Nightmare Challenge: Ice Mage's Greatest Work! (No Interruptions!)

Flashback: Ari stood there before the job board. His fierce dark red dragonic optics shifting from one sheet of paper to the next, still hidden under the black hood. The look upon his mug was one of frustration. He knew he wanted to take a challenging job, but the majority of them seemed to be beyond his Teams grasp, which meant the bulk of them he couldn't do just yet. The male grumbling as he yanked down his hood wanting to get a better look at one of the few jobs that had caught his interest. "What's so nightmarish about some friggin' Ice Hack?!" He questioned aloud not expecting any sort of response. The guild hall was oddly barren today, which didn't really bother him all that much. He still wasn't really all that good with humans, so the lack of them seemed to actually be a blessing in disguise. "Sa'ight. I guess I'll take it." He said with a light hint of excitement lacing his tone as he ripped the sheet from the door and got a quick approval from the guild master. Once he had gotten that he set out for his own secluded residence. While at his residence he took up his Dragon Blade figuring it might come in handy given the job he was taking.

A Few Hours Later: Ari stumbled off the boat. His upper body void of any sort of clothing aside from the straps the secured his sword. "Hey kid, are you sure you're gonna be alright out here?", asked the man whom he'd gotten to agree to bring him to the island after he found out it was near impossible to reach by swimming there. Which had been his favored option. The youth swinging around to face the man, his features showing that he was still suffering from the residual throw-back from his motion sickness. "Yeah. I'll be fine. This kinda climate doesn't bother ya when ya got'a fire dragon's scales for skin." He said cheerful, giving the man an equally cheerful grin. "Wait for me a few miles off shore. If you don't see fire at this spot within say, two hours tops. Go to Magnolia Town and let the Guild Master of Fairy Tail know I'll be back in a day or two." He said giving a dismissing wave to the man as he turn his back to him and headed off into the blizzard which was focused only on the island. "Strange kid. Hope he survives." The man said as he began to distance himself from the island, as instructed he would wait a few miles off coast.

A few minutes after departing from the boat, Ari now found himself wandering through a minor blizzard that at the moment held the frozen island captive. Almost as if in spite of the harsh below freezing weather that surrounded him had yet to make any motions towards giving his upper body any sort of coverage. He didn't really seem like he needed it either, he wasn't showing even the slightest sign of being bothered by the climate. The snow upon contact with his flesh instead of freezing in place was actually melting instantly. One of the many perks of being a Fire Dragon's child. He continued onward, all the while keeping any eye out for any enemies. He seemed like he was growing impatient with the lack of things to beat the crap out of. "COME OUT ALREADY!! I JUST WANNA KICK YOUR ASS!!", he exclaimed loudly, his hands curved around the sides of his mouth in an unnecessary attempt to increase the range of his shouting.

He gave a dejected sigh when this shouting yielded no favorable result. He normally wasn't the kind to get discouraged, but given he'd spent a few hours sick on a boat just to get here, he found it oddly easy to be discouraged that he hadn't gotten punch anything yet. He quickly picked his mood back up and took off shouting once more. He made it a good twenty or so meters before everything went down hill, literally. The snow storm clouding his field of vision, he had no way of knowing it before it had already begun. He had run right off the side of a slope. Not a smart move, but truly a sight to behold, he hadn't just tumbled over the edge, no, he had been running fast enough that he'd gotten some pretty decent hang time before his descent. "Soooooonnnnn oooofffff aaaa bbbiiiitttt......", he half-way exclaimed as he went plummeting down the slope. His body slamming against the snow covered slope several times before he came to rest. This rest being presented in the form of the males upper body being submerged in a mountain of snow. The male thrashing about wildly as he tried to free himself. The very act of dislodging himself taking a good five minutes. "Whose the dumbass who thought it was a good idea to turn an island into friggin' ice cube, anyways?!?!", he snapped angrily before slamming his fist into the ground. The vibrations let off by his fireless fist impacting with the ice sending more snow toppling down upon him.

By the time Ari had gotten himself out of this second pile of snow he was met with just what he had been wanting this whole time. In front of him stood a woman made out of ice. "SO COOL! ICE LADY-YAN!" He exclaimed cheerfully as he jumped up and down excitedly clapping as he did so. "Shishishi. Bring it on.", he said as he lifted his right arm, his hand extended he would motion for the ice woman to make the first move.

Make the first move she did. The ice woman brought her right arm up above her body with her hand curled into a fist, her left arm held out in front of her body this hand being left open. She would swing her right arm so her right hand impacted with her left. The appendages separating as she said, "Violet's Whip", as these words left her a whip made of ice had formed with the separating of her hands. The ice woman drawing back her right arm, said arms hand grasping the grip of the whip she would swing it forth in a side-ways cast motion. The whip wrapping around the fire mage left arm. Both of his arms having been raised, but his left was easier to capture. The ice woman trying to jerk the male forward, but he held solid in his foot.

Ari grinned excitedly as he pulled his large sword and its holster from his being and let it slam down upon the ground. The ice actually shattering letting the blade sink into it due to its ridiculous weight. He quickly brought his arms up, his fists placed so they protected the lower half of his facial structure. He watched closely as the whip was swung. Instead of trying to evade it he actually moved in a way that made his left arm an easy target. The ice whip wrapping around his left forearm tightly. Instead of letting the ice woman pull him forward, he tugged back against her motion, using his immense physical strength to force her into the air and sailing right for him. The fire dragon now letting a mass of flames erupt from his right elbow boosting his striking power. The eruption of flames propelling his fist forward at just the right moment. He would use this corresponding fist to strike the ice woman with enough force to send her flying backwards. The force of the punch leaving her to be thrown across the icy ground like a rag doll. When all was said and done there was no way she was getting back up.

Ari grinned as he watch the ice woman go down like a ton of bricks with a single hit. "This is gonna be boring if all'a ya are that weak." He said with a hint of annoyance as he snapped the remnants of the ice whip off of his left forearm. He then turned around took up his sword once more. The young dragon continuing on his journey, his bag still slung lazily over his left shoulder. His sword being balanced effortlessly upon said shoulder. He kept walking for what seemed like ages before finally another confrontation presented itself. This time instead of just one, he was facing off against four ice women.

The male grinned as he took count of what lay before him. "This should be fun", he said as he swung his blade off his shoulder and stabbed it into the ice before letting his rucksack drop off his shoulder. He would then roll his neck to release the small bit of pressure that had built up over the last few minutes. He watched as they positioned themselves. The two that he guessed were the weakest of the group staying together, just off to his left. The other two respectively taking positions to his right and one in front of him.

Ari taking hold of the handle of his blade would rip it from the ice and hang it back upon his shoulder. His eyes would now dart from one enemy to the next as he tried to pick which one's he should take out first. "Guess I'll start with you two", he said as he turn towards his left so he was facing the two ice women who had stuck together. He was quick to act charging towards them as fast as his body would carry him. Once he was a few feet away he threw himself up into the air, his arms pulling the massive dragon scale sword up above his body. He would thrust it forward slamming it down right in between the two ice women. The instant the blade met and sliced into the icy ground a small scale one meter radial explosion would be released.

The explosion separating the two weaker foes sending them flying off to either their right or left depending on where they had been in contrast to the blade point of impact. He didn't let up for even a second as he quickly ripped the blade from the ice and propelled himself towards the ice woman who had been sent flying to the right. He swung his sword at her mid-section. Much like the swing before the impact released a one meter radial explosion as the blade slice her in half and scattered her throughout the area. He then doubled back and carried out the same brutal assault upon the ice woman who had been sent flying off to the left. The end result of these secondary assaults almost mirroring one another perfectly.

While Ari's attention was focused on these two, the other two ice women had been preparing their counter attack. The male due to all his built up momentum was left sliding recklessly across the ice, which forced him to use his sword in order to halt this sliding motion. The instant he had stopped sliding he heard the words, "Minerva's Sabertooth." being spoken from only a few feet behind him. He hadn't had enough time to react to this, so by the time the ice woman was done forging her ice beasts he was already in her cross-heirs. The ice sabertooth tiger pouncing upon him and sinking its fangs into his left shoulder. The male screaming out in obvious agony as he thrashed about and beat his fists down upon the ice sabertooth tiger. "Let me go you stupid piece of shit!" He roared angrily at the voice-less creature as it held steady. Ari managing to take hold of his sword even while thrashing in pain. He swung it wildly down upon the beasts head. The explosion that was released just barely seeming to hold enough strength to blow the sabertooth head into chunks of ice.

Ari coughed as smoke filled the air around his face. He had just created an explosion mere foot from his own face. While he'd used the explosion to blow up the ice woman's sabertooth, he had also used it to provide himself with some food. The sound of the males devouring the flames filling the crevice as the male shoved the remnants of the ice sabertooth off his body before tossing it to the side. "You're kinda a pain the ass, ya know?", he inquired of the ice woman before him. All the while, he kept his right eye trained upon the enemy off to his right side who was preparing an attack, as well. This ice woman carrying out the same sort of motions as the very first one he had met. Though, what she created using these motions and the supplied mana was a bow and arrow, the words "Rose's Arrow", leaving her maw as she shot fifth-teen ice arrows at the male.

Ari in response to this would swing his massive seven foot tall sword out in front of him, holding it out extended before himself as he braced the sword with his right arm, his left arm supporting the blade via its large handle, which had large ten foot long golden chains hanging from it. He would grin as he heard the sound of ten out of the fifth-teen arrows hit the blade following by the sound of ten splashes of water hitting the icy ground. His initial belief was that he had overestimated the number of arrows. He would be proven wrong when he lowered his sword exposing his unprotected arms, legs, upper torso, and his face. This would lead to two arrows narrowly managing to slice into his right cheek. These would leave two matching one long scars across his right cheek, blood seeming to simply flow from the wounds despite how minor they looked at face value. The third arrow leaving a much more prominent, and deeper, but non-fatal wound upon the right side of his neck. He subconsciously grabbed at this wound when blood began to seep from it. The males facial expression turning from one of excitement, to anger, and then to one of pain as the four and fifth arrow respectively slice across the sides of his ribs leaving minor wounds at best, but they still seems to cause the male some pain.

Ari glared at the enemy who had just shot him up with a bunch of arrows. "This is why I hate you stupid ass Ice Mages. Nothing but a big pain in the ass." He grumbled as he threw his massive sword up into the air. The blade would go a good eight feet up into the air before the Monster Hunter would grasp the large golden chains at the end supporting the blades weight contact requirement as he swung the blade around. He would steadily lower it as he did this. Once the blade was level with both of his icy enemies he would release the chain for the briefest of moments so the blade would now reach a total of seven-teen feet as he just kept swinging it around wildly. The blade slicing into the ice woman who had shot him up with arrows exploding as it slice right through her into a one meter radial explosion which blew her in half. The lower half of her body dropping forward while the upper half was sent flying.

The blade continued in its path. Just as the other ice woman made the necessary motions to forge another animal out of ice, the sword would swing over top her hand ripping her right arm from her body. Ari at this point would let go of the swords chain letting the dragon blade stab two solid feet into the side of the icy wall of the crevice off to his side. He would now rush forth toward this final stronger seeming ice woman. His body seemed to burst swiftly towards the ice woman, just as he arrive in front of her he would thrust out his right arm grabbing hold of her head. He would now extend his left arm in the opposite direction pointing out behind him. The dragon slayer would now producing a five foot radial sphere of dragonic fire upon both of his hands. The flames around his left hand being the first to erupt into a powerful rapidly spinning X-shaped stream of dragon fire which supported him as his right hand forged a similar bursting stream of flames. Both streams would cover a ten foot radial direction. The ice woman held within the grasp of his right hand being ripped apart by the rapid rotations and sheer force of the produced bursts of flames.

Ari grinned as he watched this fifth foe fall at his hands. "Shishishi. Stupid ice bitch. You can't match the strength of a Fire Dragon.", he snickered and muttered as he paced over towards his sword. He would place his hands upon the ice around where the blade was and began to rapidly increase the amount of body heat stored within his hands a grin forming upon his maw as the ice surrounding his sword began to melt at a rapid rate. He had soon freed his sword and swung it back over his left shoulder resting it upon the back of his neck. He would then go to secure his bag. With his supplies gathered he carried onward. He'd just burn his wounds shut later. For now, he wanted to get on with beating down as many enemies as he could.

Ari continued onward along the crevice which eventually opened up into an opening where he found himself standing before two more of the ice women. He grinned as he watched them begin to make preparation to cast their own respective spells. He was however surprised to see one of them forge a sphere of water around her left index finger, while the other formed a sphere of ice around her right index finger. The one with her hand like a ice gun calling out, "Julia's Ice Bullet" while the one with her hand like a water gun called out "Julia's Water Bullet". As these words left the maws of the respective ice women they would launch their respective elemental bullets at the fire mage.

Ari in response to this would drop his sword and bag and begin rushing towards both adversaries. "Yeah. I guess its cool, but I think this might be a bit cooler." He teased cockily as he first shifted his body to the right turning side-ways h would watch as the ice bullet flew past him and disappeared off in the distance. With this evasion out of the way, he would continue charging his enemies. As he did this he would produce two large streams of flames from both of his arms. These flames would trail behind him following the fluid motions of his body. He would now duck down under the water bullet a smug look playing upon his facial structure. These streams of flames eventually taking on the rough shape of a pair of dragon wings. The fire dragon slayer would grab hold of the heads of both of the ice women. These flames inflicting crippling burn damage alongside tremendous sheer blunt force would sent both ice women soaring into the sky a good twenty feet before they crashed down upon the ground a good twenty feet behind the flame mage. "Idiots. That kinda stuff is easy to dodge if ya see it coming."

Ari having dispatched of these foes would once more reclaim his belongings and continue through the clearing. This clearing would quickly cut off into two tunnels which forked through the icy mountain-scape. The male grumbled he tried to pick one of the two options for his progression but just became confused. He now stood there rubbing his forehead, "All'a this thinkin' is gonna make me sick. Stupid bastards should just come out and fight me already." He grumbled angrily as he lit his right hand ablaze, said hand curling into a tightly woven fist. He would then slam his fist into the area of the mountain where the two paths diverged sending a slight tremor throughout it. He then stuffed his right hand into his pocket and carried on-wards heading down the path that forked off to the right.

He eventually came out of the passage a good five minutes later. This would be when he stumbled upon yet another problem. The right path had lead him right into a closed off area which was blocked by a wall of snow and ice. The flame mage grumbling some as he gathered flames upon both of his hands and forearms and swiped them in a swift circular motion. This would allow an explosive shroud of flames to spread outwards before him. These explosive flames blowing up and melting away some of the snow and ice but far from all of it. He snickered his usual, "Shishishi", before swiping his hands in a circular motion once more releasing flames as he did so he would form a shroud of explosive flames and threw them out in front of himself towards the snow and ice, melting it further this time he had melted half of the ice and snow blockage.

Next, Ari dashed forth, jumping up as high as he could he had reached thirty feet up into the sky above the blockage. He would swing his seven foot long three foot wide dragon scale sword four times swiftly downward upon the blockage. The sword releasing four simultenious external dragon fire explosions. The four explosion's each being one meter in their radial capacity. As these flames aren't made by Ari's own magic power he quickly devoured all four explosion's after ridding himself of the rest of the ice and snow that had been blocking his way. With this cleared out of the way he would one more carry onward until he encountered yet another ice woman. He grinned as he dashed towards this ice woman, she looked weak, her motions felt slow to the dragon slayer who simply set both his hands ablaze as he slammed his fists together massive bursts of flames would erupt from his forearms as he charged his enemy. Ari would grin excitedly as he said, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" before punching the ice woman a good ten times creating small explosion's that sent her flying backwards in chunks.

Ari soon reached what looked like a cave opening of sorts, but when he went to enter it he found himself sliding down a steep icy slope which left him dazed and surrounded by an army of ice women. By his count, he had gathered that there might have been somewhere around fifth-teen of them. He however, sucks at math, so he might be off point by a few enemies. He gulped as he tried to back up but found himself cornered. "Ah. Bloody hell. How do I always get myself into these sorts of messes all the time?", he grumbled as he cracked his knuckles grinning cheerfully. "Bring it on, ya bastards! I'll take ya all on!"

The male dropping his rucksack and sword would rush forth into the crowd of enemies. He would grin deviously as he first ignited his right forearm and hand in flames while saying, "With a flame on the right claw." He would then ignite his left forearm and hand in flames while saying, "With a flame on the left claw." He would now swing his right arm up above his body his left hanging low below his waist his hands held up as the two unique flames thrashed about wildly up his appendages.

All the while the five nearest ice women began charging up identical water spells to the one from earlier. All five charged up the spheres of water. Unlike the one from earlier they were holding spheres of water about the size of a baseball in the palms of both hands. All five of them flinging the spheres of water at the male as they said, "Julia's Water Bombs." Ari jumping back a few feet would swipe his arms as he said, "When you merge the flames together." He would continue to swipe his hands as the water bombs neared hims. He would now execute his assault while saying, "Fire Dragon's..." he would slam his opened palms together merging the flames true to his words forging much larger unique blaze. He would finish with, "...Overdrive Flame!" The larger unique flame with his now clasped hands burst outwards around the fire dragon slayer in all directions creating a massive and incredibly destructive explosion that wiped out the water bombs with ease and continued onward to destroy the five ice women whom had launched them.

Ari grinned he heard the chunks of the five destroyed ice women clinking upon the icy floor of the hidden underground cave. He was currently hidden within the smoke left by the dust from his former assault. He seemed to be enjoying himself an awful lots because he had started laughing rather cheerfully. "That was pretty fun. I'm kinda surprised that mor'a ya ain't dead." He said grinning cheerfully. "Oh well. Just means there's mor'a ya to beat up on." He said as he dashed out of the smoke cloud and dropped to the ground sliding between group of the ice women towards his sword. Hed his th back of it with his feet, kicking it so it spun along the ice towards his right hand. If he wasn't careful here he'd lose his arm, maybe more, so he took great care in securing his hold upon the blade.

His feet soon hitting the ice wall which he used to kick himself up into the air. He soared up into the air abovie the ice women only to swing his mighty blade down upon them. He leaned inward upon the strike getting to just the ight spot as the flames burst forth foging a small one meter explosion. The fire dragon eating the external source of flames. He would grin as he now dropped down between fou of the ice women. One of the four enemies crumbling in the wake of the explosion. While another one was missing its right arm. The flame mage would now drop his sword. His right arm thursting upward would smash the icy skull of the ice woman who was missing her right arm. She would fall to the ground defeated by this simple strike. He then jumped upwards and slammed his left knee into the face of one of the others. The mage grinning as he used this backwards thrust projectory to deliver a crushing elbow to the face of the ice woman standing opposite the one he had kneed in the face. These two being weakened by did not fall just yet.

The fire dragon slayer proceeding to drop to the ground so that his body was being twisted about upon his arms as he use his hands to rotate his body. The Fairy Tail mage producing fire upon his feet would throw himself up into te air. His body flipping and twisting a she flew upwads and then as he was descending he would swing his fire-enhanced legs outward kicking each ice woman twice in the head with enough force to send their respective heads flying in a literal sense. The mage dropping to the ground would grin excited. "Not half bad, huh?" He questioned of his enemies as he cracked each of his knuckles. "Whose next?" He pondered as he gazed from one enemy to the next.