Ultear Milkovich, the true identity of Zalty, looked around rapidly searching for either Ruby, or her "allies". The moment the dome had appeared around them, Ultear had tried using her Arc of Time to escape, only to find it didn't work, even worse, her disguise had failed as well.
It only got worse when she started hearing the screams of pain and fear from Lyon and his followers, worrying Ultear, as she realized she wasn't dealing with a normal mage. She only became more worried, and even fearful, that this mage didn't have an issues with getting their hands dirty, and right now, Ultear was at major disadvantage.
"Where are you?! Come out and face me!" Ultear said, hoping to draw Ruby out to where she could see her.
Her only response was a chilling laughter that sent shivers up Ultear's spine.
"What's the matter? Scared of the dark? Good, be afraid, you never know what goes bump in the night." Ruby's voice echoed around her, Ultear gasping when something bumped into her, making her whirl around, holding her orb.
Illuminating it, Ultear hoped to see or catch a glimpse of Ruby, or a possible an escape. Instead, all Ultear saw was an endless darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. Gulping, Ultear's breathing increased when she couldn't see anything, except the endless darkness. Being reminded of when she was trapped in the Bureau of Magical Development.
"I'm…I'm not scared." Ultear said, putting on a strong front.
"How cute, the Dark Mage isn't scared. But I can sense your fear and the darkness within you, and it's sickening! I wonder, how many people you had to kill, how many lives you ruined, in order to gain such darkness?!"
"Shut up, you don't know anything about me!" Ultear shouted, glaring all around her, refusing to be talked down to like that.
"Oh, I know exactly what you are. You're just like every other Dark Mage, killing innocent people, manipulating them, all because you can, or you enjoy hurting others. People like you…SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL!" Ruby roared.
Ultear screamed in fear when suddenly, a group of tiny, shadow-like demonic dragons began appearing around her, biting and clawing at her. Attempting to use her Arc of Time to destroy the dragons, Ultear paled when she saw it didn't do anything to the creatures, and they seemed to be multiplying every second.
Then suddenly, Ultear was grabbed from behind and her eyes widened in fear when she felt a clawed hand dig into her neck.
"Die." Ruby hissed, ready to tear Ultear's throat out.
"GET AWAY!" Ultear screamed, her magic reacting instinctively in her fear of dying.
Ruby's was surprised when she was suddenly thrown off Ultear, before grunting and grabbing her head when she started seeing images flash before her eyes. She saw a little girl in pain, her body containing to much magic for her to hold, before she was taken somewhere by her mother to save her.
Only for the people there to not helping her, but instead turn her into a lab rat and experiment on her. The girl managed to escape and return home, only to see her mother with two boys, whom Ruby recognized as a younger Gray and Lyon. The girl then returned to the lab, believing her mother had abandoned her, and allowed the people to continue their experiments.
Then, when the girl was strong enough, she took her revenge and killed all the people who experimented on her.
Before Ruby could see anything else, the images stopped, and she panted in exhaustion and confusion of what she just saw.
What, what the hell was that? Ruby thought, not understanding what just happened.
Looking at Ultear, Ruby growled and went over to her, intent to finish what she started. Grabbing the Dark Mage by her collar, Ruby raised her hand prepared to rip open her throat, only for her eyes to widen.
"You, you're that girl." Ruby said, looking into Ultear's fearful eyes and seeing the girl from her visions.
Ruby then realized what those images were, they were Ultear's past, her Arc of Time must have reacted to her fear of almost dying. She was treated as a guinea pig, believed her mother abandoned her, and ended up returning to the very people who experimented on her, before killing them.
She's like me. Thought Ruby, seeing they had similar pasts, believing they had lost everything they cared about and desired the power to get revenge.
Ruby didn't want to believe she's similar to a Dark Mage, but looking at Ultear's expression, all she could see was herself, before Acnologia found her, and the little girl in her visions.
Steeling her heart, Ruby tried to bring herself to kill Ultear, but she couldn't.
"Well, what're you waiting for, do it." Ultear said, trying to remain strong, despite the fact she was likely going to die.
Looking at her, Ruby wanted to end her life, but she couldn't do it.
"Fuck." Ruby muttered, snapping her fingers, deactivating her Nightmare Realm as the darkness dispersed around them.
Lucy, Natsu and Happy, Gray and Cana watched in surprised as the dome of darkness vanished. Though they stiffened when they saw Lyon and his followers on the ground, unmoving. Only to be relieved, when they saw they were still breathing and tied up.
Looking to Ruby, they were confused when they saw her holding a woman they didn't recognize, though Gray inhaled sharply at the resemblance she shared with Ur.
"Wh-what are y-you—" Ultear stuttered.
"You don't talk, unless I say so, got it!" Ruby growled menacingly.
Just because she couldn't bring herself to kill Ultear, doesn't mean she was going to play nice with a Dark Mage.
Nodding rapidly, Ultear knew she shouldn't test her luck against Ruby.
"Ruby, who's that?" Lucy asked, confused, since they didn't see Ultear before.
"I'll explain later, for now, you all can bring those idiots down to the village. I still have something to take care of." Ruby said, walking off before they could say anything, while dragging Ultear along with her.
Natsu and Gray went to argue, only to be silenced when Ruby glared at them.
With that, Ruby dragged Ultear into the temple, down to where she could sense Deliora was being kept, with Ultear realizing where they were going.
Soon, the two reached the cavern, with them seeing Deliora still trapped in Ice Shell. Ruby frowned at seeing the demon, with the close proximity allowing her to sense just how weak it was, and not only that, she could sense the magic within the ice itself, and it felt…alive.
"Reverse the ices time." Ruby said, wanting to make sure Deliora was actually dead, and wanting to test a theory she just had.
Nodding shakily, Ultear summoned her orb and used her Arc of Time on the ice, watching as it receded from Deliora's body, with the demons eyes glowing red as its head was freed. Then, to Ultear's complete shock, rather than the ice vanishing, the ice started shrinking and transforming, until they saw a woman with short dark purple hair and pale skin laying on the ground, unconscious.
Not only that, but Ultear easily recognized the woman.
"Mo-mother." Ultear whispered, not believing what she just saw, or that she was seeing her mother alive, once again.
Ruby, though, looked at Deliora, ready for a fight. Though the redhead relaxed, when the demon was only able to let out a single roar, before falling over dead.
"Pick her up, and let's go." Said Ruby, with Ultear wordlessly doing so, still in shock at what just happened.
After dealing with Deliora, and restoring Ur to her natural form, Ruby and Ultear began the walk back to the village. Ruby didn't have to worry about Ultear trying to make a break for it, positive the girl had more things on her mind than trying to escape. Plus, she likely knew she wouldn't get far, if she did try escaping.
As they got closer to the village, Ruby frowned as she picked up a familiar scent of armor polish, sweets and the scent of dragons. She recognized the scent as belonging to Erza, which confused Ruby as to why her sister was here. Though she was worried when she began noticing the scent of dragon she and her sister shared, it was now noticeably stronger.
Once they reached the village, Ruby saw Erza was in fact here and standing over Natsu and Gray, both sporting large bumps on their heads. While Lucy and Cana stood off to the side, with the latter trying to make herself as small as possible, in fear of Erza's wrath being directed at her.
However, Erza then turned around, and Ruby's eyes widened when she saw the slit pupils and sharper teeth.
No… Ruby thought, shaking her head, not wanting to believe Erza did what she thinks she's done.
"Ruby? You're here." Erza said, surprised to see her sister was here, as well.
"What did you do?" Ruby whispered, walking up to Erza, now sensing her magic and how it was different than before, now being similar to her own.
"What did I do?" Asked Erza, confused for a moment by what her sister meant, before realizing she could see the changes in her appearance.
"What did you do?!" Demanded Ruby, while grabbing Erza shoulders.
"What I needed to do to save you." Erza replied, knowing Ruby could sense that she was now a Dragon Slayer, as well.
"Save me?! Why don't you worry about saving yourself! Do you even realize what you've done?!" Ruby demanded, not believing Erza would give herself Dragon Slayer Magic.
"I made it so I have the same power as you, and I'll use to make sure that I can protect you this time, like I should have before!" Erza said, pushing her sisters hands off her.
"You only made yourself a target! Acnologia will be after you now, too!" Ruby shouted, since she never told Acnologia about Erza, not wanting her sister to be targeted by him as well, in his desire to wipe out all traces of the dragons.
"Good! Let him come!" Retorted Erza, not caring if Acnologia came after her, she'll do whatever it takes to protect Ruby from him.
"You aren't getting it! He will not stop until every trace of the dragons are gone! He is beyond anything you can imagine! He's killed hundreds of dragons, and that was before he even became one! Now he's even stronger, having become a dragon himself, while also having Four Hundred years to train, master and improve his abilities!" Ruby said, glaring at Erza, trying to make her see just how dangerous Acnologia was.
"I. Don't. Care." Stated Erza, returning the glare.
She already planned to go against Acnologia, Zeref, and anyone else that goes after Ruby, and Erza will make sure she's there to keep her sister safe, no matter what. And nothing she says will ever stop her.
Growling at how stubborn her twin sister was being, they continued to glare at each other. Before the sisters finally turned away from each other, walking in opposite directions, though both swearing that they weren't done with each other.