Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I recently got a job and I've been very busy lately. So here's your compensation, and I'll try to get more chapters up as soon as I can. Until then, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and as always, please review and thanks for reading!

Chapter 35: Imperial Wrath

The Fairy Tail mages faced Franmalth as the demon's body shifted to take the form of Hades- though only the man's face was recognizable. The rest of the transformation was mostly comprised of Franmalth's original body and didn't look especially appealing.

Franmalth stuck his tongue out in a mocking impersonation of the dark mage, "Gehehehe!"

Lucy was disgusted, "He looks gross!"

"But this magic power…" Yukino shivered, "It's so intense…"

"Your body is completely disproportioned," Sting told Franmalth pointedly.

The demon was more annoyed than anything, "It doesn't matter what I look like! I've got Hades' power! The former Master of Grimoire Heart, the genius wizard who delved too deep into the darkness! When I was searching for Zeref seven years ago, I coincidentally found his body and took his soul! How much is his magic worth? How much?"

Sting sneered and rushed him, "You need an update, cyclops freak! I was the one who beat that old fart into his last decade!"

His words caught Franmalth off-guard for a moment, "Come again?!"

The White Dragon punched Franmalth with a mass of light energy, sending the demon flying through a wall. But the enemy's resistance was higher than they thought.

In fact, the damage was so minor that Franmalth grinned at him, "You claim you beat Hades by yourself?"

Without missing a beat, the demon shot back at Sting with blinding speed and punched him in retaliation, forcing the Dragon Slayer backwards even farther. Franmalth stuck rapidly over and over, creating explosions through the corridor.

Lucy threw an arm over herself to protect her face from the debris, "Sting! Be careful!"

Sting came to a stop and lunged at Franmalth again, who cackled, "This is the magic of one who has gazed into the abyss!"

He hurled one of Hades' chains at the Dragon Slayer, who dodged at first, but left himself open to be grabbed by Franmalth's extended hands.

"Connection! I'll be taking your soul now!" Franmalth declared.

"Eat it, dipshit!" Sting threw a orb of light at the demon and scored a clean hit in the face. He jumped back to focus his magic power, generating white flames around his body, "Whitefire Dragon Mode!"

He sucked in a deep breath, then let out a bellow, "Whitefire Dragon's Purging Breath!"

The mass of raging white flames engulfed Franmalth, who shrieked in pain for a moment. When the blast sent the others flying, the demon began to grin insanely.

"What a wonderful soul!"

Franmalth held his hands out and started sucking all the magic into his body, "Absorption!"

Sting's jaw dropped, "What?!"

"No way!" Yukino gasped.

The demon was now encased in the white flames, but they did not burn him. Rather, he had adopted Sting's power as his own. Now Franmalth faced them in the aura of white, flickering fire while maintaining the semi-appearance of Hades.

"Gehehehe!" Franmalth laughed crazily, "Just because you beat down Jackal doesn't mean you should let that one victory get to your head! We're the demons of Zeref's books, biological weapons written by the Black Wizard Zeref; just a single one of us is enough to take on an entire country's armed forces. Do keep that in mind!"

Back in the core of Tartaros, Natsu and Mira were still battling against Sayla. The two were keeping the demoness on her toes, but she was surprisingly nimble and kept defending with her collection of magic books.

Lisanna was stunned. They hadn't managed to hit their enemy once yet. Even with Natsu and Mira fighting together, they haven't so much as touched her!

Natsu clenched his fist and punched at Sayla, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Sayla used her books as a defense while leaping back, avoiding the explosive attack. She caught sight of Mira trying to get in from the side, but flicked her fingers and sent another book into the Take Over Mage's face, stunning her long enough for Sayla to get away.

Mira glared at her, "Damn you!"

"Those are some tough books," Natsu growled in annoyance, "They aren't burning!"

Sayla watched them through narrowed, calculating eyes.

Further down, towards the surface of Undercube, Erza and Kyouka continued their duel, slashing at each other with blades and long claws. Both women were incredibly fast and agile, making it difficult to land a blow on their enemy. They had taken the battle to a room with beams jutting from the ceiling and engaged each other in aerial combat. So far, it was even.

Erza landed after dodging a particularly swift series of blows and glared down at the demoness, "She's strong…"

Kyouka smirked back up at her prey, "Come on, Erza…don't leave me all alone down here!"

"Orrrraah!"

Gajeel punched at Torafusa, who easily blocked with his thick arm and tough scales. The demon batted him aside, then rushed Black Steel and slashed with his elbow blades.

"Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel's arm changed into a blade and countered the attack, leaving him and Torafusa in a stalemate. They pushed against each other, but in terms of strength, they were about even.

Torafusa glared at him with controlled determination, "Your iron will never be enough to pierce my defenses."

Black Steel snarled, "That's what you think, ya damn shark bastard!"

"Shadow Dragon's Roar!" Rogue let loose a blast of black breath at Tempesta, but the demon leaped over the attack easily and pointed at his opponent.

"Thunder!" Tempesta commanded, dropping a massive lightning bolt on the Shadow Dragon.

Rogue skidded back with a growl, his skin sizzling from the electric attack, "This guy…"

Pantherlily was watching the battle unfold while he cleared out the rest of the grunts. Upon seeing the Dark Dragons stuck in their combat with the demons, his eyes narrowed.

If even Gajeel and Rogue are having trouble, the rest of these demons must be truly fearsome. They could probably clear out the weaker members without much effort. Anyone short of Wendy…no. I don't think even Wendy could take them on equal ground. Be careful, everyone!

Charle and Wendy flew for Poison Jelly Valley, making record time with their arrival. After a few minutes, Wendy pointed at a gaping hole in the ground, "There! That's the Great Cave!"

"I see it!" Charle exclaimed, flying them down into the massive crevice.

They descended for another minutes longer, making the white exceed gulp, "It sure is deep."

"Just keep going," Wendy encouraged her, "Face has got to be around here somewhere."

Charle wobbled in her flight, so she was grateful when the ground finally appeared. She set Wendy down immediately and dispelled her Aera wings, "Wendy, I have to rest. I've used up almost all of my magic…"

Wendy nodded and picked Charle up, hugging her friend close, "That's fine. Thank you, Charle."

She looked around, spotting a tunnel passage, "That looks promising. We'll head that way."

As she entered the tunnel, Wendy didn't question the spiky appearance of the ceiling- causing her to miss that it was attached to something much more dangerous than the rock surface over their head.

Wendy frowned, "Now that I think of it, we don't know how big Face is or what it even looks like. What if it's something really small and we miss it? How do we even go about searching for it? Wandering the caves might take too long."

"Concentrate your senses, Wendy!" Charle scolded, "Try and feel for its magic power."

The Sky Sorceress sniffed the air, opening her mouth for a better taste, "The air down here is sweet…"

Charle muttered, "It's because of the humidity and cool temperature."

Wendy suddenly felt a small insect crawling up her leg and swatted in a panic, "Kya!"

The second she knocked the bug off her leg,a massive swarm of them took flight around her. She let out a shriek, "EWWWWWW!"

Charle opened one eye, "And where it's cool and humid, you're bound to find insects…"

"Thanks for the heads up!" Wendy shuddered and whined.

"The hell is this? A midget? Is this a fucking joke, Kyouka?"

Wendy froze. Someone was behind and…above her. She spun around instantly.

"I'M NOT BUILT FOR TRASH CLEANUP, YOU BITCH!" Ezel bellowed in fury and lunged down at Wendy from the ceiling. His fist flew forward, but the Sky Sorceress leaped away from him before the attacker could land the blow.

Wendy skidded to a halt and stared in alarm, "Tartaros?!"

Charle glared at the demon weakly, "Face had to be activated manually and guarded…meaning this guy is the one they dispatched for that job…"

Ezel rushed them again, using all four of his giant hands to try and crush his prey like a sickeningly realistic game of whack-a-mole. Wendy scrambled to escape his wrath, leaping away every time the demon struck. She eventually turned tail and ran as fast as she could.

Now that she'd had a good look at him, Ezel didn't appear to be especially mobile, at lest not to her. Wendy decided to attempt an escape with Charle's prompting, "We cannot spare a single second fighting this guy! Just worry about getting away for now!"

One of Ezel's fists crushed a portion of the wall, making Wendy flinch at how close it was. She glanced over her shoulder in alarm and realized he was actually keeping up with her on his tentacle legs, "This guy…he might not look like it, but he's fast! I can't shake him off, Charle!"

"Keep running!" Charle gasped, "I don't think you can take this guy on your own!"

"I've got no choice!" Wendy dove behind a boulder as Ezel struck again and set Charle down despite the exceed's protests. She spun and faced the demon with her hands held out, "Elemental Resistances Rise! Deus Corona! Physical Resistances Rise! Deus Equus!"

Ezel paused his frenzy and glared at her, "Ah? What's this?"

Wendy kept boosting up her powers, "Ile Arms! Ile Armor! Ile Vernier! Enchant!"

The demon understood and sneered in anticipation, "So, you're an enchanter, eh?!"

"Sky Dragon's…" Wendy sucked in a deep breath, then unleashed a tornado from her jaws, "Roar!"

An explosion of twisting wind ripped through the tunnels, slicing even the rocks with ease. But Ezel erupted from the attack with his fangs bared in a grin of dark delight, "Baha! You sure you should be pushing yourself that hard, princess?! You might break a nail!"

Wendy leaped up and delivered a kick enhanced with her wind, "Sky Dragon's Talons!"

Ezel appeared unfazed and continued to grin, "Heh!"

He folded his arms over his chest, "Five Devil Swords, Tenga Gouken!"

Charle paled. Whatever was coming, Wendy was too close. She let out a shriek, "Wendy, dodge it!"

All four of Ezel's arms slashed out, "Onimaru!"

Wendy just barely managed to dodge, but the rock around her was sliced deep and far, as though Ezel had just cut clean through them with giant swords.

The demon gave her no time to analyze his attacks further. He started slashing his four huge arms wildly, laughing like a maniac, "Gahahahahaha!"

Every single slash ripped through the rock like it was paper and left Wendy with more close calls than she'd ever wish for in her lifetime. One attack was so close, it sliced off half of Wendy's left pigtail. She flinched from the closeness of the attack, giving Ezel an opening he took advantage of.

Ezel crashed one of his tentacles into her stomach, knocking the breath out of Wendy and sending her flying into the cavern wall. While she was stunned, he assumed the same earlier pose and folded his arms over his chest again before lashing out once more, "Juzumaru!"

Wendy threw her arms up in an effort to defend herself, but the sheer force of the attack crushed her. Her clothes were shredded and her flesh torn. She gasped in pain, "My defenses aren't…why…ahhhh!"

The side of the tunnel was ripped apart by Ezel's attack in a massive X-shape, blowing Wendy clean through the wall and onto the ground. She was left stunned and immobile, helpless as Ezel came leaping down onto her. Four of his tentacles pinned her arms and legs down, leaving the Sky Sorceress completely trapped by the demon.

Ezel sneered at something in front of them, "Take a look."

Wendy weakly tilted her head back and stared. Protruding from the ground was an enormous white pillar with the shape of a human face at the top.

"Behold, Face," Ezel declared, "There's just five minutes until it activates. When you get this close…the air gets so thick with ethernano you can feel it rolling off that thing in waves. Stuff fucking sticks."

The demon sneered down at her, "But that very same ethernano is gonna wipe out all the magic power on the continent- with that out of the way, our Curses will be left unchallenged. Not that you'll be there to see it…"

His tentacles started crushing her limbs, making Wendy whimper in pain. Ezel grinned with sharp fangs at her, "I'm gonna turn you into a stain long before that happens."

"YOU!"

Charle somehow managed to climb up Ezel's huge body and started to scratch at his face and eyes, "Unhand Wendy this instant you fiend! You brute!"

Wendy paled in terror, "Charle, get away!"

"Let go of Wendy!" Charle demanded.

Ezel was unaffected by her claws and seemed more curious than anything. He grabbed the exceed in his huge hand and inspected her, "What a weird cat. Is it edible?"

He grinned and shrugged, "Ah well. One way to find out!"

Ezel lifted Charle up to his mouth, making Wendy scream, "STOP IT! NOOOOO!"

As the demon's fangs started sinking into Charle's flesh, the white exceed gasped, "Wendy! The air!"

Wendy froze. Air?! This air so thick with ethernano…Wait! If there's this much ethernano, and I take it into myself…Maybe I could do it!

She started sucking down the air for all she was worth, feeling her magic levels surge. And still she inhaled further, going beyond any air feast she'd ever devoured before. The oxygen content in the room actually started to drop noticeably.

Ezel paused with Charle halfway in his maw, suddenly finding it harder to breathe, "Huh?"

"AHHHHHHH!"

An explosion of intense, pressurized air blasted Ezel straight up, blowing Charle out of his mouth. The demon spluttered in shock as he was crushed into the ceiling, "What the hell?!"

Wendy felt her body changing. The sensation was familiar, but different from the one she'd experienced in Edolas. Now she felt more at ease with the ability, fully capable of unleashing it's fury in her human form. Pure white feathers spiked out from her wrists and ankles, and two wing-like formations flared out from her shoulder blades.

Charle was bleeding and near-unconscious, but she smiled at Wendy. Look at you…after being a crybaby for so long…

As her blue hair intensified and shifted into a light red, Wendy bared her now very large fangs in a snarl at Ezel.

"Now I have the Dragon Force!"

Ezel was at a loss. He definitely hadn't expected such a predatory force to come from this little girl. The demon was so stunned, he fell from the cavern ceiling without noticing and merely hovered in midair for a moment.

Wendy felt magic surging through her veins, growling like an animal now that she was truly angry and in her element. The wind's voice is in my ears…I can feel the atmosphere pulsing…this is my air, now!

Wind surged around her for a moment, then Wendy vanished entirely.

The demon's jaw dropped, "What the fuck?! Where'd she go?!"

Wendy was moving with such blinding speed, even Ezel's demonic eyes couldn't track her. She leaped up after bouncing off the cavern wall and brought her fist back, charging it with furious wind, "Sky Dragon's…"

She struck into the back of Ezel's skull with a devastating blow, "Imperial Fist!"

Ezel was blown away by the force of the attack with a screech of pain, "Gwoaaahhh!"

He swiped his arm around in an effort to slash at her, "That fucking hurt, you goddamn brat!"

However, when Ezel tried to attack, Wendy had already vanished again. He stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend how quickly the tides had turned.

Wendy appeared behind him again not a moment later and delivered a body blow, crushing Ezel's tough hide and dealing internal damage to the demon. Ezel let out a shriek and slashed at her again, now falling towards the ground rapidly.

After dodging he latest attack, Wendy appeared once again directly beneath him. She lashed out with tornadoes on both arms, "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

The twister blew Ezel back into open air and crashed him against the cavern wall, obliterating rock and dealing real damage to the demon. Wendy landed lightly on the ground, glaring at where her enemy had been crushed.

Ezel exploded from the debris with a maddened grin of battle lust, "How interesting!"

Wendy faced him down and prepared herself for another attack.

Nearby, Charle was staring at the clock by Face, "Wendy…there's only..four minutes…"

"I know!" Wendy shouted back, summoning her wind in a vortex around Ezel, "This is going to be the finishing blow!"

Ezel froze, suddenly trapped in the eye of a tornado, "What the..what's with this wind?!"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" Wendy's arms flowed gracefully in a circle, "Shattering Light: Sky Drill!"

She fired the massive air cannon off at Ezel, devastating the surrounding area and the demon for a moment, but Ezel folded his arms again. A second later, he started slashing madly with his arms, ripping the spell to pieces, "Five Devil Swords, Mikazuki!"

Wendy's spell was dissolved from the intense slashes, negating the majority of its damaging effects. The slashes rippled all the way back up to the source of the air blast, connecting with Wendy and sending her flying backwards with a cry of pain.

Charle screeched in panic, "Wendy!"

The Sky Sorceress came to a halt and stared as Ezel's form suddenly changed, producing a mask on his face and more importantly, actual swords in place of his arms. The demon looked positively terrifying, swinging those huge blades around as a part of his body.

"Slash Attack Mode!" Ezel cackled, "This is my Etherias Form! My true demon appearance! When we demons of the Books of Zeref return to our Etherias Form, our power increases!"

He brought all four bladed arms up and held them in preparation for a single, mighty stroke, "Ohdenta!"

Ezel slashed down, forcing Wendy to scramble away as all four arms came down as one and delivered a massive, devastating blow. The sheer slashing power was such that it vaporized rock and debris as though it didn't exist. When the dust cleared, Wendy stared in horrified amazement.

Poison Jelly Valley had been extended a good two miles further, just from that one strike.

"Oh, my god…" Charle has tears of terror in her eyes.

Ezel snickered, "Get it now?! This is the fury of the demons of Zeref's Books! Humans can't even hope to match us!"

He separated his four arms and brought all of them back, bent at the elbows in preparation for a jabbing attack, "This move is why I'm called 'Child Slicer' Ezel! The demon who shreds even children without mercy! I'm gonna cut you up and eat whatever's left, little girl!"

Wendy didn't let him finish. After seeing the devastation this demon could cause, she decided to start pouring her power into containing him. She began to summon masses of wind, curling it around Ezel and then curling more around that.

Ezel sneered, "That's futile! Here's the 'Child Slicer'! Dojigiri!"

He started a stabbing frenzy, slashing at the wind curls and ripping it apart. The demon snickered, "See? What'd I tell ya?! There's nothing my blades can't…?"

To his surprise, he'd only cut through the first layer of wind, for there were many more layers and it was only building further at Wendy's command.

The Sky Sorceress' hair was whipping from the deluge of wind surging about, but she continued to build it up. More and more and more, until the very cave began to tremble. Ezel continued his maddened efforts to escape, but he was quickly getting exasperated. And still, Wendy summoned more wind.

She was summoning all her power for one specific moment. Not yet…not yet…

"Agghhh!" Ezel screeched in fury, "You're damn annoying! I'll rip you to pieces!"

He brought his four swords up above his head once again to repeat that deadly stroke, and that was when Wendy struck.

In one moment, she coiled the wind into a single, furiously condensed burst and drilled it into Ezel, "Sky Dragon's Gashing Breeze!"

Caught off-guard, the drilling wind caught Ezel clean in the chest and lifted him up off the ground. With its condensed sharpness, the spell bore entirely through the demon and into the Face Bomb behind him, resulting in both Ezel and Face being completely obliterated.

Ezel fell from the sky with his face contorted in shock agony, blood spewing from his jaws and the gaping hole in his chest as he dissolved into nothing.

Wendy saw the clock pause for a moment and smiled in relief, her Dragon Force fading away, "I did it…"

The clock ticked down a second.

Wendy and Charle froze.

As they watched in growing horror, the clock continued counting down, despite Face being a pile of rubble. Charle whispered, "Face has been destroyed, but…the countdown hasn't stopped?!"

Wendy took a step forward and collapsed, feeling all the strength she had leave her at once, "Eh? M-my body is…"

Charle stared at the clock with an intense focus for a precious minute. She started struggling towards the countdown, bracing herself against the rising intensity of ethernano. At this point, Face was exuding massive rays of light in preparation to detonate.

With the whole situation quickly turning hopeless, Wendy sobbed, "I'm sorry…"

Back at Tartaros, the Fairy Tail mages were getting tense. Around them, Cube was starting to tremor and shudder, knocking many of them off-balance.

Sting readjusted his footing and growled with unease, "What's going on now?"

Franmalth cackled at the Dragon Slayer and the two Celestial Mages facing him, "The island is reacting to Face. That means its activation time is near…there can't be more than what, three minutes left?"

"No way…" Lucy gasped.

Yukino stumbled and ended up leaning against the wall to keep her balance, "What about Wendy? She should be there by now!"

"Not if Ezel has anything to say about it!" The demon sneered, "Magic across the continent will disappear! And then you little mages are going to be very, very dead!"

Not far off, Gray's battle with Keith wasn't going well. The demon managed to evade taking any real damage from his attacks, frustrating the Ice Mage. On the other hand, Gray was being hit by Keith's crafty, sneak-attack battle style.

Gray struck again with his ice, and again Keith transformed into black mist. He rushed at Gray, curling around him and striking at the Ice Mage's back. As Gray stumbled from the attack, Keith flew a few meters away before returning to his usual form.

Wincing in pain, Gray cast a tense glare at the demon, "This bastard…why can't I hit him?!"

"Soon," Keith murmured softly, "Very soon…the end of magic…"

In the core of Tartaros, Sayla thrust her hand out, sending books flying at Natsu and Mira. The attack did a surprising amount of damage, leaving both Fairy Tail mages temporarily stunned.

"I'm getting really tired…" Natsu snarled and condensed a mass of flames between his hands, "Of these damn books!"

Recognizing the attack, Mira leaped back just as the Salamander unleashed a fireball in every direction, "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

Sayla did not expect the wide-ranging assault and though her books came up as a defense, the mass of fire surged around her guard and managed to make contact with her. The demoness leapt back with narrowed eyes, her left arm and leg sizzling from the heat.

Natsu sneered with a fanged grin, "How're those books working for ya now?!"

"Don't get cocky, Natsu!" Mira scolded, "Wounds like that aren't going to slow her down."

As if confirming Mira's warning, Sayla launched a positive storm of books at Natsu, who raised his arms to guard from the barrage.

Lisanna winced as Sayla's retaliation made impact with Natsu. She was starting to get a little worried. Even with Natsu and Mira working together, she isn't tiring!

Suddenly, a small body latched onto Lisanna from behind in a tight grip. Peering over her shoulder with a snickering grin was Lamy, "You sure you should be just standing around in the demon's lair?! Fafafafa!"

Her appearance startled Lisanna, "Who are you?"

"I'm your opponent, dearie!" Lamy chuckled.

Wendy and Charle were near collapse, exhausted from the battle and the despair of Face's continued countdown.

"We were too late…" Wendy whimpered.

"Not yet, we aren't," Charle replied, having closed her eyes briefly before blinking them back open. She fixed the countdown clock with a stern look, "If we convert that energy Face is gathering into another form, we can cease its ability to erase magic power."

The girl stared at her exceed partner, "But how could we do that? We don't even…"

"The future," answered Charle, "My powers of foresight. I've gained enough control over it recently to search for certain futures. I've found one that can stop Face. If I adjust the characters here on the countdown clock…"

She pressed a few runes on the activation sequence until a new option appeared: an auto-destruct launch.

Wendy was amazed, "Charle that's-"

"-that's all," Charle sighed, "Time's almost up. This is our only option. Wendy…if I press this button, I can't see any further into the future. It's pure white. So…it likely means we won't survive this self-destruct sequence."

"H-huh?" Wendy stared at her in stunned disbelief.

The white exceed glanced back at her partner with a hesitant smile, "I-I've been thinking…maybe we can survive without magic. You know, like in Edolas…"

"No…" Wendy struggled to rise to her feet, but failed, "If the magic power gets wiped out while the others are all fighting Tartaros…"

"You're right…" Charle sighed and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and gave Wendy a sad look, "You know we can't escape, don't you?"

The girl nodded slowly as she crawled up beside Charle with the last of her strength, "Yeah…you can't fly and…I'm completely spent…"

"Mmhm…" Charle's paw took Wendy's hand firmly, a gesture of comfort for both of them, "Let's press it together…okay?"

Wendy smiled at Charle and pressed her forehead to her friend's, "Of course. Together, as we've always been…"

The two reached out with their hands and paused a fraction away from the self-destruct sequence.

"I had a blast, Charle," Wendy couldn't stop the tears spilling down her cheeks, "I love you."

"I love you too, Wendy," Charle managed a smile as she cried with her friend, "We'll always be friends. Forever."

And they pressed the rune, sealing the fate of the future they had chosen.