Author's Note 1: Art update guys! Mistrel-Fox recently finished my commissions of Lyle Hudson and Alexander Marvell, which you can see at my Klag2 DeviantArt account!
Also, I made a bit of mistake in terminology in the last chapter concerning how huge the Badlands are. I meant to say that it was 10,000 miles, not feet. I will not make that mistake again.
But enough about my personal business or screw-ups, let's get to the magic!
Chapter 11: Rumble in the Desert
On a cool night, the moon high in the sky, a pair of young lovers were engaged in a romantic embrace in front of a roaring fire. Their bodies glistened with sweat as they laid on a rug, exploring each other's bodies with their hands and lips.
The girl pulled away for a moment, breathless, blonde hair disheveled yet beautiful, and moaned her partner's name, "Freed."
"Lucy," the boy said, his voice passionate and wanting, as his long green hair hung down, practically tickling the girl's face.
He immediately re-engaged the embrace.
As he trailed kisses up her neck, his hands got to work; one gently glided across the girl's back while the other stroked her thigh.
"Freed," she moaned as he began to gently nibble on her ear.
Then he started to nibble not so gently, which was quite uncomfortable for her.
Then he bit down. Hard.
"AHHHHHH!" Lucy screamed, suddenly wide awake. As her senses returned to her, she remembered where she was and why she was here. The mission, the Titan Five, the Badlands. The Badlands which were infamously the home for tribes of insane cannibals.
Naturally, there was only one reaction she could have in this situation.
"I DON'T WANT TO BE EATEN!" She screamed, before tossing whoever was biting her ear into the air… right in the direction of Zeke and his sleeping bag. Said archer was just waking up from Lucy's screaming.
'It is far too early for this nonsense.' The archer thought rubbing his eyes. Zeke barely had time to register the flying person before they made a crash landing on his head, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Lucy, having calmed down enough to think rationally, finally saw the person she had sent flying was in actuality, not a cannibal, but the Wolf Spirit, Lupus.
"Oh my gosh! Lupus, Zeke, I'm so sorry!" Lucy cried out, rushing to help the dazed wolf spirit and archer.
"You're really strong, Ms. Lucy," The tiny wolf spirit said in confusion.
"And we're off to a great start." Zeke stated as he picked himself off the ground. As he did this, Lucy explained how she thought that Lupus was a cannibal, so the wolf spirit was quick to forgive her. Lupus, in turn, explained to Lucy that nibbling on someone's ear was how most wolf spirits wake up their friends and family.
"By the way, who's Freed?" Lupus asked.
"Huh? How do you know that name?"
"Well, you kept saying his name in your sleep." The silver-haired girl explained, making Lucy blush as she recalled her dream.
"He's her booooooyfriend!" A sing-song voice called from the side.
"Happy?!" Lucy turned to the smiling blue cat, who was sitting across from her and enjoying a carton of milk. "When did you wake up?!" She asked, her face bright red.
"About three minutes ago." Happy stated, grinning mischievously at Lucy. "You must've been having a real naughty dream with how you were moaning, Lucy. 'Oh, Freed! Yes! It feels so good!'"
"Boyfriend?" Lupus's ears perked as her lips curled into a similar smirk. "You're so naughty, Lucy."
"Not you too!" Lucy cried, burying her face in her palms. First the cat and then her own spirit, she was overcome with embarrassment before she realized something strange. "Wait a second Lupus, how are you even here? I didn't summon you."
"It's like I said before; you're really strong, Lucy." The wolf girl stated. "I wanted to see you right away and I had no trouble passing through the gate. Usually, that means the caster is incredibly powerful."
"Hm." Lucy thought before getting a cocky smirk. "Well, I don't like to brag, but I am Fairy Tail's number one Celestial Wizard."
'Wait,' Lucy thought, her face turning white as a sheet. 'If my spirits can pass through the gate whenever they want, then that means…' Her mind began conjured up images of Aquarius appearing to just to insult her, drown her, or both whenever she was cranky; Leo showing up to flirt with her at the most inappropriate moments; and, heaven forbid, Taurus randomly showing up to perv on her.
Happy and Lupus could only stare in confusion at their unresponsive.
After having breakfast, the group started to walk again. It wasn't until around noon that they had come across something.
"Hey, Natsu? You hear that?" Izumi asked her fellow dragon-slayer. Natsu closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing until he picked up something in the distance.
"What's up?" Zeke asked, noticing his friend's closed eyes.
"I'm hearing three engines revving and tires on the sand," Natsu replied before pointing north. "Coming from there."
Soon enough, the sound of three engines became audible to everyone else, and three vehicles to accompanying those sounds appeared in the distance, too far away to make out any details.
"Think they can give us a ride?" Happy said, tired from walking all day as Zeke placed his goggles over his eyes.
"What are those?" Izumi asked.
"Telescopic Goggles," Zeke said, adjusting them. "They allow a wizard to see things from an incredible distance by applying magical energy to them and adjusting the settings with the knob on the left side."
What Zeke saw was a trio of customized black Magic Mobiles with exposed engines, flaming skull decals, and massive exhaust pipe with fire spitting out of them. But what caught the archer's attention the most was the fact that the punk-dressed drivers and their yelling passengers were carrying sticks with decapitated heads on them.
"Unless everyone's willing to let these guys put our heads on pikes, they're probably not going to give us a ride." Zeke said as he summoned his bow. After quickly picking out his targets, he fired three energy arrows, each hitting their mark. Which in this case were the exposed engines of all three Magic Mobiles.
"What the fu…" One of the drivers had said before the three engines exploded, decimating a large portion of the vehicles, burning the drivers and sending the passengers flying into the sand.
"Bullseye," Zeke said with a smirk before dismissing his bow. "Alright, let's keep moving."
"Aw. I was aching for some action," Natsu pouted, his fists already on fire.
"We wasted enough time fighting that Fang Worm yesterday," Seward explained as he continued walking ahead. "And with each passing second, Oculus grows ever stronger."
"So the sooner we kill it, the better," Zeke continued. "That means no side-tracking."
"It's like there's two of them," Claudia whispered to Izumi, who had a good giggle in return.
And so, the wizards of Fairy Tail and Titan Nose continued their noble quest, ready to see it through until the end.
Six days later…
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Hidalgo shouted at the top of his lungs. "IT'S JUST SAND AND ROCK AND CACTI AND MORE GODDAMN SAND!"
"I can't feel my legs anymore." Happy cried out before falling face-first onto the sand. And the blue cat wasn't the only one feeling drained. The past six days had been shockingly quiet for the wizards. No more marauding bands of cannibals. No wild animals attacking them for food. Nothing. And while this meant that they weren't needlessly exhausting their magical energy, the more battle-hungry members of their group were bored out of their minds while others were just agitated. Speaking of agitated…
"You guys bitching every two seconds isn't making things better," Claudia snapped, her jacket wrapped around her waist.
"I think I have every right since we've been walking for a week and found nothing!" Hidalgo stated. "I'm starting to think there's no Zeref out here at all and the Magic Council is just toying with us."
"Okay, why the hell would they that?" Hoshi asked, annoyed by Hidalgo's statements.
"Well, probably because of you guys," The jewel-covered man said, motioning at Team Morningstar and Lupus (who was panting with her tongue sticking out thanks to the heat).
"Huh? Why us?" Lucy asked in confusion.
"I've read the papers! You guys are called the Fairy Tail Demolition Team for a reason! Nearly every job you buffoons go on ends with tons of collateral damage," The Shine Wizard stated. "The Council probably sent you idiots on a wild goose chase hoping that you'd starve, get killed by a marauder, eaten by a fang worm, or die of heat stroke!"
"Hey, it's not like we want to destroy stuff. Things just get out of hand!" Natsu shouted in irritation. "And most of the time, the bad guys do more damage than us!"
"And besides, if the council wanted us dead, why would then send you guys to die with us?" Zeke countered.
"I don't know," Hidalgo said, shrugging. "Maybe that Siegrain guy wanted to off Seward. You know, kill two birds with one stone."
"Okay, now you're just pulling crap out of your ass." The archer retorted.
"Think about it. They're both Wizard Saints who have a high degree of influence in the political system and have sway with the council," Hidalgo explained. "He probably thought that sending a wizard saint on a demon killing missions with a team of wizards he had never met before would look too suspicious, so the rest of us Titan Five got dragged along for this.
"I think the sun's melted his brain." Alyssa whispered to Lucy, who nodded in agreement.
"Come on, Hid." Izumi said, calling him by her nickname for him to hopefully calm him down. "You're acting crazy. Mr. Fernandes is a hero. He wouldn't try to off his fellow Saint in some overly convoluted plan. Right, Seward?"
However, she got no response as the portly man stopped and started looking down at the sand, his expression unseen by everyone else.
"Seward?" Jack asked.
"AHHHHH! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" Seward shouted, grabbing his hair as he did so.
"Wait, what?" Izumi, Lucy, and Hoshi asked at the same time.
"It all makes sense. Siegrain has been undermining me at every monthly Wizard Saint meeting for as long as I can remember! He's always tried to one-up me ever since our days at the Research Bureau! Why the hell did I accept a mission from him?!" The Tome Wizard yelled out in a panic.
"C-Come on guys. Aren't you jumping to conclusions?" Lucy said, her voice shaking. "I mean, we saw footage of Oculus killing those exploration guys. Isn't that right, Zeke?"
However, to the blonde's dismay, Zeke had the same look of horrified realization as Seward.
"It could've just been an elaborate fake projection spell," the brunette said softly. "Now that I think about it, how the hell would they've gotten footage if the attack was unexpected?"
"So wait, let me get this straight." Alexander said. "You guys are saying that not only is there a good chance there is no giant eye demon waiting in the desert, and that we've wasted a week walking through the Badlands because of some asshole on the council?!"
"Those council jackasses!" Natsu yelled in anger, his head bursting with fire. "If they wanted to get rid of us, they should at least have the balls to do it themselves!"
But before anyone had a chance to say anything else, they were interrupted by the sound of something flying through the air. That something happened to be a spear that landed inches away from Happy's head, his fur (somehow) turning white out of pure shock.
"What the...where did that come from?!" Hidalgo shouted as everyone started to look around to find whoever threw the spear, but there seemed to be no one around for miles. Hoshi, however, noticed a piece of paper attached to the spear with a message written on it and began to read it out loud.
"Attention Outsiders, when you first arrived in our glorious lands, you committed an act of great blasphemy by slaying our brother worm, Tobias. For the past week, we have been observing you in secret to discover what your intentions are. However, your recent banshee-screaming has lead us to believe what you are not a threat. Therefore, we offer you this ultimatum; one of you willingly volunteer yourselves as a blood sacrifice and we will let the rest of you return to whatever hellish kingdom you call home."
The group, quite frankly, had no idea how to react to this. After all, someone had been quietly observing them without any of them even knowing it, and they were demanding that one of them should be killed for acting in self-defense.
"And if we say no?" Zeke shouted, figuring that whoever sent the message must have some way of hearing them as they were expecting a response. Another spear with a message landed next to Alexander, who then began to read it.
"Then we will do unspeakable things to all your orifices and murder you. Possibly not in that order." The one-eyed pirate read, which promptly conjured some rather unsettling mental images, freaking the more squeamish (and even the less squeamish) among them.
Seward decided to use this chance to put Hidalgo's theory to the test. "Listen," He said to the hidden observers. "Before we make our decision, we need to know something; has a demon recently appeared in this lands?"
After two minutes, another spear landed between Hidalgo's legs, who then read it out loud. "Is this demon a gigantic eye surrounded by black tentacles?" He crumpled the paper. "And watch where you're throwing these spears will ya?! You could have hit my family jewels," Hidalgo smirked. "They're a national treasure."
"Yes, that's the very one!" The Tome Wizard explained, ignoring Hidalgo's crass comments. "One of the governing bodies of our country sent to slay this demon. And the more time we waste, the stronger the beast grows and the bigger threat it becomes to your glorious land!"
'Nice bargaining.' Zeke thought to himself, feeling like that whoever their observers were had enough sense to realize that Oculus was a threat to them as well. Another spear landed next to him, and when Zeke read it, that hope was quickly dashed.
"Our great king Yaza slew the beast five nights ago. Its corpse is currently decorating his trophy room."
"Fantastic! Thank's for taking care of that!" Hidalgo said before turning around. "We'll just be on our…"
And another spear with a message landed in front of him.
"Blood must be paid with blood. Choose a sacrifice, or you will all die. P.S. We also care not for your pitiful excuse for genitals you gaudy, vomit haired buffoon." Hidalgo screamed in rage.
"You're not gonna let us walk away, are you?" Alyssa asked, with another spear with a message landing next to her.
"Correct."
The group looked at each other and knew what their answer was.
"No deal, assholes." Zeke stated he quickly started to channel his magical energy before stomping his foot down and chanting, "Stand tall, Emerald Aegis!"
The stone-skinned fighting spirit immediately manifested behind the archer (much to the surprise of the Titan Five) just as the air was filled with of hundreds of spears flying at them from every direction. Aegis quickly conjured a dome shield that covered the entire group a split second before the spears reached them, shattering and breaking apart as they hit the magic energy shield.
"Alyssa!" Zeke said, tossing his goggles to her as the rain of spears continued. She quickly put on the goggles and accelerated her body to the point that, from her perspective, everything seemed to be moving slow molasses in winter. She zoomed in on the nearby plateau and saw several human shaped distortions in the sand, one making a flinging motion, a spear becoming visible as it left the figure's grip. Alyssa looked around and saw hundreds of distortions all around them. She then decelerated and everything began to move normally.
"Well?" Zeke asked, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"There's hundreds of them all around us using some kind of invisibility magic."
"So what do we do now? Wait until they're out of spears?" Hidalgo asked.
"You said it yourself, Hidalgo." Zeke answered with a cocky smile. "There's a reason they call us the Demolition Team. Guys! I'm gonna have Aegis drop the shield for a second! Smoke them out as soon I do!"
"With pleasure!" Natsu said with a grin of his own as he cracked his knuckles. Hoshi summoned forth her Thunderbolt staff while Lucy had one of her keys at the ready, Alyssa stretched her legs, Happy pulled out several lacrima grenades, Alexander twirled his flintlock around, and Lupus extended her claws. The Titan Five followed their lead as Izumi, Claudia, Jack (who had transformed into his stronger form), Hidalgo, and Seward prepared to attack as well.
"3...2...1!" Zeke shouted before dropping the shield. And the second he did…
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Thunderbolt!"
"Speed Queen: Twin Twisters!"
"Open, Gate of the Paired Fish - Pisces!"
"Wolf Claw Slash!"
"Water Dragon's Roar!"
"Hammer Wave!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Sword Art: Cross Slash!"
"Chapter 12: Vortex!"
...everyone unleashed their magic at once. And the sudden barrage of fire, water, lightning, wind, energy, bullets, explosives, and giant fish managed to take out a good chunk of their enemies and blow their cloaks away, rendering them visible.
"They're stronger than we thought!" A female marauder exclaimed in shock.
"Doesn't matter!" A male marauder yelled out. "We can't let these invaders go free!"
Five of the marauders then let out a high-pitched whistle. Soon enough, the ground around Team Morningstar and the Titan Five began to shake.
"Oh crap!" Claudia shouted as the group remembered similar shaking upon their first day, and what followed after it. However, this time they were blasted up into the air by the arrival of five fully-grown Fang Worms.
"Lucy!" Pisces cried out before flying in and catching their master and her friends. Mother Pisces caught Lucy, Lupus, Hidalgo, Claudia, Zeke, Natsu, and Hoshi landing, while Son Pisces caught Alyssa, Happy, Izumi, Jack, Seward, and Alexander. The colossal fish spirits flew away and got some distance from the worms, giving our heroes a chance to breathe.
"Well, this is great." Hidalgo said with extreme sarcasm. "We barely beat one worm, now we gotta deal with five!"
"Natsu! Alyssa!" Zeke shouted. "Let's use that!"
The other two founders of Morningstar nodded as the three began to power up for their own spells. At once, Zeke fired a Drill Arrow, Natsu unleashed a Fire Dragon's Roar, and Alyssa fired her Twin Twister. As the three spells launched ahead, they soon merged together into a massive vortex of green fire.
"BLAZING EMERALD STORM!" The three shouted as the emerald tornado managed to push back one of the fang worms, causing it to smash into one of the plateaus and send several of the marauders flying.
'A Unity Raid with three wizards?' Seward thought as he looked upon the Blazing Emerald Storm in shock. 'No, it's far cruder than a true Raid, it's more like they just smashed the three spells together, though it's still very effective.' Seward thought to himself as he and the others leaped off of Pisces, ready to fight the marauders charging from the other sides.
"Pisces, can you keep the worms off us for a bit?" Lucy asked, the two colossal fish nodding in response before charging ahead and colliding with the massive worms.
"Open, Gate of the Rat - Shu!" Alexander chanted, summoning the doll-sized spirit onto his shoulder.
"Hiya, Captain!" The purple-haired girl said with a salute before noticing the charging spearmen. "Wow. You sure know how to get in trouble, don't ya?"
"What can I say? It's a gift." The blue-haired celestial wizard replied before getting serious. "Shu, do your thing!"
"Got it!" The rat spirit answered before tossing her whiskers in front of Alexander, creating five pink portals. The marauders stopped charging at the appearance of the portals. Alexander smiled before he quickly fired a shot into each portal, much to the confusion of the marauders. Well, they would have been confused if they hadn't just been hit in the back by Alexander's Flintlock rounds that had just exited five pink portals directly behind them.
"Requip: Boom!" Hoshi chanted, equipping the aforementioned staff before firing a wave of destructive energy at her foes.
"Shine Magic: Double Blinding Radiance!" Hidalgo shouted as the light reflecting off his jewelry, and Golden Boy increased to blinding levels.
"MY EYES!" Several of the bandits shouted before being bombarded by golden cannonballs.
"Requip: Tales of the Destructive Thunder!" Seward chanted, summoning a new yellow book and channeling magical energy into his right hand, before turning to Izumi (who was in the midst of evading and kicking away some foes). "Izumi, let's combine our magic!"
"Gotcha!" The blonde dragon-slayer said before approaching her leader, channeling magic into her right hand as well. The two slapped their glowing hands together and a blue and yellow magic circle appeared before them.
"Unity Raid: Electric Typhoon!" The two chanted as a shining wave of electrified water burst forward, simultaneously washing away and shocking the attacking marauders.
'So Natsu, Alyssa, and Zeke aren't the only ones who can combine their magic.' Lucy noted as she parried another bandit's attack before leaping back and slashing him across the chest with the extended Meteore. But as she did this, the blonde failed to notice one of the marauders charging at her from behind. Luckily for her, Lupus jumped and stomped on the marauder's head before using it as a springboard to land in front of Lucy.
"This is so much fun!" The wolf girl said with glee, as if she was playing a game instead of fighting for her life, which made Lucy sweat-drop. She also thought it was weird that she was able to summon Pisces while Lupus was still out, but figured that having Lupus out didn't take much of her magical energy.
Speaking of Pisces, the mother/son duo were still locked in battle with the five Fang Worms. While the two had the advantage in speed and mobility, the worms had greater size and rock-like skin on their side. As they were in midst of their entangling battle, one of the worms managed to bite down on Mother Pisces's side.
"Mama!" Son Pisces yelled out in concern, only to be blind-sided by two of the worms.
"Don't get distracted, Sonny!" Mother Pisces exclaimed before using her tail to smack the fang worm away, some of her blood dripping from its mouth. "We have a battle to win!"
"Pisces." Lucy said in worry.
"Looks like they could use some help." Hidalgo said to Jack, the two also watching the battle between the giant creatures. The green-haired wizard made Golden Boy vanish and then began to channel magic into his right hand and Jack did the same before the two high-fived each other, creating a golden magic circle above them.
"Unity Link: Sword Boy!" The two chanted. The being that appeared from the magic circle was liquid metal like Golden Boy, but colored black instead of gold with the orbs now being the only things on its body. It also had a liquid metal coat and bandana that looked like Jack's and it was holding bladed tonfas in each of its hands.
"What the hell?!" Alyssa exclaimed in confusion while the rest of Team Morningstar looked on in shock.
"His Fighting Spirit changed!" Zeke proclaimed.
"Ya, that's Unity Magic." Claudia stated as she slammed a bandit into the air with her hammer. "For what I understand, it can only be done between two or more that have absolute faith and trust in each other."
"Take out those disgusting worms, Sword Boy." Hidalgo stated as he ran his fingers through his hair. The altered Fighting Spirit nodded before launching ahead at high speed.
"Sword Art: Silent Blade!" Jack shouted, Sword Boy's eyes glowing in response. In an instance, the black being appeared behind one of the worms, and faster than the eye could see, the Fighting Spirit sliced along the worm's weak points, orange blood gushing out of the cuts like some sort of demented fountain.
"Awesome." Natsu said in awe before going back to fighting the marauders.
"This ain't good." One of the bandits said as they watched the battle from the sides. "The invaders...their power is unlike anything we've faced before!"
However, everyone soon started to hear something in the distance.
"What the hell is that?" Zeke asked.
"It sounds someone trying to sing a high note and cough at the same time." Hidalgo commented.
"It is him! Our king!" One of the marauders exclaimed with glee. "He has come to deliver swift and just vengeance upon you trespassers!"
"ARARARARARARARAH!" Something screamed before landing in the middle of the battlefield, causing a massive explosion that kicked up a significant amount of dust. "What was unreal has become real! What is unjust is now just! I have come to tackle all those who seek to destroy my controlled chaos! You will face the power of the KIIIIIIIIINNNNNGG!"
The smoke cleared and revealed Yaza, now with two blood-covered pieces of cloth hanging from his elbows, worn out dark brown pants, no shoes, and various arcane symbols painted on his body with orange blood. He looked at Team Morningstar and the Titan Five with the eyes that looked like some unholy cross between a rabid animal and sociopathic killer. However, they changed to a slightly curious look at he saw Happy and Jack.
"So that's their leader." Zeke said, figuring that their boss would be a big ass savage guy like Yaza.
"YOU!" He yelled out, pointing at his foes. "You have spilled the blood of warriors far greater than you will ever be! I shall turn your insides into your outsides, and feed your organ-skin to my worm brothers! You will become nutrients that will in turn fuel our conquest of-"
"Arch Shot: Drill Arrow!" The brown-haired archer chanted before launching the spell straight at Yaza, attempting to take advantage of the large man's monologuing. But to everyone's shock, Yaza's arm was enveloped in light and he smacked the arrow spell away.
"Attempting to attack me before I'm finished speaking?! You truly lack the warrior spirit! Well then…" Yaza then raised his hands up in the air as an insane amount of magical energy began to flow out of him. "...I SHALL BEAT THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR INTO YOUR MINDS AND SOULS! LIGHT-MAKE GIGA-SLICER!"
An orange 30-foot light construct in the shape of a buster sword manifested in his hands, shocking the wizards.
"HOLY SHI…" Natsu had shouted before everyone was forced to evade Yaza's downward swing.
"Shu!" Alexander commanded.
"Right!" The rat spirit replied before throwing a whisker and creating a portal in front of him. Alexander grabbed his pistol and fired a couple of rounds with the intention of shooting Yaza in the back. However, the bullets just bounced off of some kind of skin-tight light shield.
"The f*&k?!"
"My being is continuously protected by a Light-Make Skin spell, for all twenty-four hours of the DAY!" The orange-haired man proclaimed before lifting the Giga-Slicer up. "TAKE THIS!"
He swung down, caused the heroes to evade the massive sword again.
"AND THIS!"
Another swing.
"AND A LOVELY BUNCH OF THESE!"
However, this time, Zeke had no time to dodge the attack. So acting on pure instinct, he summoned Emerald Aegis and had the spirit catch the massive blade in between its hands. And his shock, it actually worked.
"WHAT?! NO ONE CAN STOP THE GIGA-SLICER!"
"Everyone! Take him down!" Zeke shouted, and the group did just that, quickly surrounding the massive Light-Make wizard.
"Requip: Ruinations Brought Forth!" Seward chanted, summoning a purple book to his hands.
"You might want to step back a bit." Hidalgo warned Natsu as Seward began to channel his own vast amount of magical energy.
"All things fall to the march of time! Face the oblivion and fade into nothing!" The wizard saint chanted as magical letters flew around him. "Chapter 54: The Tower of Calamity!"
A purple magic circle appeared beneath Yaza followed by five more appearing in a tower formation above him. A column of purple magical energy blasted up from the circle under him, forcing him into the air and shattering his light-make weapon and shell. Then hit the second magic circle and was blasted upwards with even more force and magic. This continued like this until he reached the final magic circle and got blasted into the sky, his body singed by the spell.
However, the next sound that came out him was not a yell of pain, but boisterous laughter. "Excellent!" He exclaimed before looking at the battle between Pisces and Sword Boy, and the Fang Worms. "I've been waiting for a REAL OPPONENT!"
He then created a flat Light-Make platform that he used as a springboard to jump towards the aforementioned battle.
"What the hell is he doing?" Hoshi asked in confusion as the arcane markings on Yaza's body began to glow.
"Great Beasts that rule this land! Allow us two to defend your sand! GREAT MERGE!"
A sudden and blinding light burst from Yaza that forced Pisces, Lupus and the other wizards to close their eyes. And before the mother and son fish had a chance to open their eyes, they each had a massive rocky fist punch large holes into them. Soon enough, Team Morningstar and the Titan Five were able to open their eyes again and had only three words to describe what they saw.
"WHAT…" Natsu shouted.
"...THE…" Izumi proclaimed.
"...F&^K?!" Seward finished.
Whatever incantation Yaza had chanted caused him to merge with one of the Fang Worms. The new being had the upper torso of Yaza with everything below the waist being replaced with a massive worm tail. Essentially, he looked like a gigantic lamia made out of orange rock.
"BEHOLD!" The transformed Yaza bellowed. "YOU NOW STAND AGAINST THE ULTIMATE COMBINATION OF MAN AND WORM! I AM THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN SPIRIT AND BEASTIAL SAVAGERY! AND WITH THIS FORM, I SHALL BEAT ALL THAT MAKES YOU WHO ARE INTO SUBMISSION, AND THEN I WILL GO ON, UNTIL NOT EVEN THE MEMORY OF WHO YOU WERE IS LEFT STANDING!"
He pulled his fists out of Pisces, and the two spirits began to fade back to the Celestial World due to their substantial injuries.
"I'm sorry, Lucy." Mother Pisces said before fading away.
"Looks like we lost this one." Son Pisces said with regret before he faded as well.
"Pisces." Lucy whimpered in concern.
"INVADERS, I'M GONNA SEND YOU TO HELL! LIGHT-MAKE: HYPER-BALLISTIC!" The massive chimera-being proclaimed before manifesting a giant bazooka construct in his arms, aiming it at the wizards as energy built up within the barrel.
"Sword Boy!" Hidalgo shouted. "Sword Impact!"
The black fighting spirit quickly launched itself at Yaza's face, transforming itself into a large kodachi. It hit its mark, stabbing right into the merged wizard's right eye, causing orange blood to erupt out.
"AHHHHHHH!" The colossal merged-being screamed in pain, pulling the trigger on his bazooka construct. Thankfully, he missed his intended target by a wide margin, with the blast flying through the air for a few miles before hitting the ground, creating a mushroom cloud explosion, the force of which could be felt through the backdraft itself.
"We need to take this guy down before he gets another shot at us!" Zeke proclaimed.
"Leave it to me!" Hoshi declared as she dismissed her Boom staff. "Requip: Ophthalmoception, Audioception, Gustaoception, Olfacception and Tactioception!"
In a flash of light, the five sensory staffs manifested in front of Hoshi as she crossed her arms with both her middle and pointer fingers extended.
"Five-Point Staff Magic: Skyscraper!"
And thus, the massive illusion spell had been cast of Yaza, giving Hoshi complete control over his five senses. In the rider king's point of view, he blasted high into the air by an explosion of magical energy that wiped out the Badlands.
"NO! MY KINGDOM!" The chimera monstrosity cried out as he was blasted higher and higher until he reached the edge of the Thermosphere. He then heard a loud inhuman roar and saw the Skyscraper monster ripping through the dimensional plain. Black bindings then appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around him, leading him closer to the monster.
"NO! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY SOME SALIVATING SKY SCOURGE!" He proclaimed as his orange magical energy began to flow like crazy. "I WILL NOT BE YOUR DINNER! YOU WILL BE MIIIIIIIINNNNEEEE!"
In a mad yell, he burst out his restraints and then proceeded charge ahead a bit into the Skyscraper monster. Doing so caused the world around him to shatter, destroying the illusion.
"Shit!" Hoshi cried out as Yaza started to regain his senses. "Okay, either this guy has more willpower than most people, or he's goddamn insane!"
"RARARARARARARAARRA!" The merged being screamed before smacking Sword Boy away, which in turn sent Hidalgo and Jack flying due to their link with the fighting spirit.
"I'm gonna go with option two." Zeke replied as he prepared his next spell. "Arch Shot: Demolition Arrow!"
He fired the arrow spell, hitting Yaza in the face with a powerful explosion. With the monster man distracted by the pain, Natsu, with his Azure Flames ignited, and Izumi blasted ahead using fire and pressurized water to reach Yaza head.
"Fire Dragon's…" Natsu shouted his fist covered in azure fire.
"Water Dragon's…" Izumi proclaimed, her fist covered in raging water.
"IRON FIST!" The two finished, smashing their fists into Yaza's cheeks...only to have no effect.
"WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE MY FACE?!" The half-worm monstrosity bellowed before smacking the two away. "I'VE GROWN TIRED OF THIS GAME!"
At this declaration, Yaza raised his worm tail into the air before slamming down in the direction his opponents, the resulting earthquake causing them to fly up into the air. As everyone was in the midst of free-falling, Yaza created two human-sized Light-Make claws and proceeded to grab two of them.
"Happy!" Alyssa cried out.
"Jack!" Hidalgo shouted.
Indeed, the two cats were captured and then dropped into Yaza's giant hands.
"Let go of my buddy you overgrown piece of…" Natsu began to shouted, only to be silent as Yaza started to clenched his fists, causing Happy and Jack to scream in pain.
"AS I SAID, THIS BATTLE HAS JUST BECOME ANNOYING. YOU OUTSIDERS CLEARLY HAVE NO INTENTION OF FIGHTING LIKE TRUE WARRIORS, AND INSTEAD JUST USE ILLUSIONS AND DECEPTION TO FIGHT. I HAVE NO STOMACH FOR DISGUSTING FIGHTERS LIKE YOU."
He then held his two captives up in the air.
"I WILL TAKE THESE TWO...UNIQUE CREATURES AS RECOMPENSE FOR THE BLOOD YOU HAVE SPILLED. YOU MAY NOW LEAVE MY KINGDOM WITH ALL OF YOUR ORGANS INTACT."
He looked down at the wizards with a savage killed glare. "BUT IF YOU DARE TO STEP FOOT IN THESE SACRED GROUNDS AGAIN, I SHALL HAVE YOU AS MY NEXT MEAL."
And with that declaration, Yaza burrowed into the ground with Happy and Jack still in his clutches. The other marauders then climbed onto the Fang Worms and followed after their king, leaving Morningstar and the Titan Five tired, alone, frustrated, and Zeke summing up their situation in one word.
"F&*k."
To be continued…
Author's Note 2: Woohoo! Lots of action in this one! So here's some explanations for a few things.
1). Yaza - If it seems like his character is sporadic and doesn't make a whole lot of sense...well that's the point. This guy is meant to be completely off his rocker, just like the wrestler he's based off.
2). Unity Magic - Yes, this is my version of the Unision Raid magic we got see all of four times in the original Fairy Tail. And you think that a story whose main themes are about family and friendship overcoming adversity would have a spell made by two closely-bonded wizards unifying their magic.
I've tweaked the name since Unity just rolls off the tongue better. And speaking of said magic, it's split into two categories;
Unity Raid - Two or more wizards combining their magic to unleash a massive attack.
Unity Link - Two or more wizards combining their magic to enhance something.
And incase you were wondering, the Blazing Emerald Storm (which some of you might remember from all the way back in A New Day Ch. 9) is not a true Unity Raid, but a pseudo-one created by accident.
I also need to give a shout-out to my long-time fan turned editor; xpegasus! Great job on this one, buddy!
Next Time: Citadel in the Mountain! Please be sure to read, favorite, review, and help this story by editing the TV Tropes page! See ya later!
