Ch 38: The War Wages On
Early morning hours of January 29th, X789 in Magnolia:
The once proud city of the Fiore's number one guild was now being laid waste to by six angry drakes, which used to be ten until four of them took off. As to what exactly upset them is fairly simple, so far none of them have so much even seen a single human. Meaning that they haven't had the pleasure of any sort of fight, or for some of the more sinister ones it also meant they haven't gotten to eat any of the lower life forms as they like to call them. And to make it even worse for all of them, the place that reeked of Natsu and the other dragon slayers was heavily guarded by wards and runes that they could tell would take an extremely long time for even them to bust through.
Thus why they are currently rampaging across the rest of the city and destroying everything in the hopes of finding a few cowering humans. A hope that a few of them were giving up on after not finding a single trace as to where exactly they might be hiding at the moment. And that wasn't the only thing to piss a few of them off, there was also a few other buildings that were heavily modified to stand up against their might throughout the city. A few of them apparently sinking into the earth until only their extremely strong roofs were the only things remaining above ground.
"They're really going at it." commented Kinana as she and a few other guild members watched from the second floor with frowns on all of their faces.
"There's not going to be much of the town left by the time they're done." stated another member that was told to remain at the guild.
"At least they haven't found any of the bunkers yet." mumbled a different member, quickly getting nods of agreement from the rest of them.
"And I don't plan to let them." said Bisca as she and Alzack were in the process of carrying a fairly large sniper rifle upstairs. Who were then lucky enough to receive some extra help with carrying the gun to the highest level of their guildhall.
"Are you sure using that's a really good idea?" asked Kinana, clearly concerned about what the drakes might do in response to being fired at.
"Absolutely, it's better than them starting to look underground for the citizens of Magnolia." replied their resident sharpshooter as she followed after the men now easily carrying her custom made sniper rifle. That, with the help of Natsu, was made for exactly this type of situation that they found themselves in.
"She does raise a good point." commented another random guild member.
"But didn't Ultear say that she should wait until Reedus is done with whatever he's working on before she starts letting loose on them?" asked a different member.
"Reedus said that he'd need another hour before he's done." answered Kinana while once again sporting a worried expression on her face. That only grew as soon as a certain dragon slayer staggered in through the back doors and could barely keep himself upright. "Eric!" she yelled out in shock as she rushed over to him in the blink of an eye.
"Hey Kinana, those last two weren't as stupid as the first ones." he replied with a little chuckle as she guided him to one of the booths.
"Let me start patching you up." she declared before frantically racing to behind the center bar and pulling out a med kit and rushing back over to him.
"No time, there's still more of them." he stated while trying to get back up, only to be roughly pushed back down by said barmaid that was now looking at him with a steely glare.
"NO! Not until I at least patch you up and give you something to eat." she said as she went about bandaging some of his more severe wounds.
"Fine, but you've got just five more minutes until I'm out of here." he mumbled back with a slight blush, causing the few remaining guild members to start smirking or giggling at him. This only lasted for a second before he gave them one of his terrifying glares that reminded all of them that he used to be their enemy at one point in time and someone they didn't want pissed off at them. One of the most terrifying things he could do was let slip one of your secrets that were more than a little embarrassing.
"How are the rest of them fairing?" he asked just above a whisper so only Kinana could hear him.
"Quatro Cerberus was able to handle the drakes that headed their way and Mermaid Heel is apparently distracting their two and should be able to keep it up for a while. As for the ones that went to Blue Pegasus and the surrounding areas, they've been held off by a strong scent that they warned will probably work on you guys as well." she answered while giving him a quick little smile.
"I could care less about all of them, I'm wondering how the rest of our teams are doing." he said with a little growl that was stopped by a light hit from the woman treating him at the moment.
"You know I can always tell when you're lying." she stated while once again giving him a small smile that he loved seeing on her. "As for our teams, unfortunately we haven't heard back from a lot of them." she continued to say as a worried look washed over her face. "Miia came back a little after your first time and didn't even stay long enough to tell us what happened before heading out to another location that some drakes were detected at. As for Sting and Rogue, we still don't know which I really don't like since they were sent to go deal with the drakes heading to Crocus. Which was supposed to be ten of them, something that I don't even think Natsu could handle on his own." she finished as her hands started to tremble until Cobra's gently covered them.
"Those two are almost an unstoppable force when they're actually working together, which I'm sure they're doing right now so if you're worried about anyone it should be for the drakes they're going up against." he said in a warm tone as the two of them locked eyes. "What about the teams that aren't dragon slayer based?"
"Still almost completely silent on that front as well, except for a few of them that is. Warren's and Laki's teams are apparently doing well against their drakes, but that can only last for so long until they get back up from a dragon slayer." she said as she went back to patching him up. "And if the messages we've received are correct then Jet and Droy might be actually winning against the two that they were sent to deal with."
"What about Ultear and the other three?" he asked, not needing to say any more since Kinana knew exactly who he was inquiring about.
"How did you even know that she left?" she asked him back in a slightly shocked tone only to then roll her eyes as he pointed to his nose. "She went to go help Meredy's team so I'm sure they're all fine. As for Kagura and Kei, I honestly can't imagine either of those two needing help before the others." she finished with a proud smile slowly making its way across her face.
"You have no idea, especially in Kei's case." he said with a slight shiver that Kinana just barely noticed.
"And why exactly do you think that?" she inquired with an eyebrow raised at him.
"Because that girl is probably the strongest one here just after Salamander if my instincts aren't completely off, which they usually aren't." he said while slightly shaking his head at the one time he listened in on her when her guard was down. Needless to say he definitely wasn't expecting to hear two different voices conversing in her head, not to mention the immense amount of power he could also feel just waiting underneath the surface.
"I guess that explains why Master Dragneel had her team as one of the smallest." she replied with another quick smile sent Eric's way.
"So… how many…" he started to ask only to trail off as an extremely sad look came over the barmaid's face.
"How many place didn't we make it to in time?" she asked, knowing that it was what he wanted to ask her. "So far it has been five and will probably be a few more before all of this is said and done."
"What places?" came the cold voice of Miia as she stood in the back entrance of the guild hall. Looking as if she had literally just walked straight out of hell since her outfit was now littered with cuts all over it. And she also had a few burns and cuts spread out on various parts of her body.
"Miia!" replied Kinana before covering her mouth in shock after taking in the woman's current appearance.
"WHAT PLACES!" she shouted out as her purple spirits started to swirl around her menacingly. The barmaid and the rest of the guild were too stunned by the way she was currently acting to reply, but luckily one of the other guild members pointed to a map of Fiore that they had set up and currently had five red X's on it. And before any of them could ask her what the hell was going on she turned on her heels and disappeared through the back exit and no doubt straight into one of their portals.
"What in the world was that all about?" Cobra voiced the question that all of them were wanting to ask.
"One of the first places to fall to the drakes was the village that we were supposed to protect." explained Akiro as he floated into the guild with a sullen look. "She promised them that she wouldn't let it happen to anyone else if they helped her. And now she thinks that she's broken that promise." he finished with a little sniffle at the end.
"It's okay Akiro, she's going to realize that such a promise couldn't be kept. Not even Natsu could keep one like that, and if she doesn't then you and the rest of the guild will make sure that she does." stated Kinana as she brought the purple Exceed into a caring hug.
"Okay." he replied as he hugged her back.
"Well it looks like I need to head back out there." said Cobra as he made his way to the back exit.
"But you still haven't had anything to eat yet." she pointed out only for him to let out a little chuckle and give her a quick dismissive wave over his shoulder. "Eric wait!" she cried out as she raced after him, only catching up to him right before he was about to head through one of the portals.
"I've already told you that I don't…" he started to reply until a pair of soft lips silenced him. At first he was caught off guard by this sudden action of hers but soon reciprocated it, and not only that, but intensified it. Not just because he liked it but because there was something else mixed in with it that his body was craving at the moment, poison. The two of them remained in their intense lip lock until Kinana required air and reluctantly pulled back from him so that he could see her mischievous smirk she currently had on.
"Now you can go." she said before turning away from him and walking back into the guild with a noticeable increase to the sway of her hips. But before she went in she gave the still stunned dragon slayer a quick wink while whispering that she had more where that came from if he made sure to come back to her.
"Shit… You just had to help her learn poison magic didn't you Salamander." he mumbled to himself with a slight blush on his cheeks as he headed through the portal he was standing in front of.
With Macao's Team:
"Why did we have to get picked to head here?" asked Wakaba as he walked behind the two Conbolt men.
"Because Master Dragneel knew that we were some of the few members that wouldn't get into a fight with the mages of Sabertooth." replied Romeo with a bright smile, extremely surprised and happy that he wasn't forced to the sidelines like he thought he was going to be.
"And I'm deeply sorry for that, if you exclude my father and a few others, most of our guild looks up to yours and only wants to help." apologized Minerva as a regretful look quickly flashed over her face before going back to the blank one that she usually had.
"Don't sweat it Minerva, you can't be held responsible for what your father does. And besides, I'm confident that the rest of our guild has already forgiven you guys for what Jiemma forced all of you to do." stated Macao with a little chuckle and grin sent her way. But unlike a certain pink haired dragon slayer, instead of brightening the mood it only unnerved the Lady of Sabertooth a little bit.
"So how far away did you send them this time?" asked the youngest Conbolt with a huge smile sent her way.
"The first two should be back here any minute, as for the other two, well let's just say I'd be extremely surprised if they can find their way outside of that system of tunnels anytime soon." she answered with a proud smirk spreading across her lips.
"I have to admit that being able to transport them to wherever you please is quite handy." pointed out the smoke mage of Fairy Tail as he puffed away on his pipe with gusto since the guild was no longer a place where he could really enjoy his favorite pass time.
"That's not exactly how my magic works, but yes it is indeed very handy since we weren't really ready for them just yet." she replied while trying to hide the faint blush she currently had for being so openly praised for her skills. "Also I won't be able to move any of them again; all I'll now be able to do is move myself and a few others a few more times."
"Well you've already done more than enough Minerva, and with the rest of your guild backing us up I'm sure we'll be able to handle the two of them." declared Macao as two furious roars rang out in the skies, letting all of them know that the drakes were once again drawing near.
"I just wish he was actually helping as well." she mumbled to herself, wondering how someone could be so stubborn when everyone else could easily see that he was in the wrong on this one.
"You won't need him since you've got the two best fire mages in the whole country helping you instead!" said Romeo with a smug grin spread across his face.
"What about Master Dragneel, I'm fairly certain that he is better than the both of you put together." pointed out Wakaba with a smug grin of his own as Romeo lost his and started to stammer and ramble on about Natsu not counting since he was a dragon slayer. While this was going on, Minerva couldn't help but watch in pure fascination at how the mages of Fairy Tail were still joking with each other while two drakes were heading their way.
"Don't mind those two, they just like to argue with each other." commented Macao, clearly having a good guess at what her mind was currently thinking. "And it's better than the alternative, a nervous mage is a tense one and Natsu always likes to say those are the ones that usually make a mistake."
"That's easier said than done." she replied as she glanced over at a few of her fellow guild members, and just from a quick glance she could tell most of them were extremely nervous.
"True, but it only just takes a little bit of practice to do so." he said as the two drakes they heard from earlier finally arrived and were flying above them. And the two drakes remained up there for a few more minutes as the night sky started to cloud over with the occasional thunder ringing out every now and then.
"This is going to be even easier than we thought." stated Minerva as a smug grin slowly spread from ear to ear as a bolt of lightning came crashing down on their city. Causing a few of the gathered mages to let out startled screams, that then turned to stunned silence as all of the other bolts of lightning that were about to rain down on them all veered to a single location in city that was now giving off insane amounts of energy.
"What in the hell was that?" asked Wakaba with his pipe no longer in his mouth thanks to it falling out due to his jaw falling open. Before she could even reply a giant bolt of black lightning shot back into the sky and struck the green drake square in its chest. Causing it then to plummet to the ground where it crashed into a twitching heap, only for another bolt of black lightning to come crashing down on it and driving it further into the ground.
As the dust settled a bulky man with spiky green hair and no shirt was standing on said drake smirking down at it. The gathered mages all watched as a slight smirk graced his lips before he started to send punch after punch of electrically charged fists down on the still paralyzed drake beneath him.
"That Macao, would be one of our newer members." she finally answered as the man continued to mercilessly lay into the downed drake. But in that exact same moment a golden blur swept down and sent the lightning mage flying through a few of the surrounding buildings. Now standing protectively in front of the green drake was the other one, finally letting all of them see its glorious golden scales that glistened in the night sky.
"You'll all pay for using my own lightning against my mate." bellowed the golden drake as lightning arched all across its body menacingly.
"Attack!" ordered Minerva, resulting in all of the mages from her guild and the three from Fairy Tail to charge forward as they unleashed some of their strongest spells.
With Kei's team:
Her team wasn't really a team and more of a duo that consisted of her and Nab, who was thrilled to be paired up with her. And who could really blame him, all of the women in Fairy Tail seemed to be terrifyingly strong when fighting to protect their friends and family. Not to mention that Kei was probably the only member that always got at least one hour of personal training with Natsu when he was actually at the guild. This made one of Fairy Tail's bigger mages curious as to why she received these special lessons from their guild Master that even the other dragon slayers didn't seem to get.
Before the drakes finally showed up they carried on a casual conversation, nothing really too serious. But just as they got into eyesight, Nab was then let in on one of the guild's newer secrets as an overwhelming aura started to roll off of Kei. Causing him to look over at her in concern, only for his eyes to then shoot wide open as the already extremely attractive girl grew more so.
Her bust and hips filled out more as her hair held up in a ponytail became wavy compared to the completely straight way Kei always kept it. Her face remained very similar to what it usually is, but instead just appeared to be what he could only assume what the woman would look like in about ten years. Which was still drop dead gorgeous, something that he couldn't help but think as her attire switched from her usual jacket and skirt into a set of armor that was quite revealing while also still being practical.
"Like what you see big guy?" asked Ares with a smirk as she posed for Nab. Making the poor man start stumbling over himself as he tried to come up with something to say back to her, causing the goddess of war to start giggling at him.
"Doesn't matter if you do since you're never going to be able to touch it unless you want to lose another appendage that is." she said with a little giggle as she looked down at his fake leg. Causing Kei to start screaming at her for being so insensitive to her fellow guild members, which led into her yelling at the goddess of war for a wide variety of other things.
"I didn't know that your magic could do this." Nab finally stated since Kei and Ares were busy yelling at each other in her head.
"Well you do now, but it needs to stay just with you." replied Ares in a sweat tone. "Otherwise, well let's just say I've killed for far less." she ended in a completely serious voice while giving him a smile that sent shivers down his spin. Shivers that only grew as the next second she launched herself into the air with a shield in front of her as she then proceeded to collide with one of the drakes. That she then used as a springboard to launch herself at the other drake, all the while laughing as if she was having the time of her life.
And for the next three hours all Nab really got to do was land the occasional strike on one of the two drakes when they weren't expecting it. Otherwise he pretty much just sat back as he watched what he thought was Kei taunt them as she continued to land heavy blows on them. But what surprised him the most was that she somehow knew things about the drakes that she really shouldn't have. Things that apparently sent both of the drakes into a blind rage that made them extremely sloppy with their attacks and allowed him to get in a few attacks of his own.
By the end of it he looked on in sheer amazement as the two drakes lay defeated in front of one of the guild's possibly nicest members. An image of her that he was starting to think was a complete hoax, as he watched the woman laugh maniacally at the fallen foes before her. Still covered in their blood and gore that he couldn't help but think she purposely made them spill throughout their battle when she definitely could have ended it a quicker and less bloody way at least an hour sooner.
"Kei?" he asked hesitantly as he walked up behind her.
"She's not here." sang out Ares as she turned to grin at the Fairy Tail mage. This caused the poor mage to have a completely lost expression come over his face as he continued towards her. "The name's Ares, and seeing how he ordered you to accompany us I will fill you in on all of this so that the likelihood of you spreading what you just saw here today is less likely." she stated while gesturing to the completely destroyed area outside of the village they were sent to protect.
"But what about them?" he asked while gesturing to the fairly large crowd that gathered on the rooftops of the houses throughout the prolonged fight.
"They don't know what they just saw, other than two mages of Fairy Tail kicking ass and saving their sorry lives." she replied, before going into a quick rundown of her and Kei's situation. "And as I said before, if Natsu trusts you with this information so will I. But if you break that trust not even he will be able to protect you from me." she finished while glaring at him from just an inch away from his face.
"I won't." he stuttered out while at the same time having his hands up in the air.
"You better, Kei really likes it here and I'd really hate for her to lose it because of a stupid man not being able to keep his trap shut." she said while walking away from him and taking a seat on the ground with her legs crossed. "It was a pleasure battling with you Nab, we should do it again in the future." she said while giving him a quick smile that disappeared as she then passed out the next second.
This successfully confused Nab to the point that he really had no idea how to process all of the information just dumped onto him. So instead of trying to figure it out he gently picked up his fellow guild member that returned to how she usually looked and carried her back to the village. Where he would then take them through their portal and back to their guild so Porlyusica could make sure she was still fine. At least physically that is, because he honestly didn't know if his friend's mind would ever be okay with Ares in there.
With Jet and Droy:
"We really did a number on the town didn't we." stated Droy as he rubbed the back of his head nervously as he looked out over the town. A town that wouldn't have stood out from any of the hundreds that were scattered all over Fiore, something that definitely couldn't be said about it anymore. Now the town looked as if it was in an epic battle that took place over a few decades ago.
As to why it now looked as if the battle happened in the past and not just a few minutes ago like it actually did. Most of that would fall on Fairy Tail's strongest plant mage, who through the use of his wide arsenal of seeds completely covered the entire town with plants from all across the country. Of course he needed to do this, otherwise who knows if the two of them would even still be standing at the moment. Granted, both of them were so exhausted that if either of them did pass out it wouldn't shock the other one.
"It's better than the alternative." Jet chuckled while slapping his best friend on the right shoulder blade without even thinking. Causing said best friend to let out a pain filled hiss as he twirled around and delivered a swift punch to the speedster's gut with his left.
"Idiot, who the hell slaps the back of someone with a broken arm?" he asked while not even caring that the punch he just dealt out sent his friend to his knees.
"A forgetful one." coughed out Jet as he got back up to his feet. "And it's not like I got out of this completely unscathed." he said while gesturing to the various cuts across his body. All of which weren't fatal, mainly due to the snug fitting tunic that Natsu made for him a while ago. This of course caused Droy's eyes to go wide as he gestured with his left hand at the rest of his body, which anyone could see was in worse shape than the speedster's.
"Just proves once and for all that I'm the better one out of the two of us." he said with a smug grin, only to then twist out of the way of another punch thrown at him.
"Let's head back, the others probably could use some help." replied Droy as he tossed down a seed that then sprung up a portal right in front of them. That he walked through the next second, causing his partner to make a mad dash for it before it would close up behind him.
With Kagura and her Team:
"Shit!" cursed Kagura as she twisted backwards to dodge a slash and parry the last claw that would've otherwise sliced her in two. At first she thought they had the upper hand in their fight against the two fire drakes, but as they all soon found out that was only because they were just toying with them. Something that they definitely made clear as they started to overwhelm the guild of the city, which she had honestly never heard of before and still couldn't remember after just being told earlier in the day.
"Did you really think that you could take me on with that puny sword of yours?" asked the gray and light blue drake she had been single handedly preoccupying for the last ten minutes.
"It can cut you so why not." she answered while moving her sword so that it was now pointing out behind her.
"True enough I guess, but you have to see that I completely outmatch you in every single way possible." he stated in an amused tone as he took notice of her labored breaths. "You've almost run out of magic haven't you?" he asked in the same tone. "Not only that but you're growing tired as well and have fallen back to only being defensive, when just a few minutes ago you were almost the complete opposite."
"I'm just reassessing the situation." she replied, which in all honesty was the truth, not that he wasn't correct about everything else that he just said as well.
"And what conclusion have you come to human?" he asked, only for Kagura to say nothing back to him as the two of them just stood there staring at each other. "If you're done speaking then I might as well stop too, because I've realized something during our little fight. You humans aren't as weak and helpless as my kind claims you all to be; in fact it's quite the opposite. Even with such small and fragile bodies you're able to actually put up a fight against us and even win." he said with a little smirk as he continued to eye her.
"So your kind can learn, glad to see that Master was correct about that even though I initially thought it was just him once again seeing the best in everyone." she replied while cautiously eyeing the light grey fire drake before her, that she couldn't help but feel was trying to trick her at the moment.
"That we can, which is why I'll let you go and try to save your friends." he said as his smirk started to spread further across his lips.
"Like I would believe you'd let me do something like that, as soon as my back is turned to you you're going to attack." she sneered back at him as her grip tightened on her drawn sword.
"Maybe, maybe not, but if Dragneel's treaty between us has any hope of succeeding we're going to need to start somewhere." he replied with his expression staying the same.
"True, but I don't really think he planned for it to start right after we were just trying to kill each other." she pointed out, only for a deep chuckle to come from the drake before her as he shook his head.
"If I was truly trying to kill you, you'd already be dead little human. But I could smell the faint traces of what I can only assume is Dragneel on you so I didn't and decided to see what you were capable of instead." he stated with an amused tone. "All it would have taken for me to finish you off was to increase the temperature until you couldn't stand on your own anymore. Of course this isn't something that every fire drake can do, but it's something that I've found very helpful in most of my fights." he said while the temperature rose to the point that she could feel the sweat starting to accumulate on her brow.
"Fine, but I still won't be turning my back to you." she finally conceded after standing there a little while longer in silence before slowly starting to back away from him.
"If you had that would've been very foolish of you." replied the gray drake as she continued to back away from him, only to then take off after getting well out of his range of attacks. "I can't wait to see what comes forth from the first treaty between man and drake." he stated to himself before taking off into the air and flying off.
"That traitor!" hissed a pale red drake as he watched his partner fly off, leaving him to deal with the rest of these pathetic humans by himself. Not that he ever really needed any help with that in the first place, but now he knew that his partner was one of the drakes trying to coexist with the humans which infuriated him to no end. So with all of that pent up anger he unleashed another fearsome roar on the humans still trying to fight him off.
He reveled in the screams of agony that soon followed afterwards as his flames tore through whatever measly defenses they tried to use to protect themselves. Watching as more than five different humans took off screaming as his flames ate away at their flesh. This left only a few more humans defiantly standing against him and the rest of the cowards he saw rushing underground when they first arrived. Oh how he couldn't wait to start pulling them kicking and screaming from their little holes in the earth. A little tidbit of information that the rest of his kind would be extremely interested in finding out since it was more than likely a common thing for their cowardly race.
"Do they really think that they have any hope of defeating me?" he thought to himself as he snatched up one of the mages and started to squeeze. Basking in the screams of agony before he then proceeded to clench his fist so hard that the screaming ceased, signaling that another weakling was taken care of. He then proceeded to drop the barely recognizable corpse before the few remaining humans that looked as if they finally realized something that he knew from the very get go.
At least that is what he thought until a white blur flashed past him, leaving in its wake a slight stinging sensation along the underside of his neck. This caused him to let out a slight hiss of pain as he now finally got to see the one responsible for his first actual wound during the entire fight so far. Now standing in front of the other humans was the woman from before, which his former partner declared as his before then moving their fight into another part of the city.
"You're going to pay for this." declared Kagura through clenched teeth as she glared at the fire drake before her. Who upon hearing this from her started to chuckle out loud, as if she had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. She could usually deal with her opponents taunting her and overall looking down on her because of being a woman, but what this drake was currently doing irked her like no one ever had before.
"SLASHING FORM!" she yelled before darting between the legs of the still chuckling drake. Something that was assured to stop after receiving a deep cut on the inside of each of his legs from a girl he assumed was all just talk like the rest of the humans before her.
So with an angry snarl he twisted his head backwards to unleash a fiery roar on the female mage sliding to a stop behind him. But unlike all of the wizards before her, Kagura leapt into the air and easily dodged it while at the same time came flying back down at his unprotected backside. Landing once again another cut on the drake that was finally coming to the realization that she could actually give him a fight. This caused said drake's lips to curl up into a twisted grin as he and the woman faced off against each other.
What proceeded between the two of them was a deadly dance of claws and steel, each of them occasionally landing a slight blow on the other. But anyone watching the fight could see that Kagura wasn't going to last much longer, not to mention that she was doing exactly what the drake wanted her to.
"This is where it ends for you human." spat out the drake in complete disgust as he looked down at the panting mage before him. He loathed everything about the human before him, not only was she just as weak as the rest of them, but the only reason she could even put up a fight to begin with was due to her using the scales and claws of his fallen brethren.
"No… The rest of my guild is expecting me to return." she managed to get out while slowly getting back into a defensive stance.
"Then they will be waiting a long time." he replied with a malicious grin coming over his face as he brought up one of his arms to strike her. Knowing that it would only take a few more slashes to overpower her, but it was at this time that he noticed something off about the earth underneath him. He was now sinking into it, which threw him off since none of the mages he had gone up against so far had the capabilities to do this.
"Like this will stop me!" he shouted out while unfurling his wings and starting to flap them. Grinning victoriously as he started to rise out of the earth, that is until he started to feel as if every part of him became heavier. He completely lost his grin when the liquefied earth also started to climb up him and pull him back down.
"GRAVITY CHANGE X10!" Kagura said between pants as she held her left arm out towards the drake still desperately trying to break free.
"If we want to have any hope of defeating him you're going to have to pull out your big guns, Oh Yeah!" declared a new voice as a large figure appeared off to her right. As the figure drew nearer a few things stuck out to her, the first and probably the most unsettling was the large smile he currently had. The next would of course be his long orange hair that he let fall freely down his backside, other than his bigger than average body and his red beaded necklace he looked fairly normal.
"I'm giving it all I've got." she managed to get out before giving her undivided attention back to the still struggling drake.
"I find that really hard to believe, Oh Yeah!" he said while continuously moving his hands and arms, which she quickly realized was directly related to the movements of the liquefied earth. "Someone who constantly gets to train with the Salamander on a daily basis probably doesn't even realize what they are truly capable of until they're put into a situation like this, Oh Yeah!"
"I'm telling you that this is everything." she growled back at him.
"Then you should run while you still can, I'll hold him off for as long as I am able to." replied the stranger as he lost his smile and instead his expression morphed into a completely blank one as he intensified his magic attack already assaulting the drake.
"I can still help." she responded while not letting up her gravity change.
"No!" shouted out the orange haired earth mage while not even bothering to look over at her. "If that is actually all you're capable of, then staying here will only just add one more body to this drake's already substantial count." he stated as the drake was actually starting to slowly rise from the ground that was trying to swallow him whole.
"Running won't save you." chuckled the drake as he looked over at her with a little smirk as he licked his lips. "I'm going to enjoy eating you while you're still breathing, which in my opinion makes you humans taste even better than normal." he said while turning his head towards the newest human to go up against him. As soon as he did he reared back his head and let loose a roar of fire at the orange haired earth mage.
Kagura could only look on in horror as the flames quickly engulfed the stranger, which she was sure would be the end of him. But to her and the drake's surprise, instead of finding nothing but a charred corpse they were now looking at a dome of hardened earth. That the next second turned into liquid and fell to the ground, revealing a completely fine and somewhat upset earth mage glaring back at the drake.
"I haven't had the honor of facing off against the Salamander's flames, but even with that just said, I know that yours are weak by comparison." the earth mage stated as his liquid earth intensified in its attempt at pulling the drake into the ground, causing the two of them to come to a standstill. "Now Go!" he shouted while looking over at Kagura with a pleading look before snapping his head back to his current foe.
"GRAVITY CHANGE X100!" shouted out Kagura as she leapt into the air above the drake that was now sinking into the earth at an alarming rate. As she reached the peak of her jump she brought out Dragon's Regret and positioned it so that it was pointing directly downwards while firmly being held in both of her hands. By this point the drake's head and part of his wings were the only things sticking out from underneath the ground.
In the blink of an eye she was back on the ground, it would have probably been more accurate to say she was now crouching on the head of said drake. With her sword buried so far into his skull that the hilt was pressed firmly against his pale red scales. The few onlookers watched on in complete awe as she stood back up and proudly raised Fairy Tail's sign into the air before passing out and falling to the ground. But before she could hit the hard earth it shot up to her and gently caught her and moved her away from the drake and over to the stranger that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"It's good to see that the mages of Fairy Tail are still as stubborn as always and doing the impossible, Oh Yeah!" said the orange haired mage as he looked down at Kagura with a faint smile. And after he checked to make sure that she was fine he brought out a small device and pushed a button on it as he walked away from the completely flabbergasted citizens and mages watching from the sidelines. Before any of them snapped out of their stunned states he was gone, leaving the rest of them to tend to the wounded.
With Danny in Crocus:
All Daniel could think right then was that it wasn't supposed to be like this. He had actually thought that he was no longer as naive as he once was, and along with that he also believed that he now was able to protect the country just like Natsu continuously did. Now this isn't to say that he thought he was even close to matching the Master of Fairy Tail in power or experience, but he didn't need to. He had the full might of the Council backing him, which meant that he wasn't going to be fighting these drakes all by himself like Natsu seemed to prefer to do if given the option.
After his thorough defeat at the hands of said dragon slayer, the Council opted for a different approach with him from that day on. Instead of him going out to face off against these mythical beasts by himself he would now have his own personal squad to help him out. This was something Daniel didn't really want, but after seeing how wrong he was about what drakes were actually capable of he accepted it and even helped train them. The following months passed in a flash and by the end of it he and his team had taken on four different drakes all by themselves.
Granted the drakes were always alone, but that didn't mean he and his group didn't have to be extremely careful. And because of their continued success his troops started to think that they could pretty much handle anything that the drakes could send their way. This was one of the main factors that caused their current situation to go from an actual battle to a complete massacre. Something that Daniel didn't even consider possible when they also had three battalions of Rune Knights fighting alongside them and even a battalion of Royal Guards as well.
Unfortunately that was before they realized that ten drakes were heading their way, and as soon as they did it was already too late. The drakes were upon them and tearing through their ranks as if they weren't even there; almost going completely unchecked as they tore into the capital city. This made the city and the fighting grounds in front of it turn into complete and utter chaos. The sounds of the conflict were almost deafening to him, hearing the constant screams of agony before someone's life was quickly snuffed out or the never ending sounds of spells being cast. All of it was almost too much for him as he tried to fight off two of the drakes on his own, once again realizing that he had a really long way to go.
As his fight dragged on he came to the unsettling realization that the two drakes fighting against him were only just distracting him as the other drakes annihilated the rest of their opposition. This also included the rest of his team that were so sure of themselves just a single hour ago, oh how quickly can one's perspective change. Daniel could only let out a sad chuckle as he thought that, taking note that four of the drakes seemed to vanish during all of the commotion.
"Looks like the little dragon slayer has finally figured out that he's screwed." chuckled the orange fire drake that had been keeping him busy with the help of a purple one. With the orange one easily being the biggest one he's seen so far, which also includes the ones he had only seen through the video lacrimas of Natsu's fights.
"It's quite the shame really, if this hatchling had a few more years of training he'd have actually been an opponent." commented the purple one as she slowly made her way to his other side.
"That or if he had actually trained under that Dragneel fellow for a little while." said the first one as a wicked grin spread across his maw. "Honestly we didn't know that there were other dragon slayers out there still not in that little nest of his. But low and behold, here you are, still as green as a new born. Something that can't be said about Dragneel's bunch, who apparently aren't to be underestimated if those reports from our scouts are to be trusted." he continued to say as he too started to stalk around Daniel like his partner, both of them waiting for the opportune time to strike.
"Unfortunately I'm now realizing how true you are about that." replied Danny with a sad chuckle as his head lowered. This was exactly what the two drakes were waiting for and with almost perfect synchronization they lunged at him, giving him very little space to escape.
But neither of them knew he had no intentions of trying to escape and just as they were mere inches away from him he bellowed out a single spell. "LAVA DRAGON'S MIGHTY ERUPTION!" resulting in both of them getting a face full of lava that they unfortunately accidentally ate as well while they were thrown back. Which was only the beginning for the two of them as the lava in the air spread into two different streams that arched until they came plummeting back down on them.
And due to both of them accidentally eating a fair amount of lava just moments ago they were forced to gag in immense pain as it fell on them. This resulted in two horrendous roars of pain to ring out as the streams of lava continued to pummel into them for two entire minutes. As the lava finally ceased its constant assault on the two drakes, all that was left of them were a few bones here and there.
"My first encounter with him made me realize that some of my spells still need some work." stated Danny in between haggard gasps for air, before falling to his knees in exhaustion. Once again causing a sad smile to come over his face as one of the other drakes in the distance took notice of his last move and decided now was their time to face off against him. Little did the drake know that he had absolutely nothing left in him after that move, which only became even more taxing on him after tweaking it so that it wouldn't destroy everything in the surrounding area like it once did.
"I wonder what it would've been like to join a guild like Fairy Tail." he said as the drake came to a stop in the air just above him, letting him take in its silver scales. They glistened like nothing he had ever seen in the rising sun light that was just starting to crest over the horizon. "They somehow seem to always be having fun." he continued to say with a sad chuckle as the drake reared back its head and started to suck in large amounts of air. "Even in times like these… It must be because they really are a family." he mused to himself as he closed his eyes for what he thought was going to be his last time.
Instead of being encompassed in some sort of roar like he expected, he was shocked to feel the ground shake as the unmistakable roar of a drake in pain rang out. So he hesitantly opened his eyes and what he saw brought tears of joy to his face. The drake that was going to easily end his life just seconds earlier was now being assaulted by a streak of white, while at the same time appeared to be fighting its own shadow. He instantly knew who was responsible for this even though he had yet to actually meet them, but that didn't mean he was ignorant to the two youngest dragon slayers of Fairy Tail and their accomplishments.
And for the next few minutes he once again sat back and watched on as mages of Fairy Tail took on not just one but three different drakes at once. Since it appeared that the Twin Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail were already in a fight with two other drakes before rushing over to him and preventing his imminent demise. Danny couldn't help but admire the teens that fought as if they were one, when one's back was unguarded the other one would be there to protect it. Not only that but while on the offensive they were just as impressive, stringing together attacks that the other one would follow up on and add another devastating attack for good measure.
"To think that I'd run into the brat of Weisslogia." hissed out a completely white drake as she glared over at Sting who had an enormous grin spread across his face. The dragon slayer's current appearance wasn't his usually well-kept one, no right now he was completely covered in blood to the point that you couldn't tell what the color of his clothes used to be.
"That does have to suck." replied the blonde dragon slayer as his right hand tightened on the katana he had strapped to his back. And Sting being himself had to make himself stand out by having it upside down, which really wasn't hard for Cid to accommodate. But it did require him and Natsu to rework the white blade since Sting only told them after they had already completed it. "Especially when your teammates aren't half as good as mine." he finished while gesturing over his shoulder at Rogue who currently was laying into the silver drake that wasn't looking too good at this point.
"True enough little slayer, but I think you're forgetting that our numbers will easily overwhelm yours." she stated as two roars could be faintly heard in the distance. And as they were saying this they were both slowly walking in a circle so the other one stayed right in front of them.
"Oh we're not forgetting something like that." he said as he let go of his sword and brought both of his hands in front of him where a ball of white started to form in between them. This only caused the drake squaring off with him to start chuckling since they have already been over this.
"Didn't you learn from the last time you tried something like that?" she asked as she came to a stop, getting ready for a power boost. "I'll just eat it like you've done every time with mine." she stated as his magic only flared up even more as a blinding light started to shine off of him.
"Then go ahead and try to eat this!" he shouted out as he brought his charged up spell to his left side. The white drake could only smile at the idiotic boy's futile attempt, but for some reason she felt as if something wasn't right. Her assumption was indeed correct when she finally heard the name of his attack, or at least the second word of it and who was saying it.
"HOLY SHADOW DRAGON'S FLASH FANG!" shouted out Sting with Rogue joining in on the shadow part as he flipped out from behind him. With both of their hands containing each of their respective elements that at first resisted being so close to each other as they were. Only for them to then swirl around each other before joining together and becoming a purple ball of sheer destruction that was then hurled at the white drake. Who at that time realized Sting had repositioned her so she was standing in front of her two partners that were just barely getting back up.
"Well done brat, Weisslogia would be proud." she stated with a small smirk as the attack came rushing at her. What followed after was an enormous explosion that engulfed the three drakes and continued outwards, completely destroying everything in its path. Even the few buildings that up till this point somehow survived the destructive fight that ensued throughout the area, only to now be reduced to nothing, luckily all of the citizens had already been evacuated.
At this point Danny couldn't help the little chuckle that escaped his lips as he got to witness first hand Fairy Tail's knack at destroying things like it was their job. A reputation that he used to believe was mainly due to their Master, but was just now proven incorrect as he looked over an entire block reduced to nothing because of their Twin Dragon Slayers.
"So you're the Council's Dragon Slayer." stated Sting as he slowly made his way over to Danny with Rogue at his side looking as equally exhausted as his partner.
"For now at least… And thanks for saving me back there." he mumbled while trying to give the two of them his best smile but could only muster up a tired one. Only for him to lose it the next second when he noticed something heading their way behind the two dragon slayers. "Not to sound ungrateful or anything like that, but please tell me that you two have enough fight left in you guys to take on them." he said while pointing to two drakes currently heading their way.
"Nope, I'm all tapped out." replied Sting with a huge smile spread across his mug as he plopped down next to his fellow dragon slayer.
"That'll happen when we take on a total of six of those bastards between the two of us." commented Rogue as he joined the two of them on the ground. This caused Danny to look between the two of them, now sporting a flabbergasted expression since this was not how mages of Fairy Tail were supposed to act. From what he's been told and actually seen, they would never give up like this and fight to the bitter end even without magic.
And just when he was about to tell the two of them that, he finally comprehended what Rogue had just said to him. This only caused him to look at the two younger dragon slayers in disbelief; together they were able to do three times as much as he was able to accomplish. Danny also had the feeling that they didn't struggle nearly as much as he did in doing it either, which was a testament to the training they received under Dragneel's supervision.
"You two actually took on six of them?" he asked, getting a nod of affirmative from both of them as they kept their eyes locked on the approaching drakes. "Damn… I just barely took on two of them and that probably would've been zero if they didn't underestimate me." he said with a sad chuckle at the end.
"I'm afraid they will no longer be doing that once this is all said and done." stated Rogue as he laid down with his hands going behind his head to serve as a makeshift pillow.
"You got that right, especially after some of them were taken out by non-slayers." chimed in Sting as he followed his partner's example and got into a more comfortable position.
"What in the hell are you two doing?" asked a completely confused lava dragon slayer as he frantically looked between the two of them.
"Enjoying some well-deserved rest." answered Sting as he closed his eyes with a content smile spread across his face.
"WHAT!" he shouted back just before two infuriated roars rang out from what felt like nearby.
"You heard him." commented Rogue in his usual neutral tone. "And I would suggest you do the same since we're going to more than likely need your help back in Magnolia later on." he finished as he too closed his eyes.
"How in the hell do you expect me to help you guys later if we're all going to die in less than a minute!" he shouted while frantically waving in the direction of the two approaching drakes.
"Don't worry about them." was Sting's lazy reply while giving a dismissive wave. Danny was at this point about to lose it on the both of them, but was cut off by another roar echoing throughout the now destroyed capital city of Crocus. At first he thought it was another drake, which honestly didn't matter since the three of them weren't going to be able to put up much of a fight in their current states. But to his shock both of the drakes came to a stop before turning back around and heading straight to the source of the other roar.
"What in the world just happened?" he asked while looking at the now smirking Twin Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail.
"They were just called out by the one person that every single drake is dying to go up against." answered Sting as his eyes reopened; now having a determined look to them. Unfortunately for Danny he still didn't understand exactly what that meant but luckily someone there was willing to fill him in.
"He's talking about our Master." explained Rogue as a faint smile took up residence on his face, only for a pained filled roar to ring out seconds later from within the still smoldering city.
Meanwhile in Magnolia:
"Come on out you cowards!" bellowed an enraged red drake before he unleashed another fiery roar on the guildhall of Fairy Tail. And just like all of the other times he attempted the exact same thing; it was completely useless and harmlessly washed over the enormous building as a red magical barrier could be seen for only a second.
"Would you cut that out Evrag!" shouted out a maroon one as she stopped nursing the wound dealt to her left wing by that infuriating green haired woman. Who in her opinion was the epitome of everything wrong with humans, not willing to face her enemies head on and chose to hide behind those infernal protective barriers of their. That if she was being honest were quite impressive to stand up to their combined might and show no signs of weakening anytime soon.
"Not until we get at least some sort of fight." growled out the now identified Evrag before his head was violently whipped to the side as another shot rang out from the roof of Fairy Tail's guild hall. What followed afterwards was Evrag letting out a frustrated roar before he physically slammed into a different barrier set up around the building, and continued to do so while shouting out curses in his native tongue.
"He may be an idiot, but he's a determined one." stated a yellow drake as it floated down to the maroon one. Before it even touched down, sparks shot off of it and spread out from its now standing position next to probably one of the last semi calm drakes in the city. If you could even call it that after they were through with it, with only a few select buildings remaining intact such as the one they now had surrounded.
"Damnit Tureis, do you have to do that every time you land?" she hissed back at him while also giving him a deadly glare.
"You know I do." he answered with a smirk sent right back at her.
"Well give me a warning next time at least." she said while going back to watching the building that reeked of dragon slayers. "And that he is, but even he won't be able to break through those wards." she concluded as the other three drakes in their group joined in on Evrag's assault of the building. But once again it had little to no effect on the barrier protecting the building that was the only place where they could still detect life in the entire city.
"How is that even possible?" inquired Tureis as he cocked his head to the right as the other four drakes all unleashed their roars on it.
"That I don't know, but whatever they are using must have vast amounts of magic stored in it. Something that I still find hard to believe even if Dragneel and the rest of his slayers put all of their excess magic in it." she concluded as the front doors started to slowly open up ever so slightly.
And out strode one lone figure wearing a sleeveless black scaled coat with an orange dragon emblem on the back of it. A quick glance at the rest of his attire told her that he was completely decked out in armor made from their brethren that was not only durable but very agile. Something that she was certain could also be said for the visible weapons he had strapped to him, with the two chained daggers he was currently twirling in his hands giving her the most concern. But the thing that stood out to her the most was his distinctive pink hair and the completely crazed look he currently had plastered across his mug.
"Dragneel?" she asked, knowing that the person coming towards her definitely fit his description as he cocked his head to the left. But something felt off about him, maybe it was because of his current expression or for how uncharacteristically quiet he currently was being.
Instead of getting a response all she got was his crazed grin growing ever so slightly, which showed off his fangs that to her surprise had what appeared to be blood on them. That was when she finally began to notice more of his intricate details, such as how worn and battered all of his clothing was. Or the smoke slowly billowing off of him from what looked to be fresh cuts. But the most chilling detail she had no idea how she didn't notice until now was the blood that was coating his daggers and splashed all over his coat and pretty much everywhere else.
"Dragneel!" growled out Evrag as soon as the man stepped through the barrier. Only for him and another drake to lunge at the still grinning man, that was casually walking out to all of them by himself.
End of Chapter.
Author's Notes:
I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time to read this work of mine, which I'm still amazed at how many followers and reviews I'm getting for it. Especially with how, quite frankly, terrible the first chapters are grammatically speaking and overall the flow of them. Something that I really want to go back and fix, not only to make it easier for others to start reading this story but to also help refresh myself on everything I've done or said so I don't forget something important that I might have hinted to earlier. Of course that would be a huge time commitment, but I feel as if it would be worth it in the long run. Maybe I'll just do at least one chapter a day instead of devoting a whole month to working on it like it would most likely take to go over all of it and make the small changes that I want to. Well that's enough about things you guys are probably not really interested in since you've already read all of that stuff. So other than letting all of you know that I'm hoping to have the next chapter for this out within the next week. I guess I'll say my usual, feel free to leave a review or PM and I'll try to respond back to you as soon as I can.
Until the Next Chapter,
Digem Out!