Natsu and Gajeel both growled as they raced down the streets of the capital towards the looming castle. Both Dragon Slayers were set in a grim determination to tear down a castle and the glow from Natsu's eyes had yet to fade. Any guard foolish enough to attempt to step in front of them was flattened with extreme prejudice.
Quirking his ears, Natsu let out a small growl as he heard a mass of cheering not too far away, and someone preaching about something. Deciding it to be of interest, Natsu voiced the thought to Gajeel.
"Gajeel!" Natsu called out as they rounded another corner, drawing closer to the sound he had heard. As the Iron Dragon Slayer's head rounded back to him, Natsu continued. "I can hear some sort of celebration not far from here, check it out quickly then meet me at what might remain of the castle." Natsu ordered as Gajeel nodded and split off from Natsu, eager to raze another squad of guards into the ground.
Gajeel let his ears guide him as the cheering grew louder in his ears. Whoever was speaking had left, but that was the only significant change. Upon arrival, Gajeel growled at what he saw. A chunk of the Lacrima that was Fairy Tail, which had clearly been hacked off the large one, was sitting in the middle of the city square, with a crowd of people cheering around a small group of guards which were guarding the crystal.
I wonder if they even know… Gajeel thought as he slowed to a walk, as he knew that a sprinting man towards a highly prized lacrima would draw unwanted attention. Gajeel almost snorted when the guards let him approach the lacrima that contained Fairy Tail. The brief thought of maybe half of a Fairy Tail member inside while the other half was still inside the main lacrima flickered through Gajeel's mind, but he decided not to dwell on it. He had no idea how these crystals worked. More importantly, do these guards know that Dragneel is about to tear their king apart?
Making the quick decision to make sure that Natsu had less guards to deal with, Gajeel lept into action against the six guards that were posted at the lacrima. Quickly walking up to one drew the guard's attention, who raised their hand in the effort to make Gajeel halt, but the Iron Dragon Slayer was having none of it. "Iron Dragon's Club" Gajeel snarled as his arm shifted into a pillar of iron and rocketed into the guard's stomach, downing the man in one hit.
The other guards quickly readied their weapons and charged Gajeel, who grunted at the lack of a challenge. Sidestepping the first one to make it to him, Gajeel grabbed the guard by the back of his neck and hefted the guard over himself, throwing him into the next guard, sending them both tumbling, knocking out the first and dazing the second. A quick kick the head send him into the realm of the dreaming as well.
With three guards left, they weren't stupid enough to try to rush him one on one, all three guards charged at Gajeel together, and the Iron Dragon Slayer only grunted as he growled out his next spell. "Iron Dragon's Sword" Gajeel growled as he swung his now bladed arm at the three guards, catching all three of them and even tearing the armor off of two of them, downing all three men. Unfortunately, Gajeel was expecting more resistance in the armor and his arm's momentum kept flying forward after tearing through the guards. And right into the Lacrima that was Fairy Tail.
Quickly hopping back and pulling his arm out of the lacrima as well as turning it back to normal, Gajeel inspected the damage. There was barely a crack where he had hit it, but a small light was seeping through it. A loud crack was heard as the 'small crack' suddenly widened to massive proportions and more light began to pour out, making it so that Gajeel had to shield his eyes to prevent himself from being blinded.
A rush of magical energy was suddenly released from the crystal, pushing Gajeel back a few feet as the Iron Dragon Slayer raised his arms to protect his head from the winds that were being released from the shattering crystal. Grunting in resistance, Gajeel dug the heels of his feet into the ground to prevent himself from being pushed further backwards and held his ground until the light finally began to die down.
Blinking the spots from his eyes, Gajeel lowered his arms from his face in order to see what had happened to the crystal, hoping that he hadn't just killed several Fairy Tail members by accident. What Gajeel saw was not at all what he had expected. Instead of shattered remains of a crystal, two very familiar mages stood before him, looking more confused than anything. Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet both had been trapped inside the lacrima that Gajeel had accidentally destroyed.
"Gajeel… what is happening? Why do I feel so… weak?" Erza asked Gajeel, who noted that both mages also looked rather exhausted after being freed. Gajeel let out a small snort at the question.
"Long story short, guild got sucked up by a giant portal called an Anima, now we're in a different dimension called Edolas, and the King here wants to turn all of Fairy Tail into giant human batteries. Seems like a bad outcome." Gajeel summed up as Gray and Erza both gave him an odd look.
"Riiight... " Gray trailed off as Gajeel rolled his eyes at the non-believing Ice Make wizard.
"Try using your magic ice boy." Gajeel snapped at Gray, who shrugged and tried to charge up a basic ice spell, only to have his eyes widen when he found out that he simply could not conjure any magic to his hands. "Told ya." Gajeel said triumphantly a Gray's stumped expression. Patting his pockets down for something, Gajeel quickly produced a small bottle filled with small orange balls. Noting that he had forgotten to give one to Wendy, and that Natsu for some reason didn't need one, he held two out to Erza and Gray.
"Here, crazy son of a gun who sent me here said these'd let me use magic. They work." Gajeel told both of the still confused mages as they both hesitantly took the small orange pill that had been handed to them. "I think he called 'em X-balls or somethin'" Gajeel muttered as a blue flash lit up in the distance, making Gajeel sigh, Natsu was getting all the fun.
"What was that?" Gray asked Gajeel, who shrugged.
"Look's like Dragneel's having a party over there." Gajeel noted, making both Erza and Gray stumble in surprise.
"Natsu Dragneel?!" They shouted in unison, making Gajeel raise an eyebrow at them.
"Yeah, that'd be the one, crazy son of a gun's already taken on an army twice now and looks like he's going to come out victorious both times. Barely leaves any guys for me." Gajeel noted sourly as he ignored the baffled expressions on both Gray and Erza's faces.
"C'mon, I'll explain why we're overthrowin' the monarchy on the way, let's go overthrow a kingdom." Gajeel called out as he started to run towards the castle, leaving the stupefied Gray and Erza to follow him.
Natsu would say that he was having the time of his life if he wasn't still enraged at what the king had done. Even as a former dark mage he had boundaries, the entire Oración Seis did. Torturing and killing people were deemed acceptable if necessary, but holding people hostage and exploiting them for their magic power was a line that even those six members of the Balam Alliance did not cross.
Maybe that was why Natsu chose to accept Brain's offer to join. The Oración Seis did have some sort of twisted sense of honor among them, and Natsu apparently liked it. Shaking himself from his thoughts, Natsu plowed through another guard, knocking him head over heels as he heard his Edolas self fire an electric shot that bounced from the armor of each guard, shocking at least a dozen and knocking them out flat.
Deciding that he'd had enough of tearing through paper soldiers, Natsu took a deep breath and most of the army's eyes widened at the attack they'd heard had taken out battalions before now. His eyes snapping open, Natsu snapped towards the army that stood before him and the castle doors before letting out a fierce yell, accompanied by his famous attack. "Apocalypse Dragons' Roar!" Natsu roared as the familiar torrent of blue tore through the army and blasted the castle doors clean off of their hinges, sending them deep into the castle where Natsu heard several servants cry out in surprise.
Headbutting a guard as he tried to stand up and stop him, Natsu turned to Harbinger with an expecting look. "Well, we have a king to overthrow, best not keep him waiting." Natsu said tauntingly as he blasted another struggling guard as he walked towards the castle doors over the piles of unconscious guards.
In that moment, Natsu Dragnoia couldn't help but notice that his counterpart looked like nothing but a demon straight from hell. The way he fought, the way his enemies lay broken before him, and the fact that nothing could ever get in his way sent shivers down Harbinger's spine.
The castle hall was empty, the grand stone pillars laid abandoned and the throne where the king would usually sit lay empty. Sunlight still filtered in through the windows, providing plenty of light and not too many shadows for anyone to hide in, something Natsu took note of as he entered the hall. The rich red carpets seemed to scream in outrage as Natsu carelessly let the mud from his military boots smear all over the luxury. Natsu quirked his ears as he stopped dead in his tracks shortly after entering, making Harbinger almost walk into him.
"Preferably, warn someone when you are going to stop." Harbinger stated as he recovered from quickly sidestepping the salmon haired Dragon Slayer, who sent a halfhearted glare his way.
"We aren't alone, there are two people watching us. Neither are very strong." Natsu noted as his two stalkers decided to step out into the light. Natsu quickly drew his sword as he saw the blonde and purple haired man walk toward them, their footsteps echoing off the silent stone corridor as Natsu narrowed his eyes at them.
The blonde was adorning some ridiculously pink armor and appeared to be lacking a pair of pants. He had what Natsu could only call an ass for a a chin and seemed to be far too confident in himself as he strode towards the duo of Dragon Slayer and Bounty Hunter. A blade with a rose handle hung at his hip and Natsu looked forward to seeing how well he could use it.
The other man seeme to be a bit more calm and collected. He donned a long white cloak, and unlike his adversary, was wearing pants, white ones that matched the cloak. He wore a black shirt under the cloak and had very strange arrow like eyebrows that rubbed Natsu the wrong way. He held some sort of stick as his side that Natsu sighed at. Did the guy think he was going to poke him to death?
"Well, I do suppose we owe you some sort of congratulations on your amazing defeat of the Royal Army… twice." Said the purple haired man, which Natsu noticed, had a streak of white in his hair as well. Eh, who was he to judge, his was salmon.
"Yes, it was most impressive." The blonde man agreed as Natsu rolled his eyes and drew his katana from his hip, having lost his cloak a while ago it was no use trying to hide the blade anymore.
"Am I gonna get some names before I beat you senseless or are we jumping straight to the action?" Natsu asked as he twirled the katana in his hands, making the blonde man raise an eyebrow. They really do that a lot here don't they?
"Oh, he has a fire in him. I suppose it's only polite to introduce myself, my name is Sugarboy, Captain of the 4th division of the royal army. Charmed." Sugarboy introduced himself as the purple haired man gave him a look.
"Name's Hughes, and sorry, but we aren't going to let you get any closer to the king. We gotta job to do after all." Hughes said with a shrug as Natsu growled and stabbed his katana at Hughes daringly.
"Lotta talk for a guy who just had his army flattened." Natsu said with a snarl as he slowly advanced towards the duo. "Harbinger, go find the king, these two'll only be a minute." Natsu said threateningly, as Harbinger shrugged and turned down a hallway to find the king.
After staring down both of his opponents, Natsu dawned a feral grin as he vanished in a flash of blue, causing both opponents to raise their guard due to their sudden lack of an enemy.
"You know I won't be able to do much out here away from the theme park." Hughes stated to Sugarboy, who only nodded.
"Go get the bounty hunter then, I knew we should never had trusted him." Sugarboy said with a small amount of distaste as Hughes checked his surrounding and bolted for the door, only for Natsu to quickly reappear and boot Hughes out the door towards Harbinger. Can't be hogging all the fun for himself now can he?
"1 on 1, somehow less fair than before." Natsu said with boredom as he calmly twirled his katana in his hand and Sugarboy drew his rose sword and the two charged each other. The two met in a flurry of sparks. Natsu immediately slashed at Sugarboy's wrist in the hopes of removing a hand, only for Sugarboy to twist his sword and block the katana before pushing the blade off and slicing at Natsu's check, which the Dragon Slayer parried and booted Sugarboy backwards, making the pink-clad man stumble a bit, but his armor was heavy. Natsu felt like he had just kicked a refrigerator backwards.
Sugarboy twirled his blade before stabbing at Natsu, who sidestepped and cut at Sugarboy's face, which the other man quickly blocked before forcing Natsu's blade off of his own. Natsu smiled at the swordsmanship. His opponent knew what he was doing. Granted Natsu hadn't busted out his magic yet, and could cleave that little toy of his in two if he wanted, but Natsu decided to find out who was the better swordsman first, then he could beat him to a bloody pulp.
Releasing a flurry of strikes, each one pushing the pink-clad man further back, and each one closer to defeat, Natsu was more than confident he was the better blademaster, but it still didn't explain the god damned smirk on Sugarboy's face. Shrugging it off as he went in to slice open Sugarboy's armor, he was momentarily surprised when Sugarboy blocked the blow and his smirk widened.
"You truly are a master of the blade, but how are you without it?" Sugarboy asked in an oh so smug tone as he twisted his blade slightly and called out a spell, which made Natsu's eyes widen further than he thought possible. "Rosa Espada: Liquify!" Sugarboy called out as Natsu watched in horror as he beloved katana's blade melted right in front of him, leaving only the hilt in his hands. Taking a stumbling step back, Natsu was horrified. Not of the power that Sugarboy had, no he was going to strangle that smug pink man with his intestines, but horrified at the fact that he had just lost the biggest gift given to him by his second father.
That sword was special. Forged by Acnologia himself for Natsu's 14th birthday, the birthday before he had left a 15 year old boy who had no idea how the outside world worked by himself. Natsu remembered some snide remark from the Ancient Dragon Slayer when he gave Natsu the sword that he would have an easier time surpassing him if he used his own blade instead of one of the old ones that Natsu kept finding, and Acnologia kept breaking on his scales when they fought. The same sword he had carried with him for 6 years now, and at the sword that he felt naked without. Without that blade, the last physical memory of Acnologia that Natsu carried with him was gone. All thanks to that god damned pink-armored man.
"Oops," Sugarboy mocked at Natsu's expression. "Did I do that?"
In that moment, something snapped inside Natsu. He felt hatred, hatred he had not felt for another in a long time. Dislike he felt often, but Natsu had not truly hated another for qutie some time, not even when Acnologia had killed Igneel, not when Erza had stabbed him, but now. He had destroyed Natsu's greatest gift from Acnologia, one he had promised to look after with care. And that god damned pink armored bastard was going to pay.
Growling as he slowly placed the hilt on his waist, Natsu let out a feral snarl as his eyes erupted into a blue light, with small wisps of blue trailing off, his hand erupting into the blue as he stalked menacingly towards Sugarboy, who looked beyond afraid and confused as what had just happened. He just melted the guy's sword, was that such a huge problem.
"You know," Natsu growled "I was going to let you live at the beginning of our fight, but now, I'm not so sure." The enraged Dragon Slayer snarled as he kept advancing towards Sugarboy, who kept taking steps back. The blonde elvis ripoff opened his mouth to speak but Natsu cut him off instantly. "Apocalypse Dragon's Rapture," Natsu growled as the ground beneath Sugarboy's feet exploded, sending him flying towards Natsu who had no plans of ending this quickly. "Apocalypse Dragon's Claw," Natsu called out as he brought his foot down on the top of Sugarboy's head and send him crashing into the ground.
Sugarboy let out a shout of pain as he face became acquainted with the now cracked stone floors and tried in vain to raise his arm to stop Natsu, who only grabbed the arm and twisted it around Sugarboy's back until a sick pop was heard and Sugarboy cried out as his now dislocated arm screamed at him in pain.
"Oh quit whining. Apocalypse Dragon's Chaotic Fist!" Natsu yelled at Sugarboy before nailing him in the forehead and causing Sugarboy's eyes to roll into the back of his head before he slumped to the ground unconscious. Snorting at how easily his opponent was to defeat, Natsu debated throwing him off one of the floating islands and letting gravity decide if he lived or died. Natsu honestly didn't care.
Plucking the hilt of what used to be a beautiful katana from his waist, Natsu let out a heavy sigh at the light and unbalanced weight in his hands. The king was going to pay for his sword as well as kidnapping most of Fairy Tail. Giving the black handle a once over, Natsu decided that he could probably get someone to put a new blade in the hilt, so it wasn't completely lost, but rendered utterly useless until it was fixed.
Letting out a sigh, Natsu calmly slid the hilt back to his waist, noting that he could move considerably faster without a blade blocking his leg and set off on a small job down the corridor that Harbinger had went down, and Natsu had given Hughes a surprise trip down. The signs of a small battle were clear here. A few tapestries were scorched or even still burning, and hints of ice lingered on some of the walls, and a few pieces of the wall looked like they had decided to move themselves around the hallway, making the castle look more like a warzone than a luxury.
Raising an eyebrow as Harbinger came into view, Natsu almost let out a small chuckle at the scene. Harbinger was standing there with one boot on an unconscious Hughes' head while he calmly checked his gun to make sure it was fine. Noting Natsu's presence, he snorted before responding.
"What took you so long, I've been done for like 5 minutes now." Harbinger asked as he deemed his gun healthy and slid it onto the sheath on his back. Natsu sighed before responding.
"Would've been over in seconds, but the bastard had the nerve to melt my sword." Natsu said, gesturing to the now just hilt on his hip, making Harbinger raise his eyebrow before reaching to his waist, unsheathing the Gurkha blade he kept there and tossing it to Natsu, who caught the blade quickly before giving Harbinger an odd look, who shrugged in response.
"You needed a blade, you have one, just make sure to give it back, I like that knife." Harbinger said as he plucked a pistol from his waist and gestured for Natsu to follow him, which Natsu did with a nod as he slipped the blade in his belt to be sheathed until he needed it.
"We've got a monarch to overthrow." Natsu said in response as he took the lead and began to make his way to the scent of arrogance and greed, which Natsu figured was probably the king.
They didn't have to look far, as the second they rounded the next corner, Natsu and Harbinger were met with a battalion of guards who all stood in a defensive position in front of closed doors, where Natsu figured the king most likely was hiding out in. Raising an eyebrow at the several rows of knights, Natsu gave a sideways glance to Harbinger. "Should I be honored that they're letting me fight stuff or insulted they're giving me so few guards." Natsu asked, making Dragnoia roll his eyes as he thumped Natsu on the back of his head.
"Focus Dragneel, we have a task to do." Harbinger calmly responded as he twirled his pistol on his hand, making Natsu scoff at the statement as if he was offended, and he probably was.
"Please, as if that few guards will be a problem." Was all Natsu said before turning to the fortifications and placed his left palm on top of his right hand. "Apocalypse Dragon's Cataclysmic Jaw!" Natsu shouted as a magic circle appeared and a blue dragon leapt from his hands into the fortified ranks, tearing through them like paper and successfully knocking out a good majority of the guards, the rest of whom now stool quivering in their boots. Turning to Harbinger with a bored look, he spoke again. "Told you."
"You didn't get all of them."
"Yeah well you didn't do jack shit." Natsu retorted as Harbinger rolled his eyes. While he was secretly fascinated by the Dragon Slayer magic, he had better things to do at the moment, like taking out a king. If he pulled it off right he'd get quite the nice reward for removing the king from power, permanently.
Natsu gave the rest of the guards a bored look as they all scampered to their feet and raced away from the Dragon Slayer and Bounty Hunter. The former of which merely snorted at the retreating soldiers. Pitiful really.
"I'm gonna go finish them off so they don't get reinforcements, keep the king alive until I get back will you?" Natsu remarked as he calmly took off in a jog after the fleeing guards. And for what was a calm jog for Natsu, was basically an all out sprint for the guards, who yelled in terror as Natsu quickly gained on them, chasing them out of Harbinger's view.
The Bounty Hunter rolled his eyes as he pushed open the throne room doors and wasn't overly surprised to find it empty. He knew that the king wouldn't just be sitting on his throne while Natsu tore his castle apart. Old bastard probably hid somewhere that would take Harbinger just a bit to find. A price worth the effort.
Taking a few steps forward, Harbinger quickly backpedaled when a giant sword crashed down from the ceiling, making Harbinger sigh, of course it wouldn't be that easy. Harbinger calmly turned towards the black human like cat that was flying above Harbinger with an angry look in his eyes.
"Pantherlily." Harbinger calmly remarked as he drew his rifle from his back and cocked it. Shooting the flying cat was going to be a damn pain. The guy always flew at insane speeds, but he'd hit him eventually. Eventually.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you, Bounty Hunter." Pantherlily growled as Harbinger only rolled his eyes at the verbal attack.
"My contract was up yesterday, I did my part, now I'm doing my part again, and this bounty requires the head of one king." Harbinger calmly remarked as he switched his guns to his ice rounds, if he hit a wing then the cat'd be down for the count.
"You won't live to see the end of this bounty." Pantherlily growled, making Harbinger sigh at the useless conversation. They were going to fight, so why delay it?
"Let's just get this over with, Captain." Harbinger stated in a bored tone as a crack erupted from the front of his rifle, the icy round sailing towards Pantherlily, whose eyes widened at the attack. Raising his arm to protect himself, Pantherlily cried out in surprise when ice quickly overtook his entire arm, making it just a block of ice.
Wasting no time, Harbinger fired again, this time hitting a leg and rendering it immobile as Pantherlily cursed again. The large cat was now down two limbs. Another crack resonated and Pantherlily dove to the side to avoid another icy body part, he felt the chill of the bullet soar past his wing. Dive bombing Harbinger, the Bounty Hunter only sighed as he watched the giant exceed race towards him and tensed his legs in anticipation.
As the racing Pantherlily was about to make impact, Harbinger spun out of the way and in one fluid motion, drew his pistol from his hip and blasted Pantherlily in his right wing, freezing it instantly and dropping Pantherlily to the stone floor. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Harbinger kept his pistol out as he approached the downed exceed, who was glaring at him with everything he had.
"Go on then, finish me." Pantherlily growled as Harbinger twirled his pistol on his finger, and sighed at the one track mind of the exceed in front of him. Kill him? Honestly, he wouldn't even get paid for it.
"You're always so barbaric Pantherlily, using strength as your main fighting style, relying on overpowering your enemies, and immediately expecting someone to kill you when they beat you in a fight." Harbinger said with a snort as he swiftly placing his pistol into the holster and crossing his arms. "You aren't worth anything dead so I've got no reason to kill you." Harbinger snorted.
"You are going to kill the king, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I allowed that." Pantherlily growled as Harbinger only raised an eyebrow.
"The same king who crashed your people's island into the ground hoping that it's magic would forever seep into the earth? I think we'll both be able to sleep just fine if Faust dies. Besides, you're the only exceed left in Edolas, and I'm not ready to be driving races to extinction yet." Harbinger quipped as he turned away from Pantherlily and began to inspect the room. "You could just tell me where he's hiding. It'd make my day easier."
A snort from Pantherlily began the answer. "The King is going to activate it." Pantherlily said with a sigh, and making Harbinger raise an eyebrow.
"Not terribly in the mood to play the pronoun game, so please enlighten me as to what is."
This time the exceed captain let out a bitter laugh at the dry remark from the Bounty Hunter. "The Dorma Anim, he saw your doppleganger tear through his guards and thinks it'll be the only way to 'save the kingdom' as his majesty put it." Pantherlily spoke, but not without bitterness.
Harbinger stiffened when he heard the name. "I was under the impression that it was sealed away forever."
"The king's decided to change that. You and your allies have no chance." Pantherlily said as he angrily smashed his frozen arm on the ground and was awed as it shattered. He didn't know he could break the magic ice. Capitalizing on his freed limb, Pantherlily reached for his sword to cut down Harbinger, who was still distractedly searching the throne room for a hidden room in order to prevent the Dorma Anim from being activated. The First Royal Captain of Edolas hobbled his way over to the Bounty Hunter and just as he was going to bring the sword down, Harbinger twirled around, drew his pistol, switched it to electricity, and fired twice, nailing Pantherlily in the chest both times. This caused the black exceed to drop his blade as he convulsed and fell to the ground.
"Predictable." Harbinger muttered as he holstered his pistol and left the throne room. There was nothing there left for him besides the twitching Pantherlily. Sighing as he pulled down his hood and stepped out into the hallway, Harbinger began to make his way outside to warn his counterpart of the oncoming danger when he heard the Iron Dragon Slayer from before yell out behind him. Turning around, Harbinger's instincts kicked in as twirled to avoid an ice spell that was sailing towards him from behind
Arming himself with his handgun twirling around, his gun met the face of stunned Gray Fullbuster who raised his arms in surrender
"Damn it popsicle I told you it wasn't him!" Gajeel cried out in anger as he rushed towards the Bounty Hunter who looked like he very much wanted to pull that trigger. "Put the damn gun down Bounty Hunter, he's with us." Gajeel snapped as Harbinger only nodded and lowered his pistol, his eyes never leaving Gray however.
"Interesting way to introduce yourself." Harbinger noted as he holstered his firearm and took a step back as Gajeel approached, with a very familiar looking redhead behind him. "Knightwalker?" Harbinger asked in confusion at the red haired swordswoman in front of him, who gave him a small smile before responding.
"You appear to have my confused with my counterpart, my name is Erza Scarlet." Erza said as she extended her hand for Harbinger to take, which he did after only a moment's hesitation.
"Natsu Dragnoia, but you may call me Harbinger." Harbinger introduced himself as he shook Erza's hand. "Redfox we got trouble." Harbinger stated as he turned away from Erza, making the Iron Dragon Slayer raise an eyebrow. They were stuck in an alternate dimension where a power-crazy king held their guildmates captive to be slaves for magic power and now they had trouble?
"What kinda trouble?" Gajeel asked as Harbinger sighed.
"The King's trying to activate the Dorma Anim. A giant automaton with the ability to-" Harbinger started as he was cut off by a loud mechanical roar. "Well it looks like you're about to find out." Harbinger finished as he raced toward a window and kicked it out, before gesturing the others to follow and he leapt out the window.
His companions followed in a more reasonable fashion, with Gray making a staircase out of his ice for them to follow Harbinger down the three stories that he had just dropped, and when they arrived they were surprised to find an unscathed Harbinger tapping his foot impatiently. "We have little time, let's go." Harbinger snapped as he started to lead the Fairy Tail mages to the source of the roar which appeared to be an old coliseum in the distance.
Natsu and Wendy knew it wasn't a natural dragon the second he heard the roar. Natsu remembered the way Igneel and Acnologia roared, and they were both filled with pride and power, this was filled with static and crackling, but little power and certainly no pride.
Wendy looked up from the patrol of guards that she'd almost been kidnapped by, before Natsu utterly obliterated them, and let out a small frown at the noise, that didn't sound like a real dragon at all.
Dropping the last guard that Natsu had just finished defeating, the elder Dragon Slayer turned around to see a bright light coming from an old coliseum outside the castle. Sighing, Natsu gestured for Wendy to follow him started into a sprint, deciding he might as well figure out what the hell was impersonating a dragon while he was still here.
Dusk was beginning to settle and Natsu decided that he'd rather find the damned fake dragon while he still had daylight, and not searching for it somewhat blindly in the night. Turning to the small blue-haired girl, he spoke.
"You did good in the fight Wendy, but I think we've got another one on our hands soon enough." Natsu called back to the little girl, who blushed at the compliment before racing after Natsu.
They only made it a few yards before he heard Gajeel call out at him from just outside the the castle gates. "Oi Dragneel, get your ass over here, we have a problem." Gajeel yelled at the Apocalypse Dragon Slayer, who sighed in response, before being covered in a flash of blue and reappearing next to Gajeel, who let out a small start of surprise before turning to gesturing to Harbinger, who raised an eyebrow at the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Since the tin can is incapable of explaining what is going on, I suppose I will." Harbinger stated, making Gajeel growl at the small jab, and making Natsu roll his eyes and snap his fingers to gain their attention.
"Focus Harbinger, what's going on?"
The Bounty Hunter let out a small scoff before responding. "The King's unleashed the Dorma Anim, a giant mechanical Dragon that is nigh undefeatable, it's armor can reflect any type of magic attack." Harbinger explained, making Natsu scoff.
"Nothing's undefeatable, Redfox. You, Wendy and I are all Dragon Slayers, so let's go kill us a fake ass Dragon." Natsu stated as he gestured for the other Dragon-trained mages to follow him and sprinted off towards the beam of light.
Gray sweatdropped as he looked at the running mages. "He didn't even notice us did he?" Gray asked Harbinger, making the Bounty Hunter only shrug in response. Natsu did seem to get extremely focused on his goals, blocking out all others while he was working.
"It would appear that he did not." Erza confirmed as she requipped a sword into her hand and spun it around. "Come, let us assist them in their dragon slaying." Erza said as she attempted to move forward, before Harbinger stopped her, gaining an irritated and confused look from the scarlet-haired swordswoman.
Harbinger shrugged off her glare and responded. "That is Dragon Slayers slaying a Dragon, something tells me that we'll only get in the way, besides, we still have some guards to deal with." Harbinger stated as he gestured to one of the few remaining patrols of guards from Natsu's rampage, who looked relieved as they rounded the corner that they didn't have to fight the monster of a Dragon Slayer.
"These guys never learn do they?" Gray chuckled as he readied an attack.
"They don't seem to." Harbinger agreed as he drew his rifle.
Naturally, Natsu was the first to arrive at the arena, and wasn't impressed by what he saw. The Dorma Anim was a 35 foot tall solid steel that stood on two legs. It's eyes were bright red and couldn't look less like a fake dragon if it tried. It's teeth were painfully triangular and Natsu didn't even see the reason to put a mouth on the robot, wasn't like it was going to be used.
When Gajeel and Wendy both caught up to Natsu, they also expressed their distaste for the giant metal dragon, eventually gaining it's attention.
"So! These are the brats who are ruining my kingdom" the dragon yelled out in a voice that sounded surprisingly like an old man, making Natsu raise an eyebrow. So they were fighting who he assumed was the king in a dragon suit, not even a mechanical dragon. A rather large disappointment.
"I'll take it that you're the king that kidnapped their guild then." Natsu stated calmly as he let his magic flow out of his hands, surrounding him in an eerie blue glow, while Gajeel growled and cracked his knuckles. It was about time they finally overthrew a tyrant.
"You can't scare me now you little brat! My Dorma Anim is invincible, not even you can take it down!" The King called from inside the mechanical dragon, making Natsu only raise an eyebrow.
"I like a challenge." Was all Natsu said before he smirked and disappeared into a flash of cyan, leaving the king confused before he felt a giant impact on the top of the Dorma Anim which nearly sent it stumbling. Natsu had teleported on top of the dragon and unleashed a strong punch onto the dragon's head, making a sizable dent and causing Natsu to frown at the fact that he could down walls with that punch and he did little damage.
"Redfox, get your iron ass up here and help, you too Wendy." Natsu called out as he leaped off of the Dorma Anim and swung his arm at the mech as he fell. "Apocalypse Dragon's Rapture!" Natsu called out and a large explosion overtook the front of the Dragon, knocking it back as Gajeel rushed forwards with a grin on his face.
"Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel called out as his arm transformed into the iron pillar and slammed into the joint of the arm and body, creating a dent in the armor, but mainly just pissing the king off in the process.
Gajeel lept back and Natsu rushed back in and delivered a smashing energy covered kick onto the dragon knight's foot, effectively removing one of the toes and maiming the metal dragon.
Faust let out a yell of anger as Natsu teleported back to Gajeel and Wendy
"Impossible! No magic should be able to harm the Dorma Anim!" Faust roared as Natsu rolled his eyes. He had just taken down an army and the king didn't think he could kill some half-ass of a dragon? Please.
"New flash, we're Dragon Slayers, we don't do impossible." Natsu stated as he turned to Wendy with a small smile. "Wanna get in on this one Wendy?" Natsu asked, to which Wendy only shook her head with a small smile.
"I'm better on support anyways." Wendy said as she took a deep breath before speaking. "Fast wind that run the heaven... Vernier!" Wendy chanted as a sky-blue glow surrounded Natsu and Gajeel, who both felt as if they could run down Racer with one leg tied to the other, but Wendy wasn't done yet. "Power of the stout arms that tears heaven… Arms!" Wendy chanted again, and another blue glow surrounded the other Dragon Slayers, who felt as if the could lift the heavens.
Natsu let out a laugh as he launched himself at the Dorma Anim at impossible speeds, his fists ignited as he slammed into the metal dragon, with Gajeel leaping into the air and inhaling deeply. "Iron Dragon's Roar" Gajeel yelled out as a torrent of metal bore down on the Dorma Anim, forcing it to the ground as Natsu flipped himself onto the dragon's head, grinning as he did so.
"Knock knock! Apocalypse Dragon's Chaotic Fist!" Natsu yelled out as he slammed his hand down on the fake dragon's neck, causing the head to give a sharp jerk as the dragon spun to shake Natsu off, eventually doing so as Natsu let himself be thrown back to Wendy with a grin on his face. His blood was pumping and Natsu was having the time of his life. The first real fight he'd had in Edolas this entire time was turning out to be more of a punching bag, but at least it could take the hits.
"Outrageous! Simply blasphemous!" Faust roared as he waved the arm of the Dragon Knight causing turrets to raise out of the dragon's shoulders, making Natsu raise an eyebrow. So the fake dragon did have a few toys. A barrage of missiles was sent at the Dragon Slayers, with Gajeel grabbing Wendy and racing out of the way, while Natsu simply raced towards the missiles with a crazed grin on his face.
After getting out of harm's way, Gajeel and Wendy turned back to the Dorma Anim, and their jaws both dropped at what they saw. Natsu raced towards the missiles flying towards him and right as he was about to crash into one, thrust himself into the air and then toadstooled off of the next missile, right onto the next, and then onto the next one before leaping onto the last one and lunging at Faust from the missile.
Gajeel was in shock as the missiles exploded against the empty ground. Natsu had not only dodged all of the missiles, he had used them as stepping stones in order to get closer to Faust. However Natsu's fancy footwork was in vain as Faust let out a yell of anger and swung his arm forward, and swatted Natsu into the ground like one might a fly, making Natsu growl in anger as he stood up, barely phased from the attack.
"I am not a fly." Natsu snarled as he disappeared in a flash of blue and reappeared in front of the Dorma Anim, and took a deep breath as he began to fall downwards. "Apocalypse Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled as the torrent of blue slammed into the Dorma Anim with the speed of a freight train, sending the mech tumbling as Natsu landed and walked over to Gajeel and Wendy, his eyes glancing over both of them as he made sure they weren't seriously injured from the missiles. Not that he cared for their well being or anything, just taking down the giant mechanical dragon would be a pain without some backup.
Faust grunted dangerously at the Dragon Slayers as he stood up. "Your attacks are nothing more than the bite of a fly! The Dorma Anim is invincible!" Faust yelled at the Dragon Slayers as he fired a larger wave of missiles at them, making Natsu raise an eyebrow as he gestured for the other two to get away from them. Gajeel grabbed Wendy and took off to Natsu's right, leaving the son of Acnologia to stare down a fleet of missiles again, and narrowed his eyes at the challenge.
Sprinting straight at the barrage, Natsu slid under the first missile that approached him and fired a blast of energy at the next two, detonating them in the air and making the other explosives lose their lock on him. Pressing his advantage, Natsu charged through the smoke towards the Dorma Anim, determined to tear a large chunk out of the fake dragon.
Only to slam straight into a missile, which detonated upon impact. Natsu was thrown backwards the explosion and made a less than grateful landing against a stone pillar, which cracked at the sudden force applied. Natsu let out a grunt of pain as he stood himself up, only to find the Dorma Anim already charging him. Snarling at the challenge, Natsu placed his left palm on top of his right fist and aimed towards the insane king of Edolas. "Apocalypse Dragon's Cataclysmic Jaw!" Natsu yelled as a blue dragon head leapt from his hands and met the Dorma Anim's charge head on, the smaller dragon slamming into the stomach of the larger one before latching onto a shoulder protector and tearing the piece of metal off, before Natsu finally dissipated his ethereal dragon, an enraged expression still on his face at the now sputtering king.
"Wh-what?! Simply Impossible! The Dorma Anim cannot be damaged!" Faust howled as he narrowed his eyes at Natsu from inside the metal dragon. "You will be destroyed you insignificant little pra-" Faust began before Gajeel cut him off with a holler of laughter.
"Don't forget about us old man! Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel yelled out as two metal poles slammed into the damaged shoulder of the Dorma Anim, causing electricity to ripple throughout the damaged robot, and Gajeel to quickly draw back his arms for fear of electrocution. He'd already been a lightning rod to save this guild once, it was an experience he prefered to not repeat.
Landing with a satisfied smirk, Gajeel calmly walked over to Natsu, while Wendy ran over to make sure he was okay. Brushing Wendy off, Natsu only gave Gajeel a small grin which Gajeel immediately understood, a wicked grin making it's way onto the Iron Dragon Slayer's face as he took a deep breath, followed by Gajeel and Wendy quickly catching on followed in suit.
"Apocalypse Dragon's…"
"Iron Dragon's…"
"Sky Dragon's…"
"Roar!" All three Dragon Slayer yelled in unison as a torrent of blue, a tornado of metal and a hurricane of air all launched towards the Dorma Anim, eventually all combining into a giant blue beam that had bits of metal and wind flickering around the edges, which let out a massive explosion as it made contact with the Dragon Knight, filling the arena with smoke, making Natsu snort at the destruction caused. It was what Fairy Tail mages seemed to specialize in after all.
"He better learn to stay down after that." Natsu grumbled as Gajeel cackled at the effect of the Roar attacks and Wendy only let out a small smile.
"C'mon Dragneel, ya really think anything can stand up after that?" Gajeel laughed as Natsu only shook his head with a small smile on his face. Maybe the king would actually stay down, it would be nice if that happened.
However luck was not on their side that day. As the smoke cleared, Gajeel and Wendy both sputtered as they saw the Dorma Anim rising to it's feet, while Natsu only raised an eyebrow, masking his surprise completely. Impressive.
"You insignificant little peasants! Did you really think that you can defeat me?! I am the king of Edolas! I control the Dorma Anim! I am invincible! And now I will end all three of you!" Faust hollered as the Dorma Anim began to transform. The Dragon Knight appeared to absorb all magic in the air around it, staining the armor black as Natsu felt it's power spike, blowing Zero's level of magic out of the water, and making Natsu's eyes narrow dangerously. They wanted to play with power ups then? "Now! Face your death with no hope at all! You now face the Dorma Anim: Black Sky! The one true Black Dragon, which will be your utter defeat and end!" Faust yelled.
Wrong thing to say.
Natsu had just had it about up to here with Edolas. First he has to be some god damned taxi cab in order to transport people between islands, then he took on a god damned army, who didn't even pose much of a challenge, he met his doppelganger who had a mouth to smart for his own good, he had his sword destroyed and now this miserable excuse of a king thought he could call himself the Black Dragon? Natsu let loose a feral snarl at the exclamation of the king and decided to try a very, very, very stupid idea.
"Gajeel, Wendy, get out of here, I have a dark robot to fall." Natsu growled, purposely avoiding the words 'Black Dragon', which both Wendy and Gajeel caught on to. Gajeel only let out a nod as he grabbed Wendy and sprinted to the edge of the coliseum and threw Wendy up a story before climbing up and exiting the coliseum. Both Dragon Slayers knew that this fight was Natsu's now. You never insult the pride of a Dragon Slayer's parent. That was just common knowledge. Wendy and Gajeel could both tell that Faust was going to be torn a new one.
Natsu continued to growl as he ignited one hand in blue energy as he slowly walked towards the Black Sky, causing the King to laugh at Natsu's defiance.
"What will you do boy? Both of your allies have left you, and now you stand alone against the Black Dragon!" Faust jeered as Natsu gained an oddly calm look on his face as his blue covered fist seemed to glow even brighter as the Dragon Slayer's rage spiked.
"No, no you are not the Black Dragon. You are a half-ass knock off of a Dragon, and now you shall fall like one." Natsu growled as he let his other hand erupt into bright red flames, causing Faust's eyes to widen. The brat could use Fire Magic as well?
I hope you both can forgive me for this, especially you Igneel, but I am going to tear him apart. Just like you taught me Acnologia. Natsu thought as he debatably did the stupidest thing in his entire life.
Natsu raised his right flame covered hand and grasped his left blue covered hand.
The effects were instantaneous. A shockwave of power rippled throughout the entire area, even making Faust take a step back at the dangerous level of power being emitted from the son of Acnologia. A feral grin made it's way onto Natsu's face as he eyes suddenly flashed with purple flames and he brought his hands apart, each hand now intertwined with flames the color of dark purple. The same color a roman emperor would don, the color of a king. Natsu could feel his Dragonification accelerating a rapid rate, but his lust for a fight made him indifferent. He just wanted to tear the metal dragon apart.
A maniacal grin on his face, Natsu raised his hand and gestured for the Black Sky to come at him, before vanishing instantly from Faust's sight, leaving the king confused. Confusion when he saw Natsu reappear right in front of the Dorma Anim's eyes and cock back his fist.
"Apocalypse Flame Dragon's Devastating Fist!" Natsu roared as he brought the devastating haymaker forward, and made contact with the left eye of the Dorma Anim, shattering the eye instantly and sending the Dorma Anim backpedaling, as Natsu landed and lunged at the eyes again, only for a hand to attempt to stop him. "Apocalypse Flame Dragon's Claw" Natsu yelled as he swung his foot and cleaved three fingers off the Dorma Anim, before landing on the hand and continuing his assault on the eyes. Swinging his arm forward again, Natsu obliterated the other eye and effectively blinded the Dorma Anim as Natsu landed, the vicious grin still on his face.
"You arrogant little prat! What have you done?!" Faust yelled as Natsu cracked his neck and took a deep breath instead of responding. Completely blind to the attack, Faust was completely vulnerable as Natsu unleashed the earthshaking attack to come.
"Apocalypse Flame Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled as a tornado of purple flames rocketed toward the Dorma Anim, incinerating the chest plate, and leaving the King completely exposed the now molten magic resistant metal dripped to the ground below him. "You are nothing but a fool." Natsu growled as he teleported to right in front of the now exposed king and ripped him out of the dragon, before leaping to the ground and delivering a vicious headbutt to the King of Edolas, knocking him out instantly.
Natsu growled as he turned around and looked the smoldering remains of the Dorma Anim before raised his hand and let new words flow off of his lips, as if it was a second nature. "Apocalypse Flame Dragon's Unending Fury" Natsu called out as the ground beneath the Dorma Anim erupted into flames. The black mech of a dragon quickly began to give in to the heat and a sharp hissing noise filled as the most feared weapon in all of Edolas melted in Natsu's anger and fury.
Feeling the rush of power suddenly leave him, Natsu quickly won the battle so stay upright, and cursed as he felt the scales creep further up his neck and further down his calves. He was going to turn soon, and still only one person besides him was even aware of the fact. Erza Scarlet.
Well there's Chapter 10. Sorry it took so long, but I've got Finals starting tomorrow and I spent a lot of time studying, but during breaks I ground out this chapter for some fun. So Natsu's got the Apocalypse Flame mode now and is in need of a new sword? Tenrou's gonna be fun with that. Lemme know what you thought and ask any questions you have, and until next time, I'll see you guys later. Also holy shit 9k words
~Solo