Summary: He's a member of Sabertooth, and that means he isn't going to back down - even if it means taking on five of Fairy Tail's strongest mages, who, even weakened, are incredibly strong. Alternate version of Chapter 322, "Gloria". String-centric.
There were only six participants left. The final day of the Grand Magic Games was drawing to a close, and the only remaining guilds were Fairy Tail and Sabertooth.
Minerva was defeated. Orga was knocked out in one blow. Rogue was down, and Rufus had been taken out early. There was one Sabertooth member left. The other guild, all five members, were still standing. All five members had won all of their battles - after years of being the defeated, the underdog was finally living up to the name they once held.
String smirked. Although they were strong and had won every battle, the fighting had come with a price as all were incredibly bruised and bloody. They stood in a semi-circle in front of the blond Dragon Slayer. Facing each other, Sting felt his smirk grew wider. He had not a scratch on him.
"What a spectacle," Sting said, smirking as he faced them. "I looked up at all of you seven years ago."
There was a low growl from Gajeel. "Stop blabbering," the Iron Dragon Slayer said. "This is the last fight."
"We'll do it one versus one - who do you prefer?" Gray asked.
Sting laughed, shrugging. "You can attack me all together, since you're wounded."
Juvia glowered. "You shouldn't underestimate Fairy Tail."
Underestimate? "Oh, no way. I respect you," Sting finally told Juvia. I respect all of you... "That's why I'll defeat you all together! I was waiting for this time! I'll show Lector my power!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but are you serious?" Laxus grunted. Even bruised and battered, the Lightning Dragon Slayer looked like a force to be reckoned with. The blondes faced each other, the one in the fur coat giving Sting a stare reminiscent of his "rebel" days - the time where Laxus was a different man. The kind of man that would look down on people, just because they were not as strong as him, just because they lost one battle.
Just like Sting's old master, in fact, before Sting blew a hole in his stomach.
Erza, leaning on her stick, took a shaky step forward. Her glare was worse than Juvia's glower and Laxus' stare. It shook Sting to his very core, although he did his best to hide the fear Titania created in her enemies. "Fine. If that's your decision. We'll be your opponents, Sting."
Instead of showing that fear, Sting pushed it down within him. It would be a fitting motivation, he thought.
Out loud, he said, "That's good. I'll show you my power... now that I have awakened." He activated his White Drive, letting the bright light shine in the starry night. The Sabertooth's guild mark he had created out of his dragon powers still hung in the sky - and if he did his best, it would soon be joined by cheering, and flags with the cat's face.
Instead, everyone was cheering "Fairy Tail! Fairy Tail!"
They would be screaming "Sabertooth" soon enough.
Sting laughed a little as he stared. Everyone's looks, no matter how different they had been before, now showed one thing: determination. They were going to stop him, even though he was one uninjured man and they were five half-dead warriors.
In fact... if he flicked Gray on the forehead, Sting was confident the ice mage would fall over.
Sting's eyes widened. They were all shaking on their feet. And yet they dare still face him? They were not worthy opponents for him to beat, nothing like his battle with Rogue against Gajeel and Natsu.
And yet...
They're all covered in wounds and bruises... and yet... and yet...
No. Sting pushed the moment of weakness away, ignored the small gasp. He would beat them. He would beat them badly, and he would claim Sabertooth's victory for the guild.
"This is for Lector!" Sting roared as he sucked in air. "White Dragon's Roar!"
The blast of white light came suddenly; so suddenly, that Erza almost didn't dodge it. Gray pulled Juvia out of the way while Gajeel and Laxus managed to avoid the blast - Sting wasn't sure how, and yet they all moved before the light could reach them.
Gritting his teeth, Sting let out another blast of white light. This time, it hit Erza who had used her makeshift cane to block the attack. The stick was flung to the side, way out of reach for anyone to grab, and Erza let out a roar of agony when she was forced to put equal pressure on both feet.
The Lady really roughed her up, Sting realized. Well, if I can get rid of her first, then their "beacon of hope" should be gone... they'll lose moral if their leader is defeated!
So he targeted her.
However, attacking her was not an easy task. Sting sent bolt after bolt of the white energy towards her, but Erza somehow ducked, sidestepped, and avoided everything. Meanwhile, Gray sent arrows of ice and Juvia geysers of water at Sting, who was doing his best to dodge them at the same time he attacked Erza.
Laxus remained on the sidelines, watching. Sting noticed Gajeel shifting on his feet out of the corner of his eye.
Sting ran towards Erza, done with the long ranged attacks. "White Dragon's Punch!" White light surrounded his hands as he raised his right fist to Erza, ready to strike her -
- and was intercepted by Gajeel.
The Iron Dragon Slayer blocked Sting's attack with his hands, grunting in pain. Sting bounded backwards from the block. How did he reach me so fast? Sting wondered.
An arrow crafted of ice, sailing through the air with forceful water surrounding it, suddenly lodged itself into his left shoulder - the one bearing his Saber Tooth mark. Sting growled, yanking out the arrow right away and ignoring the sting of pain that followed. He then turned his attention to Gray, who stood several paces away, and shouted "Holy Ray!"
The generated light made its way to Gray. The ice make mage had been having a hard time standing up before - but now, after being bombarded several times by the painful light, Gray didn't have to worry about that anymore.
He was crouching in pain on the ground. Although not completely defeated, his head was lowered and he seemed to be struggling to get to his feet. Sting grinned, satisfied for a few seconds, and then turned back to his first target: Erza.
"One down, four to go!" he announced, although he knew that officially Gray was not down. "Holy Blast!"
Large balls of white light hurled through the air to Erza, who equipped into her Purgatory Armor and leaped into the air, gliding away. Sting stared in shock - she hadn't used magic the entire battle, so he'd assumed she was out of magic... but maybe she was biding her time until she had a good chance to use it.
Erza swooped towards Sting. Smirking, Sting unleashed a Roar of the White Dragon towards her. Erza hardly had time to dodge, but did, and her focus was not directed to him as she glided out of the way. Right in the way of Sting's next Holy Ray. Erza screamed again as her Purgatory armor disappeared. She landed on her uninjured foot, displaying an amazing act of balance.
But both of them knew that she was now out of magic power. It would take a few more minutes before she could requip even a small dagger. Plus, she was now too preoccupied with balancing on one foot to attack him.
"How strong is Fairy Tail now?" Sting challenged. "According to the announcers, two of you aren't defeated - but close enough, eh? And it's only been a few minutes!"
"Shut your trap!" Gajeel snapped. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" Sharp pieces of metal made their way to Sting, who effortlessly dodged and sent back his own roar. Gajeel didn't dodge. In fact, he only stood their, his red eyes unblinking and his form unflinching as the white blast reached closer and closer.
Sting blinked in confusion. Gajeel was melting into the ground... no. Into the shadows.
Rogue's power.
"You bastard! You stole Rogue's magic!" Sting snarled.
"Ghihi... not exactly," the shadows whispered. "I've just found a little new magic for myself... like Salamander with his lightning..."
"White Dragon's Roar!" The blast hit the pavement where the shadow was, but the only effect in the aftermath were the cobble stones now badly damaged and a chilling smile placed onto the shadow's face.
Sting sent out his roar again. And again, and again, but still the shadow made its way to him. Close to panicking, Sting thought quickly. "White Dragon's Claw!"
The spell, which was supposed to bound the enemy so that they would be unable to move, did the job easily. Gajeel was trapped in the shadow, unable to move. "Let me out!" Gajeel shouted.
Sting shook his head. "Three down... two to go!"
Laxus still stood to the side. Sting was unsure what to do with him, as he hadn't moved at all. No attacks or insults came from the Lightning Dragon Slayer, and Sting had a feeling he was waiting to see if he would be the last Fairy Tail member standing or not.
Hm... so Laxus wants a one on one battle, Sting thought. Then I'll give him what he wants!
He whirled around to Juvia. "White Dragon's Holy Breath!"
The concentrated magic went straight to Juvia, who rearranged herself to dodge the attack. "You cannot hurt Juvia's body of water," Juvia warned. Sting thought, Creepy as he looked at the hole in the middle of Juvia's body.
"That's what you think!" he retorted. "White Dragon's... Holy Ray!"
He wasn't sure why the spell worked that time - it'd worked on Gray, so he thought why not? But maybe it was because of the spiderweb-like spell hitting her multiple times that took the toll on Juvia, who shrieked in agony as the spells hit her. She wasn't able to dodge every single blast, Sting realized, and soon she too was kneeling on the ground, injured.
Sting looked around at everyone. Erza was hopping around, still doing her balancing game, while Gajeel banged on the pavement in an effort to free himself. Gray wavered where he stood, and quickly fell back down into a crouching position when the action became too much for him. And finally, Juvia kneeled down as she attempted to scramble her body back together, water particles floating around her.
Just Laxus was left.
"You sure Fairy Tail can beat me now?" Sting asked the other Dragon Slayer. "Look at this! Only that arrow got me, and Gajeel's block surprised me - but I'm unbeatable against everyone but Natsu! You're the last one left... and I'm going to beat you!"
"The last one?" Laxus replied, raising an eyebrow. Otherwise, his face remained the same - stoic and uninterested. It made Sting angry. "None of them are completely down, if you know what I mean. Sabertooth still has the same amount of points."
Sting shook his head. "One blast, and I win. In fact, my holy ray can hit all of you at once. Then you'll all be defeated at the same time! Would you Fairies like that?" he questioned, voice light and mocking.
Then Laxus' expression changed. It was a ferocious grin, showing off his pearly whites, and his eyes slanted. Sting didn't know it since he hadn't been around at the time, but Laxus looked exactly how he had acted before he was exiled from Fairy Tail seven years before. Horrifying, terrifying, and definitely the strongest mage in Fairy Tail.
"Fairy Tail!" Laxus barked. "It's time to show this ignorant brat who the real strongest guild is in Fiore! Remember? There's no room for weaklings on our team! There's five winners here!"
Gajeel's shadowy eyes quickly opened. Erza found her balance on two painful feet. Juvia's body snapped together, all at once, and Gray looked up.
"We gotta show scum the real power of Fairy Tail!" Laxus continued.
Sting frowned. "The real power?" Then all of the breath flew out of himas a large ice-make cannonball slammed into his gut, sending him backwards and onto his butt. In his attempt to rise to his feet, Sting wasn't able to dodge the short, quick, and painful arcs of water that hit his back from Juvia's Water slicer.
Sting hissed as he finally stood back up... to find himself face to face with Gajeel, no longer in his shadowy prison. "H-how-"
"I learned a trick from Salamander," Gajeel replied, revealing the stigma on the ground behind him by stepping to the side. "It's called 'never give up."
Then he punched Sting in the face. The White Dragon Slayer reeled backwards, only to be hit by the biggest hammer Sting had ever seen.
"Dammit, you aren't truly evil, but this is good enough for my Holy Hammer," Erza said as she struck him, in her flight armor to enhance her speed. The question echoed in his mind - how could she even summon a weapon? - but he realized that she had been deceiving him the entire time. She still had magic left. Erza was still strong.
Sting laid on the ground, groaning in pain, looking just as bad as his opponents in battle. He looked up to see everyone closed in around him in a circle. There as a little open space - enough for a missing Lightning Dragon Slayer to stand there.
Laxus walked up to fill the gap, the crooked grin still on his face. "That's what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed. "The true strength of Fairy Tail. Working together... friendship."
"When we fight together," Gray said, "we always win."
"Juvia thinks that Fairy Tail is the best guild!"
"There's nothin' we can't do," Gajeel affirmed with a chilling laugh.
Erza had a small smile on her face. "No enemy can best Fairy Tail."
Then, most of the group quickly backed up. Sting's eyes darted around, wondering why four were retreating at such a rapid pace yet Laxus wasn't. Why isn't he moving? Screw that, why are they moving?
Then it hit him - literally. Lightning struck Sting so fast and so hard that there was no time or chance to recover from the shocking blow. Sting was down for the count, and his hopes of stopping Fairy Tail's revival went along with his electrifying defeat.
Blip. One more point was added to Fairy Tail's tally.
"And Fairy Tail wins in an amazing show of strength and friendship!" One announcer cheered. "Not a single member defeated!" The audience hollered Fairy Tail's name in victory while Sting, unable to get up, glared at the full moon above him.
Sting was down. The rest were still standing. Fairy tail had won.
"Princess! Princess!"
A white knight strode quickly down a long hallway in Crocus' castle. He walked into the throne room with authority, expecting to find the king's daughter. However, not a single royal soul remained in the room.
"Could she be... already there?"
Meanwhile, an old man walked with a taller green haired girl down a different, darker hallway.
"All the Fairy Tail members undefeated, winning, and Sting being beaten by them even though they were heavily injured..." the old man began.
"That person predicted something no one could. They were right, indeed," the princess replied. "The future they talked about is true. The fight for the survival of humanity starts now."
They emerged into a large, open space. The Gate's brilliant colored doors gleamed even in the darkness.
"Let's take Eclipse Two to the surface," Hisui Fiore commanded. It was time to wage the war against the dragons.