Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Read at your own risk. There's still original stuff in here, but if you haven't gotten to this point in the anime/manga, then some things may be ruined for you. I advise catching up to the anime/manga if you haven't already (for more reasons than just reading my story)! Thank you and enjoy!
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 35
Wendy continued to admire the flowers on the cliff, smiling as she watched the wind gently sway the stems side to side and smelled the sweet aroma that they offered. She released a relaxed sigh as she rested her chin on her open palms while she lay on the soft grass.
Mest, however, continued to stare at the open sea. 'I don't have too much time left before they get here. I need to act soon.'
"WENDY!"
The loud cry snapped Mest from his thoughts and Wendy from her enjoyment of the flowers as they both turned to see who had called out.
"Carla?" Wendy asked confused. "What are you doing here? I thought that you were in Magnolia."
Carla ran up to Wendy with Panther Lily right next to her. "I'll explain that later. For now, get away from that man!"
Wendy blinked. "What? What's gotten into you? Mest is my partner."
Panther Lily activated his magic power and took on his Edolas form, which was that of a tall and muscular black panther. He leapt forward and slammed Mest's back into a boulder. "Who are you?" Lily demanded.
Mest smiled nervously. "What do you mean? I'm Mest Gryder. I'm a member of Fairy Tail just like you."
Lily slammed his fist into the boulder right near Mest's face, shattering the rock and leaving an indentation. "Stop lying to me!" Lily roared. "I know that you aren't who you say you are."
"Lily, what's gotten into you?" Wendy cried.
"Stay out of this, child," Carla said.
"Guys, you know who I am. I'm Mest Gryder of Fairy Tail, pupil of Mystogan of Fairy Tail," Mest assured.
"And that's where your story falls apart," Lily growled. "The Prince, or Mystogan as he was known in Earth Land, made sure to keep his identity secret from everyone here whenever he visited. It's for this reason that I doubt he would ever take on a pupil in this world. Plus, no one here has any real connections with you, almost as if you haven't existed until recently. Now tell me the truth. Who the hell are you?"
"Look, I don't know what you mean," Mest said.
"What I mean is that I believe your magic allows you to manipulate people's memories. If what I suspect is true, then that would mean that you've been masquerading as a member of Fairy Tail since before the S-Class Trials began."
Mest said nothing while he stared down Lily.
"And if those two examples weren't enough to make me suspect you, the fact that you didn't know what the emergency red flare stood for tells me that you don't really know this guild as well as you should if you were a member for as long as everyone seems to think you've been," Lily stated. "Talk your way out of that."
Mest lifted his head slightly and then vanished without a word.
Lily's eyes widened in surprise. "No way. Teleportation magic?" He turned around to see Mest standing behind Wendy. "Wendy, look out!"
But it was too late. Mest had already grabbed Wendy.
"WENDY!" Carla shrieked.
"NO!" Lily shouted as he charged Mest.
"Get down!" Mest shouted as he tackled Wendy. Right after Mest said this, an explosion went off right where Mest and Wendy were standing.
Out of the cloud of smoke, Lily flew out with Carla in his arms. He scanned the area. "Was that an attack? Where's Wendy?"
"Over there!" Carla exclaimed while pointing to where Mest was wrapping his arms protectively around Wendy. Carla found it hard to process what she was seeing. 'I don't understand. Is he protecting her?'
Lily flew down to where the two were standing. "Wendy, are you alright?"
Wendy gave a small cough. "I think so."
Suddenly, a series of explosions sprang from the ground, forcing Mest and Wendy to be separated from Lily and Carla.
"Hang in there, Wendy!" Carla called out.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Mest demanded.
However, the only thing that anyone could see was a lone tree on the cliff. And from the trunk of the tree appeared a face.
"Not bad. Your reflexes are quite swift. I'm impressed," said the face in the trunk.
"Come out and face us, whoever you are!" Lily shouted.
"Of course," the voice said. Slowly, the face extended outwards as a figure began to take shape. The mages watched with caution as the voice in the tree took the form of a man with dark skin and brown strip-like hair. He wore a green tunic over a long sleeved orange shirt and he wore orange pants with green straps. He stood horizontal to the ground from the tree with his arms crossed. "My name is Azuma and I am one of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory."
"Grimoire Heart?" Wendy repeated.
"Yes, they're a dark guild," Carla responded.
"So this was what the red flare was about," Mest concluded. "Other Fairy Tail members must have seen more of these guys around the island." He chuckled. "This is fantastic. Originally, I was just going to dig up dirt on Fairy Tail to try and bring them down, but now, with Zeref and Grimoire Heart before me, things have only gotten better!"
"Mest, what are you saying?" Wendy asked. "What do you mean you're trying to bring down Fairy Tail?"
Mest laughed and looked at her with wide eyes. "Oh come on Wendy. Isn't it obvious by now? I'm a member of the Magic Council. I was sent to infiltrate Fairy Tail in order to find out any dark secrets that could tear the guild apart. The Magic Council has had its eye on Fairy Tail for quite some time, but after the whole business with the Bloody Moon guild, we realized that enough was enough and action had to be taken against the troublesome guild. Oh, and the name is Doranbolt, not Mest."
"No, that can't be true," Wendy whimpered.
"Interesting," Azuma said with a smirk.
Doranbolt turned back to Azuma. "Not only that, but I have the Magic Council's Custody Enforcement battleships prepared to bring you all in. And once I do, my career will soar!" Sure enough, off in the distance and fast approaching was a group of vessels bearing the symbol for the Magic Council on the masts.
Without turning around, Azuma said with a smile, "I must say those battleships you spoke of look awfully fragile." And with that, the Magic Council Custody Enforcement battleships exploded, the ruins floating on the surface of the water with smoke billowing from the wood.
Everyone looked on in horror.
"How could you do that to all of those innocent people?" Wendy asked in disbelief.
"No, that's not possible," Doranbolt murmured. "The Custody Enforcement unit was wiped out with such little effort. How strong is this man?"
"Did ya hear that?" Natsu asked while turning around.
"Aye," Happy replied. "It sounded like an explosion."
Natsu took off running. "I bet that's where the enemy is. Let's go, Happy!"
"Aye sir!"
The sound of a booming explosion reached Nikolias' ears, forcing him to stop his flight once more. "What the hell? An explosion? What's more, it's in the other direction of the flare." He grinded his teeth together in frustration. "There's too much shit going on everywhere. Where the hell should I be right now?" He thought as quickly as possible, not wanting to waste a second. After about 10 seconds, he made up his mind and took off flying. "If there's no one place to be, I'm going to go to base camp and hope that Fairy Tail will end up grouping up there."
Azuma pulled himself fully from the tree trunk and stood on the ground. "Now if that's all, I'd like to begin destroying you all now."
"How can you care so little for the lives you just took?" Wendy shouted over to him.
"Why should I care?" Azuma asked. "It's my duty to destroy everyone in Fairy Tail, so those who stand in my way become targets themselves."
"I've heard enough!" Lily roared as he lunged forward, prepared to brawl with the strange enemy.
The corner of Azuma's mouth turned up in a smile while he lifted his right hand. "BLEVE!" Upon command, a powerful blast erupted from his hand and engulfed Lily."
"Lily!" Carla shouted.
Azuma looked at the smoke from his attack with satisfaction. However, it quickly faded when Lily appeared from the smoke and swung his fist upwards, landing an uppercut punch to Azuma's jaw. Azuma quickly recovered, though, and pointed his hand at Lily once more. Without saying a word, small lights flickered all around Lily before erupting, causing the multiple lights to explode. Everyone went tumbling backwards from the force of the blasts.
Lily stood in a defensive stance as he tried to shake off the blasts. "Damn it. If only I had a sword with me."
"Don't worry, Lily," Wendy said. "You're not alone in this fight!" Magic power began surrounding her. She raised her arms and a magic circle appeared above her. "VERNIER!"
Lily could feel his entire body suddenly getting lighter. "So this is the power of support magic. Incredible. My entire body feels so much lighter."
Wendy lifted her hand once more, summoning yet another magic circle. "I'm not done! ARMS!"
Lily became surrounded in an aura of magic power. "I can feel my strength increasing as well." He then dashed forward with incredible speed. "With this speed and power, I will have no trouble dodging these explosions and taking this man out."
Azuma raised his hand and pointed it at Lily again, attempting to hit him with the mini explosions like before. However, thanks to Wendy's combination of Vernier and Arms, Lily was simply too fast for the attack.
The one thing that frustrated Lily was that close combat was difficult. While keeping his distance was a simple enough task, Lily knew that he couldn't dodge forever. However, if he got close enough to land a kick or punch, Azuma would have no problem blocking or swatting away any attack. Lily wouldn't give up, however. He needed to win for Fairy Tail.
Wendy watched Lily for a while before turning to Droanbolt. "Mest, I need you to help me with taking this guy down."
Doranbolt looked at Wendy in confusion. "First of all, I told you that my name is Doranbolt, not Mest. Secondly, why would I help you? My goal is to take down Fairy Tail, not aid it in its fight with a dark guild."
"And you'll fail!" Wendy said in a surprisingly harsh tone. "Nothing you can do will take us down. I don't care if you're from the Magic Council. I don't care if you're upset by the war we had between ourselves and the Bloody Moon guild—a war in which they initiated. All I care about is protecting my guild. Now please, help me do that!"
Doranbolt couldn't believe that this was the same girl that he had partnered up with for these Trials. The once unsure, quiet, emotional young girl he thought he knew was now a confident, mature, young mage. 'Do I help her to take down this foe?'
Meanwhile, Lily kept up his assaults, looking for any blind spot or weak point to take advantage of while dodging explosion after explosion.
And then he heard someone call out, "Lily, fly!"
Lily turned his head slightly to see Carla shouting over to him. Without another moment's hesitation, Lily summoned his magic wings and leapt up into the air.
Once Lily was high enough, Doranbolt immediately appeared behind Azuma. "DIRECT LINE!"
In his arms was Wendy, who was charging up her magical power in her mouth. 'If I can hit him with my Sky Dragon Roar then maybe we can win!'
Lily smirked from his spot in the air. 'We got him.'
However, Azuma almost immediately sensed their presence the second they transported. "Enough." He held his arms out to the side without turning around. "TOWER BURST!" Upon command, a towering explosive inferno rocked the island, completely engulfing Wendy, Doranbolt, Lily, and Carla in raging fires. They all screamed in agony as pain ripped through their bodies.
"Natsu! Look at that!" Happy cried as a towering inferno shot into the sky.
"Yeah, I see it Happy. I just hope everyone's alright," Natsu said as he kicked it into another gear.
"What do you think it was?"
"I don't know, buddy, but I know it ain't good." He clenched his jaw as thoughts of Lucy being involved in the blast swarmed around in his mind. 'Please Lucy, be alright. If anything happens to you, I'll never forgive myself.'
Azuma looked down from his perch on the cliff at the motionless bodies of Wendy, small Panther Lily, Carla, and Doranbolt. He sighed. "If this is the best this guild can do—a little girl and two cats—then this assignment will be all too simple to complete." He turned and began to melt into the earth. "Now to find Zeref and hopefully a challenging opponent."
A few moments after Azuma completely disappeared, Natsu burst through the tree line, running as fast as he could. It was then that he saw his guild mates and "Mest" lying on the ground. "Wendy!" he cried as he ran to her side, lifting her small frame in his arms.
She gave a small moan before slowly opening her eyes. She looked at Natsu's worried face. "Natsu…you're here?"
"I heard and saw the explosions. Are you alright?"
She gave a small nod. "I think so."
"What about the others?"
"We're okay, Natsu," Lily groaned as he pushed his body off the ground with his small arms. Carla followed suit as well. "Just a little scratch."
"What the hell happened?" he asked.
Wendy gripped his arm with the little strength she had left. "It was the dark guild Grimoire Heart. They're here, Natsu, and they want to kill everyone in the guild."
"What?" Natsu growled.
"That's what the flare was about," Carla said. "It was a warning that Grimoire Heart had infiltrated the island."
"Grimoire Heart, huh?" Natsu said as he helped Wendy to her feet. "Well if they want to pick a fight with Fairy Tail, we'll rip 'em to shreds!" He then noticed "Mest" on the ground. "Was he involved?"
Wendy slowly shook her head. "No, he's a member of the Magic Council."
"The Magic Council? What are they doing here?" he asked.
"That's not the issue," Carla said. "Right now, we need to prepare ourselves for a war like no other. It will probably be even more difficult than the war with Bloody Moon."
Natsu huffed. "Well no matter who they are or how tough they are, we'll destroy 'em for messing with us!"
"Look!" Meredy cried from Grimoire Heart's flying airship. "It's in view now. The fairy island, Tenrou."
A small chuckle escaped Hades' throat. "Excellent. It's almost time."
Ultear smirked, but it quickly faded when she saw something rise up from the surface of the water. "What in the world?"
"What the fuck is that?" Zancrow asked.
From below the airship rose Makarov as he activated his Titan magic, his large form blocking the path of Grimoire Heart's vessel.
Hades grinned. "Well, this is quite a surprise."
"A giant?" Ultear asked.
"Well this sucks. He's in our way," Zancrow complained.
"Who is that?" Meredy asked.
"Who else but Makarov," Hades said.
"Be gone," Makarov bellowed. "Turn back now or suffer the full wrath of Fairy Tail."
Hades only chuckled.
Seeing the enemy show no signs of retreat, Makarov pulled back his fist and sent it crashing into the airship, taking out the right side and causing the ship to start falling to the ground.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Hades commanded.
After the command, the ship managed to dodge Makarov's next punch.
"Now, prepare the Jupiter cannon!" Hades called out.
Quickly, the cannon extended and fired a powerful blast of magic at Makarov. However, he easily blocked it with his arm, leaving marks behind, but not deterring Makarov in the slightest.
"That's not possible!" Meredy cried. "How could he block the Jupiter cannon?"
"You've grown stronger," Hades commented just as Makarov landed a kick on the bottom of the ship and shattering the steel.
"Ultear, take care of this now!" Hades demanded.
"Yes, sir," Ultear said as her eyes began to glow. "ARC OF TIME: RESTORE!" The ship was surrounded by a pink mist of magic and began to restore itself as if time were rewinding. After a few seconds, the ship was completely restored as if nothing had happened.
'Impossible,' Makarov thought.
"Caprico, get all of our forces onto the island. I'll deal with Makarov," Hades commanded.
"As you wish," Caprico said as he clapped his hands together. Everyone on the ship then suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. Caprico then shot out of the ship with a magic jetpack and flew towards the island.
Makarov watched him fly by. "Run like cowards if you wish, but you cannot escape your doom." He then looked back towards the ship and raised his hands to chest level and summoned a ball of light. "I'm going to give you until the count of three to leave here. Otherwise, all of you and your comrades will be obliterated."
"Fairy Law, eh?" Hades said. "The spell that vanquishes anyone who the caster sees as their enemy. Interesting."
"One!"
"I want to see it in action," Hades said as he made his way to the top of the ship.
"Two!"
Hades stood on the top of his ship and smirked.
"Three! Your time is up!" Makarov said and clapped his hands together, the light shining through the cracks. "FAIRY LAW!"
"Don't be so hasty," Hades said as a ball of darkness began collecting in a vortex between his hands. "GRIMOIRE LAW!"
"What?" Makarov said in bewilderment.
"These spells will serve their purposes. Lesser men would be deterred by them. So unless one of us backs down, the world will be scarred," Hades explained.
Makarov separated his hands and the light faded. "That's…not possible!" Disbelief was written all over his face.
"Hello, boy," Hades smirked.
"It is you. Master Precht!" Makarov said. "Fairy Tail's second master! Why?"
Hades didn't respond. He simply lifted his hand and summoned a purple magic circle. From the magic circle, grappling hooks with magic white chains shot forward and crashed into Makarov, knocking Makarov back into the water. Hades then grabbed the white chains and whipped Makarov into the cliff side. He then whipped the chains around to send Makarov sliding across the ground of the island. The impact wore out Makarov's Titan magic and caused him to return to his small self.
Makarov was able to land on the ground fairly easily and slapped the ground with his palm, summoning his Ten Wizard Saints cloak. He then glared at Hades, who had leapt from his ship and landed on the ground. "Tell me why. Why did you trade in your ideals for darkness?"
"I see that the years didn't open your eyes. You still see the world in nothing but black and white. I hoped that being the third guild master of Fairy Tail would broaden this narrow view," Hades said.
"I don't give a damn!" Makarov cried. "My vision may not be broad, but at least I can see my enemies clearly." He stood and clenched his fists. "As much as I'm disgusted by your choices, I have no desire to fight you here. Leave before we do something drastic."
"Although it's not what I'd like to do, I can see that you're in my way. Fairy Tail, my former guild, will be destroyed by my hands."
Makarov summoned his magic power. "You'll have to go through me first!"
Hades summoned his magic power as well. "If you wish to throw your life away, then so be it. You shall be the first casualty of Fairy Tail!"
Caprico flew over the island. "And so it begins," he said as he dropped hundreds of orange orbs towards the ground of Tenrou Island. Once the orbs got close to the ground, they burst apart and revealed Grimoire Heart's minions as well as the Seven Kin of Purgatory. "Zeref will be ours and Fairy Tail will fall."
"Well it looks like we have company," Natsu said as he, Wendy, Happy, Lily, Carla, and Doranbolt found themselves surrounded by Grimoire Heart masked minions.
"Damn. I don't have a lot of energy left after that fight with that Azuma character," Lily said.
"Don't worry about it," Natsu said as his hands went ablaze. "I'll take care of things here quickly so that I can go find Lucy."
Wendy smiled. "Right. We have to make sure that we find everyone. I'll help however I can."
"Charge!" one of the minions cried and all of them attacked.
"FIRE DRAGON PULSE!" Natsu roared as a condensed orb of fire collected in his hand. He then shot it towards the mass of charging minions. The orb impacted with the ground in front of the minions and discharged a wave of fire that knocked back multiple minions.
"SKY DRAGON ROAR!" Wendy cried as she unleashed a tornado of wind towards the minions on her side. Her attack crashed into the ground, sending at least a dozen minions flying into the air. After finishing her attack, she wobbled on her legs. "Oh no! I'm running low on power."
"Take it easy, child," Carla warned. "You haven't been able to rest from your battle with Azuma. Don't push yourself."
"But I need to help Natsu!" she said.
"Don't worry, Wendy," Natsu assured. "Take a rest. I've got these assholes."
"But Natsu…," she began.
"No buts. You need to take it easy," he interrupted. He then turned his head to see even more minions approaching. "Damn, are they multiplying? Get lost! I can't be wasting too much time here!" He allowed flames to engulf his arms. "FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!" Natsu swung his arms as trails of fire lashed out like whips. He sent the flames straight into the minions, knocking away almost half of the large crowd.
"Incredible, Natsu!" Wendy cheered.
"This guy is way strong!" one minion said.
"He's a demon!" another commented.
"What are you little dickheads doing?" came a voice from above.
All of the Fairy Tail members, Doranbolt, and the Grimoire Heart members looked up to see a man with wild yellow hair and crazy red eyes standing on a small cliff and looking down.
"Zancrow!" one of the minions cried.
"How could you morons be having trouble with Fairy Tail? I can't believe how pathetic you are. Now get lost. I'll clean up your mess," Zancrow said with a sneer.
The minions began to walk away.
"Thanks, Zancrow. That guy was way too strong," a minion said.
And that was the biggest mistake he had ever made, for Zancrow heard this comment. Just like that, Zancrow's wild grin was gone, only to be replaced by a look of fury. "What did you say?" he spat. "Did you just say that this Fairy Tail trash was strong?" Black flames began surrounding him. "Grimoire Heart is the strongest guild out there and it has no need for such weaklings. Die now, you pathetic excuses for scum!" Zancrow sent out his black fire towards the Grimoire Heart minions, completely disintegrating them on the spot.
Natsu looked on in horror. "How could you do that? They were your friends, weren't they?"
Zancrow laughed maniacally. "Friends? Of course not. Those little pissants weren't good enough to lick the ground beneath my feet. They were just wasting space." He looked Natsu over. "You don't look that strong to me."
Natsu set his whole body ablaze. "I don't care what you think. I'm Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail, the Fire Dragon Slayer! I will tear you apart!"
"And I'm Zancrow, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. And I guess it's just not your lucky day, Dragon Slayer." He increased his power. "The power to slay dragons is nothing to the power to slay gods!"
"What?" Natsu asked.
Zancrow laughed. "That's right! I'm the Flame God Slayer and you have no chance to defeat me, Dragon Slayer!"
"Where the hell did all of these guys come from?" Cana asked as she, Lucy, Gray, and Loke found themselves completely surrounded by Grimoire Heart's minions.
"Who cares? Just take them out! They're the enemy!" Gray said as he got into position. "ICE MAKE: HAMMER!" A large hammer made completely of ice appeared and Gray sent it crashing into the ground. Several minions were easily knocked away.
"I guess you're right," Lucy said as she used her whip to strike several minions. "I just hope Natsu's alright."
"Don't let your worries cloud your mind," Loke said as he sent a blast of light towards a large group of incoming minions. "I'm sure he's fine."
"You're right," Lucy said with a smile. 'Still, it would be so much more reassuring to be with him. Had I known this would happen, I wouldn't have turned down his offer for partnership.'
Cana threw out a few cards. "SUMMONED LIGHTNING!" she cried as lightning shot out and struck several minions. They lay unconscious, but Cana was frustrated to see more take their place. "Damn, it's like a fucking hydra. Take out a few and even more will replace them."
"This is going to be a huge waste of magic energy and effort," Gray mumbled. "Their numbers are the only kind of advantage that they have here."
"Just stay strong. We need to wipe these guys out quick and regroup with everyone," Loke said.
"Right. Let's get this done," Lucy said.
The four continued to fight for what seemed like forever. They had no trouble taking out large groups at a time, but the sheer numbers of the Grimoire Heart forces was wearing them out.
"Damn," Lucy panted. "This isn't going quickly at all."
"There are simply too many of these assholes," Cana said. "How are we supposed to beat them?"
And then, they all vanished in a flash of light.
"Wh…What the hell happened?" Lucy said, stunned.
"I don't know," Gray said. "They're gone."
"That would be my doing," said a strange voice. The four mages turned to see a tall goat-like man standing before them. He wore a suit that cut off about halfway down his upper body and tight black pants. He wore dark sunglasses on his face that kept his eyes covered. "They were simply not a challenge for you, so I sent them away."
"Who are you?" Cana demanded.
"My name is Caprico and I am one of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory."
"Seven Kin of Purgatory?" Lucy said.
"Grimoire Heart. So they're the enemy that attacked us," Gray said. "That's definitely bad news. They're the head of the Barum Alliance."
Loke stared at Caprico. "No, it couldn't be."
"Now then," Caprico said. "As I have no desire to know your names, allow me to begin our plans, starting with the extermination of the fairies."
"Well this ain't good," Elfman said as he and Evergreen stood back to back. "We're completely surrounded."
"I know that symbol," Evergreen said as she examined the men that surrounded them. "They're with Grimoire Heart, the head of the Barum Alliance. This will be tricky."
"I don't give a damn where they're from," Elfman said as his arm glowed. "I'll take them out regardless 'cause that's what it means to be a man! BEAST ARM: IRON BULL!" His arm became completely iron as he swung it in an arc in front of him. The attack knocked away several minions.
"This isn't good. There are way too many," Evergreen said.
"We can't worry about that," Elfman said as he swung his arm around again, taking out more minions. "Just help me fight them off!"
"Fine," she sighed as she lifted her glasses and her eyes started to glow. "STONE EYES!" All of the minions who were in front of her were turned to stone.
"Whoa, nice job!" Elfman commented. "That took out a bunch of 'em. I always forget how scary you can be."
Evergreen blushed. "But you're the last person I want to think that," she mumbled.
"What was that?" Elfman said as he finished punching away a couple minions. "I didn't hear you."
"Forget it," Evergreen huffed.
"My, my, my. I seem to have arrived just in time for a lover's quarrel," came a voice in the distance. Elfman and Evergreen turned to see a lanky man with silver hair that rose upwards walking towards them. He wore a gray shirt with a navy blue coat and a belt around his waist to hold up his black pants. His gloved hands were fidgeting with the dark sunglasses that he wore on his face. "Such a shame to see two people fight like that."
"We are not a couple!" Evergreen shot back.
"I would disagree," Rustyrose said with a smile while adjusting his sunglasses. "The love can be felt in the air! It's as if it has a physical body."
"What a weird man," Elfman said.
"I agree," Evergreen said. "His manner of speech is off-putting and the way he keeps adjusting his glasses makes me think that he has a serious problem."
"How insulting," Rustyrose said. "Still, it's good to see the lovers getting along again."
"She already told you, we're not a couple!" Elfman roared, oblivious to the small flinch that Evergreen gave. "There are only two actual couples in our guild and we ain't one of them."
"Such a shame," Rustyrose said. "Love would have increased your power. Now you have no chance of defeating me, the great Rustyrose of Grimoire Heart's elite Seven Kin of Purgatory!"
"Seven Kin of Purgatory?" Evergreen repeated.
"It may be true that whenever Natsu protects Lucy or when Nikolias protects my sister their power skyrockets, but that doesn't mean power can't increase when protecting friends!" Elfman roared. "We'll take you down to protect our Fairy Tail family and each other!"
"Yes!" Rustyrose exclaimed. "That's the love that will make you at least entertaining! Come and show me the power that you possess, fairies!"
"This isn't good," Erza said as she and Juvia faced down the minions of Grimoire Heart that appeared before them. "We still haven't found Wendy yet."
"We must hurry and defeat these men before something bad happens to Wendy," Juvia said. "Juvia will give her all to defeat these people and find the rest of the guild."
"Good. Then let's make quick work of them!" Erza cried as she requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor. She then held out her dual blades and summoned more swords by her side. "Dance, my blades!" Upon command, the swords began to spin in a disc-like formation and flew towards their enemies, knocking away several minions.
"WATER SLICER!" Juvia cried as she sent water blades in various directions, taking down multiple opponents all over.
The two were able to take down multiple opponents at a time, but the numbers never ceased.
"We must try harder, Juvia!" Erza said as she slashed at an attacker. "We cannot allow ourselves to be stalled here!"
Gracie continued to run as fast as she could, but had found herself trudging through a swamp of sorts, which cut her speed drastically.
"Great. Just freaking great. I can't be held up by this. I need to help out!" she said to herself while she powered through the water. "I hate water, I hate water, I hate water, I hate water, I HATE WATER!" She then put a hand to her mouth. "No offense to Juvia, though!" she called out in case Juvia was in ear shot.
Suddenly, orange orbs began falling from the sky. As they burst open, men and women with weapons appeared and surrounded her.
"The hell is this?" Gracie asked.
"We're with Grimoire Heart," one minion said, "and we came to eliminate the fairies!"
Gracie's eyes widened. "So you're the ones attacking the island?"
"Yes, and we'll start by killing you!" another minion said as the mass of minions readied their weapons.
Gracie giggled. "Oh how I love when good things happen! You're the jackasses I've been looking for! Sure, I'm sure there are more of you, but gotta start somewhere, right?" She then clapped her hands together and became enveloped in a golden aura. She then closed her eyes and held her arms out to the side. "Come forth, katanas!" In a flash of light, twin blades formed in Gracie's hands. She twirled them in her hands before taking a battle stance. "Time for some fun!"
"Get her!" one cried and all charged forward.
Gracie giggled again. "Child's play." She then dashed forward with incredible speed and slashed through the chests of five men in one swing before breaking through the mass and to the other side. She watched as the five men collapsed to the ground and stained the water red.
The minions turned to start their attack anew, but Gracie's positioning put her at an advantage, for they were no longer surrounding her. She charged forward again, blocking weapons and dodging attacks with nimble movements and swift reactions. With each dodge or parry, Gracie would plunge a katana into a critical place, killing her opponent instantly before swiftly pulling out the weapon and starting all over again. Before long, the numbers were decreasing and the water was becoming an ever darker shade of crimson.
After about three minutes of pure carnage, the minions realized they stood no chance and decided to run. However, they never saw the error in turning their backs on the weapon master before them. Gracie took full advantage of their cowardice and decapitated them all in a few swift and effortless swings.
Gracie allowed her katanas to disappear as she admired her work. "Damn. It's more fun with Niky around to talk to. I don't do well alone 'cause I love to talk and I hate talking to myself. Makes me feel like a lunatic and I'm not a lunatic." She slapped her cheeks with her hands. "Ah! What am I still standing here for?" She took off running as fast as she could through the blood-thick water. "I have to find the others and help them out if I can! I just hope I'm not too late. Damn this water!"
Erza and Juvia continued to take out their opponents, but it was as if it were a never-ending infestation that couldn't be extinguished.
"This is so pointless," Erza growled. "We need to find the others, not waste our time fighting these people."
"Juvia agrees, but right now we can't go anywhere," Juvia said as she used a Water Whip to knock away some opponents.
"We need to go faster!" Erza roared as she slashed through more attackers.
"Come forth, halberd!" came a voice that Erza and Juvia both recognized. They turned to see blood flying into the air as Gracie plowed through the crowd of minions. She looked up to see Erza and Juvia looking at her and her face lit up. "Erza! Juvia!" she squealed while plunging her halberd's tip into a downed minion's heart. "I was wondering why these guys were just standing around. I'm so glad I found you guys!"
"Gracie, what are you doing here?" Erza asked while attacking more minions. "Aren't you supposed to be with the Master at the first guild master's grave?"
Gracie swung her halberd around with incredible force, cleanly slicing through the thighs of several minions and preventing them from standing. "Yeah, but we sensed a lot of bad juju on the island, so I got permission to go investigate in case people needed help. Do you have any idea what's going on here?"
"Grimoire Heart is attacking us," Juvia explained while fighting people off with her water.
Gracie kicked down a minion before plunging her halberd into his chest. She then used his body to stabilize her halberd while she vaulted herself forward to land a devastating kick to another minion's face. Once she landed, she ripped her halberd from the corpse of the minion and slammed the axe blade into the face of the man she kicked. She then removed the blade from the man's split face and swung it in front of her, slicing through the necks of three minions and causing them to fall lifeless into the water. "Grimoire Heart?"
"A dark guild," Erza said. "I can explain it better later, but now is not the time."
"Okay, if you say so," Gracie sighed. "It's more fun for me when I can have a conversation while I'm fighting, though."
Erza smiled. "A unique way of going about things, I suppose."
Gracie giggled. "You know me. I'm unique!"
"You certainly are," Erza said as she slashed through another minion.
After a few more minutes of fighting, the last minion fell to Erza's sword.
"All finished?" Gracie asked.
"Looks like we defeated them all," Juvia said.
"Good," Erza said as she requipped to her regular armor. "Now, let's go find Wendy and the others."
"Right," Gracie said.
"I'm afraid you can't do that," came a voice from the shadows of the trees.
"Who said that?" Gracie asked as she whipped around. "A ghost? Or a swamp monster?"
Erza sweat-dropped. "A unique imagination, too."
"Look!" Juvia said while pointing ahead.
In front of them approached a small girl with a billowing red cloak. Beneath the cloak, she wore a tight purple leotard and high boots. Atop her short pink-hair sat golden wing-like headgear. She stopped before them. "As it is part of our mission, I must eliminate you here and now."
"Who are you?" Erza demanded. "Identify yourself!"
"Irrelevant information," the girl said.
Gracie noticed a mark on her red cloak. "That mark looks like the same one on these guys, so she's from Grimoire Heart."
"A correct observation," the girl said.
"You're like a mini robot," Gracie giggled. "C'mon, tell me your name."
The girl looked at Gracie. "I will tell you if you tell me who you are. There are two people on this island that I know nothing about and you're one of them."
"Hi, I'm Gracie!" Gracie exclaimed.
"Now tell me about the other one," the girl said.
"What other one?" Erza asked.
The young girl blushed slightly. "The man with the black wings."
"Oh, you mean Niky," Gracie said.
"Niky…," she mumbled as her blush grew.
"She told you her name and even the name of her partner. Now tell us your name," Juvia demanded.
"I'm Meredy and I am one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
Erza's eyes widened. "You're one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory?"
Meredy nodded. "Yes and it is part of my mission to destroy Fairy Tail and I won't fail."
Mira and Lisanna stood back to back as more and more minions flooded the base camp.
"This is bad, Mira," Lisanna said. "What should we do?"
"We need to defend the base camp," Mira said. "If anyone is injured, we need to be able to help them."
Lisanna nodded. "Right. ANIMAL SOUL: TIGRESS!" Lisanna, now in this form, leapt forward and attacked the minions with her sharp claws. She kept up a relentless string of attacks to fend off as many as she could.
Mira fought them off as best she could with the tools at her disposal. 'If only I still had some energy left, but I wasted almost all of it during the Trials.'
The two fought hard and fortunately, the minions weren't very skilled. After a while, their incredible numbers began to dwindle before the last minions fell to Mira's frying pan.
Lisanna returned to her human form. "That was tough. There were so many."
Mira nodded and smiled at her sister. "Yeah it was. You were quite impressive, Lisanna."
"Thank you, Mira," Lisanna said as she returned the smile.
"How disappointing," came a voice from the ground. Mira and Lisanna both turned to see a dark skinned man with brown strip-like hair rise from the ground. "First children and cats and now two young women. I would do anything for a good fight right about now. This is getting a little annoying."
"Who are you?" Mira demanded. "Why are you attacking us?"
"My name is Azuma of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory. We're here to retrieve something from this island and the fact that Fairy Tail stands in our way makes you an obstacle to eliminate."
"Grimoire Heart," Mira muttered. "The head of the Barum Alliance is here?"
"What are you here to retrieve?" Lisanna shouted.
"That's not important for you to know," Azuma said. "Now, since eliminating the Fairy Tail wizards on this island is part of the mission, I'll continue with you two, even if I don't get a good fight out of it."
Nikolias continued to fly with all of his strength towards base camp. Suddenly, he saw orange orbs fall from the sky. "What the hell?"
The orbs burst open and revealed armed men and women.
"There's one now!" a minion exclaimed. "Take him out!"
"What the hell is going on around here?" Nikolias asked himself aloud. The next thing he knew, blasts of concentrated magic were being fired at him. He was able to dodge fairly effortlessly before growling. "Annoying little pests." He gathered shadows in his mouth as he leaned forward. "SHADOW…" He threw his head back while inhaling deeply. "…DRAGON ROAR!" He unleashed a mighty vortex of shadows down at the enemies, breaking the bodies of those directly in its path and knocking away several others.
"Take it down!" one minion shouted as the firing continued.
"If you want me on the ground, fine!" Nikolias exclaimed as he headed for the ground. "I'll just rip you to shreds up close instead of from a distance!" Shadows began to dance around him. "SHADOW DRAGON SHOCKWAVE!" He crashed into the ground and, after a second-long delay, a concussive blast of shadows spread out and blew away several minions, many of whom crashed into thick tree trunks and broke their spines and skulls.
"What kind of monster is this?" one minion said in horror.
Nikolias rose from the dust cloud and stared down the minions with golden dragon eyes, rage all over his face. Black blades then shot from his forearms as he crouched down. "Who's first to die?" He waited a couple seconds. "No takers? Fine, I'll choose." He then dashed forward with blinding speed, slashing a minion in half before he even knew what hit him. He then proceeded to slash through any minion that was within reach with incredible speed, power, and precision.
"Show no fear!" a minion cried. "Show this fairy that Grimoire Heart is to be feared!"
Nikolias roared as he slashed through countless minions with his black blades. "Why won't you little fuckers get the fuck out of my way? I'm getting fed up with you!"
"Kill that thing!" a minion screamed, fear evident in his voice.
Nikolias spread his black wings and took to the skies once more. "Alright, enough is enough! I don't have time to deal with you. I have to make sure everyone is okay. So just die!"
"Take out his wings so that he can't fly away!" ordered a minion.
The firing intensified, forcing Nikolias to fly around to evade the blasts. This, of course, only pissed him off even more. "This is just fucking ridiculous now!"
And then a wave of dread spread through his body. It was a feeling of foreboding that he was all too familiar with. "Mira," he breathed. "Why do I get the feeling that she's in danger?" He clenched his teeth as he stopped his flight at a height that their blasts couldn't reach. "Now I really don't have time for you! She needs my help and so help me if anything happens to her I will pull your rotting corpses from the ground and kill you all over again!" he roared. He put his hands close together and began collecting shadows between his hands. Once a large ball of shadows was created, he grabbed it with his right hand and cocked back his arm. "NEVERMORE!" He thrust his arm forward, unleashing a powerful blast of shadows down to the ground. It crashed into the ground with incredible force, destroying the bodies of anyone it hit. He continued his ferocious attack, moving his hand to direct Nevermore so that it would hit everyone below him. Once he felt satisfied that all had perished, he flew towards the ground to make sure that he got them all. Sure enough, all lay broken and dead on the ground before him. "Serves you right, jackasses."
Suddenly, the same foreboding feeling washed over him again only this time, much stronger. "Mira," he breathed again as he took to the skies and flew with all of this might. "Hold on! I'm coming, Mira!"