The tremors grew worse, growing violent and more frequent as the time drew closer to The Dragon King Festival. Sitting at the bar in the repaired Fairy Tail guild, she had a glass of water alongside a couple plates of strawberry cheesecake. She was tense, knowing that the next day Acnologia was going to break free, and that everyone in Fairy Tail had to be ready for when that happened. Levy and Mirajane had told her when Mest arrived with her in tow, that they went out and told all the guilds in Fiore, especially tracking down Jellal in getting Cobra's assistance as she needed everyone they could get to defeat the King of Dragons for good. However, she still needed to get through this, Natsu was gone, and she had to be strong for her guild.
"Erza" a voice called her, snapping her out of her thoughts, turning over, she noticed that her friend, Jellal was there, approaching her. Because of the urgency, the guild had allowed Crime Sorcerie to stay, at least until they managed to confirm that the Acnologia was gone for good, "You seem like you got hit some with some pretty rough words" guessing based on the plates of cake slices and glasses of water, "Bad news involving Salamander?"
Groaning a little, she slumped onto the table, crossing her arms on top, "Something like that" being a little vague. Truth be told, there was a lot that happened in just a short time. She learned a lot of her mother's history and deeds from the townspeople, was told that there was a slim chance of finding Natsu even if she did have his book, and what was engraved into her from that book 'The Librarian' help take its toll on her mind, "I went so far... went all over the place, and I couldn't even find a trace of him" he told her, "And when I thought I had a lead,... it was a red herring"
"Hmm..." he wasn't sure what words he could say to his friend while in this state, "Perhaps you were going about it the wrong way" telling her. The words he spoke immediately caught her attention, "Natsu isn't a person anyone can just 'simply' find" he told her, "He's unpredictable, doing things no one thought he would do" reminding her, "Remember when the Magic Council arrested you as a public event?" asking her, "He burst open the door, wearing a crude makeshift costume of you claiming he was the 'real' Erza"
The memory of that event brought a smile to her face, maybe even chuckling a little, "Yeah,... because of that the both of us were thrown into prison for a couple days just because of what he did" reminiscing, "Even when you were about to be thrown into Prison, he stood up for you saying that he wasn't going to let them take you away" he was an unpredictable person, and perhaps Jellal was right, she needed to believe in the impossible, because if anything was going to happen, it would be something she wouldn't see coming, "Thanks, Jellal" standing up, "I'm going to go ahead and rest up for tomorrow's battle" and furthermore, "Let's make it through this"
Determined, she sincerely waved her friend off as she made her way back home to rest and focus as much as she could before the impending battle. It was going to be a long grueling battle, and as she passed a gaze to her hand, remembering the pain of all the words from the book diving into her, she had to be confident and stand. Eventually, she had reached her home in Fairy Hills, and as she made her way over to her place, she went in to prepare herself for what's to come. She would be lying if she wasn't feeling any fear from fighting the dragon, remembering how powerful it was. Though, as she looked at herself in the mirror, she held onto the scarf around her neck, folded it up a bit and held it comfortably against her, feeling the warmth behind the feelings he left her.
-[x]-
The day had finally arrived, The Dragon King Festival. Tremors across the sky grew violent, and worsened by the second. Everyone from across Fiore had gathered around, and the knights from the Kingdom had arrived to help the civilians find safe ground so that the mages could fight. It wasn't that they didn't want to participate in the battle against the King of Dragons, but they knew themselves that they wouldn't hope to land a scratched after seeing the terrifying power of dragons up-close when Tartaros had activated F.A.C.E. And if anything, they had to protect the Princess as well. All the guilds around stood ready, and the dragonslayers from all over stayed huddled together, and leading them, was the Scarlet Knight, Erza.
Looking around, Jellal was there as well, getting prepared. They still had no idea where and when Acnologia was going to strike. Gripping the scarf around her neck, she remembered the smile he gave her, and the words 'The Librarian' had told her, even if Natsu wasn't around anymore, she needed to continue to move forward, and use the strength given her to fend off the terror threat of the great dragon. "...?!" without warning, the tremors grew worse, frequent, until like the sound of the beat of the drum. It was faint, but it was growing, the terrifying roar of the King of Dragon, "He's coming!"
Everyone braced themselves as cracks appeared in the sky, and only seconds later, the arm of the Dragon King forced its way through, followed by its tail, until he shattered a massive hole with a single breath. It was terrifying just coming face to face with the dragon that almost decimated them on Tenroujima. To think he waited this long just to make his claim over the world made them wonder just how powerful he was to just feel free to idly sit and wait until he found the perfect time to make his ascension. With a piercing roar, the entire area, no, all of Earthland must have felt that scream ripple across the land.
"The day I became King, is now the day I claimed this world for my own!" his mouth began to quickly gather power, and release it into a devastating blast hurling right towards them.
Luckily, Jellal was already prepared for the most part, having likely entered his 'Heavenly Body' mode, and prepared his spell perhaps when Acnologia was already gathering and creating seven magic circles in front of him, all connected in the shape of a vague constellation, "Grand Chariot!" countering.
Just then a large shot out each of the magic seals, all sky rocketing towards the fearsome dragon striking him in quick succession, forming the same constellation on the ground beneath him and exploded, causing the trajectory of the blast to miss enough so that they all had time to escape before it struck them. Still, the ending of the dragon's attack was gruesome for just being a breath attack. Fortunate for them, Jellal's attack was enough to slightly knock the dragon, allowing Wendy to prepare all of them.
Concentrating, Large magic circles appeared in front of all the Dragonslayers and Erza, "lle Vernier!" casting, as light white gust surrounded them, "lle Arms, lle Armor!" casting after another on each of them to increase all of their attacks and defense.
"Remember!" Erza told them, "Assist the other and make sure he doesn't reach you!" ordering the dragonslayers, "Don't be afraid to retreat, but still! Cover each other's backs!" telling them, "Go all out! Any less and we've lost this! Go!" With her signal the dragonslayers all fled. Almost by succession, each of the Dragonslayers slipped into their Dragon Force mode, knowing that it was the only thing they could use to have any chance to pierce through the dragon's hide. Shaking a little, she faced the dragon with determination, and remembered why she was doing this, for the guild, for her friends, for the world, and to protect the place he called home. "What would you say at a time like this, Natsu...?" hearing the roar of the dragon as the slayers flew around, striking when his gaze was turned away to make sure the others had a chance to leave., "I'm getting fired up..." eyeing down the dragon she took a step.
Her body lit up in a bright yellow light, and as she searched for the power that was given to her by the strange woman. Feeling her body burn from the inside, she felt the magic that she was looking for, seeing flashes of her mother unfold inside of her head. The kind loving Queen who loved dragons and had the grief she had for those she lost, friends both human and dragons, it was all flowing into her. Breaking through the magic, she felt a strange set of armor wrapped around her. Her insides were burning with a fiery flame, and a strange sense of wanting to destroy. And without warning, she flung herself towards the fearsome dragon, the blade forming in her hand just as she closed the gap.
"...!" flying past the dragonslayers, firming her hold on the blade, just as the King of Dragon noticed her and try to swat her away, she had swung her blade and to her surprise, she had cut through the thick hide of the Dragon, "It... cut through!" shocking everyone around her. It was then she remembered the name of this armor. The Queen of Dragons.
However, the one most shocked was the King of Dragons himself, "You... you...!" for someone he was filled with rage beyond belief, "You're supposed to be dead!" angered, he let out a roar, causing the shockwave to slightly push back the dragons and Erza.
Everyone around her was shocked, not only because her blade managed to pierce through the dragon, but because of how she looked. It wasn't like any of the tough armor they thought it'd be. She had a light cape wrapped almost like a shawl, covering her neck completely. Around her waist as a long almost cross between a mage and knight skirt. X marks strapped around her chest, stomach, and two large ones continued down the lower part of her armor. Underneath was a light steel layered armor, the emblem of a dragon, as her both her forearms were covered in a similar type of steel, with light jagged dragon spikes, wearing also matching steel boots presumably reaching near her knees. Light patches on her face and hand had scales similar to that of a dragon, and her eyes were no different from one neither. In her hand, she held a large blade in the shape of a dragon's claw, and behind her, were floating wings much like her Flame Empress Armor.
"Everyone! Follow my lead!" she could do as much as cut through his flesh, but even she knew the blade wasn't strong enough to do more than that. Gripping her blade she flew forward towards the angered Dragon.
The battle resumed after the slight delay, and neither side let up. Everyone around attacked the dragon from where they were, knowing it wouldn't be safe to get close, but it was still enough at the least to keep Acnologia busy, even if it was only for a small moment. Continuing, Erza continued to fly all over, opening up small cuts around his body, and in turn gaining his attention. Avoiding his swipes as best they good from his talons and his and tail.
"White Dragon's..." Sting would start up, "Shadow Dragon's..." joined by his teammate and partner, Rogue, the two of them gathered as much magic inside of them before, "Roar!" with that, the two of them simultaneously unleashed a blast of light and darkness that melded into one and struck one of the spots that Erza had cut, eliciting a scream from the Dragon.
It was then every dragonslayer caught wind of the best way to deal damage. Erza was flying around, dodging and opening up more cuts around his body, deepening the ones she came next to, and in turn they would take that opening to do more damage. Looking at another, Gajeel and Wendy followed suit to what was going on, and as the dragonslayer's from Sabertooth were striking the spots, the two joined in, "Sky Dragons..." Wendy began to gather power within her, as Gajeel rushed over like a madman at full speed, "Steel Dragon's...!" Holding his hand out, he finished as he closed in, "Sword!" his arm manifested as a long steel blade that he swung in succession, cutting across the open mark before, "Roar!" hearing Wendy had unleashed a blast from her sky magic, he timely dodged before the young dragon slayer's attack connected.
"AAagghh!" It wasn't much but he could feel the dragons cutting through with him, "The dead should stay dead, you pest!" infuriated, he spun, whacking all of them and slamming them into the ground before bolting to the sky, his body began to light up in a bright glow, and countless stars began to light behind him "Bow to your king! Eternal Flare!" his large scaly wings stretched out, he flapped his wings, unleashing the countless rays of light across the world, causing destruction virtually everywhere.
Scattering around, Erza and the dragonslayers moved around as best as they could to avoid being struck by any of the lights he had shot towards. However, they had another problem, everyone else was getting caught up in the blast. Jellal, with his Meteor spell was racing across, taking as many people he could out of the blasts range as many times as it kept coming. The other dragon slayers, not out of fear for the monster, darted to help divert the blast and keep their friends safe, though she could hear they weren't fast enough to escape the blast. Angered, she gripped the blade hard, and dived towards the beast. Fighting through the devouring feeling she felt while wearing this armor.
"Acnologia!" rushing towards the dragon, she kept a look as the dragon was aware of her presence. Gritting her teeth, she evaded his swipes as best as she could, cutting him whenever an opportunity struck itself. Her breath was growing thin, and she could tell that her movements were slowing down as well. "No... I can't give in" telling herself, enduring all the hits he'd manage to land. Each hit was strong to crush virtually anything in its path, but it was probably because of the armor she was wearing she was able to last this long.
Tiring out, she was caught in his grip, tight as he continued to putting strength. He wanted her to die slowly. Even with the armor she could feel him slowly crushing through it. "Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!" in a bright flash of light, Laxus had crashed through one of the open cuts Erza had placed, loosening his grip on her, in quick succession, he bolted around, easily dodging Acnologia's movements, "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" unleashing a large burst of electricity, finally freeing Erza. "Poison Dragon's Twin Fangs!" Cobra, who had snuck from behind unleashed a dual strike with his poison filled claws, causing the dragon to retaliate by smacking him with his tail, shooting him into the ground.
"Thanks... Laxus..." catching her breath, she felt two things happening. Her insides her burning even hotter, and her vision was slowly blurring, perhaps a side-effect from using this armor too long. This isn't good, we're doing damage but it isn't near enough. That attack... he must have gotten it from recuperating and feasting off of the Ravines of Time. Still... we need to do whatever we can" her grip shaking a little from fatigue, her grabbed her arm to steady her hand.
She could tell by the roars and erratic behavior that Acnologia was being affected, but was also getting angry. "You all impress me" he told them, "But how can you stand after this?!" large gusts of wind was gathering as he drew in even more magic. She knew what was coming, but there was a huge difference, he was quickly barreling towards the city, knocking away the three of them as he closed his mouth, "Dragon King's Decimation!"
Flying at a speed that was hard to catch up, Acnologia first ran over the area at a speed that caused destruction in its wake before rapidly ascending, and flipping over. Just he was about to unleash the blast and destroy half the continent, she saw something light in the sky. It was Jellal, he was going to ram himself straight into the jaw of the dragon to halt the blast, but there was a problem, she was sure that in doing so he was going to get himself killed. Her eyes opened in terror, she hurried over in a rush; not being able to afford to lose another person she was close to. What use was this power if she couldn't use it to protect anyone? The battle already had countless casualties and all they've done was just a tiny bit of damage to the Dragon King.
"Jellal! Don't!" screaming as loud as she could, she was about to lose another person. Memories of how she already lost her friend Simon, her mother, Master Makarov. Even Natsu. The cheery smile he left her shattered her.
She wasn't going to make it, no matter how fast any of them could move. Pushing herself to go faster. Until, a voice was let out, stopping her straight in her tracks. No, everyone aside from Acnologia stopped after hearing that familiar voice shout.
"Cursed Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!" a burst of tainted bright orange flames manifested as an object fell straight down, smashing the Dragon King straight into the ground, forcing it fire the blast up towards the sky. The impact from the Dragon King caused a quake throughout the town.
Her heart was racing, eyes shot wide open as she tried to piece it all together. Before she could think properly she raced towards the crash site, "Natsu!" yelling out to him, she wanted to confirm for herself that it was him.
"Stay back!" a throaty yell he told her, causing her to stop in her tracks. She was just a few feet away from him, "Right now... It's hard to control this..."
Getting a closer look, she could see what he meant. He looked exactly like when he and Gray were fighting, patches of black scales were scattered about his body, and intense flames, darkened and tainted were furiously bursting around his body. E.N.D. This was what he was, an etherious created by the recent dark wizard, Zeref. However, she had thought that when he defeated Zeref it would break the cursed power he was given, but after remembering it was what gave him life in the beginning, perhaps there was no true way to get rid of it. Still, she had wanted to do many things. Say many things. Tightening her fist tightly, it was enough to ignore the pain that she was feeling from the armor eating her.
Ignoring, she made her way furiously, "Hell if I care!" just as he turned to face her, she had slapped him across the cheek, "That's for making me wait so long!" tensing, she quickly pulled him into an embrace, her arm around him and the other lightly pressed against his head, "Idiot... don't do that again..." she could feel the flames burn through the armor, but for the moment, she didn't care. Pushing him back slightly, as Acnologia began to slightly stir, "We'll talk later, for now..." turning the two of them faced the Dragon King that swiftly leapt back in the sky, "We need to get rid of this 'King'" telling him, "Any plans?"
"...Same ol, Same ol'..." telling her with a dark smirk on his face, "Throw everything we got, clip that dragon's wings..." telling, "Happy literally had to drop me before I switched this on, Cursed E.N.D. Dragon Force" explaining to her, "Our objective is to ground him, and then slay them"
It was then she smiled a little to herself, feeling the weight of a thousand armies standing with them. Jellal, Laxus, Cobra, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, Rogue. Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus. Everyone. And beside her, was her dragonslayer. They all stood up ready to put an end to this Dragon King once and for all. Just a little longer, she resisted against the armor's feeding. She had every reason in the world now to power through all of this. Nothing was going to stop her, and that would even mean if she would fight off this temptation.
"This is it!" she announced, raising her sword, "Everyone! Give it everything you got!" Natsu's attack must have worked or at least done some damage that would play into their favor. They had the advantage in numbers, and while she knew that using the same tactics that they had done before would not work a second time, they had the etherious dragonslayer on their side, "Charge!"
With a roar of courage, everyone fell forward launching and casting all of their spells however they could if it would at least catch the dragon's attention. It was like Natsu said, they needed to ground him, but there was also the risk that by doing so he would aimlessly start attacking and destroying everything with its devastating breath attack. The key thing would be wounding him to a point that he would have no choice but to revert back to his human form, imagining it must be slightly more inconvenience if his Dragon form was crippled in any way.
"Oh? So the Fire King's twerp is back!" noticing that Natsu had entered the fray, "See if you can tackle this, son of Igneel!" gathering a massive amount of energy, Acnologia began to prepare another breath attack.
It was then all the dragon slayers fell together, "Dragon Kings!..." Acnologia began, "Sky Dragon's!" Wendy began, "Lightning Dragon's!" followed by Laxus, "Shadow Dragon's...! Light Dragon's!" this time it was the pair from Sabertooth, Rogue and Sting, "Shadow Iron Dragon's!" Gajeel, slipped once more into his Shadow Iron form, "Poison Dragon's...!" Cobra, his energy recovered from Kinana who had fallen back to his side had gave him extra energy, "Cursed Fire Dragon King's!" all the dragonslayer's had, at the same time prepared their roar, "ROAR!" then in a bright blue flash of light, Acnologia unleashed a devastating breath, as the dragonslayers on the other side had done the same, melding all together to counteract the Dragon King's attack.
The collision from the attack was more or less even, both sides giving it their all to keep the dragon preoccupied. Erza, alongside Jellal, and Mirajane flanked the Dragon King by the side. Both her and Jellal rushed, cutting through the wing of the dragon. Taking into the considering she was able to do damage at least to the point of cutting through its thick skin, Jellal was able to amplify the damage using Jiu Leixing, forcing nine lightning blades to impale themselves into the same spot of the openings Erza had made, while Mirajane using her Satan Soul: Mirajane Alegria, conjured a large spike of pure darkness, and blitzed towards, piercing it through before lighting it up with electricity. It was enough damage to elicit pain from the Dragon King, throwing him off allowing the dragon slayer's to land a direct hit on him with their combined roar, scorching over multiple wounds Erza had inflicted earlier.
Seeing an opponent, especially the damage the three of them had done to his, Natsu knew this was a chance he could use, "Gajeel!" turning to the Shadow Iron Dragonslayer, "I need you to throw me at Acnologia! You're the only one who can do it, anyone else... will get burned..." his disposition was getting worse as the scales were darkening and making advances.
"N-Natsu!" Wendy jumped in, "I can... if you want... just use Vernier so that you can fly faster than Gajeel can throw you" suggesting a little timid for interrupting him. She was also a little happy to see him back as well, perhaps the only one of the group to physically express it.
Taken back slightly, he had forgotten that, "Ah! That would be great, Thanks Wendy" flashing a large smile, he went to pat her on the head, but managed to stop himself, remembering that he could hurt her.
"Mm!" smiling she held her hands out in front of him and casted, "lle Vernier!" casting, causing his body to be enveloped in a bright light, "Arms,...Armor!" simultaneously adding buffs to his offensive strike and defense.
As he thanked her once more for the support magic, he flung himself into the air, igniting his hands to vastly increase his speed and as he zeroed in on the damaged wing. Setting his body ablaze in flames and electricity, both being tainted by his curse. "Cursed Lighting Fire Dragon's Firing Hammer!" his pulled back, engulfed in flames and electricity, he threw it forward, smashing his fist into the spot everyone else focused their attacks on, and shattered the Dragon King's wing.
"They did it!" Wendy happily cried as she watched the black dragon drop to the ground forced back into its human form after taking too much damage, regaining her strength. However, Laxus had corrected her, "But look" noting.
Both Acnologia and Natsu were plummeting to the ground, the latter dispelling his lightning fire dragon mode just after he made his attack, and the former just reeling from the pain. However, neither of them were ready to throw in the towel. Seeing that the two of them were still throwing punches at the other, Erza dove in, feeling the limit of herself being reached. Little by little, she could feel the armor slowly breaking, making it harder for her to maintain.
"Everyone stop attacking!" shouting, knowing that at this point Acnologia would be able to consume whatever his element was and regain strength to start back up his assault, "He'll recover if he eats anything you throw at him"
Seeing this, however, Acnologia, even despite being in his Human form was still able to put up a big fight, even with him only having one arm, "This is the end, Igneel's Son" telling him, his hand choking the dragonslayers neck, "Oh?" As the Titania was making her way, his peeved nature was getting to him again, "Tch... That pest of a woman,.. I'll kill you both right now" throwing him at her, forcing her to catch him, "Dragon King's...!" gathering his magic around him, "Assault Wing!" his body engulfed in dark magic, he made a claw with his hand and his entire right half was overshadowed with a dragon's claw and wing.
Spinning abruptly, he went to strike with both his talons and his wing, only for Natsu to throw himself onto Erza, shielding her from the attack as the two were crashed into the ground. Coughing and trying to get up from the assault, Erza had noticed that her armor was shattered, breathing heavy the overuse of it. She was lucky that she was able to use it as long as she did, but right now the two of them were in a light pinch. Her body was in pain, finding it hard for her to move, let alone hold a blade for the moment. Coughing, she looked around to find where Natsu was, only to see him in pain right beside her.
"Er...za" struggling to say her name, she watched in slight terror as the scales on his body were spreading faster. Forcing himself to stand up, "Stay here... I'll put an end to this before..." wincing, she watched as the scales grew, hearing him ache in pain as he became more demonic, "Before this takes over completely" he was fighting it the entire time, the cursed power of an Etherious.
Watching him stumble towards the fallen dragonslayer, Acnologia, Erza, even against her body's wishes, forced herself back up, breathing heavy, "Natsu!" yelling at him, stopping him in his tracks, "I told you, not to leave me again" reminding him when she had struck him earlier, stumbling towards him, much to his protest and wants, she placed her hand onto his should, enduring the pain from the burst of flames from his body. "I'm already angry with you,..." telling him, "Don't make it worse on yourself"
Looking at her with astonishment, he should have known better than to think of her like that. Smiling lightly to himself, he nodded as the two of them made their way over to the fallen Dragon King. Surrounded, all the dragonslayers gathered around the 'King' who was cut all over the place, and in bad shape from all of their assaults from the beginning of the fight. Neither of them showed fear as they made their, although, neither did the Dragon King. They knew that they couldn't use their roar to strike him anymore, out of concern that if he ate it, it would put him in the advantage, something they didn't want.
"Wendy!" Erza called out to the young dragon slayer, "Do you have enough magic to buff everyone?" asking her, "If so! Do it right now!" slightly instructing her. It was going to be a flat out assault.
Stumbling a little, a little terrified that she announced it just in front of it, she nodded, "Got it!" inhaling a large amount of air, recovering herself enough so that she could managed to cast the amount of buffs needed.
Annoyed that they were taking him so lightly, Acnologia turned to the young dragonslayer, "I will show you why I'm called the 'Dragon King'!" lunging after her, he was stopped abruptly by a breath strike from Natsu from behind, and from Erza who had merely just manifested a blade.
"You can't eat curses, can you? Because of how foul and different it is from magic" pointing out, "If you wanted you would have eaten our magic when we shot at you instead of keeping up the Dragon's Roar" their ace in the sleeve was curses, specifically, Natsu's E.N.D. curse, "Well that's unfortunate, 'cause I have a whole bunch to give" raising his hand, taunting the Dragon King.
Frustrated, the Dragon King went on a light rampage, having lost his ability to turn into a dragon after taking too much damage. Even without it, he still threw all he had, destroying the area. However, even if they were taking damage, Natsu and Erza weren't letting up, buying time for Wendy to buff up all the other dragonslayers to finish it off. Having knocked the Titania into the ground, he unleashed a violent breath attack, only for Natsu to buffer it, as Laxus jumped from the side, punching the Dragon King away to halt the breath. Next up, Rogue and Sting attacked in succession, linking each other's strikes before Acnologia got fed up and kicked Rogue aside, grabbing Sting and throwing him against his teammate.
"Oi! Where are you lookin?" Gajeel, with a light mad look on his face, ducked in under Sting being thrown and jabbed him in the stomach, grabbing him by the foot.
Immediately, he kicked the iron dragonslayer aside and was about to swipe with his dragon slayer magic, only for Natsu to have leapt in the air, and blocked it, slamming his cursed dragon's fist into him at Cobra, who kicked him aside, back to Laxus. For as long as the spell buffs were active, they dragonslayers attacked as much as they could, as Wendy had run over to Erza healing her while the Dragon King was preoccupied. It was an onslaught of physical attacks to damage the now human Acnologia who was still putting up a fight. Even with all the buffs, the dragonslayers were running out of stamina; the endurance of even the Human Acnologia was simply large.
"Erza..." running out of energy, even Natsu was running low, "I may just be able to pull off one more attack,..." mentioning to her, "When I do, that'll be your opening?"
She wasn't sure what she was getting at, but she could tell he was mostly demonic already. Scales were just about all over his visible skin, save for a few places here and there on his face. There were many questions she had, and especially concerns, but for now she needed to trust that he would be already, "All right, but Natsu..." sincerely pushing Wendy aside, "Come back in one piece" it wasn't a suggestion, but an order.
Nodding, he passed her a smile to assure her that he wouldn't go out like last time. It was then that they decided to put an end to the dragon slayer once and for all.
"Oi, King of Dragons!" Natsu called out, catching Acnologia off guard, he rushed in, his cursed flames ablaze, "Cursed Dragons Iron Fist!" casting, he began a slug fest with the dragonslayer, punching and getting punched, "Just a little more..." thinking to himself, enduring the hits, "A little more..." the black dragonslayer was slowly taking the lead until, "Now!" his body burst with flames and electricity, dark cursed flames no longer his own, "Cursed Dragon's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Phoenix Blade!" completely scaled, he launched Acnologia up with a fierce uppercut.
His arms flamed and electrified, he swung them around, unleashing a vortex of cursed powers before flying off in a burst, using the flames on his hands to quickly propelling himself towards the Dragonslayer, eventually ramming his head into him. That was the opening. As Acnologia fell, reeling from the strike, Erza saw the opportunity she was looking for and quickly changed into her Queen of Dragon's armor once more, and leapt towards him, bisecting him with her dragon's fang. Darkened mist began to eat at the points of damage.
"Jiu Leixing!" Jellal came to cast once more, seeing that it was probably safe. Several lightning blades came to strike the severed dragonslayer, followed by, "Roar!" with their last strength, the remaining dragonslayers unleashed a vicious roar.
Catching Natsu as he fell, they both bore witness to the event before them, "How about it, Natsu?" asking him with a slight smirk, "Do you have a final roar in you?"
"Nah... they got it" putting on a smile, he felt a little relieved to be able to relax finally, the burning flames that was once burning around him finally quelled, "Just going to... rest for a bit" his eyes heavy, they struggled a little before falling shut tight.
He fell limp, and the burning flames that once scorched her had died to nothingness. The scales had completely covered him, almost like he was in a permanent Dragonforce. As they made their way to the ground, she shook a little, worried because the last time he had, he vanished before her eyes. Acnologia was no more, reduced to nothingness, and as they confirmed it, all the Dragonslayers rushed over to the Titania who requiped out of her armor to check on the situation. He said that there was a last amount of power he had, but it looked like he was waiting until the curse had ran its course and completely overtaken him. Because it wasn't magic-based, there was no telling what the circumstances were if he ran out, since he likely couldn't recover it like magic.
"O-Oi... Natsu!" calling out to him, lightly shaking him a little. Putting her head up against his chest to listen for a heartbeat, she was a little scared hearing how faint it was.
Everyone was concerned, however, there was another person that she did not expect to hear from, at least not again, "Don't worry yourself Titania" the same cold monotonous voice that spoke to her not too long ago. Shocked, everyone watched as this woman just randomly appeared out of nowhere, looking for something, "Oh,... here it is" they were cautious as she lowered down and picked up a strange book, a thick text embroiled in scales titled 'Acnologia', "Now... I wonder what story you've had Mr. Dragon King" speaking to herself.
"W-Wait... what do you mean?" asking her, "And... wait a second! You said Natsu couldn't have been found! And he just appeared out of nowhere! Cursed with his E.N.D. power!"
Thinking about it, she pondered, holding the book nonchalantly, "Well no... If I remember correctly... I said you would die before you found him" reminding her, "Though I will admit I lied" shrugging a little as if she didn't care, "Anywho, Natsu's just a little..." curious herself, she flipped open the book of E.N.D., "Yeah, see? his story hasn't ended" reading the end, "Natsu used up his curse that would up devouring his own magic,... simply put, it was too much for him to handle as a Curse is far more powerful than normal magic, but also tainted. Since his curse was re-implemented into him, it swallowed his magic capacity soo..." snapping her fingers, Natsu dematerialized and his book was flung open, as all the particles gathered into the book, shocking everyone, drawing death glares from everyone, "Relax,... I need to take him back and reconfigure him" telling them, "This is how I even brought him here in the first place"
It was then she told them how when she found him, he was in an incomplete state as the owner of his book stopped existing. So, before she could send him off to assist with Acnologia, she returned him back to his book. Thankfully that he was different from the other demons that his book was physical instead of waiting for him to die, she was able to work around the clock to recreate the spell Zeref had done to a point that he could at least fight, however, once he used up all of his Curse's power, he would fall into a stasis once more considering she had rushed it slightly as time was important. Seeing as she was going to pick up Acnologia's book, she felt it was a perfect time to fix it perfectly.
"I... I see..." taking it in, Erza felt a little relieved that at least he was going to be coming back, "Well... just... take care of him, please..." looking at her seriously.
Curious, she took look at her, "What are you talking about?" asking her, "You're coming with me" that line shocked everyone as well, especially Jellal who was distrustful of this person, "You've burned up plenty inside using Queen of Dragon's" reminding her, "You may not realized, but it's been dragonifying you,... so, I'll need to be treating you as well" pointing out that even though Erza had turned back into a simpler armor, her face was still covered in scales slightly, and her eyes were slightly draconic.
"..." taken back a little as to how Jellal had stood in front, between the two, "Jellal... It's fine" smiling a little soft, getting up a little, she had to realize that it was changing her even slightly, "Stay with Fairy Tail... all right?" asking him as she made her way towards the young woman, "I'll be back... and I'll be back with Natsu"
With Natsu's book in her hand and Acnologia's in the suitcase, "Well... it might be a while" kind of vague in how long it might actually take her.
"Well it should be fine right?" asking her honestly, "We did like you wanted,...saved the world... got more stories for you,... so-"
Interrupting her once more, she had a slightly nervous look on her face, "Well... about that..." drawing a slightly annoyed look from the Titania, "I may uh... lied again..." perhaps feeling slightly guilty, "You see... I didn't necessarily do it to save the world... it doesn't matter to me"
"...Then why did we risk our lives and why did you make it sound so important?" narrowing her gaze at her.
Taken back a bit, something rare coming from her, "Well... as the 'Overseer' of the words, I cannot interfere so much like forcefully stopping events,... only alter them, that and..." Slightly blushed out of embarrassment, she smiled, "I simply don't like bad endings~" it was so surreal how in the end it was all because she simply didn't like reading bad endings.
Before Erza could complain to her, like she knew she would, she quickly tapped her on the head as she lit up in a white light and turned her into a book labeled 'The Scarlet Knight', vanishing alongside the strange woman. No one knew what to make of what had just happened, but the one thing they knew, was that because of everyone's efforts, Acnologia was finally put to rest. The magic he had stolen from the Ravines of Times had returned to its place where it belonged, and the world was no longer under threat from neither Zeref, nor the old King of Dragons, Acnologia. What had awaited them after was now simply just up to them, the future safe for their lives to be told the way they wanted, without the threat of carnage looming over. All that would await, was the return of The Scarlet Queen, and one of the new, Dragon King.
A/N: OH MY GOD THAT WAS LONG. Seriously, I was like "HEY, it's Acnologia, let's make it a hefty battle" but before i knew it... 10023239023 billion words later -w-. So yeah the battle is over! I may have really misinterpreted Curses... not sure if Acnologia could eat them since there's no real curse anymore aside of Natsu... but I thought it'd be a nice counter to whatever Acnologia could do. And if you're wondering! YES. I based QoD off of the mom's queen outfit...just tweaked it... I thought it was cool. Dunno, sounded cool at the time. I dunno what else to say really, I worked really hard like maybe 14 hours on this? I tried to have made it a cool epic way before the manga came to cover their fight, but I was like "Man... I probably f-cked it up" xD but yeah. Curses. QoD. Draconic thingy... oh yeah explanation. QoD was more like a slightly alternative way, you could say its like a Dragonforce Armor, but i also tied it with her nature to use armor and its quirks, and really its speed +, power +, endurance+and like earlier, it's basically an armor substitute for Dragonforce, which is like magic imbued so she could cut through dragons...something like that. But the surprise is! I have an ending! That will be up AFTER THIS :heart: :heart: :heart: so yeah, Darky Dark apologizes, this was my first long tough battle, and I hope to learn from this for future things. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions they're welcomed. ;;;;;;;;;;;w;;;;;;;