Natsu looked around himself, still able to faintly hear the shouting and the fighting echoing through the grey walls around him. "Where are we…?" he asked, sniffing the stale air.
"Under t-t-the arena…" Kai told him, shivering with feat. Natsu was the only form of light in the dark caves, but it was more than enough to spread eerie shadows as far as the eye could see. "I think that's why Infinity Dream choose our town. There's a huge cave system that runs from the mountains right through to our town, even inside some houses!" he told him, looking around and waiting for something to jump out at them.
"Huh…" Natsu murmured, looking up as the ceiling shuddered. "So they're fighting? Right up there?" He paused, curiosity lifting his vision towards the stranger looking stalactites. In a symmetrical formation eight of the largest stalactites he had ever seen hung from the ceiling, each of them similar sized and shaped. Throwing a fire ball up into the sky to illuminate the ceiling, his eyes widened. Against the light of his flames the pillars which hung from the ceiling were a clear, blue-ish glass with the faces of eight people trapped inside, motionless and chained with their hands above their heads.
He took a staggered step back, looking up and counting off each of the people that he was seeing. Elfman, Freed, Cana, Lyon… The more he saw the more he was certain, these were the eight final contestants of the tournament, and therefore eight of the most powerful wizards in the world.
"You have no idea what you've wandered into…" a voice came back from the darkness.
Rya stood, determined to make his stand even in the terror of facing Erza. The odds were against him, and were getting worse as more and more eyes fell upon him. A blond was beside him too, now, staring at him with the same defiance he had. "You're very smart," he admitted to her, "My name is Rya, and this is the true power of the Arc of Time. And I come in for peace."
Erza gasped, and gripped her sword closer. "You speak of peace and you create a death-trap for my friends. You have a strange concept of peace!" she yelled, swiping her sword downwards to him.
"Restore." The ground rumbled, the rocks and earth shaking as suddenly the rocks, pebbles and dirt from all around rushed to each other, creating an instant wall that threw Erza back on her feet. "This place is full of history, long before these people arrived here" he explained, looking back at the intricately patterned walls. "Fifty years ago, this place was a thriving city, filled with people and most importantly – buildings!" he shouted again as more walls appeared, spiralling upwards and trapping Erza and Lucy next to each other. "But then… in this world, all good things end up destroyed eventually…" He said.
The girls squealed and cried out as the new building they were inside crashed around them with huge force. They were barely able to escape without being completely crushed, jumping out of the way just in time.
"We're making a world where good things don't need to be broken anymore," he said, determined as he held his hands tightly, his emotions flooding into his voice. "A world where no one ever has to die again!" he cried out.
Erza had dashed forwards while he was talking, slicing quickly while his defences were down. He fell quickly, crushed by the weight of her blow and barely on his feet after just one true strike. He had not been expecting that, not such a quick recovery. "Peace isn't started with harming others," she warned him, ready to catch him off-guard again.
Another attack from Gray landed squarely, pushing Eyan back as he tried to change his weaponry once more. He wasn't as fast as Erza, no one was, and Gray was going to take full advantage of that attack. Still, this was no easy fight, as he had been weakened severely in the first half and was in awe of the ferocious willpower and brute strength of the man in front of him.
"So, you think you're going to kill me, huh?" Eyan shouted out, spinning his giant sword around, which Gray only narrowly avoided. "You don't have it in you to kill, Guild-Scum!"
Gray jumped out of his way once more, pushing his hands against the floor and turning it into an icerink. "That doesn't mean that I'm willing to lose!"
The requipping wizard pushed his spear into the ground, using it as a leverage to stop himself from slipping away. "Let me make this easy for you, Ice Rat. I'm not going to give you a choice!"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Everyone stopped, the ice on the floor shattered and they could only concentrate on steadying themselves. Even Levy had to hold her books tight to her chest, squealing as people ran past her to try and get away from the trembling air. The ground of the fighting square rattled the most, and with it giant holes began to appear in each corner, on the inner edge of the magic circle spell. A giant crystal pushed up through the hole, and another appeared, and another again until all four corners and all four sides had a tall wide crystal glimmering in the sun.
"Elfman!" Mira screamed out, seeing her brother trapped inside one of the crystals.
Finally, outside of the magic circle another great hole appeared in the ground, and a huge stone pillar appeared. This time instead of being trapped inside, the man was standing on top, laughing manically. "I didn't want to show you so quickly, but here it is…. The Chaos Lacrima!" he shouted out.
The crystals buzzed and hummed, each one of them with their own pitch and sound, the person trapped inside completely silent and still as they remained tied up. Gray looked around himself, eight faces, most of them of friends that he loved, trapped and pointed straight towards him. "The arena…. Is a lacrima?!" he said, looking down at the white stadium floor.
The master grinned, realising that his plans were almost complete and taking the one moment of glory that he could. "Behold the power of the Chaos Lacrima. Once completed, it will have the power to completely eliminate any limitations to any power. We will have the power to rule!" he laughed.
"Hey!" Natsu shouted up, Happy on his back and flying him through one of the cracks his earth magic had been created. "You don't get to walk away from me!" he shouted at him.
"Hm?" Master Haikit looked at the pink-haired dragon slayer. "You think that you can stop me now?" He grinned from ear to ear, "Don't you know? Defeating me won't change anything. The Chaos Lacrima will still be unleashed."
Natsu landed on the ground, his fists already burning brightly ready for a battle. "You've put my friends in danger. No one harms members of Fairy Tale and gets away with it!" He yelled as he began his attack.