Kyandi: Hey everyone!
Rette: We've returned and this time...we have two chapters for you.
Kyandi: My muse had been over flowing for this story.
Rette: Mostly because we're approaching a part she's been waiting for.
Kyandi: There's that. Anyway. Without delay, let's get on with this.
Rette: Right. The next chapter is a big one.
Kyandi: Hush! Everyone, please enjoy and review.
Rette; Kyandi-sama does not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 61 First Confrontation
"My name is Torin Starrilia...I'm Rette's brother."
Silence stretched out in the room, everyone staring at the newcomer in shock and disbelief. The guy, Torin, stood there, just waiting patiently for them to snap out of it.
"WHAT!?"
A crooked grin tilted up one side of Torin's mouth when they all finally broke the silence. He reached up and pushed his bangs back from his face.
"Really? It's that shocking? I look exactly like her, for crying out loud." Torin remarked.
"That means...you're Lachlan's son!" Lucy snapped.
Everyone was instantly on defense. Brother or not, none of them knew if that meant Torin was against them or not. For all they knew, he would be on the side of his father. Though some questioned why Torin had Rette and her mother's last name when Rette's mother had passed away just days after her birth. Was he...was he the son of Rette's aunt, Seraphina?
"Yeah, we share a father." Torin confirmed. "And our mothers were sisters. It's probably why we look so much alike. Something I'm grateful for. My father isn't exactly the most exotic looking, you know?"
"Sisters?" Erza asked. "Her letter did mention something about being looked after by her aunt."
"But Rette never mentioned anything about siblings. In fact, she said she was an only child." Mira said.
"I was born after she ran away from the Compound. My mother was too young, immature, for Lachlan to touch before that and by the time I was conceived, he had my mother completely brainwashed. She didn't turn on him like my Aunt Irini did." Torin replied. "Which is probably why Mother lived so much longer than her. She got the chance to raise me exactly as my father wanted her to. Something about a maternal figure being the best for molding young minds."
"So you're here as our enemy!" Natsu barked.
"Cool it, hot head. You really are as quick to combust as I was told." Torin remarked, shaking his head at Natsu. "I'm here under orders from my master to observe, not fight."
"You're master? You mean Lachlan?" Levy asked.
"Tch, hell no. That guy doesn't deserve the respect someone might pay the dirt beneath their feet. He's been slipping over the years, my old man, slowly losing what little sanity he had. I swear, his brain is rotting.. He couldn't even manage to capture Rette. Not that I can hold that against him. My sister is really good about being evasive. She's far more crafty than he ever gave her credit for." Torin remarked.
"Then it's Zeref that's your master." Gray said.
Torin's eyes, exactly like those of Rette's, turned to Gray. For a moment, he stood there in silence, but then he heaved a sigh. Torin pushed himself off the door frame, shoving his hands into his pants pockets and half turning, as if he was about to leave.
"Look, I only came here to see if you succeeded in getting the guild back together and to warn you." Torin told them.
"Warn us? About what?" Makarov asked.
"My sister. If you think you see her, be careful, keep your distance. She's not the same as she use to be. Not anymore. I know it would break her heart if one of you got hurt." Torin said, turning to start walking away. "I think my sister's heart has taken just about enough breaking in this life."
With that, Torin vanished through the door. Natsu ran after him, but when he stepped outside, Torin was gone from sight. Cursing, Natsu yelled before stomping back into the guild hall. It really got under his skin. While he fumed over the encounter, the others thought it over.
The way Torin spoke left the question of whether he was an enemy or friend, unanswered. At parts, it made it sound like he was the opposing side, that he was almost mocking his sister, but with some words, it almost sounded like he was concerned for his sister. It certainly left them wondering what his and Rette's relationship was like, if they even had one. Just so many questions.
Was Torin against Rette?
Was he siding with his sister?
Did his sister even know he existed?
Or was he just pulling their strings, lying to them in order to hurt his sister?
After seeing what her father was like, it was highly possible that, as his son, Torin was just as cruel to Rette as their father was. If that was the case, they weren't going to let it continue. Rette had enough going on in her life, she didn't need an abusive brother on top of an abusive father.
"Master?" Makarov looked up when Erza called him. "What do we do?"
"We don't know if he's telling us the truth. At this point, I'm unwilling to trust him. Until we find Rette and find out the truth from her, we will keep a close eye on him. Something about this doesn't seem right." Makarov remarked. "But for right now, we have other issues to concern ourselves with. Among the top issues being to find Rette."
The others agreed with that and they all continued on the topic of how to deal with Zeref. Remembering what Natsu had said about a secret technique, Erza and Lucy turned to him.
"What's that plan you were going on about?" Erza asked.
"It's a secret." Natsu said with a grin. "That's why it's called a secret plan."
"Quit wasting time!" Gray yelled at him.
"What have you got hidden in that arm!?" Elfman demanded.
The whole argument was just ridiculous. Wendy smiled, laughing lightly as she watched Gray start to wrestle with Natsu.
"But...I'm sure it's something really powerful, if Natsu's so confident about it." Wendy said.
"Anyway. I can only use this once. But it's something I created to take Zeref down...and I'm certain I can!" Natsu declared.
"Well, if Natsu is so proud of it, I guess we've gotta believe in him." Bixlow remarked.
"And his confidence is somewhat encouraging for us anyway." Freed agreed.
"Amazing how one man can raise this much morale." Evergreen mused.
"That's just how he is." Laxus remarked.
On that, everyone could agree. Natsu wasn't always the brightest person in the world, but when it came to raising the morale of his friends, there were few better at it than him. As Laxus put it, it was just how Natsu was.
"I have a few plans as well, but let's trust Natsu for now." Mavis said.
"Master, please tell us more about what we're going up against." Lucy requested.
"Let me tell you all I know then. First off, Emperor Spriggan. We know him as Zeref here in Ishgar. He has a small elite force under him called the Spriggan 12. I spent a year there but I've only met six of them. It could be because it's a lot bigger over there, so it's not often that they gather. Then we have the Winter General, Invel, Zeref's closest aid and consul. And just as his name states, he uses ice magic, but that's all I know." Makarov started.
The part about Invel's ice magic was what caught Gray's attention. He looked up from where he stood, repeating the word ice as he considered this.
"The Desert King, Ajeel is someone we already met during our escape...a mage with the power to control sand. One of the few in the Spriggan 12 that's always itching for a fight." Makarov continued.
"That guy, huh..." Natsu muttered, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
"The Nation Demolisher, Brandish...hates fights but she has the power to wipe a nation off the map if she needs to." Makarov added.
"We met her back at Caracall Island and if I'm not wrong...she probably has magic that could change the mass of another." Erza said, offering the information.
"And then we have the War Princess, Dimaria...I don't know anything about her magic but she's a female knight that has survived and triumphed in many wars, thus earning her that title." Makarov added.
"So she isn't a mage!?" Erza asked.
"That's not the problem, is it?" Cana asked her.
It seemed like Erza had more issues with Dimaria than she was letting on.
"The strongest of the Ten Wizard Saints, God Serena. I guess you'd call him someone deplorable but his strength is something not to be taken lightly. Trust me on this." Makarov insisted.
"Woah, having a former Ten Wizards Saint as an enemy though..." Levy trailed off at the thought.
"I wonder why he left Ishgar." Juvia mused.
"We won't know until we actually meet him, I guess." Evergreen remarked.
Whatever his reason, they all agreed that God Serena was a traitor to their kingdom.
"And the Magic King, August...he's...he's on a different level! His magic is nothing like the other Spriggan 12's. Rumor has it that he can control magic of every element, even the ancient ones and if compared to Zeref in terms of the types, it's probably even more than Zeref himself." The mere thought was enough to make all of them balk. "The only person I can think of who possesses a magic he would have never encountered, is Rette with her Nexus Magic."
Considering the fact that Rette was the first person anyone had ever heard of with the ability to learn whole types of magic and blend them together, they were all pretty sure that Makarov was right. Rette and her magic might take this August off guard if she was to fight him. Maybe.
"That's all I have on six of the members...but the remaining three...all I have is their names. Bradman, Neinhart, and Badd."
"We'll start planning now then. Please listen well, everyone." Mavis announced. "We need everyone in the guild for this. We are at a disadvantage at this point. The enemies we're about to face are nothing like those we've faced before. But what we have is the courage and our bonds to pull us through! Let's show them what this guild is made of!"
Cheering rose from the members of the guild. Mavis and Makarov watched all of them as they all started taking plans, discussing what they could do to prepare for the attack from Alvarez. Together, as a guild and as a family, they would prevail.
"First."
"Yes."
"What should we do if Rette really has been turned against us?"
Mavis glanced out of the side of her eyes at Makarov. He was watching the others with a worried look on his face. They both knew how much Rette meant to the other members of the guild. If by some spell or something else, she was turned against them, Makarov and Mavis both knew that the others would never be able to fight back against Rette. They just couldn't bring themselves to hurt her.
But if Rette was turned against them, she posed a huge threat to them. For one, she knew each and every one of them. She knew the magic each of them used and she knew their fighting styles. Secondly, there was her connection to Fairy Heart. That alone was dangerous. While Rette was clever and crafty, and her arsenal of magic was wide and flexible, it was the mere thought of her having a limitless supply of magic that was frightening.
Especially if she was fighting for Zeref.
"While the thought is truly frightening, I don't believe Rette will ever truly turn against us. All we can do is wait and see and hope that it isn't true." Mavis told him.
It was all they could do where Rette was involved.
For now.
-0-0-0-0-
"You're in my room without my permission again!"
Despite all the battle planning, all the preparation they were going through to prepare for war, the night found Lucy going through a familiar situation.
"Aww, c'mon." Natsu said, dodging the chair Lucy had just kicked at him and Happy.
"Aye! It's so quiet and boring out in the streets anyway!" Happy agreed.
"I see...so they've finished evacuating people already." Lucy said lowly, calming down.
"Yeah...so let's go hang out." Natsu suggested.
"I brought some stuff with me!" Happy added.
Lucy collected her chair, righting it and placing it back at her desk. When that was done, she sat down facing Natsu and Happy and crossed her legs and arms.
"Hey, we've got to get to the battleground early tomorrow. This is hardly the time to and unlike you guys, I'm not the least bit excited for it." Lucy told them.
"You've got that wrong. Sure, I love a good fight but what I like is contests of strength and not fights to the death." Natsu told her seriously. "My favorites are the kind of fights where I get to go all out and compare my strength with my opponent's, but this one's different. This is a fight where we've gotta do whatever it takes to win. Or else there's no future left for us. Plus I've got some things to do when all of this is over."
"Stop this...you know, they call that making "death flags" in the real world." Lucy warned him.
"Huh? Whuzzat?"
Lucy heaved a sigh. Of course Natsu wouldn't know what the term "death flags" meant.
"Well, talking about the possibility of a happy future before a big fight...and making it sound as dramatic as possible...that sort of thing." she explained.
"Yeah, whatever. Igneel told me to talk about the future. Because it's what's gonna make me want to live." Natsu replied with a wide grin.
"I guess that's fine too, huh." Lucy conceeded.
While the three were busy deciding to play a game, across town, in the guild's baths, Erza, Carla, and Wendy were talking while taking a soak.
"So Crime Sorciere will be helping us out too?" Wendy asked.
"Hmm...I guess they'd have to make their move as well if it's Zeref we're up against." Erza replied.
"That's good news then!" Wendy said happily.
"They're the people that destroyed Cait Shelter though..." Carla added in.
"Carla!" Wendy scolded.
"Oh yeah, do you remember the first time Rette and I invited you two to join us at Fairy Tail?" Erza asked.
"Yeah, and we're thankful for that." Wendy replied.
Erza wasn't so thankful now that she knew what enemy they had. She felt ashamed that she had gotten a young girl like Wendy mixed up in all the trouble they had gotten into over the years. But it couldn't be changed. It just meant that she would have to work harder to defend them all. She thought this as she climbed out of the bath.
"Erza." Erza was surprised when Wendy suddenly hugged her from behind. "Let us be the ones to protect you this time."
To Wendy's surprise, Erza twisted in her grip and hugged her back. Though she only really managed to squeeze Wendy between her bare breasts. Something that embarrassed Wendy and had her cheeks turning red.
"You've really become such a fine mage. The pride of our guild." Erza told her with a smile.
In another part of town, Gray and Juvia stood over looking the city, Gray promising give Juvia an answer for her feelings when the battle was done. Meanwhile, back at the guild hall, Makarov, Warren and Macao were busy.
"Warren, how's it looking?" Makarov asked.
"They're nowhere in Fiore yet." Warren replied.
"Can we really trust that though?" Macao asked.
"I made that super radar myself!" Warren snapped.
"Things would be a lot easier if we could pinpoint exactly which direction they will be coming from." Makarov remarked.
It was at times like this that Makarov missed having Rette and her heightened magical sense around. She could have easily sensed a large group of mages coming their way far quicker than anyone else.
"We could always place a diversion in the north and station our main forces in the south." Mavis suggested as she appeared in the room. "I've just finished checking up on everyone. And they're not the least bit worried about our situation. They've become so strong."
"So that's how you see them. To me, it seems like they're barely pulling through from all the uneasiness they're feeling and banding together like that only serves as consolation...that things aren't all that bad. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be doing so though. After all, if a parent is afraid, it's only natural that the children would feel the same too. It is the role of a parent to stand in front of their children and protect them even if their legs were to give out at any moment." Makarov said.
To that, Mavis agreed.
Just then, the radar that Warren developed, came to a stand still in it's swing, yanking hard to one side as a strong gust of magic blew through the guild hall and the town. All over town, everyone stopped in what they were doing and looked up as they sensed the magic sweeping over their empty town. Makarov turned to Warren.
"Warren! What's happening to the radar?" Makarov asked.
"What, it's my fault now!? I don't know!" Warren replied, checking the lacrima screen. The screen showed the enemy already right on top of them. "Why couldn't it detect them when they're already so close, dammit!"
"Everyone, get ready!" Mavis called. "The enemy is above us! We've got about fifty large ships in the skies above!"
"A ship that size could take out our guild in one go!" Wakaba exclaimed, peering out the window.
"That's only one part of what the empire is capable of." Makarov replied.
"Hey, nobody said anything about them coming from the skies!" Warren yelled.
"Ring the bells! The enemy is coming! There are about fifty ships in the skies west of here!" Mavis ordered.
Bells were rung, their sound carrying over the city to alert all the members of the guild to the threat of an enemy. Just as everyone was put on alert, the enemy attacked, only for the magic blast the ships shot, to hit a barrier that had been set around Magnolia. A barrier set courtesy of Freed.
"First! Freed might be strong but he won't be able to hold off all of them!" Makarov warned Mavis.
Mavis understood this, but she also knew that Freed would hang in as long as he could.
"We didn't think they'd come from the west!" Macao said. "What do we do now?"
"No...it's exactly as I've calculated. In fact, it's quite a pleasant surprise that the enemy's sent a smaller fleet than expected for the preemptive strike." Mavis said, much to Wakaba's and Macao's confusion. "Warren, let everyone know that we're moving to Plan D! Team Flying Dragon and Osprey, commence attack!"
"Got it!" Warren replied, getting in contact with Team Osprey, which was made up of Biska, Alzack, and Asuka.
"This is Team Osprey, we're currently at the Eastern Forest. The enemy is too far." Biska replied.
"Biska, you'll be fine." Mavis assured her.
While she wasn't completely sure of herself, Biska didn't argue with Mavis. While she got ready, Team Flying Dragon, made up of Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and their exceed partners, came flying in, taking down one ship before moving on to others. The ships tried shooting them down, but all they succeeded in doing was driving them back.
"Damn it! We can't get any closer with this barrage!" Lily called.
"What's taking Biska so long!?" Carla demanded.
In the Eastern Forest, Biska had finished charging the lacrima powered gun she was going to use. With Alzack and Asuka cheering her on, she took aim and shot. Everyone throughout town, looked up as the shot flew over head. Atop the main enemy ship, though, Ajeel was waiting. Raising a palm, he was able to scatter the shot, saving his ship.
"Woah, to think that anyone could scatter Jupiter like that." Lily remarked.
"Guess we gotta do this the old-fashioned way then, take me down to the commander's ship!" Gajeel ordered.
While Natsu and Wendy continued to destroy ships, Lily dropped Gajeel down on the main ship, landing him right in front of Ajeel. Natsu and Wendy landed right behind him after one final attack.
"Look at the mess you've made..."
Ajeel trailed off as all three Dragon Slayer dropped to the deck, suffering from their motion sickness. They had completely forgotten that it was a ship they were landing on. Even Mavis had forgotten about the three's motion sickness.
"Wendy, what about your Troia!?" Lily asked.
"S...sorry...I...I can't do it...like this..." Wendy got out.
"What the hell is this? Well, whatever...the ship's pretty broken up, so we'll be landing in a few. Let me deal with these ones." Ajeel told his crew. He walked up to Natsu, grabbing him by the scarf to drag him up. "Remember what you said in that grand speech of yours back in Alvarez? Is this all you've got though...what a joke."
Before Ajeel could do a thing, he was forced to release Natsu as something managed to cut right through the ship, separating the part of the deck where Natsu and the others were and the part of the deck where Ajeel stood. Ajeel stood at the edge, watching as the other part of the deck fell towards the ground below. While Happy, Lily, and Carla swooped down to save the three Dragon Slayers, Erza landed on the deck behind Ajeel. Pissed off, Ajeel turned to face Erza.
Thus begun the battle between the King of Sand and Titania.
Natsu stared at the ship, but they couldn't stay there and he couldn't go to back her up. Not that he really thought she would need it.
"A number of ships have already landed...we'll be heading there." Wendy called to Gajeel and Natsu.
"I guess we've just gotta leave this to her. It's on board a ship anyway." Gajeel conceded.
"It's Erza we're talking about, after all." Lily remarked.
Inside the guild hall, Makarov and Mavis watched the battlefield.
"She's strong, but I'm afraid she won't be able to defeat one of the 12 on her own." Makarov remarked.
"We must believe in her." Mavis insisted.
"Our morale will definitely rise if we manage to stop the enemy and his fleet!" Warren exclaimed.
Be that as it may, so far, they were handling the attack well. While Freed's defense wasn't prefect and couldn't completely shield them, thanks to Natsu's team and Biska's team, the attacks of the enemy had been cut in half.
On the west cliffs outside Magnolia, enemy ships were landing, spilling enemies just outside the barrier Freed had raised. Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel chose this as their target, landing on the enemy soldiers with flying fist and feet. The common soldiers were easy enough for them to take down. It was their captain, a large man with scars on the lower half of his face, that put up a fight. While Natsu battle him, Erza continued to wage her war with Ajeel above.
As the battles carried on, Freed and the others at the guild hall suddenly became aware of a hole that had been opened in Freed's barrier.
"It can't be...could the enemy be using nullification magic?" Mavis asked.
"Such power...there was another one of the 12 with them!?" Makarov asked.
"They're coming through the streets! Everyone, prepare for battle!" Mavis declared.
Across Magnolia, everyone moved, getting ready for a fight. Lucy, still in her house, was getting prepare to move out herself when she heard a noise from her bathroom. Wary, she went to see what it was. When she opened the door to the bathroom, she found Brandish of the Spriggan 12, soaking in her bathtub.
"Oh, so this is indeed your house then?" Brandish asked off-handed.
"What is one of the 12 doing in my bathroom!?" Lucy exclaimed, shocked.
"I wonder why...You...left a rather deep impression." Brandish told her.
With Brandish, that made a total of three of the Spriggan 12 located in, or above, Magnolia. It was starting to look bad and to top it off, there was another three hundred ships coming at them from the north with another three of the 12 on board and another army of the same size with another three of the 12, coming from the south. And from the east...an army of, at least, a million people with the final three members of the Spriggan 12.
They were surrounded.
Even Mavis was starting to doubt that there would be a way to win this war. They were cornered and thoroughly so. To make things look even bleaker, Ajeel, in an attempt to do in Erza, created a sandstorm that seemed to surround the town, filling it with sand. Sand even came spilling into the guild hall. Everyone across town, even Ajeel's own comrades, were forced to shield their eyes as sand whipped at them from every angle.
The power to shrink an entire island, the ability to summon a sandstorm large enough to swallow an entire town...the power of the Spriggan 12 wasn't something to be taken lightly. Erza found herself with her back against a wall and Ajeel's hand around her throat. Slowly, his magic was draining her body of moisture. With the sand blocking sight and no way to counter against a mage that could move through the storm as if he was sand itself, Erza went with the first solid plan to pop into her head.
She swapped into her Morning Star armor.
Across the battle field, in the Eastern Forest, Biska spotted the light of the armor. She knew, without a doubt in her mind, that it was from Erza. Taking aim, she fired out of faith in her comrade. The shot hit Ajeel head on, giving Erza the opening she needed to land the final blow to win her battle with Ajeel. Afterward, though, she fell from the sky, too exhausted to save herself. Luckily, Natsu spied her as she fell.
Leaving Gajeel, Lily, and Carla to finish dealing with the small fry that continued to swarm them, Natsu, Happy, and Wendy took off toward Erza, Natsu catching her before she could crash head long into the ground.
Across town, thanks to all the pollen Ajeel's sandstorm kicked up, Brandish came down with hay fever, leaving her unable to keep her eyes open due to all her sneezing. It gave Cana the perfect chance to just simply knock Brandish over the head, rendering her unconscious. Hoping she could be of some use, Cana and Lucy took Brandish prisoner, carting her off to the guild hall to be locked up.
In another part of the town, Gray, Juvia, and the Strauss siblings were facing off against Badd and his soldiers. They found out quickly that these mage made soldiers were made to counter whatever magic they used against them. When Juvia tried to use her water body to avoid a punch, the soldier let out steam from his arm to cause her harm. When Gray used his ice magic, the soldier countered with fire magic. To counter Elfman, his enemy was super fast, while Lisanna's was reinforced, and, stupidly enough, for Mira, it was a soldier with Elfman's face.
Badd's magic, as they found out, was to construct soldiers that could exploit his enemy's weaknesses. A formidable magic indeed. It had Gray wondering, for just a moment, what the soldiers would use against certain friends of his; mainly Erza and Rette. Especially Rette who had a well rounded set of magic spells to cover for just about every weakness a person could exploit.
Deciding that his soldiers would be enough for Gray and his friends, Badd left the fight to seek out Freed. He was met with Bixlow and Evergreen as his opponents as they stood guard over Freed. Badd used his magic to create his soldiers. For Bixlow, it was a soldier capable of using white magic to purify his dolls. For Evergreen, it was a soldier that used mist magic, leaving her unable to use her dust magic. They switched to their alternate magic, both trying to use their eye magic, but against soldiers created from magic, it had no effect.
Evergreen tried turning her stone eyes on Badd, but, once again, it had no effect. It was then that Badd revealed himself to be a machina, one of the machine race. Lightning sparked through the air then, making Evergreen, Freed, and Bixlow think, for a moment, that Laxus had come to their aid. When they looked up, though, they were confronted by the sight of Ichiya.
The Thunder Legion stared at Ichiya in horror. They had forgotten all about him, despite having hijacked him and Christina in order to go help rescue Makarov. Badd turned to Ichiya, believe it just another weak enemy to deal with, but was shocked by just how many weaknesses, how many faults, Ichiya had. It was an over load, giving Badd an analysis error. But it only caused Badd to hesitate for a moment. Ichiya attempted to use his thunder purfum to fight Badd with electricity, but since Badd was not made with organic metals, he was not susceptible to electricity.
In fact, Badd absorbed the electricity, his form changing until he discharged it back at Ichiya, taking down him, Bixlow, and Evergreen. Freed became aware, then, that Badd would have been the worst enemy for Laxus to face and was grateful that it had been Ichiya who showed up and not Laxus. Thinking that his only hope was to undo his runes and fight Badd himself, Freed started to do just that. It was then that, through Warren's connection to everyone, Laxus' voice reached him.
"Freed! Don't undo the runes! They're attacking the guild from the west!"
Freed instantly buckled back down on his ruins
"My my...it seems that you instantly dispelled you runes just now. Self preservation over your precious runes. If you don't dispel your runes, you'll be killed...and thus you dispelled them without hesitation." Badd mocked.
"Freed! What the hell is your status over there!? I'm coming to back you up!" came Laxus' yell in Freed's head.
'No!' Freed thought back through the connection. 'Do not come here! We are the Thunder Legion...your bodyguards. We exist to protect you, Laxus! No...not just you...the entire guild!'
Bixlow and Evergreen attacked Badd then, from behind. They wouldn't give up, not now. They had their whole guild to think about. There was no time for them to roll over and play dead.
"I see...you still have quite a bit of fight left in you." Badd remarked, glancing over his shoulder.
"The Thunder Legion is far from running on empty!" Bixlow declared.
"It'll take more than this to bring us down!" Evergreen agreed.
Badd sent the two flying, ordering his soldiers to deal with them. Elfman's voice came ringing into Evergreen's head at that moment.
"If you have more than two over there, then let's switch opponents, Ever!"
Back over with Gray's group, some of them had switched opponents, Gray taking on Juvia's steam user while Juvia took on Gray's fire user. Once the opponents were switched, it became easy work for them to fight. They just proved that a even Badd's so-called Weakness Soldiers, had a weakness all of their own. Taking a page out of their comrades' book, Evergreen and Bixlow switched their opponents, easily taking on the solider that had previously given the other an issue.
But, they were one step too slow. Badd already had Freed's head clasped in his metal hand, ready to end Freed's life as he knew it. Just as Badd was about to end Freed's life, Natsu's voice came through, loud and clear.
"Enemies from the west...elinated...Hey! Can you hear me!? Can of whoop ass opened on the invaders from the west!"
Freed couldn't help the smile that curled his lips. Leave it to Natsu and his group to come through at the last second.
"I'd expect nothing less of you, Natsu." Freed remarked. "Now then...I can fight to my heart's content!"
Badd never knew what hit him. Between Freed and Ichiya, who used one of his purfumes to make himself ripped, they took down Badd with one hit.
With that, they had managed to make it through the night and survive the enemy's first wave of attack. Three of the twelve members of the Spriggan 12, were defeated, one even taken prisoner. With this victory, morale among the guild was boosted, and hope bloomed to life in every member. Maybe, just maybe, they could win this war after all.
And then Kardia Cathedral...blew up.
Badd, in a last attempt to take his enemies with him, triggered a self destruct feature in his body, blowing up the church. In a bid to save Ichiya, who had been standing on Badd's head, Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow had shielded him with their bodies. With that, they were now down three fighters and with enemies still on their way.
To the south, heading for Hargeon was an army lead by Dimaria and Wahl. Still thirty kilometers from shore, Wahl fired his super long distance anti-material magic canon, a canon that could reach all the way to Magnoila, which was another four hundred kilometers past that. Warren's radar picked up on it as it was closing in on them and fast. Mavis tried to get Freed to recast his barrier, but he wasn't responding. Instead, someone else answered the call.
In order to save Fairy Tail and repay Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow for saving his life, Ichiya flew Christina into the path of the canon shot. Even with the ship now destroyed, Ichiya was able to get out one message to every guild that Fairy Tail had ever befriend. From Lamia Scale, to Sabertooth, to Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, and even Quarto Cerberus. The message was simply.
Take up the fight, together.
END
Kyandi: Ichiya's not that bad.
Rette: He's not too bad...in small dosages.
Kyandi: Not someone you can handle for long periods?
Rette: Can you handle your sister for long periods?
Kyandi: Which one?
Rette: Your Evil Idea Generator.
Kyandi: No.
Rette: Yeah, well...my answer is the same.
Kyandi: Oh, come on. That's completely different. She's my sister.
Rette: An annoying person is an annoying person no matter the connection.
Kyandi: Bu...Okay, yeah, I see your point.
Rette: Told you so.
Kyandi: Anyway, everyone enjoy and review.
Rette: It's two in the morning so we'll be back with the other chapter tomorrow.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!