Recap: Following the destruction of the Jupiter Cannon, Jose activated the Giant and shortly afterwards Gray and Elfman defeated Totomaru. Rex had also arrived but ordered Crobat to help the rest of the Guild and split up. Sceptile and Elfman battled and defeated Sol after they found out that Mirajane was kidnapped, forcing Elfman into his Beast Soul form. Gray also ran into a member of the Element Four, Juvia and managed to defeat her as well, with Natsu and Rex having encountered Aria, and the former going with Happy to find Gajeel.
Chapter 12 – Wings of Fire
Inside the Giant, Rex and Aria faced off each other with the former having been smacked down into the ground with the Sky Plate active. "You make it sound like defeating me is so easy. Too bad the exact opposite will happen!" He declared as he got back up and switched back to the Iron Plate.
"Then how about we stop talking and find out?" Aria took the challenge and then disappeared into the air. "Airspace: Bullet!" He called out and formed a head sized orb that he fired towards Rex at a faster speed than the Zetsu spell and when it Rex unleashing a powerful wind gust that made him spun around into the wall.
"Metal Burst." Rex managed to call out and then fired a silver orb that shot back with equal speed towards Aria who was evidently more used to reacting and using spells at such a speed and disappeared in the air.
"Airspace: Bullet!" Aria called out despite still being invisible and fired two more orbs of compressed air in succession.
Seeing this next attack coming Rex ran out of the way with Quick Attack, his body surrounded by a white blur as he launched himself off of the wall and rolled to the side to avoid the spell. Sensing a wave of air blasts heading at his location the run continued with the increased speed allowing him to avoid the Zetsu, and he slid underneath the floor and a wave of air skimmed his body before bursting behind him.
"Too close." Rex muttered.
A blast of air quickly circled around him several times before stopping and the disturbed air made it difficult for Rex to sense the location of Aria. "Howling Wall!" Aria called out as a larger green seal appeared underneath to form a wider tornado that picked up Rex and began throwing him around inside of it, as he hit the side a similar effect to Erigor's Wind Wall happened and it began tearing at his armoured body.
Mitigating this was the resistance to his air magic, which translated to the flying type and Rex was forced to switch to the Sky Plate and try to fly out and found himself being dragged back towards the bottom where the winds were more intense.
"Try all you want there is no escape from the Howling Wall! Touch the sides and it will tear you to pieces." Aria shouted gleefully.
A different kind of wind appeared from within as a counter and then eventually Aria's spell was dissipated completely, the two forces spreading out all over the area and sending the rubble from the fight everywhere and Aria looked surprised at this turn of events. "I certainly didn't see this coming." Aria commented.
The brief loss of balance from the winds made Rex stumble for a few moments and he looked up at Aria with a thoughtful look on his face and he switched into the Zap Plate and several sparks flared up. "So… is that the best you can do?" Rex asked, and Aria was taken aback by this statement.
"Excuse me?" Aria asked, a frown on his face.
"I'll admit that last spell was intense, but overall your Airspace feels lacklustre. Did you assume your power was enough?" Rex asked, both fists charging with electricity.
No reply came from Aria at first before a slight chuckle escaped his lips and his smile widened enough to unnerve Rex slightly and then he began to audibly laugh. "In that case I have a confession to make as well. I've been holding back in this fight so far." He eventually replied.
This was not something that Rex expected to hear. "What?"
Meanwhile the group that had met outside the Giant were currently running towards the central hall in hopes of catching up with Rex. During this, Mirajane explained, "Aria wears a bandage around his head to hide his eyes."
"What's so special about his eyes?" Gray asked.
"That bandage hides his eyes to help contain his power, if he takes off his bandage covering them it means he's getting serious. His sort of power could easily turn the tides of the battle." Mirajane pointed out.
A shiver ran down the spines of everyone else. "Wonderful. Don't worry Rex, we're coming to help you!" Sceptile called out and they all picked up the pace.
Aria then grinned as he took of his bandages to reveal his eyes which then expanded to form a cross in the middle of them and a gust of wind suddenly blew out from behind him. There was a jump in power that Rex could definitely feel and swallowed a lump that had formed within his throat, knowing that this fight had just amped up for the both of them.
"Now you will join the same fate that your Master suffered back in Oak Town." Aria declared with the large grin on his face and then suddenly appeared behind Rex with nothing to give away that he had moved at such a speed. "Airspace: Drain!" He declared, and a seal appeared from each of his hands to lift up Rex. "Witness your magic disappear for good, Multitype wizard!" Aria shouted dramatically.
Though he didn't move from the spot all that Rex actually felt was a slight tingle as his body was suspended in the air and initially made a choking noise and cried out, acting as if it was affecting him. "It's… so sad! Seeing another wizard lose his life brings great sorrow!" Aria cried out with tears streaming down his face.
"…Meteor Mash!" Rex shouted suddenly, swinging a glowing silver arm in an uppercut motion with enough force to lift Aria into the air and he crashed back onto the ground in surprise.
"But how? That was supposed to rid you of your magic." Aria cried out in surprise.
Although there was a grin on his face, Rex's eyes were arched in disgust at what Aria had just told him and then replied in a serious tone, "Simple. My powers are beyond comprehension of someone like you. Someone who would take pleasure in stealing a life, including our beloved Master!" He shouted that last part and then launched into his next attack and swung an electrified fist at Aria with enough force to send him across the hallway.
Not done yet, Rex began running forwards of his own speed and ignored the Zetsu that Aria had used as hearing that this wizard was responsible for the Master nearly dying had angered him enough to power on through the damage he was taking. As he got closer his body was surrounded by electricity and charged head on at Aria, only to run right through his body and he screeched to a halt.
Knowing how to get around this though a red ring of energy spread out across the room and a crosshair mark appeared on Aria's chest. "Thunder." Rex said and then unleashed a powerful lightning bolt that made a large sound at it travelled towards the green clad wizard whose attempts to avoid the move were futile as the attack struck him despite being impervious to harm.
"How is this possible?" Aria called out and forced himself to reappear.
"Lock-On combination, whichever move I choose after the crosshair appears will hit with no exceptions. Hide all you want it won't make a difference." Rex explained and then ran forwards again surrounded by the same electricity as before.
Aria didn't try to hide this time and simply used his Airspace magic to help his mobility and avoid the charging Rex who jumped off of the ground and then ploughed right into Aria's chest and made him gag, his hat falling onto the floor. "Airspace: Bullet!" He called out and then threw the compressed sphere right at him.
Falling to the ground Rex landed on his feet and the area around him cracked from the force. Another one soon followed and collided against a green shield. The explosion hid Rex from Aria who saw that there were now at least a dozen of Rex standing on the floor in different poses. "Illusionary tricks won't work against someone who can vanish into thin air. Airspace: Zetsu!" Aria called out and then sent bursts of air towards the other Rex's.
All of them vanished, revealing the real Rex was nowhere to be seen. "Where did you go?" Aria asked.
A blast of boiling water struck Aria from behind and then this was followed up by a powerful glowing Jump Kick and Aria crashed face first onto the ground though he recovered quickly. Injuries were visible on both of them, and the Element Four member was looking slightly worse off for wear and there were several shred marks on Rex's clothes.
"A diversion, you really are a smart one." Aria stated as he got up, seemingly brushing off his injuries and he spread out his hand. The air began to swirl around him and it felt different than the previous times, and Rex knew that whatever was going to happen next was not a good idea as his eyes began radiating power.
The air then kicked up to form a grey looking airspace that suddenly intensified around him, a smoky whirlwind being generated that soon eclipsed the whole hall area and it seemed to be headed directly towards Rex who was not impressed but still cautious about what was going to happen. "Now step into the airspace of death. Airspace: Zero!" Aria shouted and the whirlwind intensified.
"Please, you call this whirlwind death? I've been in a windstorm so powerful it makes you look like a stiff breeze." Rex snorted, staying in the Zap Plate form.
"What?" Aria cried out in disbelief at the attitude he was displaying.
Electricity began to flare up at a more intense rate than previously then it focused into a much tighter shell than previously with Wild Charge and Rex spread out his legs apart ready to start running at the correct moment. "How do you take such pride in stealing away other wizards lives?" Rex asked but got no answer from him. "Oh well… Volt Tackle!" he then shouted and then shot forwards like a lance.
At the same time yellow bursts of Magic began flying from where Aria had been casting the Spell and then there was a look of shock on his face. "What? You're piercing through my Airspace: Zero? But how is such a thing possible?!" Aria cried out.
There wasn't an answer from him until after Rex crashed right into Aria, which instantly dispersed the spell and he carried on running until he crashed right into the wall, a trail of electricity left in his wake as he managed to finally defeat Aria and it faded away after a few moments. Standing over the body of the final element there was a grin on Rex's face. "Our Master would never fall so easily to your trickery." He stated and then sat down as the recoil damage came into effect.
Outside the Guild Hall the circle for the Abyss Break had been completed and a dark light began falling over the town of Magnolia. "Well this is it, our goose it cooked!" Wakaba cried out.
"What are we supposed to do?!" Crobat cried out, wanting to get away from that thing as much as possible.
The lit-up circle then intensified for a moment before fading away completely and the Giant began heaving, slowly sinking into the lake with the arms dropping down. After a moment of silence there was massive cheering coming from the Fairy Tail members down on the ground, though a lot of them were worn down and injured from the long drawn out battle.
"I must admit I had felt my heart skip a beat. If that thing was completed I don't think that even I could stop it." Magmortar grunted and relaxed his arms.
"There are still these pesky shades lingering around though. Their numbers haven't depleted in the slightest, and we can't seem to catch a break." Starmie observed and then flashed a Dazzling Gleam at the shades, watching some of them evaporate. An idea to destroy a lot of them began to form in their mind.
"Blumenblatt!" A female voice called out and they all turned to see Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armour firing many magical swords across a wide area to give them all a brief respite, taking out at least a third of the shades in the air. It took them longer than normal to reform though from such a sudden and strong attack.
"Erza!" Cana gasped and then stumbled slightly and was supported by Macao. "I'm fine, just focus on the shades!"
"What's going on in there?" Erza asked, still not fully recovered from the Jupiter blast as she was panting slightly.
"Natsu, Happy, and one of Rex's friends went in to stop Jupiter. Once these shades started appearing, Rex, Gray, Elfman, and later Mirajane went in to stop the Abyss Break and defeat any Phantom Lord members lurking around." Cana explained shortly, drawing another pair of cards and then flicking them at the shades.
Erza was surprised at what Phantom Lord was willing to do. "They were willing to cast the Abyss Break?"
"Yeah, though thankfully the guys inside were able to stop it from the looks of things." Magmortar added, and he was starting to feel slightly worn down from fighting the shades off and was hoping for a quick way to end it permanently.
"What about Lucy?" Erza inquired.
"Safe for the moment. Reedus took her to one of the warehouses in town and Loke's gone to check up on them." Alzack answered.
With Lucy
Despite the assurance given by the guns magic user, the warehouse was anything but safe as the doorways fell off to reveal three figures. The first two were the guy with the broken glasses and the pointy hat girl from the raid in Oak Town and they were being headed by none other than Gajeel who was standing upside down on the roof of the warehouse. Boze and Sue decided to entertain them for a moment and engaged Reedus in battle, beating him up pretty badly and he stood in front of Lucy, still standing up from the assault.
"Please miss Lucy, don't worry about me and leave to find the others." Reedus insisted.
"No way! I'm going to stay with you and fight!" Lucy protested.
"Ah, would you look at that, it's so touching I could cry." Gajeel sneered in false pity and then addressed the two other Phantom wizards. "Hurry up and finish tubby here, Jose needs Lucy."
Reedus took out his paintbrush and quickly managed to draw three mountain styled Vulcans on his enlarged chest. "Picto Magic: Roar of Silver!" He called out and a trio of them sprung from the stomach and charged towards their adversaries.
"Hey, those are Vulcans you can find on Mt Hakobe." Boze pointed out.
Sue got in front of him and snapped her fingers. "Mirror Magic: Form Mirror!" and a light green seal appeared to reveal six mirrors with one in the centre and five spread out in a pentagon formation. When the Vulcans hit the mirrors, they lit up for a second "These mirrors can reflect any attack right back at you." Sue grinned as her face appeared in the mirrors for a second.
This surprised Reedus and they slammed right back into him. Boze followed this up with his own spell and called out, "Sound Magic: Howling!" and unleashing a barrage of notes that created a screeching noise that disoriented Reedus.
Lucy ended up having to run away despite not wanting to and Gajeel kicked her badly in the gut. "You gonna let fatty here take the fall? That's not nice." Gajeel sneered at her as she stood against the wall for support. "I can't believe that you'd willing join up with a bunch of losers."
"Take that back!" Lucy demanded, angered at what Gajeel had just said.
"Oh yeah? Then make me!" He retorted.
Despite her anger she was quickly beaten by Gajeel who carried her and jumped up onto the roof, noticing the now defunct Giant. "What's going on? Why'd the Giant stop?" He asked, unaware of the other so-called fairy scum running around inside the Guild Hall. Sensing someone nearby Gajeel dodged an attack and when the dust cleared he saw Loke standing there, face turned away slightly. "The playboy from Fairy Tail."
"It's a good thing I turned up when I did. Now hand over Lucy or else." Loke threatened.
"Or else you'll take her from me?" Gajeel replied, setting down Lucy.
As his arms changed into club, Loke's fists were lit up with a golden energy and they began to fight each other in a close combat battle, with Loke making the first move and punching Gajeel twice then quickly avoiding one of his clubs. Although Gajeel's blows were stronger, Loke was faster and got more hits in which made for a pretty even fight so far. The sound of the fight made Lucy slowly open one eye and she saw that it was Loke, who was now defending her but was too injured to do anything other than closing it.
Something was bothering Gajeel's nose though and he thought to himself, What's up with this guy? He doesn't smell anything like Natsu or the other Fairy Tail members. It's strange that I don't recognise his smell. "Okay pal, what's your deal? Why do you smell strange?" Gajeel asked.
Loke played those questions down and pretended not to be bothered by them. "I have no idea what you mean, the ladies don't complain about my spell. But if you know what's good for you then you should-!" He was cut off as his body began crackling like a bad tv picture and fading slightly out of existence.
Gajeel didn't care for this and then pummelled him back into the ground where he fell down right not to a defeated Reedus. "Guess I was wrong after all, you were nothing but talk." Gajeel taunted and then addressed Boze and Sue. "I'm going back to the Giant, finish this guy off."
Loke looked up at Gajeel. "I won't let you… lay a finger on her."
The other two invaders disagreed and Boze went first. "Disturbed!" He called out and a blast of musical notes attacked Loke from underneath, making him clutch his head in agony.
Sue then extended out her index and middle finger together and Loke was held up by a light green seal in the air. "Mirror Magic: Kaleidoscope." She said and then Loke was encased in mirrors. "It's a good thing that you like looking at your reflection, because that's all your pathetic face is gonna see." She sneered, and they followed their boss.
"Miss Lucy… please forgive me…" Reedus whined.
Loke didn't say anything as he punched the wall of the kaleidoscope, though wasn't strong enough to break it with his own strength. The words of the girl hit home to him and hard as he thought, Not now. Why did I have to start fading now of all times? It's not bad enough that I couldn't protect Lucy but now the Third time is here… I really am pathetic aren't I Karen? Loke stared at the mirror as he felt a cold presence staring at him.
Inside the Giant
From the control room, Jose was seething with anger and let out a growl of frustration. "I don't believe this! First my Jupiter Cannon is gone and now my Element Four have been defeated by those fairy scum?!" He shouted.
"Guess that makes them worse than scum huh?"
The voice of Gajeel made Jose start towards him. "Gajeel. Did you succeed in location Ms Heartfilia?"
Gajeel laughed at this and then casually threw Lucy to the ground. "Yeah, those fairy scum barely put up a fight."
A smile was on his face in spite of the Giant being finished off and Jose appeared to be genuinely thankful for this. "Very impressive my boy, how did you manage to find her so quickly?" He asked.
Gajeel held up a hand to his chin and smirked. "Never underestimate the nose of a Dragon Slayer."
It was then that Jose noticed that Lucy wasn't moving and was mildly annoyed at this. "She is still alive right? It would be troublesome if Lucy Heartfilia isn't alive." Jose pointed out.
Pretending to think it over for a minute Gajeel replied, "Hmm, I guess I was a bit rough with her. Let me make sure." He stated and then kicked Lucy in the stomach, sending her across the room and making her gasp from the pain. "Yep, she's still alive and kicking."
A larger grin spread across his face as he complimented, "Excellent work Gajeel. I knew I could count on you." and then turned to address the Fairy Tail members that were fighting the shades out and an announcement ring ran out the area. "Attention, you pathetic Fairy Tail worms. Listen carefully because I'll only say this once." Jose began and a moment of silence fell over the wizards, including those stuck in the Giant as they all turned to face it.
A familiar scream rang out as Gajeel held Lucy up and everyone stopped to take in the noise. "Lucy?!" Natsu gasped and then an angry look crossed his face and he let out a roar through the corridor and began using his nose to find Lucy and/or Gajeel.
The others who were heading towards the hallway where Rex had fought Aria stopped at this announcement and looked up. "They got Lucy?!" Elfman cried out.
"Oh no." Mirajane muttered under her breath.
"Our primary objective of capturing your precious Lucy Heartfilia is complete and now we move on to my favourite part. The complete and utter destruction of your entire Guild!" Jose declared with a wide grin on his face as he cut the announcement.
Once the announcement was over he got off from his chair and moved towards the door and told Gajeel, "Keep an eye on the girl, there are still a couple of pests scuttling around the Headquarters."
It was now that everything fell into place for Gajeel, realising that the members of their enemies were responsible for disabling the giant and asked, "You talking about Salamander?"
"It's not just him, there are also his friends but especially that Multitype wizard." The mention of Vermend make Gajeel snort in derision. Until this point Jose had been acting extremely goofy and flamboyant but had now decided to stop this act completely and began radiating a venomous pink aura. "They have been lucky thus far but now their luck is about to come to an end. I will exterminate them all myself!"
"They got Lucy?!" Elfman cried out.
"Oh no." Mirajane muttered under her breath.
Despite this they set off and carried on running towards the main hallway and looked around upon seeing the place open up and saw Rex Vermend sitting down at one of the pillars who turned to face them and stood right back up. Walking over to them he immediately noted that Mirajane was amongst the group and asked, "Why are you here Mirajane?"
This made Mirajane blush and look away from here and Elfman didn't want to answer that either, so he turned to Sceptile. "Look, regardless of what she did, Mirajane is safe now." Sceptile cleared up, not answering the question either.
Nodding slowly in understanding Rex turned to face Mirjane and put a hand on her shoulder before sighing and shaking his head. "It must have been something stupid… but you're safe." Rex said and then hugged Mirajane for a moment, making Gray cough at the awkward scene.
"Woah, is that Aria?!" Elfman cried out upon seeing the knocked out Aria lying down on the floor.
"Yeah, guy wasn't tough at all. I told Natsu to go ahead and find Gajeel, I guess he's super pissed now." Rex shrugged it off and tried to hide some of his injuries that he sustained in his fight against Aria.
At that moment their conversation was cut sharply off as a powerful presence revealed itself to the hall and everyone gasped sharply, including Rex and Sceptile despite not being magic in nature. The feeling of the magic presence was much colder than a few moments ago, with the feeling of hope and warmth seeming to die all around them.
"This feeling, what is it?" Gray asked.
"It's like death is approaching." Mirajane noted.
"I'm super manly and it gives me the creeps." Elfman stated and shivered.
"Am I the only one who feels like the temperature of the room just died?" Rex asked and then turned towards the archway at the end.
A slow clap made them all turn to see Jose entering the area surrounded by a dark purple, almost black aura and in a completely different outfit to the one he had earlier worn when Makarov confronted him. It was a more military styled outfit that was predominantly blue with a yellow trim and he was wearing a long brownish red cape that was draped over his left shoulder. The Wizard Saint emblem was visible on his collar and it was tied to a short dark blue ribbon, and black military boots.
"Bravo, you're all quite keen. Very impressive Fairy Tail wizards." Jose drawled in a mocking tone, spreading out his hands and Gray and Elfman turned to face him. "I knew that it was going to be fun but never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect it to be this entertaining. You annihilated the Jupiter Cannon, disposed of my elite four and even bring the Giant to its knees."
"Is this Jose?" Rex asked, not as alert as the other two male wizards. The feeling that he was giving off was absolutely crazy and he could feel himself shaking slightly as he tried to pin down the feeling of the wizard standing before him.
"You mean this guy's the master of the guild?" Gray shouted.
Although there was nothing in the air Mirajane covered her mouth with her hands and was paralyzed with fear. It feels like there is a black cloud hanging over the area. She thought.
"Let do this Elfman! Ice Make: Saucer!" Gray shouted, jumpin into the air and getting into his two handed stance and firing a spinning disk made out of ice and then it began rocketed towards the master of Phantom Lord.
"Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" Elfman shouted as a series of white squares transformed his right arm into a bulkyu metallic iron and he then leaped right at Jose.
Despite the warning that Rex was about to give Jose reacted quickly and then fireid ghostly pruple stream of energy that pierced through both of their bodies, interrupting the attack and sending them behind both of them. Moving his hands in an arc Jose used his magic to create a series of explosions that further sent them flying, with Rex leaping over towards Mirajane and drawing her in close to his body and the force of the explosion sending the rolling across the ground.
Sceptile had also moved when Jose's arm moved, doing her best to avoid the chain of explosions and then moving to catch the two male wizards who were both knocked out after that last spell. Even though she had gotten hold of them the force from Jose was enough to lift her from her feet and went along with them, turning in the air to right herself and stumbling alongside Rex.
Once the wave of magic had died down Rex slowly let go of Mirajane and they stood back up. Both of them stared at Jose with disbelief, seeing his power on display like that with a pair of worn out wizards gave them the not so charming thought of what would happen if he would get serious and use his full strength. Without a word they shot forwards and began their assault on Jose, Rex swinging his left leg around the side of Jose with Jump Kick.
Despite landing the hit Jose caught and absorbed the force of the blow, a smile appearing on his face as he twisted his right hand around, increasing his grip on Rex before throwing him into Sceptile with a blast of his magic for good measure and they crashed right through a pillar.
"Oh no! Are you okay?" Mirajane asked, running over to him.
"I'm fine. I wasn't expecting him to absorb a powerful blow." Rex replied and then looked at Mirajane. "As much as I hate to say this, take the others and go."
"What?! That's Phantom's Master! You don't stand a chance on your own!" Mirajane argued and Rex could see the look of fear on his eyes.
There was a serious look on his face as he replied, "At least I stand some kind of chance with Sceptile, and you can't use you magic at all. Unfortunately, that make you one more thing I have to keep an eye on in the fight... take Gray and Elfman. I won't say this again."
Clenching her fists, Mirajane tried to think of an argument but nothing came to her as she quickly moved over towards the unconscious Gray and Elfman and slowly began dragging them with Rex initially helping her to move the larger and bulkier Strauss sibling out of the way but out of the corner of his eye saw that Jose fired a tornado created out of his magic and then a green shield was thrown up in front of them. Although it withstood the attack there was numerous cracks and parts of the shield had fallen away.
"Swift!" Rex shouted and then fired a ring of golden coloured stars towards Jose. "Increase your speed and use Leaf Blade!" he ordered.
Nodding, she then began zigzagging across the stage as she used Agility and Jose watched as a green streak came up to him and initially was dismissive of this creature, only taking a slight interest in them as an orb formed from each finger tip and fired a shot of purple energy. To his surprise not only did all of them miss but this creature before him had managed to land a hit on him and felt a blade of green energy strike him across the upper chest.
Jose then moved with a surprising speed from his spot that it was only because of Sceptile's reaction speed that she was able to stop him from reaching Rex with a well-timed Focus Blast that exploded in front of him. Though once it subsided Jose didn't seem unperturbed by this and then said, "Interesting, the famed Multitype wizard and one of his beasts beside him. You fought two of my strongest wizards and sustained serious injuries against Gajeel, but you still stand here willing to face me."
Rex had noticed the speed of Jose's movements and was slightly unaware of the sharp gasp he had let slip and then shook his head. "That's simple really, it's because of my determination to protect the guild and my friends. They have done their work to help stop the Jupiter and now we'll finish this war right here!"
There was an ugly smile on his face as Jose stared right back to Rex and that same dark purple aura radiated off of him. "Talented, brave and defiant! Crushing you will give me unbelievable pleasure!" Jose smirked.
Out in the eastern forest where Porlyusica was tending to Makarov she thought there was a strange feeling in the air and turned around upon sensing some sort of glow that was gone when she looked at him and shrugged it off. What happened next was decidedly not a trick as Makarov woke up and then muttered the name, "Rex…"
Turning around she looked over him and put a hand to his forehead for several seconds. "A remarkably speedy recovery for someone of your age." Porlyusica observed and took a step backwards and watched as Makarov got up and began to put on a spare change of clothes that she had left out for him. "You should be resting, not going into these pointless fights."
"Since when do I listen to you?" Makarov asked, not having to directly answer that.
Porlyusica then asked sincerely, "Do you hasten to your death?"
Looking up at her for the first time since he regained consciousness Makarov replied, "My children need me, and I will take that risk." And then opened the door to let himself out.
Once the door closed again, Porlyusica let out a sigh and then took a picture off of the shelf, tucked away slightly behind a jar – the picture was of a younger version of both her and Makarov and whilst there were similarities there were differences. Whereas Porlyusica had grown and kept her pink hair, Makarov had remained short and his white hair was once yellow.
With Lucy
Up at the top of the Giant, Lucy was thrown against the wall from a kick that Gajeel delivered. The black-haired member of Phantom has grown increasingly bored of staying in this room and wanted to go with Jose to beat the snot out of those worthless fairies. Several other members were also in the room and were looking on with nervous looks on his face, include the two members who joined Gajeel in his mission.
"You gotta sing better than that blondie." A sneering Gajeel mocked as he retracted his club back into his arm and raised his right eyebrow and then said, "Your heart's just not in it."
One of the other members finally spoke up in a nervous tone and asked, "Hey Gajeel, hasn't she had enough? The master said that she isn't to be hurt."
Turning to face him, Gajeel frowned for a moment then smirked. "What else am I supposed to do? I can't believe this." He paused to turn back to Lucy, who managed to get on all fours but was unable to stand on two feet. "Jose leaves me to watch over blondie while he has all of the fun. Besides I'm just playing with my new toy."
"Yeah, but if the master catches you doing this we're all going to be in trouble."
For this comment the wizard with the afro hair got an Iron Dragon's Club right into his face and he was pinned to the wall. "Shut up, I know Master says she's important and all but to me she's just a piece of fairy scum." As he said this the club drew back to his arm before returning to normal and then Gajeel spread out his arms. "Even though she's a girl she's still a wizard, she should have known the risks that come with being a member of the guild!"
"You're taking this way too far man, let it go." Boze pointed out.
"Master is gonna lose it isn't he?" Sue sighed, not looking forwards to the prospect.
Gajeel wasn't moved by that and then chuckled as he stated, "Then I'll tell him it was your idea!"
They began sweating nervously at the prospect and both replied, "Please don't do that."
Turning back to Lucy, Gajeel remarked, "It must be a shame for the Guild to come for you now that they know her father is loaded with cash."
After finally finding her footing, though not without using a hand to support herself, Lucy found the strength to face them and then began laughing. This got all of their attention and they began listening to her. "Geez you're dumb, I can barely even believe it. It's just sad really, I actually feel sorry for you." Lucy wheezed, and this made Gajeel's smirk drop.
"Did she really just say that?" Boze scoffed, arms folded.
"This chick is talking smack to Gajeel?" Sue asked, not impressed.
"Phantom Lord, the ruler of the spirits right? Oh please, I'm not scared at all." Lucy continued.
"Big mistake." Gajeel pointed out and then smacked her into the wall with a club. "It takes a lot of nerve to go any saying those things, though I have to admit that you got guts." He drew back the arm and Lucy fell to the ground. "Make some noise! But not this trash talk I keep hearing! I wanna hear screams ad when I don't get what I want…"
Despite being severely injured Lucy was still talking smack to Gajeel. "Go ahead and do what you want, finish me. But if you do then your gonna pay for it!"
This made Gajeel grin in amusement and replied, "Oh yeah? Who's gonna make me?"
Looking dead in his eyes Lucy stated, "Fairy Tail, they'll never forgive you for harming one of their own. I'd watch my bad if I were you because the world's scariest guild will come after you for as long as you live."
Instead of being scared this made Gajeel was excited from this prospect and he morphed both of his arms into clubs with a perverse excitement and exclaimed, "Is that so? Sounds like fun!" and then leaped in the air.
"Don't do it!" Boze warned to no effect.
As Gajeel was about to strike the floor behind him erupted into a column of flame and he was caught in it, Natsu coming through and roaring as he punched Gajeel back in the direction of the other members of Phantom and Natsu stared at him with a snarl on his face. "I thought I smelled you around here." Gajeel mused, not at all intimidated by the other dragon slayer.
"GAJEEEEEELLLLL!" Natsu shouted at him as he was surrounded.
"Natsu…" Lucy whispered.
After his sudden entrance the flames around Natsu slowly died down into a shell but they were still visible and Gajeel grinned as he stood there, letting out a chuckle. "It's not hard to catch a Salamander if you use the right bait." He observed.
"Unlike you Phantom creeps I watch out for my friends, I won't let you lay another hand on her." Natsu retorted then without looking away from Gajeel told Lucy, "Stay back, this is gonna get ugly."
"Gajeel…?" Boze asked.
"This one is mine." Gajeel grinned in reply.
"OH YEAH?!" Natsu shouted in retaliation.
With that their battle commenced and they both charged forwards, the fire around Natsu disappearing from all but his hands and Gajeel morphed his arms into club as they threw a punch in the air. The force of the impact creating a shockwave that blew the other Phantom members off their feet and forcing Lucy to shield her eyes.
Parrying a blow Natsu then punched Gajeel in the face and his next flaming fist was blocked by one of his clubs and morphing the other back into a hand Gajeel smacked him away with an uppercut before firing his club forwards. Ignoring the blow out of anger Natsu caught the club and threw Gajeel across the room after spinning in a circle once. Gajeel righted himself and landed on the wall, ready to strike but Natsu was onto him and he blocked another fist in the wall and the fire spread out, exploding in the area around them and making the other Phantom members scatter.
After being thrown away, Natsu once again charged forwards and punched Gajeel down. "Fire Dragon's Talon!" He shouted, cartwheeling in mid-air and kicking Gajeel from above with enough force to break the stone around him and he drew a club to clock the attack.
Seeing the fight unfold made Lucy shake slightly. "Woah…" She muttered in awe.
"Hey are you okay?" Happy asked, making his way over. "Is something wrong?"
Although she couldn't be happier to see the blue cat at the moment she turned back to face Natsu and Gajeel. "Yeah, I've just never seen Natsu this angry." Lucy replied, watching as Natsu walked from the smoke and continued to scowl at Gajeel.
Turning to face Natsu Happy nodded in acknowledgment. "Aye. He's more fired up than ever before, I wouldn't want to be that other guy."
"Not too shabby. But for fairy scum you're too cocky." Gajeel complimented in mocking tone as he moved his arms in a circular motion and they cricked from the injuries.
"You're the scum here. As payback for what you did I'm going to melt your ugly iron face." Natsu retorted the flames intensifying around his fists.
"Ga ha ha ha! Sounds like fun, so give it your best shot!" Gajeel shouted right back.
Charging forwards with a fiery fist and iron club they both traded several blows with each other before Natsu punched Gajeel in the stomach who recovered by shooting the club forwards. Jumping up, Natsu started to kick him by drew it back when he saw the arm retracting and changing it into a sword and then shot himself backwards with a burst of fire and turned around to face him. "That's a gnarly looking toy you got there."
"This is the Iron Dragon's Sword. Anything that it touches gets cut to ribbons, care for an up close and personal demonstration?" Gajeel asked rhetorically as the sword began buzzing and the black spikes around the outside began vibrating like a chainsaw.
"How is that possible?!" Lucy cried out.
"With his Dragon Slayer magic!" Happy answered, equally shocked.
Lunging forwards Gajeel brought down the sword from above and then the force of the increased power broke up the ground and creating a powerful burst of wind that affected everyone there and Happy held on to Lucy's skirt to avoid being blown away. "Come on, not so cocky kid, now are you? I think you're scared." He taunted. Although Gajeel lashed out several more times from above and the sides and Natsu jumped over it as the swept under him. "I'll give you credit for being such a nimble little fairy, but don't forget we have a score to settle from last time."
Natsu scowled and wiped small debris away from his face. "You're no slouch either rivet face. Let's go, I'm all fired up now."
Those two both have Dragon Slaying magic, granting them the power to take on the mythical beasts of the same name. I don't like where this is going to go. Lucy thought to herself.
A lint green seal appeared underneath Gajeel and a crackling sound pierced the air as Gajeel's body save for his hair was coated with iron scales. "Are you ready Salamander? Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" He shouted, jumping forwards faster than last time and throwing a punch at Natsu with enough force to blow him back off of his feet.
"What are we still doing here?" Boze cried out.
"I dunno but it's not smart!" Sue replied, ducking as Natsu soared past them.
There was an ugly purple bruise on Natsu's left arm and he winced in pain. "Hitting you hit that wall was like music to my ears." Gajeel gloated, leering at Natsu.
"His punches have that much power?" Lucy's eyes widened at this.
"It's those dragon scales, they're increasing his attack and defense." Happy realised, also not liking this.
As Natsu got up to attack Gajeel threw an uppercut and then smacked him across to the other side of the room and once Natsu got back up ducked forwards as Gajeel threw a kick which created a powerful blast that rippled through the ground. Natsu let out a yell as he threw a fist in his face but felt his arm flinch, making him grit his teeth and letting out a small cry of pain. It wasn't unnoticed by Gajeel who let out a short laugh and then said, "Aw, poor little fairy that had to hurt, right?" as it wasn't strong enough to push him from where he was standing. "Hate to break it to you, but your puny hand can't crack this steel."
After a moment of trying to ignore the pain Natsu cried out and then began rolling around the floor rapidly and repeating, "That's didn't hurt! That didn't hurt at all!"
This broke some of the tension and both Lucy and Happy groaned slightly at the sight of this. "Not very convincing, Natsu." Lucy remarked.
"Aye." Happy agreed with a sigh.
Gajeel was less than amused at this and then headbutted Natsu in the ground and then punched him away. "Cut the act, punk! You just don't want your friends to see how weak you are!" He shouted.
Rolling onto his legs and at first Natsu focused back on the battle and growled, "All right you walking garbage can, time to blow you away!" and he put his fists together and then began drawing in fire for his breath attack and Gajeel was doing the same thing in response.
"Fire Dragon's…/Iron Dragon's…"
"A breath attack like Natsu?" Happy remarked in shock.
"ROAR!" Both of them shouted. Natsu fired a powerful stream of fire towards Gajeel who unleashed a silver spiral made of out tiny pieces of iron and they clashed with each other and creating a powerful explosion that ripped down the front of the area they were fighting in and briefly drawing attention from the outside fighters.
Boze and Sue had been caught in the explosion and were lying down on the rubble, dazed from the impact. "I knew we should have gotten out of here…" Boze mumbled, lying stomach down on the ground.
"I never said we shouldn't…" Sue mumbled as she felt the world spinning from the impact.
When the smoke and dust cleared from the two spells Gajeel was standing over Natsu, the former having the front of his shirt torn out and the latter's shirt being almost completely ripped off with the only thing being a few strands of fabric. There were also several cuts on Natsu's body there were turning red and was down to one knee but managed to get back up.
"It seems that there are some pretty big differences between fire and iron dragon slayers aren't there Salamander?" Gajeel taunted. "You can't even crack my armour. On the other hand, just one of my breath attacks can tear your puny body to shreds."
"Natsu…" Lucy whispered, lying down at the wall.
"Come on – you can take him!" Happy encouraged.
Natsu then began to chuckle at this and then an audible crack sounded through the air and then a crack appeared cross Gajeel's right eye making him take a step back in shock. "I can't crack your armour huh? Listen pal, I don't just breath plain old fire. My Fire Dragon's Roar destroys everything it touches." Natsu pointed out and tore off the rest of his jacket for the sake of convenience.
A seal appeared underneath Natsu and his body began crackling with red energy. "I think it's time to stop playing around and get to the real fight. I'm gonna shatter you into a million pieces!" Natsu declared.
Instead of being scared at this threat Gajeel was ecstatic and then replied, "Oh yeah? Sounds like fun!" and the wave of energy destroyed what remained of his shirt.
"Wait, you mean they were playing around before?!" Sue asked, dumbfounded. If those two did go all out then the place wouldn't be recognisable at all and that wasn't going to be a good thing for everyone else.
"Are they some kind of monsters?" Boze asked.
Lucy was likewise in awe at the scene before them. "No way, those two are amazing… and their practically half naked as well!" She groaned.
Staring each other down Natsu said, "Let's go black steel, I'm ready when you are."
"The sky's not big enough for two dragons." Gajeel replied, taking the challenge.
Back on the ground by the Guild Hall the shades had stopped swarming the other members of the Guild and instead began moving away and forming a circle above them in the sky. "What are they doing now?" Erza asked and was still in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, her presence allowing for the guild to handle the shades much more easily.
"I think they might be forming into one giant shade." Cana guessed.
"Now's your chance to go in there and find the others. They may have stopped the Giant but there's still Jose and Gajeel left in there, we can handle ourselves here." Magmortar suggested.
"You sure about that?" Erza asked.
Magmortar then fired off a Thunderbolt towards the ring but it fizzled out due to being just out of his range and grunted. "Yeah, besides if it gets too out of hand I can beat that thing no sweat." He replied, crossing his cannons as a display of confidence.
Nodding slowly, she then requipped into her Black Wing Armour and then began running towards the nearest open location within the Giant and right as she made it inside the top of the Giant exploded, drawing everyone's attention from the outside. Their attention was then diverting back to the shades who were completing their… transformation for lack of a better word into a giant purple round mass with two glowing red eyes. Four purple arms spread out and formed hands at the end and it just stood there, inching closer towards the guild members on the ground.
"What is that thing going to do?" Starmie asked, back limbs shaking slightly.
Crobat was flying at eye level with Magmortar, slowly flapping the smaller wings to remain at that height. Only a handful of pokémon he had encountered were as big if not bigger than that large spherical shade and his speech was stammering. "Uh… d-does it r-really matter? We j-just need t-t-to beat it r-right?" He asked.
They all watched as the eyes moved over them several times before resting on the guild hall and then began smashing it with its arms, not caring where it hit as long as the guild hall was attacked. Cana was one of the first to react despite being tired out and tried to reach it, but Macao held her back. "I need to stop it!"
"How?" Macao grunted, though was struggling to hold her back.
"But it's going to destroy the Guild Hall at this rate!" Cana shot back as the other members of the guild began firing on it.
The only one who seemed to have any sort of success was Starmie who spun around in the air, propelling themselves with short burst of water and fired a Dazzling Gleam in the area where the right hands were. The beam incinerated an area that destroyed the hands and the eyes of the giant shade reacted to it and stopped for a moment to recoil in pain and then continued smashing at it with the other arms. There was a slight effect on the arms that looked as if the arms were growing back.
Wait a moment… Starmie realised and pushed themselves down back onto the ground.
Natsu and Gajeel had charged forwards, causing the explosion but they then started flying upwards like actual dragons, both of them using their magic to gain more height and then stopped to face each other before glaring at each other and then started to brawl in the air. From below them both at the top of the Giant and from the grounds near the guild hall everyone saw the force of the punches and heard small cracking noises. "They sound just like fireworks…" Boze muttered.
A fiery punch was the n countered with an iron clad kick and they both landed on top of the head and began crossing several punches with each other before kicking with enough force to make the spike on top of the head break off and fall down along with the ceiling they stood on collapse. This made them all scatter and Natsu got up.
"Is he keeping up with the boss?" Sue asked apprehensively.
"No… Salamander is just as work out." Boze noted.
"What?" Natsu huffed out upon hearing the sound of a mouth chewing and saw that Gajeel was eating some leftover scrap iron that was scattered by the destruction. "Hold on man, that's not fair. You're EATING?!"
"So what?" Gajeel replied with his mouth full.
"I can't believe that he actually eats iron." Lucy gulped, this was definitely stranger than seeing Natsu eat fire.
"Does it taste good?" Happy asked.
Once he was done eating Gajeel swallowed and spit out a piece of dirt that was amongst the other wreckage. "Now I got a fire in my belly." He smirked, using the exact same phrase that would normally be said by Natsu.
Naturally the salmon haired fairy called him out on that and shouted back, "Hey that's my line pal!" Natsu protested. Despite this Gajeel let out a yell as the energy from the iron he ate surged out from around him in lint green waves.
"He gained that much energy just by eating his element? We need to make Natsu eat some fire." Lucy realised.
"That would help… but it can't be his fire. It needs to come form some outside source." Happy pointed out.
Outstretching his arms, Gajeel smirked as he knew that the battle had swung in his favour. "Say goodnight Salamander, Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" He shouted as a lint green seal appeared in the air and multiple spears began shooting out of the seal and attacking Natsu, either grazing him or hitting his body completely. The additional iron that Gajeel had eaten was making the power boost visible to everyone.
An outside source, do I have any fire spirits that can do that? Lucy thought and instinctively went for her belt and then let out a slight gasp upon remembering that she had in fact dropped her keys when that rain woman trapped her. Digging in her pockets, she did find the golden key for Sagittarius and clutched it in her hands, realising that a centaur that uses arrows wouldn't be such a good idea.
"But I don't care, this is the only chance we've got so I have to make it count!" Lucy shouted and then held the key properly as she made a summoning motion and chanted, "Open: Gate of the Archer – Sagittarius!" A bell sound rang out and instead of an actual centaur as one would think a blue hair man with a square like jaw appeared in a brown horse costume with a bow and arrow.
"How do you do my lady?" Sagittarius asked with a salute
"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked!" Lucy asked with a grin on her face.
"But what's with the horse costume?" Happy asked.
Focusing back on what was going on in Natsu's battle Lucy then asked the spirit, "We can work out contract details later, I need to know if you can shoot fire."
Shaking his head Sagittarius replied "No, but I'm quite proficient at archery." As he saluted but wasn't facing Lucy for some bizarre reason.
Moving backwards to steadying himself Natsu called, "Lucy! You guys better get out of the way." And they did so as Lucy was on all four, groaning something about how completely useless she was and then fire erupted around Natsu. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" He shouted and then charged forwards right into Gajeel.
Despite pushing him back with the force of the attack it didn't do much damage as Gajeel smirked and asked, "I got a fire in my belly but where's yours? Why don't you eat some IRON?!" Shouting that last bit he smacked Natsu onto the floor and then used a club to drag Natsu across the floor, wrecking some more of the room and forcing stone and metal into Natsu's mouth.
Even the other Phantom members were a little creeped out by his action. "Brutal… Gajeel's crazy strong." Sue noted.
"Or maybe just plain crazy." Boze added quietly, not wanting to get onto his boss' bad side.
Throwing him to the collapsed part of the area Gajeel mocked Natsu by saying, "I think I've had my fun, so just roll over and get lost, scum!" Then began to walk slowly up towards Natsu who was looking up. "Hey look, we're even doing some redecorating."
Gathering just enough strength to look at the Guild Hall, Natsu could see that it was being destroyed as the repair work that was done didn't stand up very well to the large shade as the right side of the hall began to crumble away. A number of the Fairy Tail members were upset and shocked over the amount of damage that was being done to it.
"Magmortar." Starmie spoke up and a Fire Blast was cut off and turned to face them. "Why don't you light them up? If they are made of a dark or ghost like magic, then a powerful beam of light would get rid of them correct?"
Magmortar thought over it for several moments before a wide grin spread across his face. "Perfect, but get the shades attention first, would you?" He asked and formed a red orb in one of his cannon, though there was a less intense heat coming from it.
Spinning into the air a bright multicoloured light disintegrated the other hands before they swiftly attacked the other side which was back to normal and the large shade seemed to be irritated at this strange thing that was attacking it and tried to lash out with its flailing limbs.
"Hey fat, dark, and ugly!" Magmortar shouted and the surrounded looked at him as if he was crazy, because this insult ended up working for some reason and the red eyes were drawn to him. "You know you shouldn't stay in the dark all the time, get some Sunny Day!"
An orb shot into the sky and a single orange pulse spread out from it, and seconds later the sunglight brightened and the temperature seemed to notably jump up. The outstretched cannon was glowing a bright golden colour and everyone just stared, wondering what was going to happen.
"Solar Beam." Magmortar said in a quiet tone.
In an instant there was a bright yellow beam of light that formed and then fired from in front of the cannon and shot right through the shade who flinched as it went right through the stomach and Magmortar slowly brought the angle of it upwards to increase the effectiveness, with the blinding light and intense heat being far too much for it to handle or react. After a few moments of just staying there the light spread out across the body and the giant shade faded out completely, the move disappearing as quickly as it had been fired.
There was a moment of silence as awe followed at the sudden display. "What was that?" Wakaba asked in a very subdued cannon.
"I used Sunny Day and Solar Beam. The first move is the inverse of Rain Dance, weakening water attacks and powering fire attacks. Solar Beam would normally take some time to charge but during intense sunlight it will fire right away." Magmortar explained.
Any further questions were interrupted by a rumble from the Guild Hall and they turned around to see that the left side was shaking and anyone who was still near it ran forwards it collapsed. Even though the shade had been stopped the damage was enough.
Up in the top of the Giant, there was a laugh from Gajeel. "Gi hahaha!
Slowly getting up, Natsu couldn't believe what he was seeing – and it wasn't something that he wanted to believe either. A flood of memories began rushing back, including the first time he had seen the Guild with Makarov and remembered the words that the old man had said to him. 'Nobody knows whether or not fairies have tails or if they even exist. That's why it'll forever remain a mystery, unless we try to find out, and that could be an amazing adventure and our members are the ones who want to find out.'
'I don't get it, but it sounds awesome.'
Those first few days he was in Fairy Tail he had already met Gray, and Erza by virtue of getting into a fight with the ice wizard, the Strauss family and everyone else. It was Erza who had taken up the task of teaching him how to read and write over the course of several days, and so many other wonderful memories. Though with the good there was also the bad memories – the day that news of Lisanna's death came is something that he would never forget. Along with the older memories of his time in the guild were the more recent memories.
"Thank for it man! My name's Natsu and this is Happy." Natsu introduced himself, grateful for being carried off the train.
"Uh, no problem. I'm Rex." Rex replied and Natsu saw that he was looking rather strangely at him.
"Thanks for helping me out back there! My name is Lucy. I know I may not look like much, but I am a wizard too." She introduced herself to Natsu and Happy. "I know how I can make up to you though."
"If all we worry about is following rules then our Magic will never progress, so then the blowhards on the Council scare you and follow the path you believe in! That's what makes the Fairy Tail Guild, number one!" Makarov concluded and there was a round of cheers from the whole guild.
During their argument after rescuing her from very high up, Lucy began tearing up and they only stopped to look at her once she began crying, all of their expressions turning to confusion. "I'm sorry… all of this my fault." Lucy stated.
As he slowly got up Gajeel was right beside him, having recovered from the shock at the fact the what appeared to be a powerful laser beam rip through that shade but didn't feel the temperature rise as the top of the Giant was still in shade. "Your guild hall is in shambles and you're barely standing, I'd give up if I were you Salamander." Gajeel sneered and moved in to attack.
Breaking the Jupiter Cannon and then fighting two of the Element Four, even though Natsu wasn't alone he still used up lots of Magic… Happy thought to himself.
"SHUT UP!" Natsu shouted and then threw a flaming fist towards Gajeel.
What happened next came as a complete surprise to everyone as Gajeel exploded when the fist made contact and was flung near some machinery. Even Natsu was caught off guard at this and looked at his fist, panting as he opened and closed it again in confusion – he didn't eat any fire so what was going on. A few beams of light came through the window and when it hit Natsu there was an orange aura.
"What's going on?" Happy asked in surprise.
"If I may interject for a moment, I believe the sun has intensified for some unknown reason and that's powering up Sir Salamander." Sagittarius suggested.
"Sir Salamander…?" Lucy frowned at this.
Gajeel's ears picked that up and then demanded with a growl on his face, "What kind of crap did you pull Salamander?"
"Whaddaya mean what did I do? I didn't do anything you walking garbage can!" Natsu retorted.
Not believing this at all he fired one of his Iron Dragon's Club at Natsu who jumped up but the delay in this made the attack nearly miss and he was still not feeling up to scratch. Closing down the space on him Gajeel then smacked him into the wall and snorted. "It doesn't matter what sort of trick you pull it still ain't good enough and I'm starting to get bored with all of this holding back garbage."
"Fire Dragon's Talon!" Natsu then roared as he swung a foot into Gajeel's body which exploded despite the fact that he blocked and he was sent reeling, though not as far as the previous attack. Even with this unexpected power boost to his magic Natsu was still feeling exhausted from the battle and still needed some fire.
Once he regained his balance Gajeel then delivered several powerful blows to the stomach, with Natsu being unable to dodge them in time as he was thrown into some machinery by the wall and slumped to the floor. Walking over he then picked Natsu up and morphed his free hand into a sword with the intent to cut him at the throat. "Say goodnight Salamander, you've reached the end of the line!" Gajeel shouted.
"If only he could eat some fire then he would be able to beat this guy." Lucy muttered, covering her face.
Drawing his bow, Sagittarius then spoke up suddenly. "Just a moment. When you asked me if I could shoot fire I replied no. But now I see that I don't have to shoot fire, but that it simply needs to be produced." Three arrows fired out towards them and Gajeel moved backed to avoid them, which is exactly what Sagittarius wanted as the machinery exploded into flames.
Happy was impressed at this turn of events. "You found a way to create fire!"
"You found a way to create fire!" Lucy cried out in joy.
Saluting but still not facing Lucy the spirit explained in a proud, "When one applies enough force combined with the correct trajectory an arrow can pierce or shatter steel."
"If you want to salute her she's over here." Happy complained.
"That man horse thing is really annoying me!" Gajeel scowled and then realised what was behind him and turned around.
For the two other Fairy Tail members present the most wonderful sound of Natsu eating the flames was heard as they redirected him back into the mouth and the cheeks of now shirtless wizard puffed up as he did so. An orange aura surrounded Natsu as the external fire powered him up. "Just what I needed, thanks a million Lucy!" He grinned as he gave her the thumbs up, and she returned it.
"Eat all the fire you want it's still not going to work. Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel shouted and leaped forwards as his arm morphed into a sword.
Despite swinging it around hard Natsu shouted, "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" and then fired off a larger fireball than the Spell would normally cast and knocked back Gajeel hard and he felt the fire burning through the armour with more cracks appearing.
After regaining his balance Gajeel decided that if a close up physical attack wasn't going to work then a range attack would do just fire and a lint green seal appeared. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" he bellowed and then fired a silver tornado towards Natsu who simply held engulfed his hands in flames and plunged it into the spell.
There was a red glow coming from the centre of the silver tornado that spread out and dissipated without so much as a scratch on him with Gajeel taking a step backwards out of shock. "I don't know how many people you think you have to hurt buddy, but it ends right here." Natsu growled, eyes glowing red from power.
"There's no way… he's just a piece of fairy scum!" Gajeel muttered in disbelief.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my friends! Messing with Fairy Tail is the biggest mistake you've ever made!" Natsu shouted as he was surrounded by fire.
Although he was surprised at this, the overconfidence returned to Gajeel's face and he replied, "The only mistake I made was not finishing you when I had the chance. Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" leaping into the air as he did so and throwing a hard punch that Natsu blocked with a single fist and their respective seals appeared with streams of fire coming from Natsu's fist.
Cracks began spreading up Gajeel's outstretched arm and trails of fire lashed against his body, meaning that their fight was going to end soon and it wouldn't be him to emerge victorious. "There is no way… I'm the strongest!" He growled furiously.
Enraged and surrounded by fire Natsu yelled, "You're through Black Steel!" and fire erupted from both of his fists. "Flame Lotus: FIRE DRAGON'S FIST!" A series of rapid fire punches began overpowering Gajeel, the speed at which the fists were flying too fast for him to make any sort of counter attack or even any attempt to resist them at all was fruitless – Gajeel was Natsu's punching bag.
"Levy… Jet… Droy… Rex… Starmie… Nab… Erza… AND LUCY!" With that last name Natsu delivered an uppercut and then roared as he was surrounded by fire. "This is for destroying our guild hall and harming our friends!" Outside they turned to see explosions coming from the top of the giant and they couldn't see Gajeel being thrown down a floor though a bright orange could be seen from the top of it, and it was something that all of them recognised.
"That light!" Bisca spotted.
"It's Natsu!" Alzack cheered.
First the Giant had deactivated and now it's head was collapsing with everyone scrambling to get out and Sue remarked, "I can't believe this! Gajeel's never lost a fight before!"
From above the Giant, Lucy was calling out, "Natsu! Natsuuu!" as she was being carried by the tail of Happy who had reacted in time to grab her and start flying. With the destruction of the Giant, Sagittarius had also returned to the celestial spirit world, saluting them both as he faded into golden light before disappearing completely.
Lying down on the back, Gajeel was knocked out and his armour had disappeared completely and muttering something that even Natsu couldn't make out but it didn't matter to him and he grinned as he laid down on his back.
"Oh man… the council are not going to be happy when they see this." Lucy stated and despite all of the devastation surrounding them couldn't help but smile and Happy flying down closer towards Natsu.
"Aye, that's Natsu for ya!" Happy agreed.
From above them an injured and dusty pair of Phantom wizards were watching the Fairy Tail wizards. "That guy's insane, he tore the whole place down! Are all Fairy Tail wizards this strong?" Boze asked, sitting down and not wanting to move at all.
"Yeah… they're awesome." Sue slipped out and then realised what she just said, chuckling nervously.
Unfortunately, the damage that their battle had done had spread across the rest of the Giant and there were shockwaves shaking the rest of the mechanical headquarters, with Erza looking up to see a chunk of rock falling on top of her and sliced it apart into multiple pieces. Continuing her movement to the central hall the feeling of Jose's magic was still very notable even from here and she grimaced.
A voice broke out of her thoughts and looking around she saw that it belonged to Mirajane of all people. "Erza?" The white-haired member asked and then Erza's eyes immediately darted to the unconscious Gray and Elfman.
"Why are you here and what's going on?" She asked.
"It's a long story but after Rex defeated Aria, Jose stepped in and knocked out Gray and Elfman. It was Rex who saved me and he's currently fighting Jose alongside Sceptile."
This startled her and Erza raised her voice. "WHAT?! But Jose is one of the Wizard Saints and there is no way that Rex can win against him."
Not expecting her to suddenly shout like that, Mirajane didn't say anything as the Giant continued to shake though this time the source was from the bottom of the Giant and she put a hand onto Erza's shoulder as the redhead was about to leave to assist Rex. "I know you want to help him, but I also need help to carry Elf and Gray. Please, Erza." She insisted.
Gripping the sword in her hand Erza turned to look at Mirajane and let out a small sigh. Despite wanting to go and assist Rex in the fight against Jose the needs of her knocked out comrades had to have come first and then she smiled in a way to reassure her, though to Mirajane it looked rather unsettling. "Very well then Mira, I'll help you. Don't worry about Rex because he can handle himself." Erza replied, though on the inside she was concerned for Rex.
Next Time – Spirits Last Battle
This month was plain hectic and I had a few slip ups along the way but thankfully I didn't have to start over from scratch. But I finally made it so don't worry one bit.
