Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

This fic is rated M for a reason.

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

The only thing Lisanna, Angel and Happy saw was a splatter of blood.

"NATSU!"

For a moment, both girls feared the worst when the momentary shock passed away and they saw Natsu had blocked Yamato with Rebellion. The katana managed to cut Natsu on the shoulder, but even when some blood was spilled, it seemed like the slayer wasn't gravely injured.

"Not bad" Vergil commented while Natsu struggled to keep him at bay.

Angel wanted to rush in and help her beloved, but she still had to heal Cobra, besides, she would only get in Natsu's way. Lisanna, on the other hand, immediately tried to stop the fight.

"Vergil, Stop! Please."

"Lisanna, stay back!" Natsu ordered, not removing his eyes from the possessed Luzbel.

"But Natsu…?"

Vergil kept his sword trained at Natsu for another moment when, much to their surprise, he suddenly lowered it. Looking from Natsu to Lisanna and then to Angel, Vergil returned his gaze to the dragon slayer.

"It would seem it really is you." Vergil/Luzbel re-sheathed Yamato to Lisanna's relief and Natsu's confusion.

"Vergil?...WHAT THE HELL ASSHOLE!? IF IT WAS YOU, THEN WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME!?"

"I needed to be certain it was really you and not this 'world's' Natsu."

"Couldn't you just ask!?" Natsu pointed to the 'small' cut Vergil gave him, while the half devil simply ignored him.

On the background, the poison dragon slayer watched the events unfolding "Are you buddies with that lunatic now?" Cobra asked as Angel helped him on his feet.

"It's complicated" Angel was still pissed at Vergil for that little stunt, but she let it slide for now.

"Vergil, don't take this the wrong way, but how is it that you're here?" Lisanna asked, Natsu nodded agreeing with his fiancee while Angel tended to his wound.

"We devils can see when the fabric of space and time has been altered. That is also why you and Angel are here as well." Vergil said and then pointed at Natsu "He, on the other hand, should not be here."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"You do not posses the blood of a devil" Vergil answered "If I am to guess, Rebellion somehow protected you from the time distortion."

"Wait a sec, that doesn't explain several things" Angel exclaimed "Why didn't Luzbel remember us, he IS some sort of descendant of yours too, right? and why didn't you come to help us from the start?"

"Luzbel's memories were probably altered by Deimos, and I just recently awoke once Luzbel saw Rebellion. Forgive me, for I was not in full control at the moment. Now, can we go kill Deimos or is there something else you need to ask?"

"I'm good!" Angel quickly replied, fearing for her life if the exasperated look Vergil gave her was any indication.

"Scary" Happy muttered.

"Then, let us go." In one quick move, the large doors separating them from Deimos's chambers were sliced open, courtesy of Yamato. As the dust settled, an armored figure and a woman could be seen approaching them.

"So eager to die"

Natsu and his group got ready to fight when Deimos and Astria appeared before them. The armored figure barely gave them a glance before his sight landed on Vergil.

"I must say, from all of them, I was not expecting You to betray me, Luzbel"

"I am not who you think I am" Reaching the hilt on his belt, Vergil drew Yamato and engaged Deimos, taking the armored mage by surprise. Not expecting this speed coming from Luzbel, Deimos was unable to block most of the attacks before Vergil sent him crashing into a wall with a well placed kick.

"Not bad" Asides a few slashes to his armor and a ruined cloak, Deimos was mostly uninjured. Pushing himself out of the rubble he addressed him: "But you will need to do something else to defeat me."

"I am just getting started" As Vergil and Deimos engaged each other; a burst of flame separated both combatants.

Not one to sit by and watch, Natsu jumped into the fray "I'm all fired up!"

Chapter 36: Only You

Far from them, Mystogan and Jellal were focused on their own fight.

"There is no point in delaying the inevitable" Jellal said to his Edolas counterpart "I've been studying you for quite some time now; all of your attacks are known to me."Jellal flashed him an arrogant smirk "The victor is already decided."

Grabbing one of his staffs, Mystogan pointed it at Jellal "Let's put that to the test: Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song."

Five magic circles formed above Jellal, releasing a concentrated beam of magic that devastated the target. That is, if not for Jellal dodging the attack with his Meteor magic.

Landing at a safe distance, Jellal whistled at the destruction "Going straight for the kill. You're not beating around the bush."

"You said it yourself; my attacks are well known to you, there's no point in holding back."

"True true, but if you kill me, you won't hear what I have to say about her" Jellal countered with a smug grin, pleased to see a reaction from the cloaked mage.

"That attack was not designed to kill. Maybe cause excruciating pain, but definitely not death." Mystogan replied.

"I see. Good to know. Too bad I don't care if you live or not." Moving faster than the eye could follow, Jellal reached his opponent but he was in for a shock when his Meteor covered self went through Mystogan like he was made of mist. Finding himself surrounded by the mist, Jellal tried to disperse it with his hands.

"That's a nice trick, but even when you can negate any harm done to your body, you are also unable to attack back." Jellal smirked at his own analysis "If you want to defeat me, you will have to materialize sooner or later."

"Got it all wrong"

Jellal's eyes widened when he recognized Mystogan's voice behind him, turning around his suspicion were confirmed when he found his Edolas counterpart in a very much physical state.

"You…" Jellal's eyelids seemed heavier while also feeling the strength abandoning his body. "Sleep spell!"

"Combined with a draining spell" Mystogan added "You made the mistake of thinking you knew all of my spells. There are spells I keep hidden under the sleeve for such an occasion."

As Jellal fell to one knee, Mystogan approached him and aimed his staff at his head "Now tell me everything you know about Erza."

With fast movement, Jellal grabbed the staff and pulled Mystogan towards him to deliver a powerful punch that sent the Edolas mage to the ground. Covering his body with Heavenly body magic, Jellal dispersed the mist with ease

"No matter how many tricks you have up your sleeve, you can't hope to defeat ME: The leader of the Seven Kins."

Flipping back to his feet, Mystogan grabbed another one of his staffs and fired a spell at Jellal, however, the leader of the Kin's of purgatory moved so fast he was almost impossible to hit. In the blink of an eye, Jellal appeared behind Mystogan and drove his fist aimed to hit him in the back. The edolas mage blocked the attack using one of his staffs which shattered into splinters and sent him crashing to a wall.

"Can you now see the difference between us?" Jellal mocked while Mystogan extracted himself from the small crater. Dusting himself of the debris on his cloak, Mystogan summoned another one of his staffs. As Jellal came for another attack, Mystogan surprised Jellal once more when he anticipated his movements and managed to land a decent blow to his stomach at the cost of receiving a punch to the face.

In pain, Jellal quickly distanced himself from his counterpart to regain his bearings while Mystogan tore the remainder of his mask.

"No, I can't see it." Mystogan took a battle stance. "Care to repeat that?"

Vergil slashed away at Deimos with an amazing speed and deadly accuracy; however Deimos dodged the blade with frightening ease. Once Vergil ended his attack, Natsu charged at Deimos with a fire stinger attack, one that was stopped by an armored gauntlet.

"Quite the sword you got there" Deimos commented "A shame the wielder is not adequately trained in its use."

"Die"

Both Deimos and Natsu were taken off guard when several dimension cuts were sent their way. Only quick reflexes saved Natsu from being turned into salami.

"Dammit Vergil! You could have warned me!"

Vergil ignored Natsu and instead focuses his attention on Deimos, who once again managed to evade the sharp edge of Yamato. Silently cursing, Vergil prepared for another go at him while Natsu noticed something: Vergil's moves seemed sluggish, slower than usual, nothing compared to the 'training' they had done in the past.

"Oi! Vergil, are you ok?"

"I'm Fine!" Vergil harshly replied, not bothering to conceal his frustration at not being able to land a decent hit on Deimos. Natsu was about to ask if he was sure when Vergil interrupted him "Instead of asking pointless questions, direct your efforts in aiding me in killing him."

While they fought, Lisanna and company faced Astria:

"Get out of the way lady" Cobra transformed one of his hands into a poisonous claw "or else we'll move you, piece by piece."

"Oh my!" Astria feigned mock concern "what shall I do now?"

Lisanna and Angel were not fooled by her act, having heard from their friends how Astria was capable of summoning powerful demon spirits they knew better than to let their guard down, but at the same time both girls wanted to get rid of her fast so they could help Natsu and Vergil.

"Cobra, don't underestimate her" Angel advised her old teammate "She's stronger than she looks."

"Really? Now I'm intrigued" Against Angel's advice, Cobra on top of Cuberos lunged at Astria; the poison dragon slayer smirked thinking he had her, when (much to his shock) Belphegor appeared between himself and his prey. The poison dragon slayer tried to attack, but Belphegor drove one of his claws into Cobra and knocked him away.

"No way! How did she summon her spirit so fast?" Angel knew some of Lucy's spirits could be summon like so, but that was on rare occasions when their master's life was in danger.

"Surprised, are we?" Astria smirked before reaching into her robes to grab another key. "Open the gate of Hell: Leviathan!"

For a moment, both girls and Happy looked around searching where the next summon would appear, when suddenly the entire castle shook and a large shadow could be seen circling outside.

Lisanna looked outside and with a nervous voice she asked: "D-Don't tell me that thing is her summon?"

"I-I think s-so" Happy answered her.

"I asked you not to tell me"

Without warning, the enormous snake like demon made its way inside and charged at Angel. The celestial mage barely had time to unleash her devil trigger before being pushed outside by Leviathan.

"Angel!" Lisanna spread her wings to go help her, but Belphegor had other ideas when he punched her down the large staircase before jumping down to fight her.

"Lisanna!" Happy was then swatted like a fly by Astria, the woman in question then looked down the staircase with a sympathetic look.

"My forgiveness, but I can't have you interfering in Natsu's fight. He needs to get stronger on his own accord. Only then can he kill him."

Angel struggled to no avail to escape of the ramming attack of the Leviathan. Not even in her devil trigger form was she able to escape.

"Lemme go, you overgrown worm!" Gathering all of her magic for one attack, she focused it on the palm of her hand and struck the demon as hard as she could. The Leviathan howled in pain and stopped his charge, giving Angel the chance to escape to put some distance between herself and the large demon.

Against a creature that large, Angel had no idea how to attack it until it hit her. "That's it!"

Reaching to her key pouch, Angel was glad that her celestial spirit keys were still with her "Open the gate of the dragon: Seiryu!"

As the dragon spirit began manifesting itself, Angel felt a drain on her magic core. Just as the leviathan was charging at her, a different looking Seiryu stopped it's advance.

"What the…!?" It had been some time, but Angel was definitely sure that her dragon spirit was not as big as this the last time she summoned it. "Are my spirits stronger because of my devil trigger?" Angel had little time to ponder about it when Seiryu was pushed back by the still bigger Leviathan. Landing on top of Seiryu, Angel reached for another key.

"Open the gate of the maiden: Andromeda!"

In a dash of light, the bondage spirit appeared in front of her master "Mistress, you called?"

Angel was slightly disappointed to find out that Andromeda still looked the same as before "Guess my theory was wrong. Andromeda! Restrain that… thing over there!"

"Awww, mistress, why don't you restrain me?"

"This is not the time for that! Just do as I say please!"

"Fine!" With a wave of her hands, hundreds of chains materialized out of thin air and stopped the Leviathan demon dead on his tracks, surprising Angel by her spirit's amazing feat. "I was wrong then, she is stronger now."

Almost as if reading Angel's mind, Seiryu fired his Megido roar towards the unmoving Leviathan, lighting the sky for a moment. However, the attack was still not strong enough to defeat the demon spirit and was only successful in destroying the chains that bind him.

After Seiryu's and Andromeda's attack, Angel felt exhausted and so did her spirits. Dropping to her knees, Angel was brought out of her reverie when Leviathan charged at her with intentions to swallow her whole.

"No, I can't die here! I won't!" Angel glared at the massive serpent demon and tried to regain her strength, when the Leviathan stopped on his tracks for a second time that day. Angel's eyes widened when she saw who stopped it.

"Cobra!"

The poison dragon slayer, atop Cuberos, was using every last ounce of strength to stop Leviathan's charge. "Get ready! Once I poison this bastard, it's up to you to finish it off!"

It was then that Angel saw the wound Belphegor did to Cobra's side. Giving Angel a pained grin he said to her: "I'm done anyway."

Knowing what he was intending, Angel tried to dissuade him "Cobra, Don't do it! I can still heal you!"

"Save your strength to finish Deimos and that whore. You've saved me twice now; It's time I return the favor." Letting go of Leviathan, Cobra waited for the demon to attack him before flying straight at his open mouth.

"Cobra!"

"Just win this fight." Cobra gave her one last look before preparing his final attack "Let's go Cuberos!"

As the Leviathan swallowed the dragon slayer and his partner, a torrent of poisonous miasma was detonated inside it, severely weakening the Demon spirit.

"COBRAAAAAAAA!" A torrent of emotions crossed Angel as she saw her former Oracion Seis teammate sacrificing himself alongside Cuberos just so she could live. Putting her emotions aside, Angel glared at the demon in front of her; Cobra's noble sacrifice was not going to go to waste "Seiryu, Megido Roar!"

Seiryu's second attack finished what Cobra started and finally destroyed the Leviathan. While the last remains of the demon started to vanish, Angel took a moment to see if she could sense Cobra's presence, but she knew it was pointless.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Angel made a vow "I'll free you Cobra. We'll see each other again, I promise you!"

Back on the battlefield, things were going from bad to worse:

Cana tossed several cards as shuriken as she helped a down comrade. The cards dispelled the shades with ease, but more came to take their place.

"Damn it! From all the enemies here, why did it have to be him?" Cana asked herself as she glared at the arrogant Jose Porla.

Everything was going smoothly for the combined Fairy Tail's, but when Jose arrived with Phantom Lord, things quickly went south. To make matters worse, the generals Mystogan brought from Edolas turned tail and ran when that large snake like thing appeared on the top floor of the castle.

"Cowards" It was pointless to think about those good for nothing idiots, instead Cana prepared to face Jose.

Jose's shades took out yet another member of Fairy Tail when his eyes landed on Cana "What do we have here? Such pretty face going to waste amongst fairy garbage. Why don't you join my guild instead?"

Cana felt like vomiting by the way Jose's eyes roamed her body with lust "I'll never betray my guild to join a fruit that uses more makeup than me."

The smirk on Jose's face vanished in a heartbeat "You arrogant girl! I'll teach you manners myself!"

Cana attacked Jose with her most powerful card spell, but the master of Phantom Lord was not even amused by her attempts. Shadows emerged from the ground and suspended Cana in the air while she screamed in pain.

Jose approached his immobilized prey and grabbed her rather forcefully from her chin. "You'll learn to respect me."

"Don't touch me! I've already had a bath today."

Slapping her hard, Jose watched as Cana's lip bleed and smiled at his work when suddenly Cana spat all over his face. "You disrespectful whor…"

Five wood dolls slammed against Jose, causing him to break his spell on Cana and infuriated the wizard saint.

"Who the hell dares attack ME!"

In front of him, a man in a medieval costume stuck out his tongue, further infuriating the wizard saint. "Hope my babies didn't interrupt something important."

"A member of the thunder god tribe! That means…" As Jose said that, Evergreen landed a few feet behind him and Freed teleported on his left flank "the other two are not far away."

"You guys" Cana was surprised by their unexpected arrival before she remembered how bad they had treated her and the rest of Fairy Tail "What are you doing here?"

"Don't get your hopes up girlie, we didn't came here to save you, we are only following Laxus-sama's orders" Evergreen spat back at Cana. It was clear that the self proclaimed queen of the fairies was not pleased by this, but she would follow Laxus commands anyway.

"Technically that's what we're doing, am I right babies?"

"Exactly!"

"Right as always!"

"You're so wise!"

"Help Fairy Tail!"

"That's what we're doing!"

As he stared at their opponent, Freed was reminiscing about Laxus decision of helping Fairy Tail in their fight:

Flashback:

"Now what? We just leave things like this!?"

An irate Evergreen asked her teammates after walking a few hours away from Magnolia. The group consisted of herself, Freed, Bickslow and their leader, and former Fairy Tail master, Laxus. The rest of the mages ditched them after witnessing the strength Natsu and his group possessed.

"It's not like we can do much more" Bickslow replied to Evergreen's unanswered question. "At least for now, that is. Right, Laxus?"

The blond mage was sitting a few feet away from them deep in thought. Ever since his fight with Natsu, Laxus remained mostly to himself, only speaking when directly asked.

"Yeah."

Evergreen and Bickslow waited for a moment, but it seemed like that was all Laxus was going to say. The lightning dragon slayer returned to his musing when Freed sat next to him; If there was someone in the thunder god tribe that truly understood Laxus, that was the green haired man.

If Laxus noticed Freed, he didn't show any sign of it. After a few minutes, he finally broke the silence:

"You think Natsu was telling the truth?"

"I don't know" Freed replied. Before leaving Magnolia, Laxus stayed back and listened to Natsu's story, who then in turn told Freed once he rejoined them.

"May I ask: why do you care if it was true or not, Laxus-sama?" Freed had a pretty good idea why, but he wanted to confirm his suspicions.

"The way he told the story…made me want to believe it was all true. That we can still change our past."

During his time as Fairy Tail master, Freed became Laxus's advisor, but more importantly, his confident. It was Freed and only him the one that knew of the remorse that ate away at Laxus ever since causing the hearth attack that killed Makarov. The lightning mage only wanted to make the guild stronger, not cause his grandfather's untimely death.

Even after all the things he did, Freed knew that Laxus was not truly evil; his intentions were good, it's just that his actions were misplaced. Standing up, Freed turned to Laxus.

"Regardless what Natsu said was true or not, it is never too late to make amends."

Laxus contemplated Freed's words before reaching a conclusion.

End Flashback

Jose's sneer woke Freed from his thoughts "You might be renowned for your achievements, but even the 3 of you are no match for me! A wizard saint!"

"Hehehehe…I wouldn't be so sure" Bickslow sent his dolls flying towards Jose, to which the master of Phantom lord responded with a group of shades taking them out. Next was Evergreen, using her luminous magic to try and catch Jose off guard so she could turn him to stone, but Jose proved to be skilled in evading her gaze. Looking around, he failed to see Freed and cursed himself for losing sight of the man.

"They should be here by now! Where are they!?" Jose referred to the reinforcements Lord Deimos had summoned, but so far there were no signs of them.

"Go my babies! Fly!"

Jose growled as the annoying dolls came back for another hit and run and aimed to destroy them when he found himself unable to move. When Bickslow's dolls landed a direct hit on Jose, Evergreen took the chance and unleashed her stone eyes on the horrified Jose. As he slowly turned to stone, Jose cached a glimpse of runes creating a perimeter around him and realized it was Freed the responsible for his defeat.

"Curse you…Damn Fairi…es" Those were Jose's last words before completely turning to stone.

"They defeated him" Cana couldn't believe it, but the proof was in front of her. There was no doubt Jose was more powerful that the thunder god tribe, but in the end it was not taking them seriously what brought upon his defeat.

Bickslow praised his partner's work with a whistle "Not bad Ever, now let's crack him up."

"No" Freed ordered, earning a groan from Bickslow "He is scum, but we are not murderers. That's not what Fairy Tail stands for."

"What do you know about Fairy Tail!" Cana yelled at his face while Freed seemed impassive from her outburst "For the last months you've been no better than him!"

"That may be baby, but it's time to let go of old grudges" Bickslow added.

"Who asked you!"

"You are absolutely right" Freed said, surprising Cana "however; this is no time to discuss about our past actions. We have a fight to win."

Looking around, Cana was right and so she left the discussion for later. If Jose was speaking the truth, then they would soon have their hands full.

"Looks fun down there" On a hill overlooking the city, a man holding a large sword admired the ongoing fight at the castle. Twirling his sword before strapping it on his back, he debated wheter or not join the fray, but in the end he simply turned around and left.

"Maybe next time, little brother."

As he left, the hill was revealed to be littered by dozens of bodies. These were the reinforcements Jose had mentioned; The wizard saints under Deimos's command, the most powerful mages all over Fiore. The best of the best.

And not one of them was an even match for him.

"Wizard saints, tsk, what a joke."

"You seem a bit winded out, wanna take a breather?"

"I'll…pass…" Mystogan was currently pinned to the ceiling, courtesy of Jellal's magic.

"While this was fun, we should wrap things up." Jellal announced "Judging from the last tremor, I'm guessing your friends have reached Deimos."

"Can't…have them…mess your…plans now."

"There is only one place for a ruler, and that will be Lord Zeref. For that to happen, I must kill Deimos while he is weakened from his fight with your friends. That's why I can't play with you any longer" materializing a sword, Jellal looked up "You understand, right?"

Smiling apologetically, Jellal rammed his sword towards Mystogan. Gathering what magic he could, Mystogan used it to get free and narrowly avoided the blade, which was now buried in the ceiling. Finding he could not dislodge it, Jellal decided to leave the sword there and jumped down to attack Mystogan, the Edolas mage attacked as well as they charge at each other with their strongest attacks.

All nearby shadows gathered around Jellal as he prepared his next attack. "Altairis!"

"Seven layer magic circle: Monsoon Drive!" Mystogan unleashed seven circles around him that later concentrated in front of him, creating a vortex of Mist and lightning aimed at Jellal.

The orb Jellal created rammed against Mystogan's vortex, creating a vacuum in the middle where the attacks met. For a moment it seemed like the orb would win, when it was suddenly absorbed by the Mist attack, much to Jellal's horror.

"H-How! How can you still have that much magic power!?"

Jellal asked before his form vanished in the mist and lightning created by Mystogan. Seeing no signs of the wizard saint, Mystogan took the liberty of dropping to his knees completely exhausted. With Jellal dead, Mystogan would never get his answer about Erza's disappearance, but it was the only choice he had or else he himself would be the dead one right now.

Reaching for the remaining staff, Mystogan used it as a crutch and prepared to go help Natsu when the same sword from before emerged through his chest.

"I must hand it to you, not many can hurt me like this." Jellal had one eye closed and his pristine suit was covered in blood. Mystogan grabbed the blade coming out of his chest and tried to remove it when a discharge of magic made him cry out in pain.

"It's over… Other me." Kicking Mystogan from his sword, the edolas mage dropped in a pool of his own blood. Wiping the blood from his sword, Jellal walked around Mystogan: "Since you put up a good fight, I will reward you before you die; Yes, I was responsible for her disappearance."

Knowing he was referring to Erza, Mystogan struggled to look at him: "Where is she?"

A cold feeling formed inside Mystogan when he saw the grin on Jellal's face. "She's dead."

Mystogan could only close his knuckles in frustration while Jellal ranted about Erza's death. For months he searched for her, always holding out to the hope that she would still be alive, but now that hope was dead.

"That bitch was useless to me! She was not a proper sacrifice for lord Zeref." Jellal told Mystogan as if trying to make his point "More than seven years gone to waste thanks to HER!"

Taking a moment to calm himself, Jellal kneel next to Mystogan "That's in the past now, I have another tower in the making and this time a proper sacrifice for Lord Zeref will be made. I must thank you thought; were if not for your friends accelerating my plans to get rid of Deimos, all this would have had to wait even longer."

As a coup of grace, Jellal created a self destruction spell over the fallen mage. "Good bye, Other me."

Satisfied with his work, Jellal prepared to leave when Mystogan grabbed hold of him from behind in a bodylock, preventing the deranged mage from leaving.

"Let me go!" Jellal struggled to get free, but Mystogan had an iron grip on him "How can you still move with that wound!?"

"This wound…I can endure." Blood dripped from Mystogan's mouth while Jellal trashed around "What I won't stand by…cough…is for you to go unpunished for what you did to Erza!"

"Are you willing to die for someone who's' already dead?" Jellal started sweating when he realized the timer he set was running out.

"I am already dead, you made sure of that."

"Listen! Let me go and I'll remove that spell from you!"

Mystogan ignored his offer in a heartbeat "Erza loved you, did you…cough…knew that?"

"LET ME GO!" Fear crawled all over Jellal as the timer was coming to an end. Too weak from the last attack, Jellal screamed in frustration.

"Forgive me Natsu…I won't be able to help you on your fight." Mystogan closed his eyes just as the timer went off. On his final moments, Mystogan could swear he saw an angel with long red hair.

The explosion caused by Jellal's self destruct spell reached everyone's ears inside the castle, Laxus and Gajeel included.

"Looks like our time is almost over, let's wrap things up."

Both dragon slayers had really let loose during their fight and now sported several wounds to prove it. Laxus had several cuts and bruises over his body, including a nasty looking one running from shoulder to hip from when Gajeel got lucky with one of his strikes. Not that the Iron dragon slayer was faring any better; the phantom lord mage was covered in bruises over eighty percent of his body, not counting the internal burns caused by Laxus lightning , and was now struggling to stay on his feet.

"D-Damn…bastard!" Gajeel fought the urge to just lay down and rest as his body protested "That fire head was suppose to be my prey, Not you!"

"Tough luck" Laxus replied nonchalantly "But I will give you credit; for a phantom lord, you put up a good fight."

Gajeel saw red as he listened to Laxus "You think this is over!" using what remained of the power up Astria gave him, Gajeel covered himself in iron scales and turned his arm into a serrated sword. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Pathetic" Laxus stopped him dead cold with a dragon force infused punch, breaking each and every last scale in Gajeel and sending him to the floor out cold. Once his opponent was out, Laxus thought of going to help Natsu but decided against it.

"Nah, you can handle it fire head. I'm done here."

Grabbing his discarded coat, Laxus turned and left; he already did his part, and he was still resentful that Natsu had Lisanna's affection.

"You are indeed skilled Vergil, but unfortunately, you are not at full strength."

Natsu looked confused towards Vergil "Huh? What's he talking about?"

Vergil said nothing and resumed his attack on Deimos. As the fight progressed, Nastu was seeing that Vergil was getting slower and slower; his moves carried nothing of the strength he usually has, even Deimos had stopped dodging some of his attacks, which only managed to scratch his armor. Vergil himself was aware of this, but his pride would not let him stop the attack.

Just as Vergil prepared to stab him, Deimos parried Yamato away from him and grabbed him by the neck.

"Vergil!" Natsu attacked Deimos with his Karyu no Tekken when Deimos blew him away from with a blast of dark magic. Once Natsu was down, Deimos focused on Vergil.

"Fighting for control must really be taxing."

Vergil said nothing, but knew Deimos was right. Vergil was fighting two wars; one against the man before him and another against the man he currently possessed. Luzbel was struggling more and more to regain control of his body, which severely dampened Vergil's abilities. In one last effort, Vergil raised Yamato once more and tried to stab Deimos, only for said man to stop his attack by grabbing his arm.

"Your attacks are nothing more than annoyance to me. Time we end this." Redirecting Yamato to another position, Deimos rammed Vergil's own sword through his owner's chest.

"Raienryū no Ken (lightning flame dragon's fist)"

This time, Deimos didn't see the attack coming and was forced back by Natsu's attack, releasing Vergil from his grip. Marveling at the fact that Natsu was able to damage his armor, if only a little bit, impressed Deimos.

A lightning and flame covered Natsu pointed Rebellion at Deimos "You won't hurt my nakamas ever again. I'll make sure of that!"

"Not bad. Keep it up and this fight will be more interesting."

While Natsu re-engaged Deimos, Vergil pushed himself into a sitting position "How humiliating. To think He would be a better opponent for Deimos." Pulling Yamato out of him, Vergil managed a weak smile "Nakama…I'll believe in you for once…Natsu."

Said dragon slayer was faring better than Vergil on his fight, but they were still on equal ground. It seemed not even his lightning mode was effective against Deimos.

"Natsu!"

Natsu stopped his fighting and turned to Vergil as he spoke "Here!"

Tossing Yamato at Natsu, Vergil left Luzbel's body just as the latter regained his body. Luzbel only managed to see through his own eyes one last time before succumbing to his wound and passing away.

Back to Natsu, when he grabbed Yamato he felt his power doubling almost instantly. Blue flames mixed with his red ones, forming a dark purple tone around him. Finally, one eye turned red and the other turned dragon like.

Deimos himself stopped his attack to witness the transformation before him. Once he was done, Natsu felt Vergil's presence as both prepared to finish the fight.

"Let's finish this." Now in dragon force, Natsu charged at Deimos.

"Even when you have reached dragon force, don't think you will..." Natsu shut Deimos up by stabbing the armored man in the gut.

Vergil overlapped Natsu's voice, and vice verse, and with a confident tone he asked: "you were saying?"

Since the start of their fight, Lisanna was mostly blocking each of Belphegor's attacks and only occasionally attackign back. Waiting for an opening to attack, Lisanna got her wish when Belphegor swung horizontally and missed her smaller form.

"Karyu No Tekken!" Using her fiancée's trademark attack, she hit the demon with all her strength and was pleased to see it stagger, but that quickly ended when it blindly swung at her. Hitting her, Lisanna landed in a heap, breaking one of her dragon wings in the process.

Before she knew it, Lisanna was forced to roll away when Belphegor tried to stomp her, ignoring the pain it caused to her broken wing. Finding herself in a dead corner, Lisanna had no other choice than to stop its stomp with her arms.

As the foot came closer and closer to her form, Lisanna's worries increased; the thought of not seeing her friends and family again, but most importantly, Natsu, awoke something inside Lisanna.

"No, I won't die here! I WON'T!"

A column of red flames engulfed Belphegor, burning so hot even for the demon to withstand, and removed him from Lisanna. Not wasting the opportunity, Lisanna attacked Belphegor with a flurry of punches and kicks, ending with a leg drop that knocked Belphegor out.

Panting, Lisanna admired her work for a moment before remembering that Natsu needed her help. "Natsu!"

The moment Lisanna turned; Belphegor raised a clawed arm and brought it down on her, if not for a white light finishing the demon before it could harm her.

"You missed a spot." Angel said as she landed next to her. Like Lisanna, the celestial mage seemed winded out, but the takeover mage could see some tears in her eyes.

"Angel, what's wrong?"

"Everything's wrong." Wiping the tear from her eyes, Angel healed Lisanna's broken wing "that's why we're going to fix it."

Nodding, Lisanna joined Angel and headed out to help Natsu and Vergil. Once they were out of sight, Astria walked out of the shadows and admired their work; to defeat two of her demon spirits was an achievement, a shame they were not meant for the task at hand.

With Natsu and Vergil together again, it was a whole new game. The added power of Vergil plus his sword mastery, combined with Natsu's unwavering resolve and lightning fire mode allowed them to reach dragon force and threat Deimos like he was a child.

"It will not end like this!" Deimos, now with deep cuts and cracks to his armor, was not expecting this turn of events "YOU will not stop ME!"

"Wanna bet?" a confident Natsu/Vergil replied, infuriating Deimos. Charging at him, the armored man struck at the slayer, who evaded the attack by teleporting and reappeared behind him. Act followed by a double beat down using Rebellion and Yamato to break through Deimos's armor and earning a cry of pain from said man.

"Natsu!" two voices called in unison as they barged into the chambers. Lisanna (carrying Happy) and Angel saw that Natsu had everything under control. When they didn't see Luzbel, they feared the worst.

"Where's Vergil? Did he…?"

"I'm fine" Vergil's voice overlapped Natsu's, showing the girls that he was once again sharing Natsu's body.

"All I have achieved will not go to waste" Joining his hands together; Deimos unleashed a dark aura that enveloped the entire room, catching Natsu and his girls in it. "You will die here!"

Natsu felt through the bond how Lisanna and Angel were getting weaker and weaker, while he felt the same effects to a certain degree. Struggling to move, Natsu/Vergil swung his swords to dispel the dark aura, and following Vergil's thought he tossed Rebellion and Yamato to Lisanna and Angel.

Seeing the blades coming their way, Lisanna grabbed Rebellion while Angel catched Yamato, instantly feeling their strength returning. Both girls felt 'right' to be holding the swords and tested them out in a display of mastery before jumping to flank Deimos left and right. Angel expertly slashed at Deimos, shattering his armor, followed by Lisanna, who swung the larger broadsword to crack the already fragile armor.

Once done, both girls returned to Natsu's side and handed him the swords for him to finish it. Now a broken shadow of his former self, Deimos tried to dissuade them.

"D-Don't do it!"

Natsu/Vergil ignored his plea and unleashed a maximum bet, combining both swords to blow through Deimos with powerful flames, followed by his most powerful attack.

"Raienryū no Hōkō (Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar)"

Natsu's dragon roar engulfed Deimos, leaving a trail of destruction that decimated a good part of the castle. Once the dust settled, Deimos was still standing, although only for a second before finally succumbing to the severe punishment he received at their hands.

"Is…Is it over?" Angel asked "We won...WE WON!"

Natsu grinned as both girls jumped in joy before latching onto him in a hug that almost suffocated the slayer by the girls 'assets'. Vergil slightly blushed from inside Natsu before saying:

"It's not over yet" Gently prying the girls from him, Vergil/Natsu pointed Yamato at Deimos prone form "He must die."

"Wait! We can kill him" Nats argued back "He's a bastard and all, but we don't go killing people! That's not what Fairy Tail stands for!"

"We have been through this already; besides, if we let him live, he will come back to get revenge one day." Vergil countered.

"Guess you're right" Natsu replied "Then let him come! We can beat his ass anyway!"

Vergil grabbed his chin in thought: "You are…actually right, for once."

Lisanna and Angel decided to stand back and see Natsu argue with himself. They knew Vergil was in there as well, but it was quite curious to see them argue like it was only one person talking to himself.

While this was going on, Astria appeared and approached Deimos. Seeing her, the fairy tail mages quickly made their way to stop her when the unexpected happened:

"Everything is at it's supposed to be" Caressing the prone Deimos, Astria drove her hand inside Deimos and extracted a dark colored lacryma, much to their shock, Deimos included.

"W-why!?" Deimos asked before a look of somewhat understanding crossed his features. Without the lacryma, his body turned to dust and dispelled into the seven winds.

After the initial shock passed, Lisanna said "I don't get it: did you have a change of heart?"

"No, merely the opposite" Astria crushed the lacryma with her hand "everything is as it should be."

Weary of her, Natsu reached for Yamato when he noticed something: He could no longer feel Lisanna and Angel through the bond or Vergil's presence inside his head. Panicking, Natsu turned around to find his girls were still there, albeit they seemed like frozen in time.

"What did you do to them?"

"Relax, I only stopped time for a moment so we could chat in private" Astria replied, ignorant of the anger building inside Natsu "We have things to discuss."

"I don't have nothing to speak with you. Release them right now!"

"All in due time" Nats reached for Rebellion when she stopped him "if you kill me then I won't be able to restore the timeline back to its original state. Think about that."

Natsu wanted nothing more than to force her to return them to normal, but thought this through. He had no idea where to begin to return everything back to normal, not to mention Ultear needed her magic core back. In the end he strapped Rebellion and Yamato on his back and forced himself to listen to what she had to say. "Fine, but you must also heal Ultear too."

"Acceptable" Reaching an agreement, Astria began: You might not know this, but my intentions were never to rule over Fiore. My purpose was always to kill a certain man, however, even when we went back in time to face him when he was weaker, he was still more powerful than me and my creation combined."

"Creation?"

"Yes, Deimos was my creation, a mere puppet thanks to my Ura Mahō: Tenbatsu Nemeshisu (Living magic spell Nemesis)." Astria answered with a disappointed look "I thought I could kill him… I was wrong"

Natsu was not the brightest mage, but even he wondered something: "Wait, so you stole Ultear's magic to return to the past and fight whoever you wanted to kill, then why to all this?"

"'This' was the last order father gave me after I tried to kill him" Astria slowly started to vanish "All of this was a test so you could become stronger. You were supposed to come here and face me instead of going to Edolas, you were supposed to discard your feelings to become stronger, but in the end I guess even father was wrong; it is your bonds with your friends and loved ones what makes you stronger."

Natsu tensed when Astria reached him and caressed his face "Father has a message for you…You must become stronger, so you can achieve what I have failed to do."

Before vanishing into nothing, Astria whispered into his ear.

"Only you can kill him…brother."

Author's Notes:

Hey there loyal readers, it's been a while (two months to be more exact.)

First of all, sorry for the late update, I was working on this chapter in mid February when Metal Gear Rising got in the way, not to mention that fight scenes are a bitch for me to write, nonetheless we are finally done with this arc.

This chapter, like the last one, seems rushed out, but I did this so I could move on with the more interesting parts of the story. Next chapter has everything returning to normal and more Natsu x Lisanna scenes to finally start the grand games arc. With that said, I regret to inform some of you that there are plans to expand Natsu's harem even more, so far I have planned for Flare to join them and one more girl (who it is, is a surprise.)

Of course, if you have suggestions for more girls, I am open for them.

Who is Astria referring to, and what link does she have with Natsu? One day it will be revealed.

As always feel free to leave a review (praises and flames are welcome)

Until then.

Demonwithasoul

Mystogan slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a place full of light. Resting on someone's lap, the Fairy Tail mage looked up to see a read head smiling at him. Not believing his eyes, Mystogan slowly reached out to see if she was real and not an illusion.

"Erza, is that really you?" Seeing her nod, Mystogan broke down "Please forgive me, I wasn't able to save you…"

"Shhh, it's ok Jellal, Everything's ok now" Erza shushed him "Everything is as it's supposed to be now."

Reaching down, Erza met Jellal's lips for one last kiss before the timeline was restored.