Riders in Fiore

by Erzats

Shocker manage to escape the Riders by using their last invention : a gate to another world. Follow 6 of the Riders as they follow them to try and stop them before they could do whatever they are planning to do. And they'll find friends to fight with in the most famous of the Guild. Basically my take on "Neo-Heisei Rider Tail". Small risks of OOC. Rating just to be sure.

35. Chapter 34 : Satan's awakening

Alright ! I hope you guys are all feeling good. As I'm French, I'm sending my prayers and thought to the high schooler currently undergoing their finals exam. Good luck to all of you !

I'd like to talk about something Lockon said in his review about how I disrespected Gaim and Fairy Tail by turning characters into Inves before making them go back to their normal form when it shouldn't be possible. I perfectly know that, but I don't think there is any kind of official information about Fiore's mages and Helheim Fruit. So I'm sorry if I allow myself some fantasies in my own story. Furthermore, the chapter 34 (33 if you don't count the author note I did) is not the first time I make a mage eat a Helheim Fruit, I already did in chapter 24 with Gajeel so why react only now ? Basically, this is my story, mixing two completely different universe, so I'm sorry if I can only imagine how things might interact.

Just a reminder, for those who might have forgotten, I'm not the owner of neither Fairy Tail not Kamen Rider, I'm only using them.

EDIT : I added some elements when Sento use his new Hybrid form since someone pointed something out of it to make things clearer.

Let's not waste any more time and let's get down to business.

Chapter 34 : Satan's awakening

The townspeople, looking up at the sky above Magnolia, didn't knew what to think of the glass-like orbs floating all around the city. Many of them thought that this was just something the mages of the town were preparing for Fantasia but some others couldn't help but feel worried about those things, not knowing what they were but fearing this might be bad news. And they should all be worried as those Lachryma, in less than an hour, will release enough thunder magic to blow the town to smithereens. And the Fairy Tail mages were currently doing everything to stop it before it was too late, or at least those who were still able to fight since this huge city-wide battle had taken down a lot of them already. But they were slowly taking things back into their own hands. Out of the three Raijinshu, only one was left after Evergreen got beaten by Erza and Emu, and Bickslow lost against Lucy and Kouta. And speaking about the Stellar Spirit Mage, she was currently feeling the tiredness overcoming her whole body.

- "Huh… My body…" she muttered while letting herself fall on top of a pile of bags, her legs to weak to carry her anymore.

- "Well, you did use two of the twelve ecliptic gates, after all…" Reminded Happy, standing next to her as she panted, Kouta walking up to her, back in civilian clothes.

- "That and the use of a Hybrid form might be too much for your body to handle. You should rest for a little while." Said the Rider, grabbing the Lemon Lockseed she was handing back to him as Leo walked up to her and kneeled next to her, holding something in his hand.

- "And I'll always be here, whenever you need me." He said as Lucy grabbed her keys from him, smiling as she did before Leo looked back at Kouta, serious once again. "So, what are you gonna do ? I can't really go anywhere without my master so I can't go with you."

- "Well I…"

- "YEE !"

Kouta was stopped dead in his track by a familiar battle cry coming from a whole platoon of Shocker Combatmen, all rushing toward him and his friends, Lucy and Happy gasping in shock while Leo and Kouta got ready for the fight.

- "Well first, I'll take care of those guys. You don't mind giving me a hand, Leo ?"

KIWI !

- "Not at all."

- "HENSHIN !"

SOIYA ! KIWI ARMS ! GEKI, RIN, SEI-YA HA !

They may have been surprised by the sudden attack, but that only lasted a few seconds and after that, Leo and Kouta got rid easily of the Combatmen, either punching them with light infused fist or slashing them with the Kiwi Gekirin. In less than two minutes, all the soldiers had been defeated, leaving Leo and Kouta who got back to Lucy and Happy.

- "You wanted to know what I'm going to do now ? Well I'm going to search the whole city for Laxus if no one found him already, but I'm also going to look for the Shocker men who might still be here. Stay here Lucy, you and Happy should be safe here." After saying that, Kouta began to walk away, but was interrupted by Lucy who had one last question to ask.

- "Wait Kouta, I need to know something." He turned around, waiting for her question. "How did you get rid of Bickslow's puppets ? If you simply destroyed them, he could have simply put the souls in another set of bodies. What did you do exactly ?"

- "It's a little bit complicated to explain." He chuckled, confusing Lucy. "Don't worry, I'll explain it to you but not now. I have things to do and anyway, to explain it, I'll have to reveal some things and I'd prefer to do it with everyone here. I'll see you later." And with that, he left the mage and spirit, confused by what he just said and wondering what kind of revelation he had to do. But they put it on hold for now, the blonde in need of sleep while Leo disappeared, going back to his world, hoping everything will turn out nicely for his friends.

/- Back at the guild -/

Lucy and Kouta vs Bickslow. Winner : Lucy and Kouta

Lucy and Kouta vs Inves Bickslow. Winner : Lucy and Kouta

- "You're kidding me ! That bunny-girl could actually fight ?!"

While the girls and Rider were out there fighting to save the town from its impending doom, the one left at the guild were following what was going on outside with the result board left by Freed. And needless to say, the last two results were shocking for a certain Iron Dragon.

- "No way ! I mean, she's a freaking bunny !" He said, not believing what he was seeing. "I'm sure that fruity guy did all the work !"

- "Nah, he didn't." said Natsu confidently with his arms crossed, a proud smile on his face. "Lucy is pretty strong by herself."

- "That's Lu-chan for you !" Proudly stated Levy, looking up from the book she had splattered all around her on the ground, kneeling on it as she was still working on a way to bypass the enchantment that trapped the boys here. "And I've got to do my best as well !"

Meanwhile, Shinnosuke was on the phone, talking with Kouta who was giving him a report of the situation, one that was far more dire than the policeman first though. He was now feeling his whole body itch for some action, to have a chance to help his friends out of this situation. As he walked back to the group, glancing at Levy who was struggling on the last part of the decrypting, he overheard the two guys in a debate which was quite… dispensable.

- "Bunnies are strong, you know." Began Natsu.

- "Now that's one I haven't heard before !" Mocked Gajeel.

- "Haven't you heard of the story of the tortoise and the hare ?" Asked Natsu.

- "Sure, and the hare lost, remember ?!" Reminded Gajeel.

- "Yeah, the first time. They had hundreds of rematches, and the hare won all of them." Added Natsu, now gaining Shinnosuke's attention, who until now had simply looked between the two guys as if he was watching a tennis match.

- "I… I see... So that was the moral…" Said Gajeel, as if he jus discovered something new which took a sigh out of Shinnosuke.

- "Not at all." He said exasperate. "Is stupidity inherent to all Dragon Slayer, I wonder ?"

- "That's it !" Levy shouted so suddenly, poiting at the Slayer that for a moment, Shinnosuke felt like his sarcasm had triggered something in her brain. But it was in fact the 'debate' between Natsu and Gajeel that made her react as she suddenly began to scribble down at a blinding speed. "Of course ! I just have to go through it deciphering the two separate grammars at different rates !" She explained, more to herself than to the boys. "If I go through the text, mapping the characters with corresponding frequency onto guile grammar, and then convert that into rogue…"

- "… Is an old fable really that helpful to broke down an enchantment ?" Asked Shinnosuke, not expecting any answer, which Levy didn't gave, simply standing up, a large stack of paper in her hands, a victorious smile on her face.

- "I've done it !" She said, much to the boys surprise as she walked out of the building. "You just wait there ! I'm going to overwrite the enchantment ! Are you guys ready ? It's time for you to take part in the Battle of Fairy Tail !"

- "Hell yeah !" shouted Natsu, arms ablaze as he was hoping for a fight soon.

- "Time to go have a little fun." Said Gajeel, grinning with his arms crossed.

- "I don't know who I'll end up meeting first, if it is Shocker or Laxus, but either way, they are going down." Said Shinnosuke, tightening his tie. "I'm in Top Gear right now !"

/- Meanwhile, with Sento -/

When he, Kouta and Gentaro came back to the city, briefed about what happened by Shinnosuke, they were thinking they'd arrive in a warzone, the town full of mages fighting each other to save their friends. Instead, they discovered a city covered in beaten up mages surrounded by a belt of Lachryma which made them realize the threat was now worse than they first though. They immediately split, each going their way and until now, Kouta was the only one who found an opponent. Sento had no idea where Gentaro was but one thing was sure, this huge building he was currently exploring seemed empty and this gave him a lot of time to think.

- "According to Shinnosuke, those Lachryma can't be destroyed due to a link that send all the damages they suffer to the sender, which meant that this approach isn't the right one. That being said, if we could find enough people, we could destroy them, we just need to make sure the ones destroying them are strong enough to take the damages without dying. Maybe some Riders could do the work, but I don't have the Rider Caller with me and even if I did, who know how many of them are available right now. As things are right now, it would seem like the only way out of this ordeal is to deal with Laxus before it's too late."

As he came to this conclusion, he entered a large room and immediately noticed that something was off. One of the wall had been completely ripped open, cracks and small hole looking like bullet impact covered the ground and when he finally spot the explanation to what happened here. Sitting against a wall, out cold, was Evergreen, member of the Raijinshu.

- "So this is the Evergreen Shinnosuke talked about, the one who got changed into a Bugster." Muttered Sento with fascination as he knelt next to her. "According to Emu, her power are based around fairies and her Bugster form allowed her to summon real fairies to fight by her side, as if it became an extension of her own power." *FWIP* A tuft of hair suddenly rose on his head. "Then, is it possible that mages turned Hybrid by Shocker have the same power but elevated into something even more powerful ? Or maybe it's a feature only the Bugster form possess ? Then it might be possible that depending on what kind of Hybrid you are, you get a precise set of upgrades ?"

*BOOM* Lost in his thought, Sento never noticed the group of Shocker Combatmen that were standing in the ripped wall which just shot at him, the detonation making him fall forward, rolling to avoid landing on Evergreen, losing some FullBottles at the same time. Getting back up, Sento glared at the newcomers.

- "I see how it is then." He said to the 'yeeing' soldiers. "You stay in the shadow, waiting for the guild to tear itself apart and then jump in to claim the victory, isn't it ? That is so typical of you. But I got some bad news for you : as long as we are here, you'll never win." He finally said, Driver in place and FullBottles in hands. "Now, shall we begin the experiment ?"

ROSE ! HELICOPTER ! BEST MATCH ! ARE YOU READY ?

- "Henshin !"

JOUNETSU NO SENPUKI ! ROSECOPTER ! YEAH !

Immediately rushing at the roaring crowd of black men, Sento slashed through their rank like a hot knife through butter, his Batrotor Blade either dicing the soldier or taking Sento for a spin who could then use his Ibalash Arm to shot thorn projections at them, nailing them on the ground. Just like Kouta with Leo, Sento did little work of those Combatmen who couldn't held their on that long against him which also made Sento feel disappointed.

- "Well, that was a lot of noise for nothing in the end." He sighed as he walked back to Evergreen to pick up the FullBottles he lost when he got shot. "But it would seem like Shocker is even more active here than what we first though. I really should get going. Some people might be in need of help." As he walked out of the building, he was so focused that he failed to notice that one of the FullBottle he picked up wasn't the same as before, soaked in something that seemed to be a tad bit… ferric.

/- Meanwhile -/

Mirajane was walking along the disturbingly empty street, people apparently now knowing that the situation was not suitable for a day of festival, the townspeople leaving for now, hoping the mages could find a way to calm things out before Fantasia and among those mages stood a certain barmaid who was looking for people to tell them to leave just in case to avoid anyone from being harmed by the Hall of Thunder should it become active. And laying in the middle of the street, in front of a flower shop whose frontage had been smashed down, she found her brother, beaten up but alive, which was already too much for her.

- "Elfman !" she gasped, running and kneeling next to her dear brother.

- "N…Nee-chan…" muttered Elfman, waking up and struggling as he tried to get up while her sister was starting to wept next to him. "Th…Thank god… You're back… to normal…"

- "These wounds are terrible…" cried Mirajane, trembling like a leaf. "I'm sorry, Elfman… I'm sorry !"

- "What've you… got to apologize… for… ?"

- "Back then… With Phantom… and this time, too… I couldn't do a thing… so you…"

- "You don't have… To do anything, nee-chan…" said Elfman, smiling at her crying sister with a gentle smile on his face. "Once this stupid fight is over and done with… You just greet everyone with a smile; that's more than enough. Come on, nee-chan… don't cry…"

Mira then smiled, helping her brother up and holding him so he could walk next to her as they both walked away, hoping to find some help. At the same time, another group was walking the street of Magnolia and this was the group of Juvia and Cana, both of them thinking about the Hall of Thunder and those who activated it.

- "Juvia… How long do we have until the Hall of Thunder is activated ?" asked Cana, looking at the orbs in the sky anxiously.

- "Around half an hour, Juvia thinks." Answered the water mage, just as tensed as the card mage was.

- "Aghh ! 'Battle of Fairy Tail', my ass !" Shouted Cana, feeling her fury toward the Raijinshu and mainly Laxus grew with each seconds as she shouted her frustration at anyone who could hear her. "You're just hiding yourself away and not doing a damn thing, Laxus !"

- "Where on earth could he be ?" Wondered Juvia, looking around, neither of them noticing someone watching them from a bridge above them.

- "Laxus is saving up his magic." Said the newcomer, grabbing the two girls attention as they turned around and looked up at the guy. "He means to have an all-out battle with the Master. That's why he's saving his power until then."

- "Freed !" Exclaimed Cana, her eyes locking on the green haired mage with fury burning in her pupils.

- "This is the man behind the enchantments… ?!" Asked Juvia, also narrowing her eyes as she looked at this man she didn't knew but already despised. Neither of them did anything, simply staring at Freed who was staring back, looking at the two girls as Laxus orders echoed in his mind.

"Take out Cana and that Phantom girl… Feel free to kill them..."

Suddenly, and much to the girls surprise, Freed turned around and ran away, the girls immediately ran after him, trying to catch him, wondering why he would ran away like that and alas, they realized why to late. When Freed suddenly came to a stop in the middle of a dirt path just outside the city, magical letters appeared on the ground as Cana's eyes widened in shock as she and Juvia suddenly got trapped. They got mad that they got had so easily and when they saw the rule appearing on the magic wall, shock added to the frustration.

Rule : Leaving this enchantment is forbidden until one or other of the occupants is rendered unable to fight.

- "Until one of us… Is rendered unable to fight …?" Read Juvia, eyes wide as the prospect of fighting one of her new comrades scared her.

- "I'll take on the winner myself whenever you're ready."

- "That's dirty, Freed !" Shouted Cana, leaning against the barrier. "If you want to fight one-on-one, that's fine by me ; I'll take you on, enchantment or no enchantment ! So let us out of here already !"

- "Making comrades fight one another like this…" Juvia trailed off, looking around her before stopping as she looked upward as Cana kept going, trying taunts to get a reaction out of Freed.

- "Or what… Are you too scared to take both of us on at once ? Is that it ?! Terrified of a couple of girls, are you ? Pretty pathetic of you, huh, Freed !" However, the taunt had no effect on Freed, and he proved it with an answer that enraged Cana even more.

- "I am merely attempting to limit the number of people I am forced to kill to the best of my ability."

- "Wow ! How noble of you."

READY, GO ! VORTEX FINISH !

Freed jumped out of the way, barely dodging a rotating turquoise blade covered in red energy and black thorny vines as a vermillion and turquoise armored man dive past him as he skid to a stop a few meters away.

- "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I won't let you keep on with your twisted plans." Said Sento as he got up, turning to Freed, the mage slightly surprise to see him here.

- "So you decided to join us, hmm ? It doesn't matter, anyway." Said Freed as he turned to fully face the Rider. "Maybe you'll be giving me just enough entertainment until the two of them decided to do as my rules state."

- "That won't be necessary. I suppose this leave us no choice." Everyone turned to Juvia, who had a determined look on her face as she turned into water, taking Sento and Cana by surprise, the latter fearing what she might do as Freed simply looked at the scene. "Freed-san… You promise that once one of us is incapacitated, you will fight the other like a man ?"

- "I'm not the kind of man to break his own rules." Said Freed, answering Juvia's question.

- "Juvia, you don't have to do this." Said Sento. "If I have enough time, I can deal with that guy."

- "We don't have such luxury." Said Juvia, her body now completely aqueous as Cana shouted at her.

- "Are you serious Juvia ? If we go at it here and now, we'll just be doing exactly what he wants !"

Her words never reached Juvia, but she had nothing to worry about. Juvia rushed at Cana, but turned just before her, hitting the barrier and using it to jump even higher, wall jumping again and again, trying to go as high as possible surprising Cana as Sento wondered what she was trying to do and Freed simply looked, almost disappointedly.

- "Ascend as high as you wish. You cannot escape the enchantment."

- "That's not what she is aiming for." Said Sento slowly as he realized what she was doing. "She's going to save Cana."

- "Indeed." Confirmed Juvia. "If Juvia have to hurt someone… If Juvia have to injure a comrade…" She kept going, higher and higher, the two other mages following her and in the process, saw what she was going after : a large sphere, hovering in the sky.

- "She's heading for the Lachryma ?!" Exclaimed Freed, who apparently never thought about this possibility.

- "Stop !" Tried Cana. "If you attack that, you'll…"

- "… Then it may as well be myself !" Shouted the water mage as she destroyed the crystal, shattering it and of course, just like Bisca and Shinnosuke before her, she got struck by lightning, sending back the damages she did to the Lachryma. Shouting in pain, Juvia then fell back to the ground, Cana rushing to her side as Freed looked at her with wide eyes.

- "You crazy… What on earth were you thinking ?!" Asked Cana, tears in her eyes as she looked at her fallen comrades who was barely conscious by now.

- "Juvia just… wanted to… make you all… accept her… as a true member… of Fairy Tail…" Confessed the blue haired girl, tears falling on her face as she smiled. "Juvia loves you guys…"

- "Of course you're one of us !" Cried Cana at the top of her lungs. "There was never any question about that ! You're a brilliant mage of Fairy Tail !"

- "Juvia… is glad…" she whispered as she closed her eyes, now unconscious as Cana cried for her as Freed looked in bewilderment, too shock to even speak or move, which was a stupid move as Sento used that opportunity to punch the guy in the face, sending him back a few feet, now back in his classic RabbitTank form.

- "A scientist know that he has to take everything into consideration when you make any kind of experiment. The simplest detail can change everything and make a good experiment a complete fail." Said Sento as he got up. "The mistake you made here is that you didn't took into consideration Juvia's desire to be accepted into the guild. In fact, no one in your group think that feelings can influence how things can go. And this will be your downfall."

- "FREEEEEED !"

Filled with fury and rage, Cana had jumped right at Freed, cards in hand and pushing Sento out of the way as she tried to hurt Freed in any way she could, but alas, this was not enough as Freed was, visibly, stronger than Cana, or at least, her current self, out of control which got her beaten in less than a minute.

YAMI NO ECRITURE : PAIN !

Freed right eye shone purple and with the tip of his sword, Freed wrote a word on Cana and as soon as the word was on, she began to cry in pain as if someone had just thrown her in a pool full of lava. The pain added to the blows she received from Freed was too much for the girl who was out cold a few minutes later. Sento didn't moved all this time, transfixed by Freed magic, trying to understand how it worked.

- "I see. Your magic allows you to write runes, or whatever it is, on your opponent to convey things like pain or maybe other things, basically applying a state of some sort to the target. It seemed to be linked to your eye, seeing the way it shone when you used it and I also feel like you can use those words on yourself, am I right ?"

- "Your analyzing skill seems to be on point." Admitted Freed, turning toward the Rider. "But there's a difference between knowing your opponent power and facing them."

- "That's true, but I'm pretty sure I have what it takes to take care of it. All I need is some FullBottles."

- "And you're going to beat me by using your most basic form ?" Said Freed, pointing his sword at him, his comment making Sento smirk.

- "You'll also learn that in any experiment, even the simplest one, can go awry and out of control." As he said that, he pulled out his infamous Hazard Trigger and placing it on his Driver.

RABBIT ! TANK ! SUPER BEST MATCH ! ARE YOU READY ?

- "BUILD UP !"

UNCONTROL SWITCH ! BLACK HAZARD ! YABEI !

The armor in itself had nothing really special and yet, this simple black armor with red and blue eyes was much more intimidating to Freed than it should. The mage was feeling slitghly worried, not knowing what kind of power the Rider currently had but that won't be enough to deter him.

DARK ECRITURE : PAIN !

In one swift movement, Freed put the runes on Sento's armor, the Rider not even trying to dodge as pain coursed through his body, though not for as long as Freed would have liked.

- "So my armor don't protect me completely from those words. That's good to know."

With that in mind, Sento ran at Freed, the mage taken aback by his speed as he reached him, throwing a punch he dodged while trying to put other Ecriture on his opponent, Sento dodging all of them, from Pain to Shock, not wanting to overdo it in case one of those runes happened to be stronger than the others or more precisely too much for him. Seeing that his opponent was too good at dodging his runes, he decided to go and confirm what Sento theorized : using them on himself.

DARK ECRITURE : CLAW !

When the runes shone on his left arm, a large claw made of purple and black energy covered his hand and used them to slash at Sento, sparks flying as he scratched his armor, making him take a step back, surprise by the strength of the claw but smirking either way.

- "Well, looks like I were right about you being able to use it on yourself." He said, sounding proud of him. "And it can also grant people new body part. I bet you can also grew some wings."

- "You should know when to stop analyzing and starting to fight for real." Said Freed as he rushed at Sento, both of them starting for real, exchanging blows for blows but Freed wasn't blind nor stupid. He knew Sento was slowly taking the upper hand and even if he didn't, after witnessing what looked like Haruto's and Takeru's strongest form, he could guess he also had strongest form waiting to be used, which meant he had to use his brain to get rid of him. And the idea came suddenly to him.

DARK ECRITURE : BREAK !

Sento, too focused on his opponent, failed to see where Freed had put his new runes but he quickly discovered it when he felt the ground suddenly collapse under him. The bridge suddenly collapsed, taking the Rider with it, the scientist standing under it but surprisingly, he wasn't alone down here.

- "Is that you, Sento ?"

Sento turned around, his eyes finding Mirajane's wide and surprised ones, the white haired barmaid holding her brother Elfman as he looked like he lost a fight, which was probably the case considering the situation they were in.

- "Mira ! Elfman !"

- "What the… Juvia ?! Cana !" Elfman cry grabbed the barmaid attention as she looked around, seeing the charred up Juvia and crying Cana, both unconscious and laying on the ground. "What the hell happened here !?"

- "Well…"

DARK ECRITURE : SHOCK !

This time, Sento couldn't dodge it and he shouted in pain as he felt as if lightning was coursing through his veins, forcing him to his knees before the runes disappeared, apparently not liking to be put on armors like this one.

- "Freed !" shouted Elfman, now noticing the man standing on the bridge, sword in hand. "Damn it all !"

- "Are you really willing to be my next opponent, Elfman ?" asked Freed, looking at the half naked man who was coming for him. "Well, I say that, but you have already lost to Ever; you have no right to return to the game."

- "This is only a game for you four. Don't you think those rules will stop anyone of us to give up that easily." Said Elfman as Mira grabbed Freed's attention.

- "Stop this nonsense already, Freed ! Aren't we supposed to be comrades !?"

- "We were, once." He said solemnly, closing his eyes. "However, in this game, the purpose of which is to recreate that structure, such notions crumble to nothing. Laxus' enemy is my enemy."

DARK ECRITURE : PAIN !

Once again, Freed used his runes, this time on Elfman who immediately felt this excruciating pain course his whole body, much to Mirajane horror. But this time, Freed didn't stopped there.

DARK ECRITURE : FEAR !

With this new runes, fear-filled cries joined the pain, adding to Elfman torture as Mirajane closed her eyes and tried to shut off her brother's cries as tears ran down her face, as Freed kept going, adding Fear, Suffering and Pain, over and over making Elfman roar in pain and fear even more with each new word as Sento took out his Drill Crusher in Gun Mode, as Mirajane's begging had no effect on the green haired mage.

- "Stop that, Freed ! You're going way too far ! You said it yourself, he's already out of the fight. Knock him out cold if you want but don't do anything unnecessary !"

Alas, nothing seemed to be working as Freed kept going, Mirajane shouting in pain, suffering from seeing and hearing her sibling suffer so much but what Freed tried next was the last straw, one that would unleash something that had been dormant for many years now.

DARK ECRITURE : DEATH !

- "STOP !"

However, as soon as the word 'Death' was pronounced, Sento and Freed both felt that something was wrong. A sudden burst of magic came out of nowhere, overwhelming both of them as they frantically looked around, trying to see who could be the one giving off such a strong aura of strength. But neither of them saw anything and that's when Sento noticed that something else was missing : Where did Mirajane's cries go ?

- "Aahh.. Aaagh…" Both mage and Rider turned toward the white haired barmaid who was shaking, fists tight and while Sento looked confused, Freed looked pretty much afraid, fearing for something Sento couldn't see.

- "Mirajane ?" Muttered Freed a second before everything goes awry.

- "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH !"

All of a sudden, magic exploded out of Mirajane, the shockwave sending Sento flying as the ground cracked and shattered all around the barmaid, Freed shielding his eyes as the burst of magic even teared open a hole in the layer of cloud above the Strauss elder as she unleashed something the Rider never though she could have. In the middle of the cloud of smoke her outburst created, Sento and Freed could see the same kind of marking on her body as the one on Elfman when he used his Take Over Magic but while he morphed into beast, she morphed into something else, something far more threatening that Sento had a hard time identifying but which Freed knew and seemed to feared.

Her hair were wild, standing up on her head above two pointed ears, her eyes an icy blue with a dark mark, looking like some kind of crack, on the right side of her face. Her dark red leotard could easily be noted as revealing, with a large opening on the front with yellow lining, but the others aspect of her body made it quite difficult to look at her perversely, mainly her two clawed hands and scaly upper arms with some kind of crest on them. A large and scaly pointy tail dangerously swipe around her legs, clad in tights with the same color pattern as the leotard, going from mid-thigh to her feet, ending in a pair of stilettos fused with the leggings. As soon as she stopped roaring her anger, she jumped straight at Freed, anger painted on her face and apparently, Freed wasn't feeling like fighting with the now demonic barmaid, immediately scribbling on his arm.

DARK ECRITURE : WINGS !

The claw disappeared as a pair of wings appeared on his back, using them to take off at the exact moment Mirajane had reached him, swinging her claw down at where he stood a second before, pulverizing the stone. But if Freed though he was out of it, he was proved wrong as Mirajane, after glaring at him from the ground, suddenly sprouted her own pairs of dark dragon like wings, immediately taking off and, in a blink of an eye, she was on Freed, punching him hard, sending him flipping through the air until he came to a stop, the whole scene happening under the eyes of an awestruck Sento who didn't even tried to move, to engrossed in the sudden turn of event to do anything.

- "I will eliminate you." Said Mirajane to Freed, her eyes conveying the anger she felt and her resolve, making Freed sweat heavily in apprehension.

- "I can't believe it." Sento said aloud, remembering the other two of his presence. "I knew she was able to use magic and I made several theory but I can't believe I never thought about this one. This is Take Over magic, just like her brother, but while Elfman use beast forms, she use… I don't even know what this is supposed to be."

- "Satan Soul… This is Demon Mirajane's Take Over…" Said Freed, answering Sento's question without even realizing it, too focused on his new opponent to care.

- "Satan Soul… Does that mean that she can use Take Over Magic to take the power of demons ?" Sento said to himself before he realized something. "Wait a second… Emu said that after losing their sister Lisanna, Elfman stopped using his full Take Over. Could it be that the same trauma made Mirajane stopped using her own magic ?"

While Sento was deep in thought, the fight kept going between Mira and Freed and needless to say, Freed was in for a pretty rough ride. Right now, she landed a powerful kick to Freed's guts before chaining with a punch with send him plummeting to the ground but Freed managed to take back the control of his flight and tried to fly away, putting as much space as he could between him and the demon who was already after him. As he flew, Freed had taken a decision he knew was risky.

- "It may be forbidden, but I have no choice at this stage…" he said as he put two fingers on his chest, writing some runes. "Only a demon can master a demon !"

DARK ECRITURE : DARKNESS !

Just like Mirajane a few minutes before, Freed transformed into some kind of demon. His mane of green hair now the only reminder of who he was with the bottom-half part of his clothes which were still here with the exception of the feet which were now demon like clawed feet. For the rest, he had a pair of dark horns, his body was muscular and gray in color with dark blue fur on his back and arms, the latter being adorned with strong and large hands which he curled into a fist as he turned around, meeting Mirajane's punch with one of his own, the force of the collision creating a shockwave which destroyed the ground all around them. As for Sento, he was still in RabbitTank Hazard but he was now sitting on the ground, looking at the two while scribbling on a notepad he took from who know where.

- "A fight between demons ! That is fascinating ! Let's see what they can do."

As Sento kept taking notes on the fight, the two demons were going head to head, flying higher and higher with each blows, each time one of them landed a blow, the other gave it one in retaliation. Neither of them seemed to take the upper hand until Freed got a hold of Mirajane tail and hurled her into the river but what happened next took him by surprise. The water began to swirl as Mirajane spun in the middle of it, the whole river drawing around her, sticking to her hands.

- "She drew the water of the river around herself ? Fascinating…" Muttered Sento as he wrote about it on his notepad as Freed looked at her with wide shocked eyes.

- "Just how much magical power does she have ?!"

As if this wasn't enough, Mirajane threw her hands toward Freed and the water shot toward, gathering in a focused blast of water which soaked and disoriented Freed, allowing her to flew back to him and use her head like a battering ram to send him away from her to give her the time she need for the finishing strike. Putting her hands together, she slowly began to gather magical power in between them, forming a large sphere of energy she then unleashed on Freed, a torrent of magic engulfing the mage in an explosion which shone brightly in the whole city and gathered the attention of many, like Erza who felt something in this explosion. Back at the fight, Freed, now charred up by the explosion, fell hard on the ground, back in his usual form as Sento closed his notepad, knowing the fight was over but feeling slightly worried when Mira landed in front of Freed who was looking at the demon in fear as Mira jumped on him and pulled her fist back, ready to strike.

"I… I can't possibly defeat this !" Realized Freed. "This is truly the power of a demon ! I'm going to be killed…!"

When Mirajane threw her punch, Sento had jumped in, grabbing her arm to stop her from doing a mistake but there was no need as she had stopped when her fist was just in front of Freed's face. In her mind, the smiling face of her sister was looking at her and it made her cancel her transformation, surprising Freed.

- "This battle… It's so meaningless, don't you think ?" She said, looking down at Freed who looked back at her, trembling.

- "Pity for the defeated, Mirajane ? Just finish it…" he asked her but she didn't listened.

- "We're nakama, you know… fellow members of the same guild… Smiling together… Laughing together… Walking together…"

- "Sh… SHUT UP !" Shouted Freed, stopping Mirajane. "I have only one nakama and that's Laxus."

- "That's not true, though, is it ?" Asked Mirajane. As Freed's eyes widened slightly. "I'm sure you must have realized… I don't think it's completely such a bad thing to cling to one single person… But you have any number of people all around you. People are always connected to one another." As she said that, images flashed in Freed's mind, images of the different times other member of Fairy Tail did or said nice things to him, his eyes losing their animosity as he realized that among them stood people like Alzack, Reedus or Cana which he heartlessly fought and defeated. "You see." Added Mirajane while grabbing the hand he didn't realized he had lifted to her. "Just reach out your hand, and there's someone right here…" At this point, some tears appeared in Mira's eyes. "It's when people realize how lonely it is being on their own… That they start to become kind. You know that really, don't you ?"

That's all it took to break Freed, who began to cry, tears streaming down on his face as he apologized, saying he never wanted to do all this, Mirajane comforting him as much as she could, all under Sento's eyes, but also Cana and Elfman, who were back on their feet, the bulky mage holding a still unconscious Juvia in his arms.

Mirajane vs Freed. Both parties have lost the will to fight.

- "Well, that is all good." Said Sento, clapping as he powered down. "Now, Laxus is the only one left to fight. Let's hope we have enough time to beat him before the Hall of Thunder activation."

- "Yeah, but we're going to let you handle this." Said Mirajane with a smile, standing a little to the side, slightly tired after undergoing a full Take Over after so many years. "I'm going back to the guild to see if Levy managed to break the barrier."

- "I was thinking about using this green guy, but I think I have a better idea."

And as suddenly as that new voice was heard, a cloud of gas appeared and engulfed Mirajane, much to the mages shock and Sento's stupor, turning his head to see a gorilla-like monster covered in cannon aiming a Transteam Gun at the barmaid.

- "You !" shouted Sento as Gunrilla looked at him.

- "Good luck dealing with her, Rider. This should be entertaining to say the least." After saying that, Gunrilla left the place and left the Rider and mages with a gas which quickly disappeared to reveal the nightmare hiding inside.

Mirajane, after being sprayed by what Sento identified as Nebula Gas, once again looked like a demon, but this time, she was hardly recognizable. A large pair of horns grew out of her head in the middle of a mix of black and white hair that stood up like the bride of Frankenstein. The upper part of her face was hidden behind some sort of mask that looked like an eye which shone darkly. She had the same kind of wings as before, the color pattern of her armor was basically the same her Satan Soul clothing but it looked like her armor had been fused with some sorts of tentacles, some of them hanging limply and oozing some kind of nasty looking slime, the same kind that were oozing out of her sharp teethed mouth. The claws, either on the hands or legs, were longer and sharper and the tail, now adorned with a trident on the tip, was slowly slapping the ground as the demon stood there, waiting for the right moment to attack. Needless to say, if Sento didn't liked what he was seeing, Elfman, Cana and Freed were completely shocked and afraid of what was happening.

- "W…What the hell happened ? Is that really Mirajane ?!" Asked Freed, looking wide eyed at the creature in front of them, fearing what might happen now.

- "What did that… gorilla thing did to her ?" Asked Cana, a hand on her cards just in case.

- "It's the Nebula Gas. It's a gas which can transform people into monsters."

- "Can she be saved ?" Asked Elfman, worried for his dear sister.

- "Yes, she can." Said Sento, Elfman sighing in relief. "But with how strong she is in her normal self, I wonder just how dangerous she can now be."

As to answer the question, the no Smashed Mirajane let out a powerful roared, one that created a shockwave which threw the mages and Rider off balance as the monster rushed at them, too fast for them to react as she crashed into Sento, punching him hard in the guts, sending him crashing into what was left of the bridge from before. The sudden attack took the mages by surprise as Cana, knowing she had no other choices, took her cards out to try and stop her former friend.

LIGHTNING, REVERSE TOWER, LOVERS : THUNDERBOLT'S FATE !

Using her magic, Cana summoned massive bolts of lightning to try and stop Mira but the only thing it did was too redirect the demon attention to her, back-slapping the brunette which was sent to crash in a wall, wincing in pain as she kept walking, finding Elfman on her road.

- "Nee-chan ! Listen to me ! I know you're in there somewhere. Stop that, Nee-chan !"

Elfman's words at first seemed to work as Mira looked like she hesitated in hitting her brother, which she did anyway. Now with Elfman out of the way, she was going toward the city, something Sento had to prevent as no one could guess what would happen if this creature got all out in the middle of the town. But as nothing seemed to be able to stop her, she suddenly slammed into an invisible wall, taking Sento, Cana and Elfman by surprise as the demon began to punch that invisible wall.

- "I did thing I could never atone for. But I can at least try to." Said Freed, grabbing the Rider and other mages attention as they saw him, hand on the ground and panting heavily. "So let's play another round, okay ?"

Rule : As long as one of the two parties aren't been rendered unable to fight, no one can escape the barrier.

Smash Mirajane vs Sento, Freed, Cana and Elfman.

- "Nice one, Freed !" Complimented Cana with a smirk as she got up, Elfman grunting as he followed her, the both of them joining Freed as they all jumped on Mirajane, trying desperately to save her, or to at least buy Sento enough time to find a solution, one he'll have to find quickly as the three mages weren't in the best shape to fight someone as strong as Smash Mirajane who was basically toying with them, throwing them around like ragdolls.

"What could work ? She seemed tough, I might need some powerful attack." As he said that, he fished the Gorilla FullBottle as he also glanced at the Hazard Trigger. "I never tried to use the Hazard with Gorilla or any form that came with an included weapon, like Panda or Harinezumi. This could give me the punch I need. But I still need to find a way to reach her." As he thought that, he looked at Freed who tried to attack Mira from behind while she was busy dealing with Cana and Elfman, still having some kind of resistance when she attacked her brother, only for the green haired mage to be swiped aside by the tail. "It's like she has no blind spot but it looks like Mirajane is still in here somewhere… Wait a second… What if… There is one thing that can make Mirajane soar no matter the situation and I witnessed it firsthand. Maybe this can work…"

- "Hey, Mirajane ! Look here !" The demon, noticing the Rider, quickly got rid of her attackers to turn to the Rider, slowly walking toward him like a predator stalking its prey.

- "What the hell are you doing, Sento !?" Shouted Cana, not understanding what the Rider was trying to do.

- "I'm doing what every scientist does : experimenting." He simply said as he pulled two FullBottles from his belt, showing them to Mira. "Remember the other time at the bar ? You said that my Best Match could be used to create couples." The demon tilted its head, as if she was searching her memories to find about what he was talking about while the other mages were looking at the Rider as if he had gone mad. "You were associating people with my FullBottle. For you, Elfman was the Gorilla, Levy was the Rabbit, Gajeel the Tank, Natsu the Dragon,… " The demon grunted, as if to said 'Yes, I did' but that didn't stopped it, now running toward him, much to the onlookers shock and horror. " And let's admit, like you said, that Best Match create couple. You asked me who Natsu's Best Match was, isn't it ? Well here's what you wanted, Mirajane !"

DRAGON ! LOCK ! BEST MATCH ! ARE YOU READY ?

- "HENSHIN !"

FUIN NO FANTASY STAR ! KEYDRAGON ! YEAH !

*SKREEEEEEEEEEEE* Sento's transformation just proved his point as the Smash skidded to a stop, taking everyone by surprise bar Sento who was kind of expecting this. The demon now stumbled backward, shaking his head as it suddenly began to fight internally, Mirajane trying to fight back the Smash that was controlling her.

- "What the hell did you do ?" asked Cana as she ran to stood next to Sento, as Elfman and Freed managed both to land a blow on the Smash from behind, something they couldn't do before, proof that the creature was currently not focused enough.

- "I tried to bring back Mirajane by playing on the one thing I assumed she loved the most beside Fairy Tail and her family, something that was almost compulsive for her : matchmaking. But now, I can go and take care of her. I'll even try a new Hazard while I'm a it."

As he said that, he grabbed two FullBottle and inserted them in his Driver.

GORILLA ! FAIRY DUST !

- "HENSH… Wait what ?" Looking down, Sento saw that if the Gorilla FullBottle was indeed in place, the Diamond FullBottle wasn't, well, Diamond anymore. Instead, it was a light green color with a picture of a pixie surrounded in what looked like dust. "What the hell happened to Diamond ?" As Sento think, he only found one explanation, one Freed confirmed.

- "Did it said Fairy Dust ? That remind me of Ever's magic."

- "That may be it. I found her before coming here. Some of her magic may have been absorbed by Diamond. But how can I use it, now if it doesn't work with Gorilla ?" Suddenly, the memory of his discussion with Mira came back to him.

"…I mean, there's some pretty easy ones, like Elfman being Gorilla or Natsu being Dragon… if Elfman is Gorilla, then his future woman will be someone strong and beautiful, like a Diamond…"

- "You've got to be kidding me…" Muttered Sento while rubbing his eyes. "I can't believe her theory have some fundament. At the same time, it's not like this world is that logic." He then turned to Elfman and handed him the Gorilla FullBottle. "Elfman, put your magic in there and quick, before the Smash got over its internal crisis."

Elfman did as he was told, hoping he could help in saving his sister while Freed and Cana exchanged glances, wondering what that tired look on Sento's face could mean. Soon, the Gorilla FullBottle was gone, replaced by another one, dark red, just like the fur of his Beast Soul, and with the design of a flame of some sort on the forehead of said beast on it. Immediately, Sento grabbed the FullBottle back, turning to face the Smash which was slowly going back to its senses, now running toward the Rider, looking even more ferocious than before, probably mad that he was that close for being beaten by his host. He had some doubt if this could work, but he had to try anyway.

BEAST SOUL ! FAIRY DUST ! MAGIC MATCH ! ARE YOU READY !

"Magic Match, huh ? Interesting. Normally, beast and fairy shouldn't work as they are both biotic essence, but this is a Magic Match, so we're probably talking about magic essence here. This probably work like this Unison Raid Haruto told me as well as a Best Match : the Best Match combine the magic infused in the bottle. With the fact that our trinkets are easiest infused with magic when there's an affinity between the user and the trinkets, this probably meant that the Magic Match can work only with compatible magic. I'll have to do some…"

- "SENTO ! What are you waiting for ?!" Shouted Cana as she and the others had witnessed Sento going into a muttering mess, the scientist stopped dead in its track as he remembered where he was.

- "What !? Oh, sorry. BUILD UP !"

MORETSUNA YOSEI ! FAIRYBEAST ! YEAH !

Sento, letting go of his navy and gold armor, was now wearing another set of armor, dark red and light green. The dark red part was armed with claws and large 'muscles' with an eye shaped like a roaring beast while the green part was smoother and pretty classic, with a pair of fairy wing sprouting out of his shoulder and an eye shaped like a small pixie. As the Smash was closing on his, Sento waved his left arm, the green one, sending a cloud of dust at the demon, dust which exploded just like the Fairy Bomb Gremlin Evergreen used, blinding the demon which Sento then punched her with his right arm damaging the demon but Sento quickly took noticed that it was going to be harder than he though as he immediately after was met by a punch to the face from the demon which send him back. The two exchanged blows after blows, the demon taking the upper hand as Sento, despite the fact that he was an hybrid as he missed power and strength. As he was trying to get up after a strong hit to the guts, he took a glance at the Hazard Trigger, wondering about it. He had a slight fear, wondering if using the Hazard Trigger with a Best Match like this one would do the same things as it did when he first used the Hazard Trigger. But he couldn't help but feel like this won't be the case this time and that even if it did, he trusted the others to stop them before he could do some really bad things.

BEAST SOUL ! FAIRY DUST ! SUPER MAGE MATCH ! ARE YOU READY ?

- "BUILD UP !"

UNCONTROL SWITCH ! MAGE HAZARD ! YABEI !

Transforming with the Hazard Trigger, Freed and Elfman, who witnessed it before, waited for a black armor with colored eyes, but this time, the armor had kept his colors but with even much more detail, reminiscing of the two mages that gave him his current power. The dark red side was looking a lot more like Elfman's Beast Soul, with a horn on his side oh the helmet, a large horn on the shoulder with even sharper and longer claws, now also present on the feet. On the green side, the fairy wings were longer, like the ones Evergreen wore, with slicker armor parts and very special pupil in the eye and fairy wings pointing outside and surrounding the eye.

- "Well, that was unexpected." Said Sento, still in control like he thought as he looked at his armor. "But that should do it perfectly."

The confrontation began once again and this time, Sento was slowly but surely walking on his opponent. The beast side was even more powerful, allowing really powerful strike that shook and threw the demon to the side effortlessly and if Mira managed to reach him, the fairy dust, constantly prevent around him this time, either exploded or formed needles that repelled the Smash. Blow after blow, Sento was pushing the Smash back until he finally had time to breathe and trigger a finisher.

READY, GO ! VORTEX FINISH !

The Fairy Dust gathered around the beast claw, the claw shining with a dark red energy as he ran at the Smash and suddenly thrusted the claw at his opponent : the claw left a large gash on the armor, dealing his fair share of damages and a few seconds later, the fairy dust the claw left in the scratch exploded, making the beast explode from the inside. At first, this show worried Elfman about her sister wellbeing, which didn't disappeared as the vanquished Smash laid on the ground. But it disappeared when Sento came and took the Nebula Gas out of her, Mirajane reappearing and her brother immediately rushing to her side.

- "Don't worry. She's alright." Said Sento as he unmorphed, the Gorilla and Diamond FullBottles back to their original form. "She might be out cold for a moment, though."

- "That was horrible to fight Mirajane like that." Said Cana as Freed stood by her.

- "I'm still worried thought." He said, looking around. "those Shocker guys are probably still in the town and if they targeted the Raijinshu, they probably also have something in mind for Laxus."

- "Don't worry about it. I'm going to go and find Shocker before they can do anything else." He said with a smile. "Besides, there's people here who have yet to fight and I'm pretty sure they are more than enough to take care of Laxus."

Indeed, things were starting to get complicated for Laxus as, now that Freed had been beaten, only him was left and the last contestant of the Battle of Fairy Tail were coming for him, all dead set on putting an end to his madness.

Okay, that's done. Not my longest chapter, but that will do. I hope you liked it, don't forget to review, comment, follow if you liked it, don't hesitate to tell me even if you didn't liked it, that will help me for whatever come next. See ya !

Next time : The last stretch of the battle. Iron, Fire, Lightning and Space. The true heart of Laxus.