Erza grunted, her arms were sore from her forced labor. Her and many other children had been taken to come work on the tower. She had no idea why they only took kids but her old friend Rob seemed to think it was because kids didn't have their magic unlocked.
Erza picked up the pickaxe again and struck it against the rocks. The magic suppressing shackles she was forced to wear made the act harder. It wasn't all bad though, her companions made living in this place bearable. All she could hope for was to one day awaken her magic and pray it was strong enough to break free from these shackles.
"Erza.. psst! Erzaaa..." One of her friends whispered to her while carrying a stack of bricks over to an area of the tower under construction.
"Huh? Jellal?" Erza whispered back, quickly checking for any nearby guards.
Luckily for them, it seemed they were busy whipping another unfortunate slave. Erza silently thanked the man in her mind and nodded at Jellal.
"The plan is almost ready.. Do-" *RUMBLE!*
Both Erza and Jellal lost their footing, along with the guards and the other slaves as a tremor shook the tower. Either something big had hit it or there was an earthquake. For Erza, this seemed like the perfect time to execute the revolt. But they didn't have a signal that would spur all the slaves into action yet.
"What is happening!?" One of the guards who was joyously bullying the poor slave earlier ran over to one of the windows and looked over.
Below, he saw a woman with deep red hair walking toward the main entrance with a staff in hand. Every precise swing of the staff ended a life. Bones snapped, tendons pulverized and muscles ripped with every seemingly casual swing. And she was fighting at least fifty cult members.
"Wh-What the..." The cult guard shook in place as he saw one of his friends get his lower jaw detached clean off his head with a casual swing of the woman's staff.
Erza, seeing the guard so distracted while the other one started to panic and quickly run down the stairs, saw an opportunity. Lining herself up, she took a few steps back and ran at the guard before jumping up and kicking the center of his back. The guard, not expecting the sudden attack, lurched forward, most of his body leaning out of the window. His expression one of sheer panic and terror as he tried to grab onto something.
"Haaaah!!" Jellal ran forward and shoulder-tackled the guard's rear, pushing him fully out of the window and sending him falling to his death.
"W..-We did it?" Erza panted, getting up and looking at Jellal.
"Yes! Come on, Erza! Let's grab everyone and help Rob out of his shackles!" Jellal replied, helping Erza up and hurrying off to the cells nearby.
Fortunately for them, the commotion outside was drawing in all the guards with actual skill and magical power. The rest started running upstairs, to the 'safety' of Brain and Ultear, who were currently at the top.
"Millianna! Sho! Wally! Simon! Come on! Now's our chance to escape! Help us get Grandpa Rob from his cell!" Erza shouted to the other confused kids, who had stopped their manual labor when the tower shook.
With a hopeful gleam in their eyes, the kids took their pickaxes, shovels and even some bricks and began to follow Erza and Jellal. When they ran up to the next floor, they saw a few of the weaker guards quietly discussing what they should do. Immediately, Erza shouted and threw a brick at one's face.
*CRACK!*
"Oh shit!! Maris!? It's those slaves!" One of them shouted after seeing his friend collapse after his nose broke.
The nearest guard immediately drew a blade and sneered as he prepared to run Erza through. A skinny arm lunged through the bars of a nearby cell and grabbed the man by the neck before smashing his head into the iron bars. This gave the kids the confidence to push through and attack the remaining four guards with mining tools and bricks.
"Grandpa.." Erza sighed in relief and looked over to Rob, who had acted to save her earlier.
He gave her a warm smile as she opened the door for her. As soon as he was out, he flexed his arms and broke his shackles with the admittedly miniscule amount of magic power he managed to store. He took a step forward and created a fire magic barrier that blocked the swords and weaker yet still deadly magic of the guards from reaching the kids.
Within moments, the guards were either incapacitated or dead and the uprising gained ten more people, including a few more kids.
"Erza.. Jellal, what's going on? Was the shaking your doing? And what is this unbelievable amount of magical power I feel below..?" Rob asked incredulously.
Erza shook her head, still unsure herself.
"I don't know, Grandpa. But I used this chance to start the plan. All I really know is this one guard looked out the window and looked really scared. So Jellal and I pushed him out." Erza answered, looking a bit guilty but resolute.
Rob pat her head with a wry smile, "Don't feel bad about the death of these people. They've chosen evil and violence and that's how their lives will end. With evil and violence."
Jellal nodded, though he himself had no issue murdering everyone responsible for making this dark place.
"What now? Do we head down? That seems to be where all the strong guards are going to." Erza asked, biting her lip.
She knew leading everyone down could be extremely dangerous. But so was staying here and going up. But before any decision could be made, guards from upstairs had made their way down to their floor. Over fifteen of them with pale expressions that soured as soon as they saw the group of slaves and the dead/incapacitated guards around.
The one in front stepped out, lightning magic dancing in his hands.
"Kill them all! Lord Brain wants this intruder brought to him!" He stated coldly before firing a large orb of lightning at the group.
Rob immediately created yet another barrier, gritting his teeth as multiple spells battered his barrier.
"Go..! Go downstairs! I'll hold them off!" Rob roared, pushing his miniscule reserves to their limits as he stood in front of the kids he considered to be like his own Grandchildren.
"Grandpa...! Grandpa!!" Erza's eyes watered as she watched Rob's dependable back.
*RUMBLE!*
Just as Jellal and Simon started to pull her away did they feel another tremor. But this time, it was a floor beneath them, where they originally were.
*CRUMBLE!*
"AAAGH-" The lead guard, sadistically bombarding Rob's barrier with a maniacal grin was pulled through the floor by what looked to be a hand.
Below, his screams became more inhuman before three seconds before he went quiet forever. Both groups looked down at the open hole full of obscuring dust in silence before hearing footsteps traveling up the stairs, right to their floor.
Erza's eyes widened as she took in the appearance of their new (possible?) ally. Long, unruly black hair, crimson eyes, a black kimono top, red scarf, red pleated skirt, fishnet sleeves, black gloves, fishnet stockings and thigh-high black boots. And in her right hand was the mummified corpse pf the guard she had yoinked down to the other floor.
"Maybe if I get enough lightning ethernano I'll be able to make Lightning Dragon spells. I dunno, what do you guys think?" She asked the stunned guards while tossing the corpse aside like trash.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!" One of the guards screamed in a mix of anger and rage, firing dark magic at Yin.
First it was him, then the other thirteen guards joined in, forgoing Rob and the slaves to attack all in on the girl who just casually absorbed all the ethernano from the head guard's body until he died a horrific death.
*BOOM!!* *CRACKLE!* *VRRRR!*
The entire floor was alight with numerous magics while Rob quickly carried Erza over to the farthest wall away from the barrage. Erza found herself entranced watching the woman simply walk through the numerous spells that would have destroyed her and all her friends.
Then, Yin cocked her fist back and punched the mage screaming while bombarding her with mid-tier Dark magic.
"Iron Dragon's Fist" With a voice way too casual for an attack, her fist struck the face of the guard while her arm took on a metallic iron sheen.
*Splatter!*
"Mhm-mhm... now Iron Dragon's foot blade."
The guard's skull exploded, showering the men behind him with his brains, eyeballs and bone fragments. Then, she raised her leg to the side and kicked out as the bottom of her foot turned into a two meter long iron sword. Five more men screamed in pain as the blade cut them to pieces.
"I gotta work on the sharpness huh?" Yin muttered, noting how much unecessary force she put into cutting the mages apart.
"Run... Run!" One of the guards in back started running back upstairs.
Seeing the gruesome deaths Yin had just given nearly half of their group, the guards started fleeing back in hopes they could hide or return to their bosses for protection.
"Hey now.. I kinda need you guys! Where else am I gonna find such amazing tutorial enemies huh? You selfish bastards!" Erza rubbed her drying eyes and stared at the woman as she charged their hated captors.
And though Yin cursed and complained as she chased, somehow she had a far more malicious grin on her face than Erza'd ever seen on the cult members. But despite the carnage she caused, both her and Rob noticed one thing.
She stood in front of them and took every magical attack on herself.
"Come.. We have a perfect window to escape this place. Jellal, Simon and Erza, I need you to help arm the others. I can take a minute or so to gather as much magical energy as I can.." Rob stated, entrusting the task to the kids as he sat on the floor with crossed legs and closed his eyes.
"Okay. Let's get these shackles off everyone and get some of the mining tools ready!" Jellal stood up in front of the others and began coordinating.
Erza stared at the staircase leading up to the top floors and bit her lip. The sound of magic going off, impacts and yelling carried its way down through the tower. Taking a deep breath, she decided to follow that strange woman who had already imprinted herself in Erza's mind.
Erza started following Yin up the stairs after slipping away from Rob and the other kids. The carnage was easy to see. Metal blades, lances and poles had impaled, sliced and eviscerated every last guard that fled. Erza quietly snuck her way up the stairs and spotted Yin standing in front of a large door she had only seen once.
"The leader's quarters.." Erza muttered before realizing she gave her position away and closed her mouth with both hands.
Of course, Yin knew she was there long before Erza spoke up. She smirked and looked at the little redhead. She felt a pang in her chest after taking in how malnourished she was. Internally, she decided to impale Brain straight through his balls as revenge for the future little Knight girl.
"You know I'm not gonna hurt you, right?" Yin asked, waving her over.
"Ah... I wasn't sure how to approach you, Miss." Erza admitted, fidgeting as she walked over to Yin.
Yin placed a hand on her head and pat it gently with a satisfied smile.
"Just call me Yin. You should probably go hide somewhere. The tutorial bosses are getting antsy about me not immediately kicking open the door and getting caught in their trap." Yin stated, putting her hand on Erza's back to urge her away from the door.
"W-Wait.. can I help in any way? I haven't awoken my magic yet but I may at least distract them. You're doing so much for us so it feels wrong to let you go in alone and put you in so much danger!" Erza replied, a look of determination on her little face.
"Ha! Hahahaha! No need to worry yourself. Unless they're near Acnologia level, I'm going to be just fine. Just stay safe. I'd rather not let someone this likeable get hurt." Yin led Erza away with a little smirk before...
*CRASH!*
The stone doors of the top floor exploded inward. Yin walked in, immediately noticing Brain standing in the center of the room with a scowl. And one more person trying to hide in the shadows. Ultear Milkovich stared at Yin from her (seemingly) safe spot and felt a chill run up her spine when she saw those serpentine eyes lock on her.