Chapter 52

Black mist and ref flames clashes as Natsu and Zeref's fists met. Natsu swung his other fist as Zeref ducked and swept the fire dragon's legs from under him, as Natsu was falling Zeref twisted his body to kick the fairy in to the floor. As Natsu stood he was sent flying in to the wall by a punch.

"NATSU!" Lucy stepped forward

"stay out of this Luce" Natsu climbed out of the remains of a table

"just as I thought, you no longer have the power of Igneel" Zeref said as he brushed some dust off, "without it you have no hope"

"I don't need Igneel's power to take you down" Natsu stood, "I can do that with my own power"

"fine then no more games" Zeref said, "I'll make sure you stay dead this time"

Zeref charged at Natsu and punched him across his face as Natsu punched the black wizard in his gut. The two exchanged punches before Natsu grabbed Zeref's wrist and flipped him over his shoulder.

"fire dragon's roar" Natsu flew up as he shot down at the immortal

Zeref ripped off his smouldering jacket as he stood again. The two engaged each other again and as they fought Lucy and Gray were told by the first to join the others in the battle, "we have to go Natsu" Lucy told him, "don't lose"

"I wasn't planning on it" Natsu said as he deflected one of Zeref's punches

"you better be here when we get back" Gray shouted back as they ran out of the guild

"and you better have some good fish as well" Happy shouted following them

Natsu sent Zeref flying back with a punch to his face, "this really is fun" Zeref said as he came to a stop, "the future of humanity is on the line and here I am having fun, I wonder if this is the curse or if I am genuinely having fun"

"what the hell are you on about?" Natsu asked

"it really doesn't matter, I'm just having too much fun" Zeref smiled

"you're cra…" Natsu fell to his knees as he felt his body become heavy

"slumber" a beat up Larcade walked in to the guild, "let me help you father"

"SNAP OUT OF IT" Natsu slapped himself, "ain't no time to be sleeping"

"quickly father while he's distracted, kill him and be free of your younger brother" Larcade started to laugh, "let his pure white soul ascend to the free heav…"

Larcade was interrupted by Zeref shooting him through the chest with a blast of black energy, "do not interrupt us" Zeref said as he walked past Natsu and towards Larcade

"why did you do this dad?" Larcade asked as he cowered on the floor, "it hurts dad, why?"

"I have no children, you're a book I created nothing more" Zeref looked down at the crying Larcade, "now get out of my sight"

"no dad pl…"Larcade couldn't finish before Zeref completely destroyed him

"you would do that to your own son" Natsu gritted his teeth and balled his fists

"he wasn't my son just a demon I…" Zeref was shot in to a wall as Natsu punched him in the face

"you're a bastard who takes your son for granted" Natsu's flames roared with anger

"I have no son, I have no family, I never can thanks to this body that kills everything" Zeref said, "I have given up on such foolish things"

"it's not foolish" Natsu marched over to the black wizard and grabbed him by the collar to look in his eyes, "you have a family and he's standing right in front of you, brother"

"my brother is dead" Zeref slapped Natsu's hand off him, "you're nothing but another one of my books, E.N.D"

On the flying battleship Christina, Kalex, Erza, Jella and Wendy sat in the corridor as it took off and flew away with Acnologia in hot pursuit, "what's going on, Ichiya?" Erza asked

"we need to lead Acnologia to a specific place and we can defeat him" the man informed them

"what are you talking about" Kalex asked

"that's a good question" an old lady who looked suspiciously like Lucy appeared before them, "and it's good to see you Wendy"

"you know Wendy?" Erza questioned

"don't you remember me?" she asked the girl

"ANNA!" Wendy suddenly remembered

"so you're Anna" Kalex commented

"yes but I don't remember meeting you" Anna turned to Kalex, "have we met before?"

"no but I heard all about your plan from Zeref, sending dragon slayer 400 years in to the future to defeat Acnologia but I didn't think you came with them" Kalex told her, "Zeref built the eclipse gates and Lucy's mum opened them"

"yes but when it was opened all the dragon slayers were scattered and I searched for them" Anna continued the story, "but in my searching I found something that could help us defeat Acnologia"

"what is it?" Wendy asked

"a timelapse, it's hard to explain but if we get Acnologia to touch it then he'll be sealed away forever in nothingness" Anna told them

"how can you be so sure?" Kalex asked, "this timelapse thing might just send him in to the future and he'll cause havoc there"

"no I'm sure he won't be sealed away more like he'll cease to exist" Anna corrected herself, "the timelapse is a distortion in time and space, it is nothingness"

"ok this seems like a good plan, what can we do to help?" Erza asked

"nothing" Ichiya appeared, "you're injured and the timelapse is no bigger than an orange so I have entrusted my top meeeeen to get Acnologia to follow us, when we reach the timelapse we dodge it and Acnologia will run right in to it"

"this seems too easy" Kalex said

"well it's the only plan we have" Ichiya said, "so everyone to their stations we are almost to the timelapse"

Back at the guild hall, Natsu and Zeref continued their fierce battle. Natsu sent Zeref flying back with a flaming punch, as the black wizard slid to a halt black mist radiated from him, "KEEP COMING E.N.D, I WILL DESTROY YOU AND YOU WILL DESTROY ME!" he smiled like a maniac as he charged at Natsu

"say my name right bro" Natsu said as he blocked a punch, "it's not E.N.D, it's Natsu"

Natsu kicked Zeref in the ribs before flipping him over his shoulder. Zeref spun the second he hit the floor and swept Natsu's legs as he pulled himself up, "you're E.N.D, nothing but a book I made" Zeref raised his fist

"no I'm your little brother, Natsu" the fire dragon rolled out of the way of his brothers fist and jumped up

The two clashed again as they exchanged punched. Zeref punched Natsu in his gut and sent him in to one of the pillars, "is that all you have E.N.D?" Zeref asked as he caught his breath, "I'm disappointed, I REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD KILL ME!"

Natsu was thrown in to the wall by a blast of black energy, "but don't worry it'll all return to how it used to be, once I get Mavis' power" Zeref said, "all thanks to neo eclipse"

"what the hell are you talking about?" Natsu asked as black mist wrapped around him

"it's a gate that leads to neither the past nor the future, it will start everything over, reset time itself" Zeref told him

"you're crazy why would you do that?" Natsu asked as he struggled against the black mist

"no one will have suffered because of me, you'd be human again, Acnologia will not gain power" Zeref said, "I can give everyone a happy end"

"but what will happen to this world, to everyone here?" Natsu asked

"who knows perhaps it'll all just disappear" Zeref said

"then I'll stop you, I don't care if we suffer in this world we can still be happy" Natsu pulled even harder

"there are two keys to neo eclipse the first is Mavis and I'll soon have her" Zeref rambled, "and the second is the timelapse"

On board Christina, Erza and her group sat quietly as they hurtled towards the timelapse with Acnologia right behind them, "do you trust her?" Jellal asked her as he looked at Anna

"well Wendy seems to trust her and that's good enough for me" Erza answered, "and we don't have a better plan"

"I'm still fine with going out there and beating him to death" Kalex said

"he will kill you" Erza said, "also why did you call Acnologia dad?"

"that's easy cus I think of him as my father" Kalex told her

"but you want to kill him" Erza pointed out

"I killed my own father and I almost killed you mother" Kalex said, "hell I might kill Guildarts, he's a father"

"any why do you think of Acnologia as father?" Jellal asked

"I've only thought of three men as my father, the first was my actual father you know the one he looked a lot like me and as much as I hate his handsome face he is my father, the second id Makarov and if any of you tell him that after Acnologia kills I'll kill you again" Kalex told them, "but the one who really raised me is Acnologia"

"what do you mean?" Erza asked

"you know I was a feral child, I grew up in the forest, eating small animals raw, not washing regularly, not knowing how to read write or speak" Kalex said, "but Acnologia found me and taught me how to use dragon slayer magic and inadvertently how to speak"

"why would he do that?" Jellal wondered

"I don't think he did it on purpose I just picked it up from him speakin…. And you meant the magic, he wanted someone that could give him a real challenge in a fight" Kalex told him

"is that all Acnologia wanted? A worthy challenger" Erza wonder

"EVERYONE HOLD ON TO SOMETHING" Ren shouted from the bridge, "WE'RE CLOSING IN ON THE TIMELAPSE"

The ship spun around as the barrel rolled past the timelapse and they looked back to see Acnologia still following them, "come on" Erza muttered, "just touch it"

The black dragon kept flying until he ran head first in to the timelapse, "HE HIT IT!" the ship erupted in cheers

The victory shouts soon ended when Acnologia ran right through the timelapse and right in to Christina, "what happened?" Wendy asked

"someone sealed the timelapse" Anna said

"that's the least of out worries" Ichiya appeared, "we need to find a way to get Acnologia off this ship"

"destroy the lacrima helping the dragon slayers on this ship" Erza told the man

"great idea Erza" Ichiya said as he destroyed the lacrima

"mediocre idea" Kalex commented as his lunch started to come up and Wendy fainted

But Acnologia also fell off the ship and they gained some distance between them , "great but we need to find a way to defeat Acnologia" Jellal said

"we just need to force the timelapse open" Anna said, "that is the only way"

In the guild hall Natsu was being smothered by Zeref's black mist as he struggled to free himself, "I sealed away the timelapse to stop anyone else from using it but as soon as I have Mavis I will open it and we can all start over" Zeref rambled

"you can't do this" Natsu futilely pulled on the mist, "I will stop you"

"you can't stop me, no one can" Zeref said

"I can stop you" Mavis ran in to the guild, "Zeref"

"Mavis" a smile spread across Zeref's face, "the neo eclipse is complete"

"get back first" Natsu pulled even harder as scales appeared around his eyes and he set the mist on fire, "I'm just getting fired up"

"dragon force won't be enough" Zeref said, "if only you could become a dragon like Acnologia"

"I'm nothing like him, I'm human" Natsu declared as he charged forward, "because that's what Igneel wanted for me"

"but you aren't human, are you E.N.D" Zeref charged forward as he gathered black mist

"FOR FAIRY TAIL I'LL DESTROY YOU!" Natsu gathered flames in his hand

"WAIT!" Mavis jumped between them as they were about to clash

"what are you doing first?" Natsu asked, "move"

"just let me talk to Zeref" she pleaded

"how dare you" Zeref grabbed her hair from behind, "you…"

"just listen to me Zeref" Mavis looked up at the black wizard, "I have found a way to kill you, permanently"

"impossible, I've tried every possible method" Zeref said, "not even E.N.D can kill me"

"then why do you fear Acnologia?" Mavis asked

"because I cannot defeat him and I cannot die, in the near future Acnologia will destroy all humanity and only you and I will remain" Zeref told her, "we will be forced to be his playthings for the rest of time"

"but I have a way to stop that" Mavis told him

"what a coincidence so do I" a bright light consumed Zeref and Mavis as he took Fairy heart from her, "IT'S CALLED NEO ECLIPSE!"

"please Zeref stop this" Mavis pleaded

"neo eclipse will allow me to start over, I'll have a family and a little brother and I will be able to die again" Zeref brought his face close to hers, "I'm sad we won't get to meet again but without me you will surely be much happier"

"please Zeref" Mavis begged

"I'm sorry but before he can gain power I will kill Acnologia and save humanity, just you watch me and Natsu will defeat Acnologia" Zeref told her, "so say goodbye to this world, you'll wake up in a better one"

The light faded and Mavis dropped to the floor as Natsu rushed over to her, "FIRST!" he shook her

"she's alive" Zeref assured, "I just drained every drop of magic from her"

"you son of a bitch" Natsu glared at Zeref

"this is it, the power of…" Zeref raised his arms as he was surrounded by light, "FAIRY HEART!"

The light receded and Zeref stood wearing all white with white wings sprouting from his back, "infinite magic power" Zeref said as he looked down at the white cloak he wore, "the power that surpasses gods and time itself"

The Christina was flying as fast as it could but the black dragon was gaining on it bit by bit. The passengers inside franticly tried to think of a plan as the Christina started falling apart, "what do we do?" Wendy asked as she tried to keep her food inside her

"just give me some time" Anna said

"do you have a plan?" Erza asked

"I'm a celestial wizard so I'm pretty good at opening doors" Anna said

At that moment Acnologia slammed in to the ship, "I WILL SLAY ALL DRAGONS" he said as the bridge crew tried to keep the ship in the air, "THEY ARE UNNEEDED IN THIS WORLD"

"I can buy us some time" Jellal stood

"no" Kalex pulled himself up, "I need to have a heart to heart with daddy dearest"

Kalex stumbled to the back of the ship as Erza chased after him, "you can't do this he'll kill you" Erza told him

"I was raised to kill Acnologia so I will" Kalex held his stomach down

"you can barely move" Erza said, "we'll find another way"

"I'll be fine once I'm off this nightmare boat and there is no other way" Kalex reached the bow of Christina and stared directly at Acnologia, "am I a human, Erza?"

"what kind of question is that of course you are" Erza said

"most people looked up to me like I was a god and other looked down on me like I was a demon" Kalex said, "no one ever called me a human even if that's what I thought I was, I guess we were all wrong"

Kalex made an opening and started climbing out, "give these to my wife" Kalex took off his swords and threw them at Erza, "or you could keep them I really don't care"

"stop we can think of another way" Erza begged, "a human can defeat a dragon and you're a human"

"I was never a human" scales covered Kalex as he jumped out of the ship, heading for Acnologia , "I AM A DRAGON!"

Erza was blinded by a bright light and when it finally faded the black dragon shared the sky with a golden dragon, "IT SEEMS YOU'RE NOT A COMPLETE FAILURE" Acnologia said, "I MIGHT BE HAPPY TO CALL YOU MY SON"

"IT ENDS HERE, I WILL KILL YOU" Kalex declared

"SUCH ARROGANCE, PROVE THAT IT ISN'T MISPLACED"Acnologia flew towards Kalex

"I WILL FINISH WHAT THE FIRE DRAGON KING STARTED" Kalex flew towards the Black dragon

End of chapter 52