles of my own will, and offered to me the sacred task of freeing the ancient evil Aetna so that she may consume him just as she consumes me!"

"But why in the world would you volunteer for such a thing? You were a wise man, so surely you must be aware that this "embrace" as you put it will kill you?"

"My life matters not before it all, you fool! It is my mission to be the ashe that may carry her will! Her will is indomitable, and clear! She seeks to consume, just as she had consumed the souls of our ancestors and she will burn anyone who will get in her way!"

The proclamation emitted by the dying man shocked and enraged the spectators, but none more so than Tatsuo who was friends with many who were likely snacks for this "mistress" during their lives.

"So you're idea of bringing in tourists?"

"Nothing more than a loyal servant offering up a platter to his master. The dead should be proud to serve such a noble goal!" As Ohta spoke, his mannerisms lost the psychotic nature he previously held and instead began to act more like an angry preacher teaching to an ignorant flock.

"Enough." His voice wasn't loud, by any means, but it carried the weight of a man who could end wars with his presence alone. But the deranged preacher only smiled at the venom he could dive out of the man more monstrous than the entity he reveres.

"Yes, quite. I can see you would refuse to accept my mistress' will. I will just have to indoctrinate you by force!" As he spoke, his arms became malformed while claws the length and width of swords emerged from his fingers. As the magic pressure he exuded turned the ground around him to magma, he leapt at the man in front of him, shrouded in violet flames that were counteracted by his opponent's own crimson fire.

-

Inside the soul of Ohta, another battle was occurring...

The landscape was comprised of shadows instead of ground with the sky encompassing a colourless white, the only differentiation being the black clouds that hovered above the two foes that clashed.

The first of the foes towered over the second, wild white hair was parted by a set of horns more regal than any crown, and six piercing red eyes adorned a monstrous visage. Jagged teeth that etched across his onyx cheeks were paired with a set of four jutting tusks. Six arms clad in black scales and violet flames swung at the ant of a woman not even the size of his fingernail. 

The black-haired woman batted her bat-like wings as she deftly moved away from each of the strikes that rocked the landscape around them. The battle they were engaged in wasn't real, at least in the form it depicted. No, for the two demons battled each other for dominion over the other's soul, and by proxy, the body they possessed. 

Empusa saw the figure of her ancestor snarl before readying an attack of larger proportion. Purple flames gathered in the Overlord's mouth before being released with a mighty roar.

"[Fire Devil's Rage!]"

A typhoon of flame was released from his roar that threatened to engulf the younger demon before she responded in kind.

"[Gluttony!]"

As the fire encompassed the woman she remained untouched, an invisible force separating her and the flames. She didn't remain stationary, though. Her own cursed energy was small, and she needed to get close to her opponent to use the curse she hoped would defeat him.

Her figure emerged like a flash out of the gout of flame as she ran up his nearest hand and took flight. His six eyes locked onto the impudent figure as she flew upwards towards his chest and attempted to shoo her away by bathing his figure in fire. 

"[Wrath!]"

This proved worthless, however, as with the cry of the word an impenetrable black and purple smog flew out of her mouth that smothered the flames enough for her to plant her hand above where one of the Overlord's hearts would be.

"[Pride!]"

In the next instant, an immense force of gravity pressed down on the figure that only grew stronger as he fought back against it. Only a second passed before he ended up kneeling against his will, and another few before he was completely flat on the floor of the soulscape.

"The more pride you have the more you must bear the weight of it upon your back," said a heavenly voice that flew just a short distance away from the collapsed colossus.

"You maggot of a halfbreed! Release me at once and pay for your treachery with your soul!"

"Mmm, no. I don't think I will."

With a satisfied smile, the exhausted woman took a deep breath before inhaling. More and more the ancient devil fought against his descendant, but it had become obvious who won the moment the curse took effect. 

Several minutes passed before she had fully consumed the soul before her, and when she did she felt overflowing with power. It took everything she had to keep her sanity focused on the task at hand. Once again she inhaled, devouring the realm she stood within and the soul that comprised it, the last soul she planned to devour before she herself would be devoured.

That was her plan.

That was her mission.

And she would burn anyone that got in her way.

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