"Mason!" Dante cried out in joy. Maryanna shouted something similar, clinging to her lover's arm.
"I can't believe it." Erza leaned shakily on a sword. "He came back."
"Good timing, May-May." Synnova crossed her arms and smiled a rare grin.
"You again." Sebastian spat. His hatred only helped Mason, knowing he caused Sebastian annoyance was pure pleasure to him.
"I'm back." Mason stated proudly, rising to his full height. "And I brought friends."
"It seems I am a bit... late." Gildarts stepped forward, surveying the damage.
"Let kick some ass." Paro stated, opposite Gildarts. He smashed his knuckles together happily. After many months he would be able to use his magic again, let alone alongside his father. Laxus had come along with the trio, but had abandoned the group on their travel along the rooftops. They had continued without him, not bothering to try and delve into Laxus's tendencies.
"You boys ready?" Mason beamed, lowering himself into a familiar stance.
"You know it." Gildarts flung off his cloak.
"Time for payback." Paro glared at his long-time captors.
"Fairy Tail is behind you guys." Dante held up two cards between his fingers.
"I'm all fired up!" Natsu exclaimed, erupting the air around him in flames.
Sebastian's finger's twitched nervously, this wasn't planned. Evergreen said they had left the guild for good. They weren't supposed to come back and rally their guild, let alone bring two fully charged S-class mages with them.
"We have a score to settle." Mason stated flatly, flinging off his cloak. To Sebastian's surprise, the Fairy Tail Mages stepped away from him and his counterpart. Out of a grudging respect for him or just acknowledging Mason's will, they wouldn't take Mason's sweet revenge from him.
"Let's go Fairy Tail!" Paro surged forth suddenly. To everyone's surprise, two pillars of pure diamond rose from the ground on either side of Paro. The points followed him like magnets as he ran, slowly turning their course so they were going parallel to the ground. Before anyone could react, they broke free and flipped sideways, rolling over scores of Ragnarok Mages.
"Haven't seen that move in a long time, son!" Gildarts took his place beside his brethren. With a hand gesture, the ground up to forty yards in front of him exploded and sent rocks and Ragnarok Mages alike everywhere.
"Wait for me!" Cana jogged up to her brother and father. They stood together, although Cana breathed alot harder than the rest of them.
"It's been a long time." Paro raised an arm completely encased in crystal-clear diamond.
"Since we've fought together." Gildarts added, raising his explosive fists.
"As one." Cana pulled out three cards.
"The Clive family" They said in unison, rushing forward in a v-formation. Gildarts led the charge with his two children flanking him.
"What do ya say," Gildarts scanned the huge crowd of Ragnarok Mages. "You think we can take the North flank?"
"Let's do it." Paro placed his hand out in front of him, palm down.
"Together." Cana added, laying her smaller hand on her brothers.
"As a family!" Gildarts yelled, slamming his larger hand on the pile. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder and pointed their hands threateningly at the crowd, who was slightly confused.
"TRIPLE UNISON RAID!" They called together, draining the hopes and dreams of a good portion of the crowd.
The air around them pulsed with blinding light. It rose upward in a pillar, lifting any loose articles of clothing and long hair as if in low gravity. It strengthened at where their magic met, the pile of hands in front of them. The air thrummed with pure power as the spell threatened to cast at any moment.
It stopped.
The air returned to normal, clothing and hair lowered itself. The brilliant light stopped, revealing three surprised Clive's. They all seem to let out a sigh.
Ragnarok began to cheer, the spell had failed. Fairy Tail wasn't invincible, even when the most powerful family (alongside the Strauss's) teamed up.
A single card zipped forth from nowhere. It was pure black and without design. It shot through the crowd, not striking anything until it hit the ground.
The world exploded.
A huge shock wave rocked the world off its hinges, breaking bones just from the amount of pressure traveling through the air. Every Ragnarok Mage got knocked down, and a handful even died from the sheer force of the first part.
A number of diamond pillar the size of school bus's burst from the ground, scattering the mages and leaving the ground a chewed up wasteland.
All across the battlefield, random effects fell upon Ragnarok Mages. Lighting cackled along the ground, smoke shot out that would made them fall in sleep on the spot, fires erupted in random plumes; ice formed in random places along the ground, several women in bikinis even materialized.
"Fuck yeah! We did it!" Paro exclaimed simply, portraying everyone's emotions perfectly.
000
"Did I miss something?" A bolt of lightning shot in front of Lisanna, materializing into Laxus. He held out his hand and grabbed the iron beam headed towards her face.
"Laxus!" Lisanna cried out happily, friends rushing past her. Fairy Tail was hurriedly trying to regroup into a single ball so they could attack outward without worry.
"You sound surprised I came to save you!" Laxus pointed out, shocking the owner of the spell down his bar. The Iron Mage didn't stand a chance against lightning. He didn't say he was being especially nice to try and achieve his fantasy of a Strauss sister threesome.
"Natsu! Gajeel!" Laxus bound into the air suddenly. "Wendy!"
"Lightning Dragons..." Laxus arched his body backward, his chest puffing outward. "ROAR!" a huge cackle of lightning shot forward, thickening into an unmatchable pillar. A pink-haired boy leapt into the air beside him.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu performed a similar ritual, spewing forth a sizeable sized pillar of seething flames.
"IRON DRAGON"S ROAR!" Gajeel boomed, adding his own spell from somewhere on the ground, shooting it in the same direction as everyone else.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy squealed finally, rising in the air and adding her cyan breath spell into the bunch.
The four spells met at a definite point, blazing into a spinning, multicolored, spiral. The huge spell sharpened into a cone shape and struck the ground, uttering a great crack from the ground.
When the dust cleared huge cracks ran across the ground, a huge crater stuck out where the spell had hit, and hundreds of Ragnarok mages lay motionless on the earth.
"Well, it looks like you did something useful after all." Laxus wiped his lip, turning away from the wreckage.
"I'm about to show him how 'useful' I really am." Dante winked at Maryanna, stepping forward out of her grip.
"Card Magic:" Dante unfurled a generous hand in front of his enemies. "QUEEN'S DANCE"
The sound of steel being unsheathed could be heard, and then random wounds erupted on countless Ragnarok Mages.
A blue streak was all that could be seen of Dante. His spatha shined with sick satisfaction as it tasted the blood of dark mages everywhere. He moved with impossible speed, his wrist having only a tenth of a second to move slightly, turning his spatha so it sliced across a Ragnarok chest before he stepped to another mage.
To everyone else's eyes, Ragnarok wizards were just crying out wantonly, (do I get 10 points for using that word?)unable to defend themselves as wounds opened up on their body, spurting forth blood.
Dante suddenly stopped, his body becoming visible momentarily while he hurled a card behind him. It stuck in the neck of a charging Ragnarok mage far away. He chortled once on his own blood before falling to the floor at Mason's feet, his weapon dropping from his hand.
"Got your back jack." Dante called out quickly, shooting Mason with a finger gun before returning to his quest for blood.
"Thanks Dante." Mason whispered, smiling at his friend's still-present loyalty. His head snapped back to Sebastian with a wrong.
"Sebastian."Mason began simply, shuffling sideways slowly. Sebastian copied the act, and they were soon circling each other. "There is no way you can win."
"Is that so?" Sebastian asked confidently. "Do tell, oh great wizard Mason."
"I've gone over this exact situation over a thousand times in my mind." Mason flung off his shirt suddenly, revealing a set of visible muscles that Mira would never admit she got a good look at. "I have gone through our past battle in my head a thousand times more. I have memorized your every movement, every technique, every reaction, there's no way you can surprise me."
"Your over-estimate your abilities." Sebastian cut off. "I am the stronger mage, you must know that."
"I am the stronger!" Mason promised. He held up both of his palms for Sebastian to see. "You see these two scars?! What, you don't remember?! You nailed my hands to a wall!"
Mason's hand shot to his side, showing his full chest scar. "You see this one!? You burned all of the skin off my ribcage. I have endured a lifetime of pain, I am the stronger!"
"Sebastian," Mason stated firmly, his jaw set. "I have come here to kill you."
"Gravity Magic:" Mason yelled suddenly. "FORCE CLAP."
The energy around his fists enlarged to the size of exercise balls and he leapt in the air above Sebastian. He spread his legs and slammed them together above his knees, uttering a low boom and sending out a vertical shockwave.
"That's new." Sebastian remarked, side-stepping the attack and engulfing his right fist in energy. "But not exactly IMPRESSIVE." He leapt at his old prisoner, taking the battle to the air.
"I'm gonna KILL YOU!" Mason promised, bringing a boot around his body and into the approaching fist.
Sebastian caught it smartly, twirling Mason several times before striking him back down to earth.
"Dammit! I hadn't thought of that." Mason admitted, his body making an indent into the marble. Before he knew it, Sebastian was flying his way, a huge ball of light held at the ready. Mason grinned, adjusting the gravity around himself carefully.
Exhilaration ran through Mason's veins, readying the muscles it found. A familiar lightness overcame him; he was filled with energy. His core thrummed with excitement, sending blood to all his extremities. His fingers curled and flexed, readying themselves. His lungs felt no strain as his breathing quickened, adding to the overall effect.
Mason's body slipped underneath Sebastian's falling form, as if he had been slicked with soap and you tried to step on him. It curled upwards and floated above Sebastian as he hit empty marble.
Sebastian's feet landed firmly and he brought his hands down. The energy hit the marble, creating a huge, impressive, but completely unnecessary crater underneath him.
"Graaaviiityyyyyy..." Mason began, stretching out the word. Sebastian's looked up, and a look of surprise and fear was very visible on it. "PALMS!"
Mason's body crossed the distance between him and his rival instantly, slamming both of his palms into Sebastian's pectorals.
Sebastian stifled a cry as his body slammed deeper into the ground. Mason didn't stop there as Sebastian expected, but latched on and continued with the gravity.
The air around Sebastian tightened its hold. He couldn't breathe, every single inch of his body was being pushed inward, his heart had trouble beating-
Crack
If he could have, he would have gasped as a rib broke. No, he couldn't. There was NO way this punk was taking him down.
Mason flew off of Sebastian and into the air as he unleashed an astonishing amount of light energy between their bodies.
"YOU ARE NOTHING!"Sebastian screamed, his face contorted in anger. He stumbled to his feet, a flaring white pillar accompanying him.
"Ohhhhhh shit." Dante said, stretching the first word as his head tracked the flying form of Mason before it burst into the large cliff side.
"I am tenfold your pathetic strength!" Sebastian continued, his fists blazing with white light. Mason attempted to stumble away from the cliff, but Sebastian threw forward a hand and hurled a huge piece of energy at Mason, slamming him back into the wall.
"You will fall with your guild!" Sebastian promised, pushing Mason deeper into the cliff with another blast.
The blast struck Mason with a terrible burning sensation feeling that stiffened his muscles and made him want to cry out in pain.
Dante. The word echoed through his mind on its own accord as the pain from the blast subsided.
"You are pathetic!" Sebastian shot a short beam at Mason. This one hurt alot more, earning Sebastian a sharp cry for his efforts.
Mirajane. He forced the thought stiffly.
Another blast sent him a good foot deeper into the wall, tunneling his vision.
Paro
He screamed in pain as his body was forced through the cliff rock. Every time the strong pain returned, another name popped into his head wantonly. (2x modifier)
Maryanna.
Synnova.
Master.
Natsu.
Gray.
Erza.
Lucy.
Cana.
Mason managed a stifled breath, taking a step forward in his new tunnel.
Lisanna.
Loke.
Elfman.
That creepy girl that always follows Gray.
Mason raised a shaky hand and pressed it against the jagged tunnel wall. Slowly, heused it to help him take another step.
Jet, Droy, Levy, Wendy, Macao, Wakaba, Gajeel, Laxus, Freed, Gildarts, Evergreen, Reedus, Nab, Max, Alzack, Laki, Bisca, Bickslow-
"FAIRY TAIL!" Mason shot forth from his tunnel, a glowing green comet that smashed into the white aura.
Mason's fist cracked across Sebastian's face, and he couldn't help but grin in satisfaction.
The well-dressed antagonist stumbled backwards before levelling out. He spat a wad of blood on the ground, wiping his lip with the edge of his hand.
"I have endured lifetimes of pain!" Mason screamed, tendon's in his neck throbbing and sticking out. He sped past Sebastian with new vigor, turning kicking him in the back before Sebastian could turn around.
"Don't think you can put out my flame so easily!" Mason leapt forward, bringing a knee into Sebastian's temple and knocking him the other way.
"Don't think my determination is so fickle!" Mason screamed, sweeping his feet along the ground and knocking Sebastian's out from under him. Mason prepared himself mentally as Sebastian stumbled to his feet. This was it; he was going to finish it right now. He surged forward, holding a spread hand behind his head.
"I'm going to k-" He slammed his palm forward, but it was caught by Sebastian. A sick grin spread onto the supposedly injured face. A twang of warning pulled at Mason's core, but it was far too late.
"Purity Phoenix!" Sebastian called out, slamming his other hand into Mason's gut. A huge white beam carried Mason upwards, still draped over the front of it. It curved and curved at more of an extreme angle until it was going straight up.
The beam suddenly flung out wings, and its point thinned into a head and sharp beak. The large wings spread wide and revealed the full body of the energy phoenix. Sharp talons were tucked in underneath a long, dazzling tail that was nearly as long as the phoenix itself. It had quite a small head in fact, curled atop it sat a small tuft of sparkling hair. Its wing's were the most impressive part. They were big, huge in fact, and had at least a thirty foot wingspan. They were a sparkling, pure white color that made the full moon look pewter in comparison. Wherever they went, they left a visible trail of sparkles that rivaled the stars behind him. Impaled on the beak of this phoenix was a small mage.
The phoenix tilted its wings and they caught more air, slowing it down and curving its trajectory. It arced shallow, creating a dazzling rainbow of sparking trail while it curved down to earth. It dipped down sharply, quickly ending the rainbow. The bird made straight for the ground.
"Mason!" Maryanna called out, her eye's twinkling with newborn tears.
"He's fine!" Dante yelled, grabbing her arm and bending his own neck to spot their friend. "He's got this!"
"Should we do something?" Gray asked seriously.
"HE'S GOT THIS!" Dante bellowed, turning on his teammate.
"H-he has to..." Maryanna added in a shaky whisper.
The phoenix picked up speed, heading straight for the ground. Its detailed features blurred with the speed, slowly melting into a long drip behind the phoenix. The wings began to melt away also, adding to the thick tail and brightening it. The phoenix looked like a comet crashing to earth, a thick body with a long trailing tail. Only the phoenix head remained, diligently impaled through Mason's gut. It's long, sharp beak poked out nearly a foot on the other side of Mason, a detail only visible with the decreasing altitude.
Mason's ragdoll arms suddenly found stiffness. His shaking hand's slowly stiffened as well, and finally his fingers stood still. As he was hurtling towards the ground, he touched his fingertips together, making a rough ball-shaped finger cage.
The air swirled to a point between his palms. He borrowed gravity from the increasing g-force around him; it turned to green energy and gathered in a tiny ball forming inside his hand cage.
He dug further into the huge reserves around him, and the gravity ball swelled to the size of a basketball, completely covering his right hand.
He was getting closer to the ground, and therefore running out of time. His open mouth flapped comically as he sped through the air faster.
He grabbed a flux of increasing gravity and fed it to his ball, making it increase to medicine ball size. It looked like he was wearing an over-inflated boxing glove.
Ragnarok cheered as the phoenix was nearly at the ground, while Fairy Tail cried out in turn.
Mason grabbed every ounce of gravity around him and twisted himself. To his surprise, the phoenix's beak broke and stayed in his chest, but reattached when he had completed his turn. It shone brightly and then wavered, reattaching itself as if it had never broken.
Mason's eyes flashed open; they were blazing moss-green. IN front of his right eye, his tattoo blazed proudly.
He held out his hands and placed all of his gathered gravity on the ground inches from his face. In a flash, he changed the gravity to energy, energy in a specific shape. Because of the lack of dimension, from every angle Mason's energy could be seen.
It was the Fairy Tail guild mark.
The phoenix stopped in its tracks.
Mason stood rigid; his palms still out, and hovered inches above the floor. Between them he held the guild mark, the large amounts of gravity having reversed all of the momentum instantly. The phoenix remained, its tail flickering absently as his trip had been abruptly stopped.
"Impossible..." Erza breathed. Mason had stopped the phoenix inches before it slammed him into the ground with perfect timing. He had even gathered it in the shape of his guild mark, a silent tribute to his family.
The phoenix suddenly dispersed, swirling into a blob of white energy without form or structure. It followed the flow of gravity, gathering inside into Mason's energy between his hands.
"NO!" Sebastian screamed at an unmanly pitch. "NO! IT"S IMPOSSIBLE!"
Mason fell to his knees, his head bent forward over his gathered energy.
"You see Sebastian..." Mason began without lifting his head. "We Gravity Mages can turn gravity into energy, just like how you can turn light into energy."
"SHUT UP!" Sebastian yelled. "SHUT UP! I HATE YOU!"
Mason chuckled, getting up. He held one hand near his shoulder, palm up like a waiter holding a dish. In it sat a base-ball sized ball of light green energy. The color created from the mixture of the two magic's, the size from Mason's tweaking while he was bent over. "Have you ever heard of The Big Bang, Sebastian?"
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Sebastian surged forward, fists flying. Mason calmly caught a wayward fist, stepping under it and slamming the same arm's elbow into Sebastian's ribs.
"The Big Bang was when a point of infinite density-"Mason cart wheeled with one hand, catching Sebastian's head between his heels. He lifted his one hand, twisted, and slammed Sebastian's body onto the ground. "Expanded rapidly."
Sebastian grumbled something that contained alot of curses and hauled himself to his feet. His ever-perfect suit was tattered and stained, his pocket hankie was ruffled and unfolded (much to Dante's anger), and his comb over was all but gone. The normally shiny black hair was dirty and untamed, sticking in every direction.
"NOW" Mason said sharply, meeting Sebastian's hate-filled glare. "As punishment for attacking Fairy Tail, you will be put through this."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sebastian said simply, his breathing ragged and hard after the use of breath.
"I have here a point of density." Mason held up his ball of energy and Sebastian's eyes widened in horror. He turned and stumbled several steps in flight, but Mason surged after him in pursuit.
Mason grabbed the scruff of Sebastian's neck and whirled him to face him. He gripped the ball of energy and shoved it down Sebastian's throat, his arm and all.
The sickly feeling did not last long as he released his hold on it and retreated his now-wet arm. Sebastian bent over in pain, having an entire arm just stretched his throat to much past its comfortable size.
Not wasting time, Mason grabbed him by the back of his custom-tailored tux and threw him in the air several feet. Mason's boot glowed green, and he spun his body with the glowing extremity trailing behind. As he flopped helplessly through the air, Sebastian's eyes met Mason's one last time purely by chance.
"I hate you." Sebastian choked/gasped, his hazel eye's flaring with untold amounts of anger.
Mason's glowing boot met Sebastian's ribs and sent him into the air, hundreds of yards above everyone. The quickly increasing distance made it difficult to hold the spell, but Mason hoped he could perform the simple command before it was impossible to him.
"Now EXPAND!" Mason commanded, and light flared from Sebastian's form.
As promised, a deafening bang went through the air, actually rendering several people temporarily deaf and paining everyone's eardrums.
The energy overtook Sebastian's body instantly, turning it to less than ashes as a white brilliance overtook it. From the swirling mass of light, the phoenix materialized. It spread its wings and struck a regal pose. With Mason's added magic, feathers on it wings as well as its tail and its head tuft had turned moss green, resembling the mixture of magic. It flapped its wings once, the motion dispersing it to nothing.
The remaining energy sizzled away, leaving a black sky. Everyone blinked the stars out of their eye's, unsure of what had just happened.
A low thump echoed through the awed silence, and everyone's heads snapped to the direction of the guild hall. Makarov stood there, and he looked like hell. Most facial hair on his face was burnt off, his Saint Cloak was little more than shreds, and uncountable bruises and large cuts covered his body.
On the ground, where he had thrown the unmoving body, lay Lilac Rosewood. Her skin was now pure white, as well as every strand of hair on her body, even her eyebrows. Her lips retained their color though, the only trace of it on her entire body. What everyone saw was ten remains of a Fairy Law attack.
"Fairy Tail..." Makarov's eyes scanned the crowd consisting of only Fairy Tail Mages; the Ragnarok mages had fled at the sight of their strongest mages beaten down.
"My children... we are victorious."
Mason decided her had never heard Fairy Tail so loud as right then.
He made a choke noise suddenly and the huge wound in his gut lanced his torso with pain. He swayed back and forth, shuffling his feet rapidly in an attempt to stay on his feet.
He saw Dante running his way; arms spread forward and blue hair flailing. He was yelling something, but Mason didn't register it. His wakefulness was slipping fast, as he fell forward climatically.
Dante lunged forward, holding his arms out as if carrying something large. Mason's body fall into his arms softly.
"Mason!" Dante shook him softly. "Hey Mason, you awake? Stay awake dude, don't fall asleep."
"I can't fall sleep." Mason stated softly, "I can't."
"Why not?" Dante frowned in confusion.
"You said…" Mason took a slow, deep breath. "After our first mission, that you wouldn't carry me home again. That… I'd need to carry myself."
Dante chuckled at the leisurely answer, standing up with his friend in his arms.
"How about the guild?" Dante inquired with a smile. "I'll carry you to the guild; I didn't say I couldn't do that. I'll lay you down at the guild and you can rest while everyone takes their turn talking to you."
"Dante…" Mason beamed at his friend. "Some rest sounds pretty good right now."