Hello! Now, I know, I know, its been a VERY long time since I've updated. About a year and a few months. I have a reason for this (believe it or not?) but I'll write all about that in the end notes. For those who are still with this story, thank you so much! And, for all you new readers please know that I will be sticking with story and updating it regularly from now. But, for now, I'm just jumping right into this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Fairy Tail but Scarlet Destiny is all mine!

Erza took a breath as she inspected her enemy. The wounds Kyron sported were little and he was still in peak condition. Even with a sword that couldn't break, she knew her victory wouldn't be achieved so easily.

But defeat is not an option she could accept either.

Gritting her teeth tightly, she finally made her move. Feet gracefully pounded on the soft carpet as Erza launched towards her enemy. With no armour on, she was light and able to move freely like flowing water travelling down a river.

Her speed was swift and in no time she closed the gap between her and the master of Lacus Animarium in a matter of seconds. Raising Akki, the sword Zolo entrusted to her, as high as possible she brought it down on her raised a hand and managed to wrapped his bare hand around the midnight blade.

A mistake.

Kyron let out a large yell of pain and he let go of the blade and stumbled back slightly before his breaking magic could work on the metal of the sword. Erza blinked slightly in surprise, not expected the reaction. She looked down at the sword noticing that bright blood was now coating the edge of the blade.

Bringing her eyes back to Kyron she stared at the burly man. He had one hand clasped in the other, pain contorted in agonising pain. Blood oozed out from an overly large cut, much more serious then she had been. As per Zolo explained, Akki really could give such a huge amount of damage.

Seeing the emotionless man in such pain caused a slight smile to spread on Erza's face.

"I may not be able to let you touch me but it looks like the same goes for you too. You can't touch this sword either." Erza spoke defiantly.

"It seems so." Kyron spat back as he closed his damaged hand in a tight fist despite the pain he was feeling.

'Think Erza think. This battle has been going off for long enough. You have to finish Kyron with the next blow. You need to finish him off before he can use that ability on you. How to do it? Come on! Think!' Erza thought, trying to come up with a sufficient plan.

One single blow, enough to bring Kyron down, was the only way she would win this battle. Erza breathed slowly as she continued to examine the brown-haired man. This man can break anything he touched. In that case, the most dangerous part of his was obviously his hands.

Suddenly, the answer zapped through Erza's body.

Erza's grip on Akki tightened and she started to chuckle slowly. Noticing her sudden humour caused a deep frown to stretch across Kyron's face.

"What's so hilarious, Titania?" Kyron snapped, despising every second of Erza's light laughter.

"You," Erza laughed as she brought Akki to be eye-level "I have just figured out the way to beat you. I will finish you off with the next move."

"Don't be so confident, Titania, it is I who will win with this next move."

"When I finish you off, you will reveal all of your plans to me as you promised?"

"He, he, that is if you will be able to beat me with this next move. Are you sure you want to bet everything on what you do next?"

"I am positive. Akki and I will slice you in half with our next move."

"So be it...Come!" Kyron roared, as he raced towards her both of his arms stretched out in front of him.

Erza did not move an inch as she stared at the humungous man stomped towards her. Not yet. She needed him to get closer. Close as possible without being able to actually touch her.

Kyron's fingertips were just inches away from her face and Erza knew that her plan had worked. Kyron's ability was monstrous and against anybody, he would always have the upper hand.

However, with this overwhelming ability, there was an equally overwhelming weakness. If Kyron's skin could not make any contact with her body then he could not use her magic. And, considering that Kyron wore clothes over every part of his body except his face and hands made it so only his hands were dangerous.

Erza knew this was why she and Zolo hadn't beaten him earlier. They were so careful around the damage that his hands could do that they were always trying to stay far away from them as possible. But by doing so, they were only making it harder on themselves to actually be able to wound Kyron since they couldn't get near him without his hands coming in the way.

Erza knew that if she could avoid them long enough to have Akki just brush against Kyron in a sensitive part of his body then she would win. Akki's ability will do the job for her.

All Erza had to do was avoid Kyron's hand.

Which is why she waited until the last moment, where she had his hands unknowingly where she wanted to them. With both hands reaching for her, Erza bent a little and brought an arm swiftly up so she knocks Kyron's hands out the way.
She was a little unlucky though as just the slightest patch of the front of her arm accidentally touched Kyron's bare wrist. Bones snapped easily and Erza felt her top teeth dig into her plump bottom lip to keep the scream that wanted to tear through her throat at bay.

With enough force, she managed to push Kyron's hands away so they flew right above her head. Kyron's eyes widened to the size tennis balls as he hadn't taken into account that she would try to go anywhere his hands. He thought she would just try to get far away from them as most of his opponents tended to do.

He never expected the S Class mage to take such a bold move and this was the beginning of his downfall.

With Kyron unguarded due to his emotions, Erza charged forward like a raging bull seeing red for the first time. All of her anger, confusion, sadness and hatred fuelled this slash.

Akki brushed lightly against Kyron's stomach, barely touching his body as it glided from one edge to the other.

But, this was enough.

Kyron let out a sharp, breathless gasp and a second later a huge amount of blood spurted out from his stomach. Blood splashed onto the floor in oddly shaped blotches and Kyron sputtered out more grunts of pain.

Erza breathed heavily through her own pain, her left arm felt like it was on fire. At least, she knew how Zolo was feeling with a broken arm of her own now. Nonetheless, she stepped back and watched as Kyron stumbled as he desperately tried to stay on his feet.

Erza twirled Akki in her hand so she could grip the hilt of the sword easier in the base of her broken arm. Despite the sharp pain of protest, she pulled the sword back with the damaged arm.

With every amount of force in her body, she smashed the hilt of the sword against the back of Kyron's head as brutally and viciously as she could muster. There was an echoing bang as contact landed and a deafening yell tore out of Kyron's body.

He lost his balance instantly and smacked down on the front of his body, face taking the brunt force when he collapsed. He was still conscious and breaths were coming out in a thick wheeze. His right cheek pressed against the floor and blood was starting to leak around the area where his stomach was.

"That was for my guild and Scarlet Destiny's. You caused us too much pain and I will not take such actions against our guilds that lightly." Erza announced as she watched the defeated man failing to gather himself back up to fight again.

Kyron eyes closed lightly and he let out a choked chuckle.

"I...did...not think you could win...against me...Titania," Kyron managed to speak out despite the burning pain flooding through his body overriding all his other senses.

"You are right," Erza admitted "I...would not have won against you. If it was not for the sword Zolo had given me, my chances against of you were slim to none."

Erza was not afraid to admit when she would lose. She was not undefeatable as individuals liked to think. Everyone had their weaknesses. It was a simple match of abilities between her and Kyron. He was the worse match up for the equip magic she had. If

Akki wasn't with her, none of her weapons would have been able to deal any damage against Kyron.

Erza eyes glimpsed down at her broken arm. The area was swelling up rapidly and turning an unusual shade of purple. Living proof of what she had admitted too.

"Ah," Kyron gasped in pain "I see..."

Kyron's harsh breathing was the only sound of the room.

"I am...a man of my words...Titania. I promised I would tell you...everything...if I...lost the match. Since...you have won...I will do so..."

"Then, start from the very beginning."

"Very...Well..."

All three boys eyed each other in caution and hesitation. This was the last thing each boy thought was possible. They didn't know who was going to attack first, who Lord was going to take control off and make them do his bidding.

And, that bastard! Lord still sat on his throne acting all high and mighty like he was some sort of god.

Ren couldn't take this suspense for much longer. He wouldn't to run over to Lord and punch him right in his burnt face. But, he didn't know who was going to attack and where the hell it would come from. Hell, it could even be him.
Suddenly, Keahi brought up both his arms, one palm facing Ren and the other facing Natsu.

Shit!

A burst of flame through both palms at once, overwhelming heat engulfing the nearby area in milliseconds. Ren's eyes widened and he quickly called forth his dragon wings. In no time, they stretched out of his back and he flew up skywards avoiding the deadly flames by an inch.

Natsu, on the other hand, handled it much easier. Opening his mouth he started to breathe in and the fire started to fill the boy's mouth. He easily ate the fire around him like it was the most natural thing to do and in no time all the fire had been swelled down by the pink-haired boy and settled in his stomach.

Keahi started at the boy gobsmacked looking at the palm of his hand and Natsu's mouth.

"Did you...just eat my fire?!"

"Yup!" Natsu grinned, not caring how much disbelief Keahi seemed to be by it "That was so good! The best fire I've ever had! I want more!"

"More?! You want more?!" Keahi squeaked "I feel so mortified right now. You do know my fire is a part of me?"

Natsu cocked his head to the side, "So?"

"So? So? So?!" Keahi's voice repeated, voice reaching a new high.

"I don't see what the problem is," Natsu shrugged before a hand suddenly went to press against his stomach "Huh? My stomach feels a little weird now."

"Of course it does! You just ate demon fire! Spit it out!"

"I can't do that!"

"Enough." Lord suddenly spoke up, breaking the banter between the fire-wielding individuals.

To emphasise his point, Ren let out a short yell brining both Keahi's and Natsu's attention to him. Ren took a deep breath before letting out a whirlwind of pressurised water from his mouth, aimed at both boys.

Both Keahi and Natsu flung themselves either side of the attack, managing to narrowly avoid the attack. Ren's water crashed against the floor easily making a large hole where both boys had been standing next to each other.

"Sorry!" Ren yelled as he started to fly down, feet hitting the floor "I-I didn't mean do that."

"No need to apologise. It's not your fault. It's Lord's." Keahi said through gritted teeth, not liking at all being controlled like this.

"That bastard," Natsu growled and a fist lit up on fire like a match striking into action. He braced himself, looking like he was going to charge towards Lord to attack him.

Ren and Keahi's eyes widened as they noticed Natsu's fire.

"What the-" Ren started.

"Shit! Natsu wait a sec-"

But, Natsu ignored both boys. Instead, he raced forwards, towards Lord. In the darkness, the man let out a twisted smile as he watched the dragon slayer head for him, anger fuelling his every step.

At the last second, before Natsu could land a foot on one of the steps leading to the throne Lord he twisted around and started to rush towards where Keahi and Ren stood.

"Damn it! Keahi yelled.

Ren quickly launched towards Keahi and managed to wrap an arm around the fire demon just in time. He bent his legs and then launched into the air like a pressurised rocket for the second time.

Natsu fist hit the blank air where the two Scarlet Destiny members had been. It was only this when he noticed his own fire. Natsu's eyes widened a considerable amount as he watched his fire burst out from his fist in front of him like it usually did when he did his fire dragons iron fist.

However, his fire wasn't red.

No, it was a bright blue.

A colour that he had never seen before. The flame felt a lot hotter than usual as it spread out in the area in front of him. Not only that, but it was also a lot stronger too as the range of his attack had increased considerably.

Both Ren and Keahi watched in slight awe as they watched the attack they had missed caused wafts of smoke to fill the room. It took a couple of seconds, a lot longer than the attack usually was, for the blaring blue flame to disperse.

When only Ren thought it was safe, he started to lower himself along with Keahi. As they both landed on the solid ground again, they had their eyes on Natsu who was looking at his fist with stars in his eyes.

"What was that? How did I do that? It was so cool!"

"No, it wasn't!" Keahi yelled out at the same time Ren yelled out "Hell yeah it was!"

Keahi glared at Ren with a less than amused look before he brought a fist up and knocked it against Ren's head harshly.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ren grumbled as two hands clutched the forming bump on his head.

"I don't want one idiot to encourage another. Natsu do you have any idea what you've done?" Keahi yelled.

"Nope!"

"Don't say it so nonchalantly like that. You ate my fire. It must have some effect on you. That's why your flame is blue. This is bad. It seems my fire somehow amplified your attacks when you ate it."

"I don't see what the problem is." Natsu grumbled, "It's so cool and powerful."

"You don't understand! If your attacks are more powerful then-"

Lord's abrupt laughter broke Keahi's sentence before he could finish it. All three boys looked to the man on the throne, anger clouding their eyes.

"You three should not really talk out loud when in battle. You've given me so many ideas on how to destroy you. it seems the fire dragon slayer has gotten a lot more powerful now. That could be useful..."

Both Ren and Keahi instantly took a step back from Natsu. And, they were right to do so as Natsu inhaled a sharp breath before an overwhelming blue blaze ruptured from his mouth filling everything in close range in a flaming blue hue.

The silver blade sliced through his shoulder all the way down his chest, through his stomach, and coming out of the side of his hip. On anyone else, this would have been deadly. But, for him, it was nothing as the attack simply phased through his body like it never existed.

Jared knew he was stalling. There wasn't much he could do at all. He couldn't lay a finger on Sarah, no matter how much he needed too. It was impossible. He couldn't hurt her. So, he just let her attack. Over and over again her sword kept cutting through him without any effect.

Yet, Sarah never stopped. No break. No hesitation. She kept swinging her blade through Jared's body with not an ounce of opposition. Her eyes were dead, black as a night sky with no stars, as her eyes stayed on Jared's without blinking once.

"Sarah..." Jared spoke softly as the blade ran through his body yet again "You need to listen to me. You're listing aren't you?"

No response. Sarah raised the sword in her grasp for another blow.

"I know you are," Jared continued as he phased through the attacks "I know it's hard. A mind user has you. But, if you try I know there has to be a way for you to break through it."

No answer. Jared stood still, not moving an inch as Sarah continued her onslaught.

"You don't want this. You never have. I've never once seen you want to hurt anyone willingly. You always try to take the pacifist route to any situation. So this, attacking me, isn't you. So you have to come back."

Nothing.

"I...I can't attack you back. You know I can't. It's impossible." Jared spoke softly even though his words fell on empty ears.

He didn't know if she would stop attacking. The order from Lord had been was to kill him. So, that meant that Sarah would not stop attacking him until she accomplished it. Or so he thought. But, he wasn't too sure of this either.

He promised Lucy that he would handle Sarah. But, how? His options were very limited. Talking to Sarah and trying to snap her out of this was useless. He wasn't getting anywhere like this.

It was funny. She really was his weakness.

If Sarah was herself, he knew she would be furious with him. She would have told him that he should have just attacked of her regardless of any damage she might take in the process.

Jared knew this. The best option would just be to knock Sarah out by aiming for his head. But, why couldn't he do it? Why couldn't he bring his arm up and just hit her? Why? Why would his body not move at all?

"Damn it!" Jared swore as the sword went through him again. His eyes were starting to burn from unshed tears.

Stupid! He was stupid!

"Jared!" a new voice yelled suddenly causing Jared's body to jerk slightly at the new sound.

His head snapped towards the voice to find Kouta and Wendy standing at the doorway having just entered. Both of their chests were heaving from running so fast and their hands were clasped together tightly.

"Kouta? Wendy? What are you-"

Jared stopped his own sentence when he realised that Sarah had stopped trying to slice him into pieces. Instead, her glazed eyes were on Wendy and Kouta.

Jared's eyes widened when he realised what was happening instantly. Sarah's focus was on him. She must have realised that it was useless to try to kill him now and she had new targets in sight.

"W-what's happening? W-why was S-Sarah..." Kouta's voice trailed off unable to finish his own quite questioning.

Jared's mouth dropped open but no words came out.

Sarah took a step forward, in the direction of the two little kids.

"No!" Jared yelled out as Sarah launched towards Wendy and Kouta like a bullet being shot through the gun.

Wendy's and Kouta's eyes widened in disbelief and their bodies froze up at the sight of Sarah charging at them with a sword raised high. They couldn't comprehend what was going on in time so their bodies didn't know what action to take.

They were defenceless.

Sarah drew her hand back and swung it out aiming to stab Wendy first.

There was a sicking sound as metal pierced through the skin.

Wendy's and Kouta's eyes couldn't understand what happened and both mouths dropped open in shock. They stared in front of them where Sarah's sword was deeply embedded in the flesh.

In front of the two, stood a looming figure.

Jared body shook slightly as he stood with both arms wide open in a protecting gesture in front of the two kids. Producing out of his back was the end of Sarah's sword, covered in thick red blood, as it ran straight through his chest.

"Jared!" Wendy screamed, tears filling his eyes.

"J-Jared!" Kouta also screeched at the same time, his reaction mimicking Wendy's.

Sarah stood in front of Jared not having any reaction of having just stabbed his through her heart. Instead, her body moved like a puppet on a string as she started to pull the sword out of his chest.

But, she couldn't.

Sarah's gaze dully dropped down to the hand that gripped the hilt of the sword. Covering over her hand was Jared's as he gripped onto it tightly, nails digging into her skin as he used all his force to keep it there.

Sarah tugged but her hand refused to budge and she wasn't allowed to pull the sword out of the master of Scarlet Destiny's chest.

"I...won't let you...hurt anyone." Jared breathes lowly, coughs sputtering out of his chest.

Sarah said no words, blank eyes only Jared's. His skin was turning paler by the second and eyes were barely open.

"Scarlet Destiny is your home. The home you always so want. So...for Scarlet Destiny's sake I won't let you hurt anyone." Jared said as blood started to drip down the side of his mouth.

"Jared..." Wendy said softly as tears easily slid down her puffy cheeks at the sight before her.

"You're going to wake up. You always hated seeing me hurt. So...you're going to wake up now." Jared said, voice barely above a whisper.

No answer.

Jared's grip started to loosen and his vision easily blurred in front of him. A second later, his body finally gave up. His hand dropped down to his side away letting go of Sarah.

At once, she started to pull back and the sound of the blade running through Jared's body as it pulled out vibrated across the walls.

With no support left, Jared collapsed into a heap on the floor with an overly large thud.

"Ah-" Kouta choked out crying as furiously as Wendy was.

Jared lay halfway on his side, eyes glazed over and only an inch open. His body didn't move an inch. His chest failed to move up and down. Red pooled around his body.

Wendy managed to tear her eyes away from Jared for the first time he saved them to look at Sarah. A sharp gasp escaped her mouth as she stared at the girl.

Hot tears slid down the blonde girl's face as her body trembled lightly. Her blank eyes twitched as if she was trying to break out. This only lasted a few seconds before there was a flash like they had changed colour. Wendy couldn't tell what had happened in that one second since it has been so fast.

But, a second later, there was a clang as the bloody sword dropped from Sarah's grasp. The girl's eyes started to blink rapidly as more tears slid down her face like an ever-flowing waterfall. Her gaze was on Jared who was the floor.

The girl's body trembled furiously at this point and Wendy knew whatever spell was over Sarah had been broken. Sarah's hand moved up and they gripped the front of her dress, clutching above where her heart lay.

The silent sobs started to become louder and louder by the second until they were full-blown sounds of sorrow as she stared at Jared.

Sarah's feet collapsed beneath her and she dropped to the ground next to Jared's body.

Her face contorted with sorrow and despair. Tears were all Wendy could see as they kept flowing down her face.

Then, a scream ripped out deep from Sarah's throat and Wendy knew this was a sound coming from her despairing heart at Jared's sacrifice.

And done! Yes! I am leaving it at that for all you folks! I know I'm sorry it is at a awful place I know but I did this for a reason. Now, as for Jared's...future...I guess it depends on your comments! We will see what happens and what you guys want.

Please read the following!...Please read the following! Please read the following!

1) Now here is my explanation on why I haven't updated - I graduated University this year in July so I had spent the last year trying so hard to pass (which I did...So yay!) so that's why I hadn't updated that much. But, after I did pass...I found it very difficult to find a job and any income so I was depressed a little and sad, this time I had also lost a lot of interest in Fairy Tail and therefore this story as well. But, I had just got my first real job last month and my mood has brightened up significantly :) After settling in for the last month, I decided it was time I finished this.

2) As you know, this story is coming to a end. I predict 5/6 more chapters from here. So, I will be updating every week from now to make up for a year gap and this will be on a Friday/Saturday (including this Friday). I hope to finish this in the next month. So, keep up to date with the ending of this story!