Author's Note 1: The Fairy Mythos Series is a non-profit fanfiction series.
Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail Series II are all owned by A-1 Pictures, Satelight, Bridge Madman Entertainment, Funimation TXN, Kodansha, and Hiro Mashima.
Any original characters and concepts are owned by Navek or xpegasus.
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The madness in the Badlands continues! How will our heroes survive?
Chapter 13: The Beast Awakens!
As far as Happy and Jack were concerned, things had taken a turn for the worse for them and their friends. Not only were the rest of Team Morningstar and the Titan Five locked in various life or death battles, but their opponents seemed to have been hand-picked to counter their magics. Even worse, the two cats were still trapped in a cage, forced to watch their friends fight for their lives while Yaza's demented, barking laughter filled the room.
However, while Happy was huddled in a corner, paralyzed by fear, Jack had his own plans. While Yaza was still distracted, he extended one claw and began to pick the cage's lock.
'Everyone, just hold on for a bit longer,' Jack thought. His plan was to slit Yaza's throat while his eyes were on the screens. After that, he and Happy would escape, find the wizard holding their friends in the pocket dimensions, and get the hell out of the Badlands once and for all.
Downstairs, Alyssa was pushing herself to her limits as she evaded the Shadowman's dark tendrils, any one of which had the strength to smash through solid stone. And since Alyssa had no idea how much punishment her Soul Armor could take, she didn't want to risk blocking.
Using one of the pillars as a springboard, she launched herself like a rocket and struck the amorphous creature with another Empress Knuckle to the chest, sending him reeling back.
"You bitch!" Silas shouted before aiming his left arm at the orange-haired amazon. His arm then started to bulge like a balloon ready to burst. "Shadow Needles!"
And indeed, his arm did pop and unleashed a massive barrage of solid-shadow needles at Alyssa. And unfortunately, she didn't have time to dodge, so she started to rapidly swing her arms, deflecting the needles as fast they approached her. This continued until all of the needles were deflected and dissipated. However, the Shadowman wasn't done as he slithered towards his opponent and his right arm morphed into something else.
"Shadow Maw!" The demon chanted as his arm transformed into a massive dragon-like head with razor sharp teeth and yellow eyes. He launched ahead, intent on ripping the muscular wizard to shreds. Fortunately, Alyssa saw this out of the corner of her eye and brought her left gauntlet up as the maw chomped down, unable to pierce the purple armor. Alyssa then reared her other arm back as the orange gem glowed.
"Speed Queen: Twister!" She chanted, spinning her arm in an arc so fast that it generated a tornado that blasted the Shadowman back. However, as he reconstituted himself once more, he began to notice some sweat running down Alyssa's forehead, his jack-o-lantern face turning into a sinister smile.
'And there it is. The greatest difference between my kind and you flesh and blood mongrels,' He thought to himself as he slithered away from Alyssa's charging attacks. 'No matter how much inner magic you possess, eventually, it leaves you, it fades away, it abandons you. I, however…'
Within Silas, a brilliant purple jewel pulsated with strange energy, almost like a heartbeat. Outside, Silas raised his right arm back as it morphed into a large spike and began to spin rapidly.
"Shadow Drill!" The demon shouted as his arm elongated and launched. Alyssa side-stepped the approaching appendage, but it quickly turned around and sliced her left hip as she dodged.
'I am Etherious! Living magic given thought and form! I do not tire! I do not age! And I never run out of power! And when your magic has left you and your stamina has been drained, I will snuff out your life in an instant!'
Hidalgo and Nullpudding…
Blinded, Nullpudding wildly swung his massive arms in a vain attempt to hit Hidalgo. However, the green-haired wizard actually managed to keep his cool and do what he did best.
"Wow! Your aim sucks!" Hidalgo mockingly proclaimed as he leaped out of the way of another spiky haymaker. "I wonder why? Oh, ya! I blinded you like the ignoramus you are!"
"SHUT UP!" His opponent shouted before slamming his fists down and cracking the earth beneath, Hidalgo evading again.
"You must really be overcompensating for something with those big clumsy arms." He continued to taunt his foe, dodging attacks that destroyed more of the ground around them. But soon enough, Nullpudding's eyesight began to return, and he saw Hidalgo now had his back against a row of cacti. Seeing this made him smirk before he raised his arms into the air.
"Double Spike Shower!" The sword-sized needles blasted from his arms and into the air. Hidalgo saw this and began to run to the left, but was forced to stop as several of the large needles embedded themselves in the ground and cut him off. He turned to the right to see that another row of needles blocked his path like prison bars. He looked behind him and saw the row of cacti, and realized that Nullpudding had boxed him in.
"Who's clumsy now?" The purple-skinned man taunted as he approached Hidalgo, stepping over the cracks caused by their battle. "You try to leap away from my next attack, and you'll either be impaled by my spikes or the cactus needles. Either way, you're screwed."
But instead of being terrified by this, Hidalgo's smirk remained. "Yeah, it looks like you've got me cornered, Butt Face. But you missed out on one detail."
Nullpudding raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The green-haired wizard pointed over his shoulder and said "The size of my Fighting Spirit."
Confused by this statement, Nullpudding looked over Hidalgo's shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw that Golden Boy had shrunken down to the size of a toddler. But before he could say a word, his green-haired opponent struck a pose and chanted, "Golden Net!"
Suddenly, tendrils of liquid gold shot out from the cracks in the ground and quickly wrapped themselves around Nullpudding. The Needle Wizard struggling in vain as the liquid metal began to solidify.
"Now, you're probably thinking, 'How the hell did he do that?!'" Hidalgo said to his trapped foe. "Simple; One of Golden Boy's abilities is to shoot out part of its body at the cost of its overall mass. And since all of those pieces are part of Golden Boy, I have complete control over them. So while you were trying to smash me, I sent those pieces into the cracks you made."
The green-haired man then started to walk towards his opponent, the now infant-sized Fighting Spirit right behind him. "Now before I kick your ass, let me just say this; that shade of purple does actually work for you. But you really should grow some thicker skin."
Nullpudding stared at Hidalgo, bewildered before saying "Um...thanks?"
"No problem," Hidalgo said with a sly grin as he held out his right hand. Golden Boy's tiny body wrapped around the hand, forming a gauntlet that the shone as brilliantly as the sun.
"Shining Gold Knuckle!" He shouted before socking Nullpudding across the face, knocking him out. Golden Boy changed back to his humanoid form, absorbing its split-off pieces. The sigils on their bodies began to glow, and in a flash of light, the two wizards reappeared in the Badlands.
"Hidalgo!" Claudia said in shock, with Steve still chained up next to her. "What the hell happened?"
"Well, I was forced to fight this lug in some kind of cactus dimension," The green-haired man explained as he looked over the unconscious man and saw his guild mark. "Recognize it?"
"Ya. That's Raven Tail," Claudia explained, thinking back to how after she had begun traveling, she had been approached by a cloaked woman who had that same symbol on her neck. She had heard of Claudia's confrontation with Morningstar on Galuna Island and offered her a chance at revenge. Naturally, the Iron Hammer blew her off and that was the last she heard of Raven Tail, until now. "Apparently they've got some kind of blood feud with Fairy Tail."
"Of course they do," Hidalgo said with an eye-roll.
Natsu and Kurohebi…
The battle between Mimic and the Dragon Slayer had reached a stalemate. Neither of them could hurt the other with their fire, and while Natsu had more experience with it, Kurohebi's ability to create new spells (read as 'pull spells out of his ass') kept throwing fire wizard off balance.
"Fire Dragon's Tail Swipe!" The snake-eyed man shouted, an arc of fire bursting from a leg sweep that Natsu narrowly avoided.
'This is getting me nowhere!' Natsu thought as he landed.
Kurohebi watched Natsu with intelligent and bloodthirsty eyes, waiting for him to move before striking him down. Then, Natsu did something that caught Kurohebi completely off guard… he closed his eye and became very still.
Since unlocking his Second Origin, Natsu had discovered that in order to bring out his Beast Aura Magic, he needed to clear his mind focus intently on his Inner Beast. While this left him vulnerable to attack, it was his best option as his First Origin was proving useless.
For the next few seconds, Kurohebi could only stand in shock as his opponent acted completely out of character. 'What the hell is going on?' the mimic thought. He forced himself out of his shocked state and rushed at the fire wizard, a hand covered in flame.
As Kurohebi approached, the Natsu found his Inner Beast, it roared within him. He opened his eyes as the Mimic prepared to strike, his flames turning from azure to red and crimson aura surrounded his hands.
"Beast Aura: Dragon Claws!" Natsu shouted as the aura took shape as a pair of dragon claws. He socked a stunned Kurohebi across the face, sending him flying into and then through a nearby wall.
'W-What the hell was that?!' Kurohebi thought to himself, trying to push past the pain of smashing through a wall. 'That wasn't Dragon-Slayer Magic!"
The black-haired man stood up and saw the crimson aura began to envelop Natsu's leg. He realized he had no idea what this magic was, and thus, couldn't copy it, Mimicry Magic's greatest weakness come to bite him in the ass. Passing back through the him-sized hole in the wall, Kurohebi quickly formulated a plan. He couldn't harm Natsu with Fire Dragon-Slayer Magic, so his best option was to bring the surrounding walls down on him.
"The flames in my right hand and the flames in my left! Put the two together and this is what you get!" Kurohebi chanted as a barely contained azure fireball formed between his hands. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
The snake-eyed man launched the fireball towards the ceiling. The spell blew the ceiling apart, slags of debris falling to crush Natsu. The Dragon-Slayer roared and kicked upwards, creating a spiraling disk of crimson energy that sliced a large piece of rubble in half.
The salmon-haired man then rushed towards Kurohebi, weaving and evading pieces of the falling ceiling. Before the snake-eyed man had a chance to retort, Natsu socked Kurohebi in the gut with his claw, the mimic's skin burning from the aura's heat.
'Oh, shit! My time's up!' Kurohebi thought to himself as he started to yell in pain from the burns. Something Natsu caught, giving a savage grin before sucking in a large amount of air.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He shouted, unleashing a torrent of crimson fire that consumed Kurohebi. The massive spell blasted him through several walls, knocking him unconscious. With a participant defeated, the sigils on their bodies glowed and two were teleported back to the Badlands.
Before Natsu could process what had just happened, he heard someone shouting at him.
"Hey, you!" Hidalgo shouted, grabbing Natsu by his scarf before the Dragon-Slayer had a chance to breathe.
"Hey, what the-" Natsu barely got a chance to speak before Hidalgo socked him in the face. "The F*&K?!"
"Sorry," Hidalgo said, letting go of Natsu. "Just needed to vent out some frustration." The Shine Wizard replied before Natsu socked in him the gut. But before this could extend to a full-out fist fight, Claudia grabbed their heads and slammed them together.
"Time and place, guys," The silver-haired woman groaned while Steve watched in shock.
'These people are insane,' the marauder thought as he struggled not to wet himself.
Natsu and Hidalgo groaned before getting back up. And as they did, Natsu noticed that Alyssa and the cats were nowhere to be found.
"How long I was gone for?"
"About seven minutes." Claudia answered.
"Something's not right then." The salmon-haired dragon-slayer stated. "Alyssa should've gotten Happy and Jack out by now."
Natsu then started to run towards the citadel, with Hidalgo and Claudia chasing after him.
"Wait, what about the others?" Claudia yelled.
"They were caught in the same magic we were. They just need to beat their opponents to get out." Natsu explained.
"You really think they can," Claudia said, impressed by the Dragon Slayer's confidence.
Natsu just smiled. "I know my friends. They've got this."
And in one of the few times he silently agreed with Natsu, Hidalgo smiled as well. "You're right. These mongrels don't stand a chance against Izumi and Seward."
They ran towards the citadel, not a second to spare, leaving Steve behind with the two unconscious Raven Tail wizards.
"Umm, hello?"
Izumi and Flare…
Izumi dodged another of Flare's burning spears of hair. The blonde dragon-slayer had attempted to get in close and punch her red-haired opponent, but whatever magic she was using allowed her to move her hair, make it grow without any sort of visible upper limit, and…
"Water Dragon's Iron Fist!" As Izumi soon found out, her foe could also make hair as hard and strong as any shield, which Flare used to block the spell.
"What's the matter, blondie?" Flare asked, a crazed smile on her face as her hair began to wrap around Izumi's arm. "I thought dragon-slayers were supposed to be strong!"
Acting quickly, Izumi launched a Water Dragon's Roar to propel herself away, saving herself from an impromptu amputation. And as she landed, she began panting and realized something terrible; she was becoming dehydrated, and that would start to affect her magic.
Deftly evading Flair's hair tendrils, Izumi reached into the inner pocket of her coat and quickly pulled out a water bottle. She drank it, and a blue aura soon surrounded her body.
'That should give me another few minutes.' Izumi thought to herself before roaring and creating a vortex of water around herself.
"You want strong?! Well, you got it!" The blonde dragon-slayer shouted before charging at Flare, the vortex of water following behind her.
Zeke and Ridley…
The brunette archer continued to chase the bespectacled wizard through the casino.
"Arch Shot: Arrow Rain!" Zeke shouted as he unleashed a torrent of arrows. Ridley quickly turned around, her left eye flashing once again. And much to Zeke's shock, Ridley almost danced as she evaded the arrows, not a single one hitting her and blowing holes in the wall instead. She saw Zeke's look of confusion and laughed before breaking into a run, the brown-haired man chasing after her.
Soon enough, they reached a hall with several large billiard balls hanging from the ceiling, along with several pool tables around them. Ridley took a quick look around and smirked even harder before pulling out her pistol. At first, Zeke assumed she was going to turn around and shoot him, mentally preparing to summon Emerald Aegis again.
However, Ridley just aimed at a nearby pool table's metal railing and fired, her left eye glowing once again. The bullet then bounced off the railing and shot upward, tearing through the rope that held one of the large billiard balls by the ceiling. Specifically the eight ball right above Zeke.
The brunette only had seconds to react before the massive ball crushed him, and subconsciously summoned Emerald Aegis. But instead of conjuring up a barrier…
"DUO!"
...the stone-skinned Fighting Spirit punched upward, smashing its right fist into the massive eight ball. In seconds, cracks spread all over the eight ball until it finally shattered into the pieces, to the shock of both Zeke and Ridley.
Alexander and Oroboros…
Sparks flew as Alexander and Shé's blades one-eyed Celestial Wizard pushed the former Snake Spirit back and Hǔ leaped at her from behind.
"Tiger Claw Strike!" The brutish tiger shouted, his claws glowing with magical energy. Shé quickly evaded the attack and sliced her fellow celestial spirit across the stomach. Not deep enough to critically wound Hǔ, but just enough to allow her blade's poison to course through his body.
Alexander quickly pulled out his flintlock and fired at Shé, but the purple-haired woman blocked the shots with her sword. Hǔ attempted to attack her once more, but the poison was starting to slow him down.
"Just stop this, Hǔ," Shé said, her face unchanging as a porcelain mask. "Even now, my poison dulls your senses and slows your body. Return to the Celestial World, the energy will heal you."
Hǔ roared and charged at her, his claws striking against Oroboros' sword.
"So be it," The snake spirit stated before quickly slashing Hu with her sword vertically, his body being sliced in two. Thankfully, as a Celestial Spirit, instead of killing him, Hǔ's body glowed before dissolving into balls of light as returned to the Celestial World.
"Hǔ!" Alexander cried out as the tiger spirit vanished, a look of regret etched into his face. Enraged, the blue-haired wizard quickly reached into his coat and grabbed Shǔ's key, only for Shé to rush forward and snatch it out of his hands. This continued as Alexander went for Hóuzi, Gōngjī, and Lóng's keys.
"Pathetic," Shé said, her voice cold as ice and sharp as her blade, as she dropped the keys into the water around them. Alexander then swung his cutlass, only for his purple-haired foe to knock the blade out of his hands. As Shé prepared to swing her blade again, to Alexander, time seemed to slow down. The arc of Shé's sword was aiming right for his neck. A single glance at his foe's eyes told him that she was going for the kill, that was she the predator and he was her prey.
In an instance, Alexander's entire life flashed before his eyes. Images of Grandeeney, Wendy, Marianne, his crew, his team, and finally Mirajane played in his head. At the same time, small red sparks began to jump around his body.
'NO! I'M NOT DYING TODAY!' He mentally shouted just as the blade was a hair's breadth from his neck. A burst of red lightning knocked Shé's sword back as more and more red lightning began to shoot out of Alexander's body. The one-eyed wizard was shocked, paralyzed by what had just happened, before remembering his Spirit Keys are unattended and dashed for them.
Shé charged at the running Alexander from the side and the blue-eyed wizard pulled out his flintlock. The snake-eyed woman used her sword to knock the firearm out his hand, but suddenly, a chain made of the red lightning shot out of Alexander's left hand and pulled the flintlock back into it. Taking advantage of his foes confusion, Alexander fired a round into her arm and fished his keys out of the water.
"Round 2, Snake Lady!" The blue-eyed pirate proclaimed as the red electric chains appeared and wrapped around his cutlass, pulling it back to him while Shé glared at her foe.
Hoshi and Erigor…
As the wind started to die down, Erigor chuckled to himself, even though he couldn't see his opponent through the debris. 'There's no way she could survive the Ema Rabarum. She's probably been ripped to shreds.'
But his jovial attitude was gone as the dust cleared and he saw his burgundy-haired foe safe inside a barrier.
"Requip: Thunderbolt!" Hoshi chanted, switching out her staves and firing a blast of lightning at Erigor. The wind wizard was then forced to evade a barrage of lighting until he managed to conjure his Storm Mail armor around him.
"You're really starting to piss me off! Storm Slicer!" Erigor shouted as he launched blades of wind at his opponent, forcing Hoshi to weave in between the rocks.
'It's times like these when I wished Gravity Staves weren't so expensive,' Hoshi thought to herself as she requiped a new staff.
"Requip: Frost!" The new staff Hoshi summoned as a light blue staff topped with a dark blue snowflake-shaped jewel. She aimed her staff at the airborne Erigor and fired a blast of ice. However, Erigor merely pushed his arm forward, his Storm Mail armor tearing apart the ice spell.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that if you want to get past my Storm Mail armor!" The former master of Eisenwald proclaimed before he held his arms out and launched wild winds that threatened to blow his foe away.
Seward and Alexei…
No matter how many clones Seward destroyed, more and more Alexeis appeared to take their place. He was getting really tired of this endless wave of doubles.
'If I take out the real caster, that should break the spell.' The portly wizard saint thought as he used a spell from his Wind Tome to knock back a couple of doubles. He knew that he couldn't pinpoint the original, so this called for a widespread solution.
"Requip: Ruinations Brought Forth!" He chanted, summoned the purple tome and began to rapidly flip through the page.
"The blade of the reaper swings down! The curtains must give way to end of all! Chapter 87: Calamity!"
A violent cascade of purple magic burst forth from Seward, consuming all of the Alexeis in a whirlwind of destruction. When the light cleared, all that remained were the steps of the coliseum and the scorched battlegrounds. For a brief moment, Seward believed that he had won...until more Alexeis began to rise from the ground. One of them even emerged behind Seward and stabbed him through the chest. But instead for yelling out in pain, the bespectacled wizard saint began to chuckle.
"And just what is so amusing?"
"All illusion magic has one weakness; it relies on the target being completely fooled by it." Seward stated. And in that instant, the army of Alexei's shattered like glass and his wounds disappeared. And as they did, Seward turned and saw the original Alexei, sitting three feet from the crater of his first attack. The armored figure was silent for a moment, his body language unreadable to even Seward's keen eyes before he chuckled and began to clap.
"Bravo, Mr. Voltaire. You managed to see through my illusion."
"I'll admit that the physical pain threw me off a bit, but I remembered that some magics allow the caster to control the sensation of pain as well," The bespectacled wizard saint explained. "If your double was real, I should've been killed instantly when it ran me through the chest."
In response, the armored man began to chuckle as well. "You are a remarkable fellow," Alexei deathly still as he seemed to gaze into Seward's very soul."Well, at least this version of you is."
Before Seward could respond to his opponent's strange statement, Alexei stood up and held out his arm. With a flick of his wrist, Alexei's arm was consumed in dark purple light that blazed like fire. And with that, Seward knew this battle was far from over.
Back with Jack, Happy, and Yaza...
As the battles raged on, Yaza continued to watch from his throne. Sure, he was aware of how Natsu and Hidalgo's battles ended, but he figured he would take care of them when the need arose, seemingly unaware of what was happening behind him. You see, while he wasn't looking, Jack had managed to pick the lock of the cage, letting himself and Happy out.
"Alright, let's get out of here." Happy whispered to his fellow cat. However, Jack just scowled at the back of Yaza's head and pulled out one of his bladed tonfas.
"Jack?! What are you doing?!" The blue feline desperately whispered at the yellow-furred cat as he snuck up to the orange-haired man. Jack's mind was blocking out what Happy said.
While he could look past being caged like a common animal in favor of escaping, what he could not, would not forgive was this worm obsessed freak almost killing his friends, his family. One thought dominated Jack's mind. 'Yaza has to die.' He crept up to the seemingly occupied marauder, intent on slitting his throat before getting the hell out this nightmarish desert.
But as Jack prepared to leap in for the kill, Yaza suddenly turned around and stomped down on Jack's head, the small cat coughing up blood as he hit the floor.
"JACK!" Happy screamed as Yaza looked down at the groaning Jack.
"You outlanders really have no sense of honor," The orange-haired man said, his voice and expression void of any emotion. "Tell me, what glory is found in stabbing your opponent in the back?"
Jack's only response was a glare at the tall man.
Yaza's frown only deepened. "Do you know how I gained my kingdom? Before my reign, savagery and betrayal were the only laws of the sand. I grew up watching good men slaughtered by cowards. And I was almost one of them. But then...then I found the worms. They showed me compassion, they showed me honor, and they gave me a purpose. If I couldn't make the sands orderly, I could offer a safe haven for those tired of the backstabbing."
He pressed his foot harder on Jack, the yellow cat cried out in pain while Happy watched in horror. "So I made it law that anyone who betrays an ally or uses underhanded tactics would be fed to the worms. But for you, I'll make an exception. I'll squeeze the life out of you and your fellow feline and show your corpses to your comrades, right before I snuff the life out of them. And then, I'll have your carcasses hung on polls in front of the sands, as a message for those who dare to bring their corruption from outside."
As he said that, Happy's panic rose even further, tears ran down his face. He had seen more than his fair share of villains over the years, but none of them could match the raw, unadulterated madness and bloodlust that Yaza exuded. And when the occasionally more dangerous villain appeared, somebody would be there to beat them and save him.
But no one was there to save him this time. Natsu, Zeke, Alexander, Lucy, and Hoshi were being occupied by Raven Tail. Same for the Titan Five. As for Alyssa, Happy had a sneaking suspicion that the Shadowman left to deal with her or Claudia since they were the only wizards unaccounted for.
Now, it was just him, on his knees and helpless as his fellow feline was being crushed under the madman's boot. Just one look in his eyes told Happy that underneath all the flare and megalomania, he was serious. Yaza was going to kill him.
And the worst part was that Happy knew he could do nothing to Yaza. Even at their strongest, the Lacrima Grenades were only meant for Happy to defend himself from bandits, mindless monsters, and low-tier grunts. But Yaza was on the level of someone like Laxus. Even without merging with a Fang Worm, the orange-haired man's Light-Make Magic and pure physical strength would be more than enough to crush him.
'There's...there's really is nothing I can do,' Happy thought, his mind spiraling into despair as the light began to fade from Jack's eyes, the pain forcing him into unconsciousness. 'No one's going to save us. He...he's gonna kill us. I don't…'
And as the blue cat reached the very depths of despair, he felt something inside him snap. As his body began to shake, green magical energy rose from his body like smoke, catching the attention of Yaza and Jack.
"I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Happy shouted, tears freely flowing before his body was consumed by a pillar of green energy so bright that Jack was forced to close his eyes while Yaza just looked on in curiosity. Within the pillar, Happy's cries of anguish started to change, becoming deeper and deeper, his cries of anguish transforming into cries of rage.
Within seconds, the light faded, and Yaza's eyes widened at what he saw. Standing in Happy's place was a creature that resembled a full-grown lion. A coat as blue as the ocean, with a long, flowing mane of white as snow. And its eyes were blank, pure white and set on Yaza. The beast that was Happy snarled before letting out a powerful roar. A roar that was heard throughout the Tower…
"What in Father's Name was that?"
...and outside the Tower.
"A lion?" Natsu said as he, Hidalgo, and Claudia were fighting their way through the Citadel's guards.
Back with Happy and Yaza, the transformed cat was on all fours, growling at Yaza before pouncing, his maw open and ready to bite down. In response, the orange-haired ruler raised his arm, blocking the teeth with his Light-Make Skin. However, the force of the pounce was enough to send the two up in the air and crashing into a nearby wall.
After rolling back up, Yaza stared the feral Happy down, and a savage smile formed on the Worm Rider's face as memories of his youth flashed in his mind.
"Yes! Come at me, beast!" The orange-haired man shouted as his magical energy flowed out of him and the battle continued.
As this was going on, Natsu, Claudia, and Hidalgo had managed to take out a group of guards and were about to investigate that roaring, when suddenly…
"AHHHHH!" They heard a familiar woman's scream.
"Alyssa!" Natsu shouted, instantly recognizing his girlfriend's voice.
"Go to her. We'll find the cats," Hidalgo said. Natsu nodded and left Claudia and Hidalgo to take care of the guards.
The salmon-haired dragon-slayer followed the sounds of Alyssa's cries until he reached the room she and the Shadowman were in. He burst through the walls and saw that the Shadowman had stabbed one of his shadow tendrils into her right shoulder, pinning her against the wall.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted, slugging the Shadowman with crimson fire and freeing Alyssa from his tendril.
"Natsu." Alyssa weakly said as her boyfriend rushed to her side. "What're you…"
"Things have gone real south." Natsu stated as he quickly ripped off a piece of his jacket and wrapped it around Alyssa's shoulder wound.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it, Salamander," Silas stated he got back up, crimson fire lingering on his face.
Lucy and Obra…
It had been almost a minute since the buzzsaws stopped flying. But even so, Lucy and Sagittarius were still on their guard. That was until they heard screaming and saw a terrified Lupus rushing towards them.
"LUCY! HELP!" The wolf girl cried. Before Lucy and Sagittarius could ask her what was wrong, they were greeted by the horrifying sight of Obra, spinning blades and all, chasing after her.
"What manner of monstrosity is that?!" Sagittarius exclaimed before quickly firing a barrage of arrows at the blue-skinned...thing. However, he merely used his drill fingers to deflect and shatter the arrows.
"That's the guy who was throwing the sawblades," Lupus said as she fearfully hid behind Lucy's legs, her body shaking like a leaf. "B-But, he's not human!"
"I think that's fairly obvious." Lucy replied as she held Meteore in front of her.
"N-no! I mean...when I attacked...there was no blood or a-anything!" Lupus said as Lucy swung her snake-sword with the intention of slicing off Obra's right arm. However, the doll quickly turned to look at Lucy's extended blade and Obra quickly evaded. Sagittarius also continued his barrage from the right, which made Obra raise his arm, protecting the imp doll. And it was this made Lucy begin to notice something off; whenever she or Sagittarius would attack Obra's right side in a way that would harm the doll on his shoulder, Obra would do whatever he could to protect it.
And that, combined with Lupus' previous statement, made Lucy realize something.
"Lupus, I'm going charge the blue weirdo. When that happens, I want you to grab that doll thing on his shoulder," She whispered to the small wolf girl. Lucy saw Lupus' confused expression before giving her a reassuring smile. Seeing that, Lupus nodded before Lucy charged at Obra, swinging Meteore as she did. The blue-skinned monstrosity grabbed the blade with his left hand, sparks flying as his drill fingers collided with it.
"Now!" Lucy shouted and Lupus at the wooden doll, grabbing it and forcing it off Obra's shoulder. As she did so, several thin blue strings of magic energy connecting the doll and Obra became visible before snapping. And as Lupus slammed the doll to the ground, Obra's eyes went completely blank and his arms fell to the sides before he fell over, lifeless.
"Unhand me, ya wanker!" The wooden doll cried out in vain, surprising Lupus and Sagittarius.
"So my guess was right," Lucy said as she examined 'Obra.' "This was just a battle puppet. And the one pulling the strings was...actually I have no idea who you are. Or what you are really."
"I wouldn't expect you Fairy Tail arseholes to know what a wood imp is! Considerin' you slaughtered my kind!" The doll-sized creature proclaimed, making Lucy and her spirit's eyes widen in shock, something that the real Obra noticed. "I heard you were a new recruit. Guess your master never told you about that."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Lucy shouted, her mind reeling from the imp's accusations.
"Your precious Fairy Tail ain't the heroic guild ya think it is! In fact, folks like me have another name for you lot; the Crown's Executioners."
But before he could say anything else, Lupus kicked him into a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious.
"Lupus?!" Lucy asked.
"Sorry! But he was freaking me out!" The silver-haired girl shouted as the four of them were soon consumed by a blue glow. In the other battlefields, the other wizards were consumed by the same glow. And in a flash of light, everyone found themselves back in the Badlands.
As this was going on, Silas was using his shadow tendrils to keep Natsu and Alyssa on the defensive. He had taken damage from their attacks, as evidenced by the red flames still burning away at his coat and the remains of purple Soul Armor energy within his the plume that was his face.
'Just my luck. I end up fighting two humans whose magic can actually hurt me! No matter. I just need to tire them out before…'
However, his train of thought was interrupted as he sensed a pulse of magic, signaling that Obra's Zone Magic had been disrupted. This irritated him for a moment before he realized something that made him smirk. And much to the confusion of Natsu and Alyssa, he transformed back into his human-like appearance.
"Congratulations, fairies. You get to live today! As it just so happens, a prime opportunity has landed in my lap." Silas stated before snapping his fingers, creating a shadow portal behind him. "So as much I'd like nothing more than to rip out your skulls through your ears, I've got things do, plans to enact, people to eat. You know how it is."
"You're not getting awa-" Natsu began to say before Alyssa charged ahead.
"NO YOU DON'T YOU MOTHERF*(KER!" The orange-haired woman yelled with more anger that Natsu had ever seen before. But before Alyssa could land her next Empress Knuckle, Silas disappeared through his portal, a smirk on his face. Alyssa's armored fist passed over where the portal had been moments before and smashed through a wall.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU GODDAMN MONSTER!" Alyssa shouted with tears in her eyes before letting out a loud yell.
"Alyssa!" Natsu said, quickly putting his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong with you?"
In response, Alyssa turned to face Natsu. And much to his shock, her anger had been replaced by sorrow he hadn't seen in years. The quivering lips. The endless stream of tears. It all reminded Natsu of the night Alyssa told him and Zeke about her past. In particular, the worst night of her life. In seconds, Natsu started to piece together who the man they were fighting was, and why Alyssa was having such a strong reaction.
And so, the salmon-haired dragon-slayer wrapped his claws around his love, her tears beginning to stain his jacket.
"It's okay." Natsu whispered. And upon hearing that, Alyssa let loose her sorrow and anger, embracing the dragon-slayer.
Back outside the Citadel...
"What the...who the...what the f&^k just happened?!" Erigor shouted as everyone got their bearings. Flare, however, got a scared and crazed look in her eyes when she saw the small Obra unconscious.
"Obra!" The redhead shouted in concern before remembering who his opponent was. And when she saw Lucy's hair and guild mark, memories of a laughing blonde woman with that same mark flashed in mind, sending her into a violent rage. "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY OBRA, BLONDIE!"
Responding to her rage, Flare's hair grew and transformed into drills that shot ahead at Lucy.
"Reflect!" Hoshi quickly summoned her protective staff and conjured a barrier around Lucy that deflect the hair drills.
"We're not done yet, fly!" Erigor shouted before unleashing a Storm Slicer that forced Hoshi and anyone near her to dodge.
"Just great." A panting and slightly burnt Izumi thought, ready to attack but not noticing Oroboros running at her from behind, only to be halted by a barrage of green arrows.
"Well, well, well. Just my luck." Zeke said with a look that read, 'I am so done with today.' "Of course you had to be part of Raven Tail."
"And just who are you again?" Oroboros asked, much to Zeke's shock and annoyance if the scowl on his face was anything to go by.
"How do you not remember me?!" the archer yelled. "You stabbed and poisoned me!"
"I've done that to countless beings. You'll have to be more specific." The uncaring Oroboros stated before having to block and a sword swing from Alexander, who still had red lightning blasting out of him.
"Forget about me?!" The one-eyed man shouted as the lightning traveled from his sword to Oroboros', forcing the snake-eyed woman to jump back as she felt her arms beginning to go numb.
"Sorry fellas, but she's taken," Silas proclaimed as he stepped out of a portal from behind Oroboros and placed on hand on her shoulder.
"Fantastic, Silas!" Erigor said with glee. "Now with you here, we can paint this dessert with the blood of these so-called legal wizards!"
"Actually, there's been a change of plans," Silas said with a fitting demonic smirk. "You incompetent lot can have your little grudge match. Me and Oro have somewhere else to be."
"WHAT?!"
After a second of hesitation, Oroboros sheathed her sword and turned to walk into the portal. And with a tip of the hat, Silas closed the portal, leaving the Fairy Tail, Raven Tail, and Titan Nose wizards in the desert.
"Well...that just happened." Ridley stated. And just as she said that an upper wall of the citadel exploded as two figures landed in the desert, creating a cloud of smoke from the impact.
"Oh, come on!" Zeke shouted. And in a matter of seconds, the bestial Happy emerged from the smoke, growling wildly with blood covered claws. He then looked ahead and saw the humans, growling at his next prey. In a burst of uncontrolled magic, two massive wings emerged from his back, and he launched ahead at Ridley faster than she could use her magic. However, Alexei leaped in front of the bespectacled wizard just as Happy swung his claws down, shattering the upper left side of his helmet, revealing dark orange hair. Quickly, he held his hand out at the feral beast.
"HEEYAH!" He yelled, blasting the lion creature back with a pulse of dark energy before turning towards Erigor. "We're leaving."
"But…" Erigor started to say before he saw Alexei's uncovered eye, piercing his soul. At that moment, Erigor knew whatever argument he had died out. "F-Fine. Storm Carry!"
In an instant, Alexei, Flare, Ridley, Obra, and the unconscious Nullpudding and Kurohebi were consumed in miniature tornadoes that kept the other wizards away from them before they took off into the distance.
"Are we just going to let them get away?" Izumi asked.
"I think we got other things to worry about." Seward said as Happy got back up and pounced on Sagittarius, biting into his throat and causing the horse spirit to yell in pain.
"Sagittarius!" Lucy shouted as Sagittarius began to disappear.
"It seems my time is up, Miss Lucy." The horse spirit said before finally vanishing. "Toodle-loo."
With this prey now gone, Happy turned to face Zeke and leaped at him…
"DUO!"
...only for the brunette to quickly summon Emerald Aegis. The fighting spirit grabbed the blue & white lion and slammed him into the sand. The feral beast continued to struggle as Aegis held him down by his mane.
"Is it just me, or is there something familiar about this beast?" Alexander asked as Zeke took a closer look at the beast. And when he did, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the green Fairy Tail mark on its back. Combined with the beast's fur color and wings, it was pretty easy for him to put two and two together.
"Guys, I think this is Happy." Zeke stated. Lucy, Hoshi, and Alexander also pieced it together and were naturally stunned and confused at their friends' new appearance.
"Happy? Is that really you?" Lucy asked, only for the blue lion to roar at her, causing her to jump back in fear.
"This beast is that annoying kitty?" Lupus asked.
"He's gone feral." Izumi stated. "Jack went through something similar when he first transformed."
"How do we snap him out of it?" Hoshi asked.
"He has to bring himself out of it." Everyone turned and saw Jack walking towards them with Hidalgo and Claudia next to him. "He awakened this transformation in a moment of fear. All we can do is try to bring him into a calmer state of mind."
"What does he find comforting?" Seward asked.
"Unless anyone has fish on them…" Zeke began to say as Happy managed to break away from Aegis' grip. Everyone took a step back from Happy, avoiding his pounces without attacking him.
"Easy, Happy," Zeke said, dismissing Aegis and his bow to show his feline friend he meant no harm. "We're not gonna hurt you. Just calm down."
The growling lion looked over the humans, who were quick to dismiss or put down their weapons. At first, that seemed to be calming him down. However…
"What's going on?!"
Everyone turned and saw Natsu & Alyssa walking towards them. And when Happy saw Alyssa's orange hair, his mind thought of Yaza, reawakening his rage. With a loud roar, he leaped at the two, but Natsu intercepted him and held the Exceed back. Happy bit into his left shoulder as Natus held back his claws.
"NATSU!" Alyssa, Zeke, Lucy, Alexander, and Hoshi cried out in concern while the Titan Five looked on in shock. Happy began to bite down harder, causing blood to flow down from his father-figure's shoulder. However, Natsu did not yell in pain. Instead, he grit his teeth and placed his right hand on the blue lion's mane. He then began to rub the mane with slow strokes.
"I-it's okay, little buddy. Everything's gonna be alright." Natsu whispered out. Earlier, after Alyssa had calmed down and they began to follow Happy's scent, the salmon-haired dragon-slayer heard the earlier conversation with his advanced hearing. As such, he heard about Happy needing to calm down and bring himself out of his rage.
And to almost everyone's surprise, Natsu began to hum an unfamiliar tune. Or at least unfamiliar to everyone except Alyssa. She recognized this tune was the same one Natsu used to calm down Happy when he was a kitten. When they first started going on missions, Happy was often terrified by the monsters they encountered and would often have nightmares about them. However, Natsu had figured out that stroking Happy's head and humming a soft tune would help the kitten sleep.
And the same was true now. As Natsu continued to hum, Happy's movements became less feral and savage, and his eyes began to change from pure white to black iris'. The large lion then removed his maw from Natsu's shoulder and spat out the blood.
"N-Natsu?" Happy asked, his voice far deeper than before. With a smile on his face and a hand covering his wounds, Natsu looked at his adoptive son without a hint of resentment or fear.
"Good to have you back, buddy."
"What's going on?! Why are you so small? Where did this blood come from?"
For the next few minutes, everyone got Happy up to speed while Hoshi (requipping a medical kit) tended to everyone's wounds.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think I've had enough of this dessert." Zeke stated and started to walk away. The others soon began to follow suit, unaware that Yaza had awoken from his Happy-induced coma and saw that his foes were walking away. He was not about to let the invaders of his kingdom leave. As such he plunged his arm into the ground, his magic flowing through the sand until it reached the sleeping fang worm underneath.
"Great beasts that rule this land! Allow us two to defend your sand! GREAT MERGE!"
Yaza and the Fang Worm were consumed in a pillar of orange light, getting the attention of the other wizards.
"Oh, yes," Seward stated. "I almost forgot the sociopathic worm king."
"Goddamnit." Zeke said as he rubbed his eyes and the light faded and Yaza's giant lamia-like Fang Worm form stared them down.
"THERE IS NO EXISTENCE WHERE YOU CAN RUN! THERE IS NO EXISTENCE WHERE YOU CAN HIDE! ALL THAT I AM, ALL THAT I WILL EVER BE WILL HUNT YOU! AND IF YOU CEASE TO EXIST BEFORE I KILL YOU, I WILL RECREATE YOU FROM THE GRAVE SO THAT I CAN DESTROY YOU! YOUR ASSES ARE MINE!"
And as Yaza made that declaration, the sun finally began to set on the Badlands, turning the day into night. However, for the gathered members of Morningstar and the Titan Five, the day was far from over.
To be continued…
Author's Note 2: So...I've haven't updated in over a month. Well, if you've been watching the news, you guys should know that Hurricane Irma decided to pay my home state of Florida a visit. Thankfully, my home and my family are all okay, but between putting up shutters, evacuating, spending hours on the road, and then returning to work (I work at a Cinemark and the holiday season is our busiest time of year), I haven't exactly felt the creative juices flowing. But finally, I think I've got my mojo back. So thank you all for being so patient with me.
Next time: Awaken, Blazing Aegis!
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