Chapter 36
"well we don't need to worry about Zeref I have a secret weapon to deal with him" Natsu said as he patted his bandaged right arm
"and what is it?" Lucy asked
"a secret" Natsu answered
"quit trying to be cool and tell us" Gray grabbed the fire dragon
"if Natsu is this excited then I'm sure it is some kind of trump card so calm down please" Wendy broke got between the two
"that may be true but I want to make sure, Natsu are you just going to punch Zeref in the face?" Kalex asked
"no" Natsu sounded almost offended
"are you just going to punch him in the stomach?" Kalex asked
"no" Natsu answered
"well I'm out of ideas those are his only two moves" Kalex said
"I know more moves" Natsu whined, "anyway I can only use this technique once and I made it to defeat Zeref, so it'll work"
"at any rate we need to know more about the enemy we are about to face" Erza turned to the master
"you're right" Makarov addressed everyone, "we know the emperor is Zeref but under him are the spriggan 12, the elite guard to the emperor, in the year I was there I only came face to face with six of them"
"only six?" Lucy questioned
"the spriggans don't get together very often" Kalex told her, "they prefer to do their own thing"
"first is the winter general Imber, he is the chief of staff and Zeref's consul" Makrov explained, "as his name suggests he uses ice magic"
"well let's see how well he does against an ice devil slayer" Gray said
"the desert king Azir, he's the one Kalex fought during our escape" Makarov continued, "he uses sand magic and is violent even for one of the 12"
"yeah and I would have beat him if Laxus hadn't shown up" Kalex boasted
"then why didn't you stay and finish him off?" Laxus asked
"I wanted him to see Ishgar before he died" Kalex said, "it's lovely this time of year"
"the nation breaker Brandish, she is not very aggressive but she wields great power"
"we met her on Caracole island, her power must involve the manipulation of mass" Erza spoke up
"war princess Dimaria, I don't know what kind of magic she uses but she is a knight that has conquered many battlefields"
"so she doesn't use magic?" Cana wondered
"during my time in Alvarez I met her a few times and she does use magic" Kalex warned, "and trust me you don't want to fight her"
"rank one of the ten wizard saints, God Serena" Makarov kept going, "he is kind of a disappointment as a man but he is strong"
"I still can't believe he would defect like that" levy said
"the mage kin August, he's…." the master seemed afraid of just his name, "he's on a different level even compared to the 12, he's mastered even more magics than Zeref"
The guild was speechless at hearing about this foe, "those are the six I have met face to face but I know the name of three others; Bloodman, Nineheart and Whal"
"listen everyone, we must formulate a plan so please listen closely" Mavis took over, "Zeref will definitely lead his armies himself, we are at an extreme disadvantage, these are the strongest foes we have ever faced but we will fight to the end and show them the power of our guild"
The guild let out a thunderous cheer as they prepared for war. The guild spent the next few days evacuating all the town's people and devising as strategy to overcome Alvarez's numerical advantage. It was the day before they were going to head out to Alvarez's predicted landing site and the mages were relaxing for the last time in a very long time; Lucy was playing games with Natsu and Happy, Erza was relaxing in the bath with Wendy and Gray was just looking over the city from above.
"Gray" Juvia approached him from behind
"oh Juvia want some?" he threw her the chocolate he was eating
"Gray's leftovers" Juvia started to breath heavily
"I'm glad to have you" Gray said surprising the water mage, "you're always by my side, so when the fighting is over I'll give you an answer"
Juvia didn't know what to say, "let me focus on the fight for now" Gray told her
"ok" Juvia said
"I'm gonna take them all down, Zeref and E.N.D" Gray looked out over the city
Kalex was at his place looking through all his weapons as he reminisced about when he used them, "I beat Erza with this" he muttered as he picked up a broken scythe
He kept looking through all his weapons until he found a long object wrapped in cloth, he unwrapped it to reveal a katana with a handle covered in tattered red cloth and a sheath to match. He pulled out the blade slightly before putting it back.
"now's not the time" he said to himself as he rewrapped the sword and walked out, still carrying it
At the guild they had set up a scanner to detect any enemy movements in Fiore, Makarov stood by as they waited to see the first blip on that screen, "if we knew where they were going to attack from it would be much easier to plan counter measures" Makarov mumbled
"he will probably feint a northern offensive and then attack with the main force in the south" Mavis appeared next to him, "I was checking on everyone with the fighting being so close and they don't seem to be afraid at all"
"it may seem that way to you first but to me they look about ready to collapse out of fear" Makrov said, "they draw closer together to lessen their worries and encourage themselves, a parents duty is to stand before their children with their shaking legs planted firm against the earth"
Suddenly alarms started to go off as all the looked around for the enemy, Warren looked at the screen in shook as multiple blip appeared just off the coast of Fiore, "how did I not detect their approach?" Warren asked as he fumbled to set up a telepathic link with the guild, "ENEMY APPROACHING BY AIR, ABOUT 50 FLYING BATTLE SHIPS DETECTED!"
All the mages jumped up ready for a fight as they looked up at the western skies, the flying battle ships slowed and fired on the town. Freed deployed a magical barrier to protect everyone, "even Freed won't be able to keep this up forever we need to do something"
"inform everyone we're going with plan d" Mavis told Warren, "flying dragon and osprey squads move out"
"osprey squad reporting in from the eastern forest, the target is out of range" Bisca reported in alog with Alzack and Asuka
"you're the only one who can do this Bisca" Mavis told her
"YES MA'AM" Bisca aimed the repurposed Jupiter cannon they stole from Phantom lord at the head battle ship and fired
The beam hit the ship head on but Azir deflected it around him, scattering it and destroying many of his own ships. The three dragon slayers and their exceeds flew about destroying as many ships as they could but after the decimation of the fleet they landed on the command ship.
"you've made one mess of things" Azir greeted them before they all fell to the ground, "WHAT THE HELL?"
"I forgot" Mavis felt disappointed in herself and in her guild
"this is gonna be easier than I thought" azir said as he walked over to the dragon slayers, "tell any ships left to land, I'll take care of these clowns"
"your buddy was talking big about you back in Alvarez" Azir picked Natsu up, "he must have been wrong and here I thought the head hunter had better standards"
"what… the… hell are… you talking about?" Natsu struggled out
"what you don't know about him, he was famous in Alvarez he was the….." Azir was cut off by the bow of the ship being cut off and the dragon slayers falling to the ground
"Happy, Charla, Lilly get them out of here" most of the soldiers were cut down as heaven's wheel Erza appeared on the ship, "whatever he did in the is his business, of he wishes to talk about it then he can but he is a member of Fairy tail regardless"
"and who are you?" Azir asked as he faced Erza
"the person who is going to cut you down" she answered
The dragon slayers flew down to the ships landing site, to fight of the invaders, while Erza stood against Azir. Erza threw all her swords at Azir, who turned them to sand, using that distraction she requipped in to her black wing armour, rushing Azir and slashing at him.
"how many wizards are stronger than you in your guild?" Azir asked as he jumped back
The desert king disappeared and reappeared next to Erza, the knight slashed at the spriggan as he jumped over her sword and she was caught in a sand pit that she couldn't escape from, "now crumble to dust and die" Azir laughed as she was enclosed in the sand, "all the water in your body will soon dry up and you'll be history"
"wind god armour" the sand surrounding Erza was blown away as she requipped in to a loose robe with a sword styled after a wind current, she sent bladed of wind toward the spriggan as he blocked them
"sweet, this takes me back" he said when suddenly a huge man burst through the ship, "Bakel?"
"I'll follow your lead Natsu" Erza rushed forward and slashed Azir
"what the heel everything that touches me should turn to sand" Azir said as he saw Erza holding a sword made of water
"this sword can harden sand" Erza said as she slashed at Azir again
The desert king jump on top of what remained of the mast as he called forth a giant sand storm that covered the entirety of Magnolia, "welcome to sand world where I am god" Azir appeared out of the storm next to Erza as she blocked his strike
"I can move freely in this world, I can be anywhere and everywhere" his voice seemed to becoming from everywhere as Erza tried to cut through the storm, "I am one with the sand"
Azir's hand grabbed Erza's throat as he lifted her off the ground, "worship me and I'll grant you a swift death" Azir tightened his grip as Erza tried to summon her strength, "my magic sucks all the moisture from your body, so call me a god and it can all end"
"I knew someone who called themselves a god but my guild didn't fear them and we won't fear you" Erza looked Azir in his eyes, "we beat him and we'll beat all of you as well, MORNING START ARMOUR!"
Erza requipped as Azir created a sand axe, "it doesn't matter your head is mine" Azir swung his axe when suddenly the Jupiter smashed through his ship and in to him, the sandstorm ended and Azir was defeated
While Erza was fighting in the sky, Warren had detected a breach in the barrier on the ground and enemy forces were pouring in to the city, "they are in the streets everyone prepare for battle" Mavis told all the mages in the city
Lucy got ready to fight as she picked up what was left of Aquarius's key and was on her way out when she heard something coming from her bathroom, she walked towards it and opened the door to find Brandish sitting in her bath.
On the streets of Magnolia; Gray, Juvia, Elfman, Lisanna and Mirajane were fighting the invading forces as they tried to stop their advance, "this is going to get annoying" Gray said as he froze another soldier
"then allow me, satan soul, Mirajane Seilah" Mirjane turned in to an exact coppy of the demon Seilah, "now all of you sleep"
Many of the soldiers fell to the ground unconscious, "that's great and all but some of them ignored you" Gray pointed out the few still standing
"then allow me Gray" Kalex appeared in front of them and walked towards the soldiers, "long time no see Whal, I wish we could just mee face to face"
"I didn't believe it when I first heard it but it seems to be true" his body was almost completely round and he had long arms and legs and hair that stood up to a point, "I'm sure that I'm not the spriggan you wanted to see"
"no you aren't but I'm sure we'll meet soon enough" Kalex said as a sand storm descended on them
"this is interesting, sand world" Whal said as he stood in the storm
"this kind of brings me back" Kalex said, "it took me weeks to get all that sand out"
The sand storm soon ended and as the sand cleared the mages could see six robots standing in front of them, "oh no" Kalex thought as the robots charged
One of them attacked Juvia with steam and another attacked Gray with fire, Elfman's opponent was super-fast and Lisanna's had a strong defence, Mirajane's looked like Elfman and Kalex's looked like a blonde woman.
"what the hell these are all designed to exploit our weaknesses" Gray said as he dodged another strike
"that is Whal's power and it is super effective, IF…." Kalex turned his back on the blonde woman and walked over to the Elfman bot, "you are alone"
Kalex completely destroyed the Elfman robot, "you've got the right idea" Mira said as she took on Lisanna's robot
"no one is as fast as me" Lisanna took on Elfmans robot
"I'll protect you my love" Juvia faced the fire robot
"a little steam never hurt me" Elfman wrecked the steam bot
"sorry but you're not my type" Gray skewered the blonde robot
"did you really expect that to work?" Kalex asked Whal
"no I calculated that you would defeat my weakness soldiers" Whal opened up his coat as he transformed in to robot, "but I do not need them to defeat you"
"he's a Machina" Mira said as they got ready to fight
"I can't fight him" Kalex walked away from them
"HEY GET BACK HERE!" Gray shouted at him
"sorry but lightning only empowers him so I'm useless here don't worry he isn't that powerful" Kalex kept walking away, "have fun and Whal when you see her tell her I said hey"
"thanks I'll deal with him satan soul, Sitri" Mira transformed
The demon flew through the robot, completely destroying it in one strike, "that wasn't so hard" Mira said as parts flew everywhere
End of chapter 36