A/N: Here's chapter thirty-six! More Tower o' Heaven! Yay! Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
"I understand we have to get rid of the Tower of Heaven so Jellal cannot use the R-System, but such mass destruction will only cause repercussions." Belno argued back inside the Magic Council.
"But the only possible way to attack the tower efficiently is by using the satellite square, Etherion!" Siegrain argued.
"But…" Org mused, trying to counter him.
"The R-System is forbidden magic, so it must be erased from history entirely. So logically the only explanation would be some sort of destruction." Ultear said.
"Etherion will completely obliterate anything in the immediate area! That includes people!" Org said, "Every living being in the tower will be wiped out!"
"But this is to protect the magical world." Siegrain said, "It's a price we'll have to pay."
"The dead cannot be brought back to life." Michello said, "We constantly teach that to the children of this world. How will we be able to do that with the dead being revived left and right? For that reason, I authorize the use of Etherion."
"Not you too, Michello!" Org said.
"We only need one more vote!" Siegrain said.
"Only one more vote, hmm?" Jellal mused.
"Did you say something, sir?" Vildaldus asked.
"Oh, pay it no mind…" He said, "Only one more vote until the game is over…"
"Erza, wait a second…" Gray said, "You mean to tell me that the root cause of all of this is Zeref too?"
"Yes…" Erza said softly, "Which means Deliora…"
Gray went pale, the mere name of the demon gave him a shudder.
"The guild masters in Clover said that Zeref was the strongest evil wizard there ever was…" The Emerald Knight said, "Even Lullaby was from the Book of Zeref, as I'm sure Deliora was."
"They say Zeref easily has enough magic power to create things such as Deliora or Lullaby." Erza said.
"And…Jellal is trying to revive him?" Juvia asked, "But why?"
Erza shook her head silently for a moment, before she continued, "Some say that the one who resurrects Zeref will become the ruler of heaven, or something along the lines."
"In that case your friends were full of rubbish." The Emerald Knight crossed his arms, "When I was bound in Elspeth's vines, they all mentioned something about you betraying them. But if anyone's the betrayed party here, it ought to be you."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Jellal fed them lies while I was away." Erza said, "After all, he needed loyal workers. However, I did abandon them for eight years, so in a way I did betray them…"
"So you hope to stop Jellal in an effort to reverse everything, is that correct?"
Erza nodded, "Yes…if I defeat Jellal…then…it should all be over…"
Gray narrowed his eyes. Before it sounded like Erza was going to sacrifice herself, if anything. Why did he have such a bad feeling about this?
"Sister." A voice growled, as they all turned to see Shô, "That story…what was that load of crap supposed to be?"
"Shô…" Erza's eyes widened as she turned.
"You think you can win sympathy from your friends with all those lies you said? Don't make me laugh. The truth is almost the exact opposite of what you said! Eight years ago you set a bomb on the ship we were trying to escape on and you ran away by yourself! If Jellal hadn't figured out your treason and come to warn us, none of us would have survived that! Jellal told us everything! That his magic was meant for believers and that everyone else would be swept away! And that you had been drunk with magic power and wanted to throw away your past, including us!"
"Dude…are you serious?" Gray asked.
"You must think very little of Erza if you can even believe for a second that she would kill you all at the drop of a hat." The Emerald Knight said.
"What do you guys know?" Shô snapped, "You know nothing about us! We were saved by Jellal's words! That's why we spent eight long years working on the tower! It was all for Jellal!" He seethed with rage, "You're trying to tell me that all of this is a lie? That Erza's right and I'm wrong? Is that what you expect me to believe?"
"Exactly." Simon said as he entered the room.
"Simon?" Shô repeated, baffled.
"It's you…" Gray growled, an icy mist coming off of him.
"Wait a moment, Gray." Juvia held his shoulder, "When he attacked you, he knew you were an ice decoy. Darkness mages aren't blinded by their own darkness. That's a big reason I came here, to confirm that those were his intentions."
"I'd expect no less from one of Phantom's Element Four." Simon noted, "I never intended to kill anyone. I planned to knock you out to fool Shô and the others. But since you had an ice decoy ready, I knew I could make a show out of it."
"Y-You wanted to fool us?" Shô asked, flabbergasted.
"You, Wally, and Elspeth…you've all been tricked by Jellal. I had to wait for my chance, so I pretended to be fooled too."
"Simon…" Erza gave a shaky smile.
"I believed in you from the start, Erza." Simon smiled, "And I continued to believe in you for eight years." He gave her a hug, "I was so happy to see you, Erza…from the bottom of my heart."
"Why…why does everyone trust her so much…" Shô raged, trying not to cry, "Why…why couldn't I trust her…why?" He fell to his knees and broke down, "Damn it!" He sobbed, "What the hell am I supposed to believe now? Who am I supposed to trust?"
Erza broke her hug with Simon to get down on Shô's level, "I know it's hard to take in, but I'd just like to add in one more word." She said, "For each year that I left you here, I never forgot about you. It's my fault I was too weak to do anything to help you."
"But now you can do something." Simon said, "I've been waiting for this moment for so long now…for the strongest group of wizards to finally merge into one entity so we can take down Jellal."
The Emerald Knight's eyes widened. Was Simon talking about him too? Surely he would just weigh the others down, as he is now…
"We're going to fight Jellal." Simon said, "We're going to combine our strengths. And our first step is to stop Natsu and Wally from taking each other out. We'll need his strength to take out Jellal."
"Happy!" Natsu ran into the next room, a little disturbed with what he say, "What the heck is this room?" He looked around the gothic room, glaring down at a spider, "There's a spider, right there!" He pointed, "And there!" He pointed, "And there! Spiders! Spiders everywhere! Who the heck lets a bunch of spiders in their room?"
Wally stood in the doorway, cocking his gun, thrilled at how distracted Natsu was with the spiders, "Well, ain't that just dandy…"
"Damn it!" Simon said, two fingers at his forehead, "My messages are being blocked to Wally. Elspeth too!"
"Messages?" The Emerald Knight asked.
"I can't tell where they are!"
"Telepathy magic, I assume?" Juvia asked.
"That's right." Simon nodded.
"You feeling better, Shô?" Erza asked as she looked back.
"Yes…as long as you're here…sister…" Shô said slowly.
"Say…do you think we can really trust that guy?" Gray said quietly as he looked at Juvia, "He trapped a bunch of people in cards, and we all almost died from their attacks on us."
"I don't intend to give you any excuses." Simon said, "But if you all died from attacks that minor, you'd have no chance at fighting Jellal."
"You heard me?"
"Besides, I knew Natsu would survive the attack. You all have yet to realize Natsu's true power."
"Man…these spiders are creepy…" Natsu shuddered, then he heard the click of a gun, he whirled around and just barely dodged a bullet, literally, "Blockhead!" He snapped, "Nice try!"
"What, how the hell did you hear my gun?" Wally snapped.
"Us dragon slayers have pretty good hearing, like I said, nice try though…"
"You bastard…"
"Now come on." Natsu said as his fists burned with fire, "You better tell me where Happy is or you'll be sorry."
"Wally, what the hell are you doing in here?" A voice called as Elspeth walked in, "I told you not to come in here, you'll kill the spiders!"
"Elspeth, come on, we gotta take out this lousy palooka before he messes up our plans!" Wally said.
Natsu snickered for a while, "Well, you guys just gave me a great idea…"
Elspeth balled her fists, "Both of you need to get out of my room before I strangle you myself!"
"That wasn't really the answer I was looking for." Natsu held his hand up, "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" He threw a big orb of fire at the duo.
They both hopped out of the way, Elspeth looking angrier and angrier, "Pyro, if you light my room on fire, I'm going to throw you out the window."
"Bring in on, vampire lady, cause I ain't leaving until I get Happy back."
"Vampire?" She asked, looking at Wally, before launching dozens of vines at Natsu from her palms.
"Ah, what the hell are these?" Natsu snapped as he was wrapped around by the rosy thorns, "Fire Dragon's…" His fist didn't light up, "Huh? How come I can't use my magic?"
Wally sneered, "Polygon attack!" He broke apart into pieces which smacked into Natsu.
"Ow! Damn it, I can't dodge with these vines wrapped around me…" Natsu growled as he got smacked around.
A sadistic grin appeared on Elspeth's face as they wrapped around his arms tighter, more vines crawling out from her palms to wrap around him.
"Damn it…" Natsu choked, "You're gonna pay for this…vampire lady…"
"I'm not a vampire!" She snapped.
Natsu growled and ripped the vines off of him, breaking any stubborn ones with his canines, his fists flared up and he punched Elspeth in the face, sending her flying.
"Elspeth!" Wally cried, "I'll help ya!"
Happy flew in from out of nowhere, with one of Elspeth's mirrors in his hands, he smashed it over Wally's head. Wally yelled and fell over, "No…no…seven years…of bad luck…" He coughed up blood.
"Happy!" Natsu smiled, "Good to see ya, little buddy!"
Elspeth's dark eyes were wide, she launched vines at Happy and Natsu.
"Lookout!" Natsu said, "Those vines block magic!"
Happy swallowed hard and flew out of the way, while Natsu ripped the grate off of Elspeth's fire place. He crawled inside and started eating the fire.
Wally screamed like a girl seeing Natsu eat the flames.
Natsu smirked, "Now I'm all fired up…"
"Did you just eat my fire…?" Elspeth's eyes were wide.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu lunged at the duo and knocked both of them out at once with his large flaming wings.
Jellal sighed as he knocked over another couple chess pieces, "Shô and Simon have betrayed me…it seems. While Wally and Elspeth have been defeated by Salamander's attacks. But this is how the game should be played. It would be rather boring if the game was so one-sided."
"Master Jellal." Vildaldus said, "We must capture Erza quickly if we want to start the ceremony! We don't have time for this!"
"If that's how you feel, then why don't you go, Vildaldus?"
"Are you sure?"
"They've had their turn, now it's mine. That's fair enough, don't you think?"
Vildaldus gave a dark snicker as he began to transform into another outfit entirely. Now he resembled a heavy metal musician, his long black hair a bit wilder, black and white makeup all over his face, spiked shoulder pads, various tattoos on his chest, black pants with a skull shaped bucket, and black boots.
Standing beside him were two more warriors. One had the bare-chested body of a man, but the head of a brown owl. His only other clothing seemed to be red sneakers, green shorts, and some wristbands. He also wore a large impressive rocket pack on his back for flight.
The last person in the middle was a woman, with long light pink hair tied in a bow on top of her head. Her pale skin was contrasted with dark green eyes and red lips. She had a black collar on, with a white and red kimono, a thick black and red belt around her waist. In her hands was a red sheathed katana.
"Assassin's Guild Deaths Head Caucus. Special Guerilla Squad…Trinity Raven!" Jellal said, "It's time to add you into the fray."
"Go to hell!" Vildaldus screeched in his new rocker voice, "I'll show them the best side and the worst side of hell!"
The owl man gave a short hoot, acknowledging the statement.
The woman with pink hair smiled, "This evening, we shall celebrate."
"I'd like to welcome you all…" A voice said through a speaker, "To the Tower of Heaven. I am Jellal, keeper of this tower. I see we have all our game pieces in place. So now is a suitable time to start our game. Let us begin Heaven's Game! The rules are rather simple…"
"This jerk is toying with us…" Gray said.
"Jellal…" Shô seethed with rage.
"I intend to sacrifice Erza in order to revive Zeref." Jellal said, "In other words, if the gates of Heaven open, then I win. But if you manage to stop my plans, than you win. Still, if it were that simple, it wouldn't be fun. So I've added three knights to strengthen my ranks."
"Three knights…?" Simon asked, "What does he mean by that?"
"You will not be able to reach me without getting through them, so this will be a three versus seven battle royal!" Jellal said, "Finally, allow me to explain one special rule. There is a very real chance that the council will attack us with Etherion. That would obliterate the tower and anyone inside it. There's no telling how much time we have left, but the moment Etherion comes raining down, everyone will die. Thus, the game will end without a winner."
The Emerald Knight swallowed hard, "So he's willing to kill us all…even kill himself…if that isn't madness then I don't know what is…"
"Etherion…?" Erza asked, "From the Council….?" She asked, her face boiling with rage, "Jellal, look what you've made them resort to!"
Erza was imprisoned in a card, Shô grabbed the card as it started to fall.
"Erza!" Gray said.
"Shô, what are you doing?" Simon frowned.
"Now…let's enjoy our little game!" Jellal said.
"Nobody's gonna lay a finger on sister!" Shô yelled, "I'll take out Jellal myself!"
"Shô!" Erza raged, "You can't do this to me!"
"Wait, you're no match for him on your own!" Simon held a hand out as Shô ran off, "Damn it…I'll go after Shô, the rest of you look for Natsu!"
"Damn it, why does everyone do this?" Gray growled.
"We'll have to split up to effectively cover more ground." The Emerald Knight said.
"Jellal, you ass." Vildaldus said, "You never told us about Etherion…if that thing comes down, we're all as good as dead!"
"Feeling cowardly, Vildaldus?" The woman with pink hair said.
"No! The opposite! I'm as ready as hell to be in the most dangerous job we've ever taken!" He howled.
"I don't get any of this…but all we gotta do is take out this Jellal guy and we win, right?" Natsu asked, "Well, that gets me fired up!" He hit his fists together.
"I imagine he's at the very top." Happy said.
"Jellal…?" Wally looked up at the speaker, "We're not finished Salamander!" He growled, "But…why would he want to use Etherion…he could kill us…I thought he wanted us to rule heaven…"
"He knows just what he's doing…" Elspeth's eyes closed briefly, "The Etherion could finally free us…and Jellal can rule over us in hell…"
"I don't know what brand of freedom you're looking for." Natsu said, "But it gets a lot better in the outside world, you'll just have to trust me." He smiled.
"Well…that sounds better than hell…" Wally thought about it.
"Please." Elspeth muttered, "The second we step foot out of this building, we'll only be forced into more torture…"
"Not if I have anything to say about it. Happy!" Natsu looked at Happy, "There's a back door to winning this game, right?"
"Aye!" Happy nodded.
"Then let's head to the top, cut ourselves a big corner to the finish line!" Natsu laughed as Happy flew up with him.
"Aye!"
"Salamander." Wally smiled as he looked out the window, "That's one dandy guy…" He said as he soon passed out.
"What is that?" Natsu squinted off into the distance.
"Whatever it is, it's coming this way." Happy said.
"Hoo-hoo!" The large owl man crashed into Natsu with his jets, smashing him into one of the rooms in the tower.
"Salamander?" Simon watched on in confusion, "Are you alright?"
"Who are you?" Natsu looked at Simon, "And who's that?" He looked at the owl man.
"I will not tolerate the breaking of any rules!" The owl man pointed, "The knight of justice, Fukuro has come, hoo-hoo!"
"A bird…talking about justice…I don't get it…" Natsu said.
"No…it can't be…" Simon said, "Come with me." He called as he started running off.
"Natsu, this guy is friends with the blockhead!" Happy said.
"Right now, I'm on your side." Simon said, "Don't even try to fight with that guy!" Simon held his hands out, "Dark moment!" The lights went out.
"Whoa! It went all dark!" Natsu said.
"Now's our chance!" Simon said.
"Hoo-hoo!" Fukuro ran at Simon, "The justice knight can see in the dark!" He blasted a bright light as Simon that pierced a hole into him. Simon coughed up blood and fell back, the effects of his dark moment wore off once he was hit.
"They're assassins from the Death's Head Caucus!" Simon coughed.
"Assassin's guild?" Happy shivered.
"It's one of the Dark Guilds…they only take assassination requests…inside the guild is the three-man team known as Trinity Raven…legend has it that in the Cabria War…the three of them alone murdered all of the officers of the western army…"
"So…he's one of the three assassins…"
"Hoo-hoo! Justice must be served!" Fukuro said.
"They specialize in killing! You mustn't fight them!" Simon begged from the ground.
"Salamander…your evil name is known far and wide across the guild!" Fukuro said, "Today the justice night will bury you for your crimes!"
"A guild is a gathering place for people's trust and dreams!" Natsu said as he flared up, "It's no place for murderers like you!"
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. October is usually my busiest month. Not to say the others will be updated every day! Hope you liked it! Looking forward to more battles next chapter!