I would really appreciate it if everyone could stop asking me to make Makarov use Fairy Law. It is not a magic that should be recklessly cast - an absolute last resort. And the reason for that is that it destroys everyone that the caster views as an enemy AT THAT MOMENT! It doesn't just annihilate evil things and spare good things - it works purely on the perspective of the one who casts it at the time.
Imagine if Makarov had successfully cast Fairy Law when Grimoire Heart invaded during the canon story. It affects everything within a very wide radius, which means Ultear and Meredy would both have been destroyed because Makarov thought of both of them as enemies at the time, and then they wouldn't have had a chance to form Crime Sorcière with Jellal. It would have given them no opportunity for redemption. And if Makarov hadn't viewed only Jose as a true enemy and not the rest of the Phantom Lord guild, I'm sure he wouldn't have cast it then either.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 49:- Never Hurt Me
Despite the fierce battles raging across the island of Tenroujima, Morgana was currently hundreds of miles away. She strode almost leisurely across soft grass, her bare feet and long robes rustling with each step she took. She was in no hurry, but this was far from a simple stroll through the forest. No… she was most definitely on a mission. And she was turning the coin that Bellatrix had stolen from the museum over and over in her hands.
It was time to make use of it.
She eventually came to a stop at the shore of a lake. But not a normal lake… she could feel the magic of the Old Religion singing all around her in a way that few places left in the world could possibly hope to match nowadays. The water was black - dark as night - and there was not a ripple to be seen anywhere. The wind was sweeping through the glade which should have been disturbing the surface but there was no movement whatsoever from the water's surface.
Morgana smirked. Places like this were few and far between but they persisted still - places of the Old Religion which exuded enough magical force to protect themselves from the development of man - Muggle and wizards alike unconsciously avoided this place. But in this case they all would have a particularly good reason to want to do so.
"The Pool of Nemhain," Morgana whispered to herself, taking a deep breath and allowing the Old Religion's power to sweep through her and wrack her with nostalgia. "Fifteen hundred years may have passed since I was last here… but it hasn't changed at all. Wonderful. This will suit my purposes nicely indeed."
She stepped up to the edge of the lake and without the slightest hesitation she began to wade out into the shallows. Finally ripples stirred the surface of the water around her as she walked steadily outwards, feeling cautiously for rocks and dips with her feet. Much like last time she felt a certain sense of trepidation here, as if the slightest trip could cause her to be dragged down into the depths of the lake never to be seen again. She was certainly not keen to find out what would happen if she lost her footing. Not in a place like this.
But as she walked out, unconcerned for her dress, she held her arms out and whispered, "Bregdan bāncofa hēr." A brief flash of light filled the space above her arms and all of a sudden she was carrying something - something large and swathed in a couple of cloaks that required both arms for her to lift. But she appeared to have little trouble with it and once she was waist deep in the pool she bent over to lay it in the water, pushing it gently outwards and watching it slowly sink beneath the surface, vanishing down into what looked like murky depths, but was in fact only about three feet deep. She could almost feel it bump down upon the bottom of the lake and knew that now was the time to act.
She gripped the coin and allowed her hand to pass over it one last time, feeling the helical grooves carved into the face. The last time she'd had a coin like this it had been given to her by her half-sister, Morgause. And when the Old Religion returned in full force she was going to have to find a way of crafting more of these. They could certainly prove most useful in maintaining her grip on her future kingdom.
Nostalgia over, she flicked the coin up into the air, watching it arc lazily over until it slapped down into the water with a wet plop and vanished from sight. She eased back slowly, waiting patiently, and able to feel a surge of power within the waters of the lake. It was as if the Old Religion had just been prodded into wakefulness and was psyching itself up to come out and play.
And as proof, bubbles started to appear on the surface where she'd dropped the coin, large bubbles frothing up the water like a violent jacuzzi until something else broke the surface in the centre of the bubbles. Morgana's eyes tracked the new object's movement as it rose up and out of the lake, her smirk growing wider and wider until it felt like it spread from ear to ear by the time it had reached its full height.
"How very exciting," the ancient witch purred in delight. "Yes… I have a feeling you're going to serve me particularly well."
Back on Tenroujima, Voldemort snarled as he flicked his wand and re-directed a gigantic blast of water from Aquarius' urn, twirling the liquid blast around like a giant ribbon and funnelling it straight back towards Aquarius with incredible force. But Scorpio jumped up next to his girlfriend and blasted loose a volley of sand from his tail that intercepted the incoming water and soaked it up. Sodden lumps of wet sand spattering down to the ground between the two combatants as the attacks cancelled each out.
But it was more than enough for Aquarius to vault herself upwards and fire dozens of bubbles from her urn - each one as big and as hard as a cannonball. Voldemort slashed a volley of rocks up to intercept them, each rocks bursting up against one of the bubbles and fracturing both to pieces but Disapparated just as another volley of sand came sweeping towards him courtesy of Scorpio. He re-appeared not far away and slammed a spell into the ground at Scorpio's feet, turning it to tar which the Spirit promptly began to sink into. But before Aquarius could open fire again he vanished once more, re-appearing directly in front of Harry and manually lunging for him with intent to snatch him away.
Harry threw himself backwards instantly, caught by Ron and Hermione to keep him from falling flat onto his back while Lucy slashed her whip at him. A translucent shield formed around Voldemort so the whip coiled around that instead, allowing him to Apparate out and re-appear twenty feet to the left, just in time to funnel aside another cascade of water from Aquarius as it deluged down on top of him.
Unbeknownst to any of the fighters though, they were being watched from the trees. Mavis Vermillion was standing on a branch some distance away and analysing the fight. There was frustratingly little that she could do to help but her mind was racing, trying to figure something out from what she was watching. There was something that she was missing - she was sure of it.
The main question on her mind was why could Voldemort and his followers still get around via Apparition while all of the wizards from this world on their side were unequivocally grounded when it came to magical transportation. This much she'd figured out from watching Remus and Sirius duelling - their opponents were zapping themselves all over the place just like Voldemort, which was making it difficult for the two Order members to keep ahead of the game.
Of course there was obviously a spell at work here. Some kind of magic was preventing her friends from Apparating but to block that ability in certain individuals but not in others… that would require incredibly complex magic. Unless there was some link between the individuals with that power suppressed or one between those that could still do it which the spell was exploiting in order to work. Maybe if she could figure out what that link was, she could find a way of allowing her comrades a chance to level the playing field.
But what link? What did all the members of one side have in common with one another? It couldn't be things like gender, or height, magical power or age - it would have to be some kind of magical link that the spell had been designed to take into account… just like the magic of the Tenrou Tree that prevented all those with the Fairy Tail mark from dying while here but allowed anyone else to…
Suddenly she gasped, smacking herself over the forehead with her palm. Of course - how could she not realise it immediately?! Voldemort and all his followers also had a mark emblazoned upon them somewhere. The Dark Mark… yes, that was what they called it. That had to be the link. The spell was suppressing the Apparition powers of everyone except those with that mark.
But that didn't help Mavis figure out how to actually undo the enchantment. Considering it was not her kind of magic, she didn't even have the first idea where to start a counterspell.
However… she did know something that could possibly help.
The ghostly apparition turned and leapt off the branch, slowly fading away into thin air as she descended down towards the ground. She didn't need to use magical transportation to get off the island as she could technically appear wherever she wished to appear, as long as she knew where that was. And the First Master now had a little mission of her own to carry out.
Bluenote pushed upright once more, eyeing his sudden new opponent with analytical scrutiny. Unlike Gildarts he was not familiar with this new man but he could sense incredible magical power radiating off him all the same. He could tell that he was not an opponent to be trifled with lightly.
Laxus was staring Bluenote down in turn, the air around both the combatants beginning to supercharge. They exchanged no words. They were only waiting to see if the other would make the first move in the inevitable battle and this gave Juvia more than enough opportunity to check over Mira and draw any remaining water out of her lungs so she could breathe easy once again.
"Mira-san… I'm so sorry… so sorry…" she whispered, trying very hard not to cry.
"It's okay, Juvia… that wasn't your doing, it was his," Mira said insistently, pulling Juvia into her arms and hugging her close as the Water Mage tried to help her to her feet. "I don't blame you at all, don't worry."
"Mira-san…" Juvia whispered, burying her face in the Take Over Mage's shoulder.
"Oi, Phantom Girl," Laxus called down into the pit without taking his eye off Bluenote. "What's your name again… Juvia?"
"…Yes, Laxus-san."
"Get Mira to a safe distance. I'll be the one to knock this bastard down a few pegs."
"A safe distance?" Bluenote snorted, the ground beginning to tremble around him once more. "No matter how far away you get from me I will track you down and crush you eventually. There are only two Fairy Tail mages that can pose a challenge to me, boy. You are not one of them."
"You're right. I'm not," Laxus grinned. "I'm not a Fairy Tail mage anymore."
Suddenly his body exploded into light, electricity surging around him from head to toe as he exploded forwards to swing a crackling fist right for Bluenote's face. Bluenote's instant reaction was to pulse a gravity wave out of his hand that smashed into Laxus and reversed his direction, tossing him backwards while the Grimoire Heart ace charged in after him, his own fist raised. Laxus saw the punch coming and retaliated with his own even while in mid-air, two sets of muscled knuckles crashing together with earth-shattering force. An immense blast of gravity propelled Laxus away but a the same time lightning coursed through Bluenote's body and tossed him backwards too, the two mages flew in opposite directions from the force of the other's attack.
Bluenote ended up crashing onto his back but with another wave of lightning Laxus turned himself around before he could collide with anything, zig-zagging madly through the air surrounded by lightning and literally thundering back down upon Bluenote. "RAIRYUU NO… TEKKEN!" he bellowed as he smashed his fist down towards Bluenote's chest. The Gravity Mage blocked with his arms at the last second but a huge pulse of lightning exploded around them as soon as Laxus' fist made contact, rending the ground asunder and driving Bluenote down into it. But a second later and Bluenote's foot came up to smash into Laxus' stomach. Laxus was propelled upwards through the air by the force of the blow, rising a good two-hundred feet upwards in the space of two seconds. But he was already preparing his next blow, raising his hand in the air as a humongous ball of crackling lightning formed above his head.
"RAGING BOLT!"
Bluenote had no time whatsoever to dodge the attack as Laxus hurled it down towards him like a huge, electrified wrecking ball. It struck him head on and the shockwave of the blast threw Mira and Juvia off their feet. Bluenote roared as the electricity crashed through his body, the rocks around him rending to pieces and falling in on top of him, entirely burying him under the rubble and turning the pit into a veritable grave. Laxus landed on his feet nearby and stared down his nose at the spot where Bluenote had vanished, even the remnants of his colossal attack were still fading away.
"…I knew Laxus-san was powerful," Juvia whispered, awestruck. "But… still…"
"It's no surprise really," Mira chuckled. "Even if he wasn't the grandson of our Master… he's Laxus. Much like the lightning he wields… he's a force of nature."
Laxus' lip twitched, having overheard Mira's comment. He was rather gratified by it… extremely so in fact… after all part of his old frustrations had been that everyone attributed his power to the fact he was Makarov's grandson, as if they were giving his grandfather all the credit for his great deeds. He didn't really give a damn about that now but it was nice to hear Mira say it.
But he didn't for a second think that the battle was over and he was quite right. The rubble burying Bluenote erupted outwards like a volcanic blast without any lava and Bluenote burst outwards with the force of a rocket taking flight. Laxus instantly shot himself up to intercept him but Bluenote had already raised his hands above his head and slashed them downwards. Laxus was instantly caught in the grip of the most intense gravity he'd ever felt, sending him crashing vertically downwards to smash into the floor chest-first even as that floor splintered and sank, everything within a hundred foot radius smashing downwards and being driven down, down, deep into the heart of the island. Trees became splinters, rocks became gravel and Laxus bellowed with pain as he could feel his bones and organs straining to hold their shape - unable to even lift his head which meant his face was driven down against the floor.
Bluenote landed beside his newly formed pit and closed his hands into fists, intensifying his power even further and leering, practically able to hear Laxus' body trembling. "I've had enough out of Fairy Tail," he bellowed down upon his prey. "I will crush you! All of you! I will render you to nothing but bloody pulps! I will… GGWAAAHHNNNH!"
His rant was cut off by the lightning bolt which suddenly cannoned into his chest and flung him away like an arrow from a bow. Just like Juvia, Laxus had entirely dematerialised his body to transform himself into lightning and fired himself upwards to slam straight into his opponent with ruthless force, and as they both soared through the air he reformed and slammed his fist into Bluenote's jaw, punching him straight back down towards the ground with another lightning burst that carried him all the way down until he crasheed with a blast of thunder.
"Wh… what…?" he coughed, his body slightly numb as he spat up blood and pushed himself back up. "How… how did you… escape my gravity…?"
"That's science 101, pal," Laxus smirked. "Lightning's almost weightless. Not entirely, but almost. Gravity affects lightning same as it affects everything else, but only to an absolutely minimal degree. Allow me to demonstrate! RAIRYUU HOTENGEKI!" He bellowed and hurled a colossal lightning spear - the same kind he'd thrown at Natsu at Kardia Cathedral - right for Bluenote's stomach. Bluenote lashed out with a pulse of gravity intended to redirect the attack but it slammed forward regardless, forcing Bluenote to decrease the gravity around himself so he could leap up and over the attack, the spear singing the tip of his long ponytail as he forward flipped over it.
"So there is a man who can properly move under my gravity after all," he growled to himself. "Very well… then I will use other methods to defeat you."
"Bring it!" Laxus growled and the two of them surged in towards each other like charging elephants. Bluenote smashed his fist into Laxus' cheek but Laxus recovered quickly to nail Bluenote in the chest with his elbow. Bluenote's instant response was to spin around around and deliver a spectacular round-house kick to Laxus' nose, pulsing gravity with his foot to smash Laxus onto his back, his head crashing down against the rocks and blood spurting from his nose, but as soon as Bluenote tried to bring both his fists smashing down on Laxus' chest the Lightning Dragon Slayer rolled out of the way. Bluenote's fists still crashed into the ground and the shockwave heaved Laxus into the air, but he used it to skid back onto his feet and gather electricity in his mouth, unleashing it in a massive roar attack.
"RAIRYUU NO… HOOOUKOOOOUUUU!"
"Mmghhhh!" Bluenote grunted, shielding his face as the electricity washed over him, numbing at his body, but he was able to intensify his own gravity to root his feet upon the ground, preventing the attack from blasting him away as Laxus hoped. But the lightning still battered at him, wracking him with pain, until he swept his arm up and the ground Laxus was standing on folded in on itself, dropping him into the earth and seeking to crush him in the middle.
Laxus snapped his arms out to hold back the earth and blasted his way upwards and out of the trap with a burst of lightning from his feet, only for Bluenote to leap in and sink his fist into Laxus' stomach, an enormous explosion of gravity blasting out of his fist and blowing Laxus back into the nearby cliffside. Laxus gasped on impact, the blow almost certainly having broken one of his ribs, but even despite that injury he rocketed himself back to hammer his electrified foot into Bluenote's chest.
But even as Bluenote crashed back onto his shoulders and vaulted back onto his feet with a backflip he used his magic to turn Laxus into the centre of gravity for everything around him. Instantly rocks and bits of wood came flying in towards Laxus and pummelled at his body, smashing him one way then another and one block of wood crashing into his face. He gritted his teeth and fired a pulse of lightning out from his body in all directions to tear the oncoming objects to pieces but Bluenote was allowing himself to be dragged forwards to, fist raised and channelling immense power into his knuckles as he went.
That was when a powerful jet of boiling water hit him in the side, propelling him away with a bellow as the scalding liquid seared at his skin. He twisted around in mid-air just in time to see a flaming demoness come arcing in towards him, seizing him by the other arm and physically spinning him around to toss him into the cliff. Laxus looked up to find himself flanked by Juvia and Mirajane, both the girls battered but ready to continue the fight.
"You should be resting," Laxus grunted at Mirajane, who turned back to give him a smirk.
"Maybe… but a member of Fairy Tail doesn't leave another family member in the lurch. You may not be a member anymore, Laxus… but Fairy Tail is in your blood. That means you're still family. So Juvia and I are hardly going to sit back and watch when we can help you out, are we?"
"Juvia considers it an honour to fight alongside Laxus-san," the Water Mage agreed.
Laxus blinked a couple of times, looking from one to the other. But then he closed his eyes and chuckled amusedly. "Guess I can't really expect anything else, can I?" he said.
"Not really no," Mira smiled warmly. "Besides, I owe you one for saving my life."
"How touching," Bluenote growled as he stepped forwards, the ground splitting around his as he went. "But saving your life was ultimately meaningless. After all, I'm still going to kill you."
"Yeah, whatever," Laxus drawled. "Let's see what you two ladies can do then shall we?"
And with a blast of lightning, water and fire, all three of them rushed in towards Bluenote at the same time.
Sparks flew as Pantherlily caught the blade of San Jao Shin upon his own, the huge Exceed digging his claws into the ground to prevent himself from being pushed back and activating his wings, using them to thrust forward with extra power and swing his sword with such force that he slammed the handle of Shin's spear into his own chest and smashed the bearded human into the air. Lily motored up after him and seized his ankle, spinning around and heaving him into the distance. But even as he let go, Caprico had actually run up the blade of his huge sword and crashed his hoof into Lily's chin, sending him flipping over until he crashed back onto his feet, glowering at the goat-like opponent.
"You have impressed meh with your swordsmanship," Caprico said simply. "I believe that you are a match for any of meh subordinates in this particular regard. But…" he brought his hands up, the white fingers glowing pink and all of a sudden Lily found himself facing no less than twenty men. Some looked like members of Fiore's Royal Army, some looked like Rune Knights from the Magic Council. But others looked like more of a big deal, wielding sword and shield and in one case a bow and arrows - this last immediately drawing the bowstring back and firing three arrows simultaneously. Lily slashed upwards to block two of them while the third nicked his arm, but he grimaced as all twenty men bore down upon him at once.
"LINE FORMATION!"
Lily blinked as five wooden dolls suddenly swerved around in front of him to stack on top of each other and merge their power to fire a green energy blade that fired outwards to carve a line through the ground and force the men to scatter before it. The archer immediately strung his bow again, readying his arrows to fire upon the dolls but Bickslow fell from the sky to kick straight through his bow and hammer his foot into the archer's face. Lily immediately took advantage of the opportunity and swept past the wooden dolls, his huge sword sweeping most of the twenty men aside all at once while they were distracted. The panther closed in on Caprico himself but the goat nimbly dodged the downward cleave of his blade, somersaulting backwards four times in rapid succession to land in a crouch and gaze upon both of his opponents dourly.
"You lot sure picked a good time to come back," Lily observed, flinching slightly at the sound of Laxus' lightning crackling in the distance.
"Kya-ha! The Raijinshuu always did like showing up out of nowhere," Bickslow grinned, turning to catch Evergreen's eye for a moment and salute her. Evergreen grinned right back, relief flooding through her face before she dodged a flying sword from Meredy and returned to her own battle.
"You should get out of here, Bickslow," Lily suggested, nodding to Caprico as the goat stood up straight once more. "This person has the ability to turn humans into his subordinates. That's why I'm the one battling him."
"You call that a person?" Bickslow asked, raising his sallet and glowering at the goat-man. "This guy doesn't have a soul. Neither do the pink-haired girl or that hot woman with purple hair fighting with Gray and Wendy. This is just a doll of that dude Rustyrose isn't it?"
"Doll or not, my abilities still stand," Caprico raised his hands, a blackish aura radiating off them to swarm in towards Bickslow. "I can make you my subordinate without breaking the taboo. "HUMAN SUBORDINATION MAGIC: HUMA RAISE!"
"BICKSLOW, LOOK OUT!" Lily cried.
But Bickslow made no attempt whatsoever to dodge. Instead his eyes glowed a bright green and he shouted. "SEITH MAGIC: HITOTSUKI!"
The black aura swamped Bickslow just as the green rays from Bickslow's eyes washed over Caprico. The goat man gritted his teeth and grunted, flexing his fingers as he tried to exert his power over Bickslow. Bickslow grinned and did the same, the two of them staring each other down… and not much else. In fact, the battle seemed to have completely ground to a halt which left Lily looking from one to the other, confused, as the battles of everyone else raged around them.
"Er… what's happening?" the Exceed eventually asked.
"Suspected as much," Bickslow chuckled. "He's just a soulless doll so normally I would be able to take control of him. But he's just used a magic to try and take control of me. Our abilities are cancelling each other out - neither of us can control the other."
"Ghnng… how very vexing," Caprico grunted. "I've never come across a human I could not control before."
"I thought that your possession magic didn't work on people with glasses on," Lily frowned, looking to the sunglasses adorning Caprico's face.
"That's only with my Figure Eyes, which I use to take control of a person with a soul. I don't need to make eye contact with a puppet like him to control them."
"Ah… I see," Lily mused, before his mouth twisted into a savage grin. "Well then if he can't control you or me would you care to assist me in taking him down?"
"KYA-HAHA! It would be my babies' pleasure!" Bickslow raised his hands above his head and his five dolls swept upwards to form a circle and begin spinning round and round, glowing with green light until they formed an energy ring in the air. "BARYON FORMATION!" Bickslow shouted and a huge green beam thundered forth from the centre of a ring like a laser cannon, crashing down upon Caprico's head.
He sprang upwards just in time to for his hooves to clear the attack but the ground exploded beneath him and sent rocks showering up towards him. He was able to kick himself off from one of them and flip over with intent to fall upon his opponents but Lily was already in his face with sword in mid-swing. Caprico dodged the massive swing by tucking himself into a ball as the blade swept through the air beneath him, one hand lashing out to seize Lily by the face and push off from him, flipping over Lily's head and dropping down towards Bickslow. But three of Bickslow's dolls lanced forwards to pummel him in the chest and stomach, throwing him back towards the ground while the other two rained laser fire down upon him, blasting him off his feet and sending him crashing onto his back.
"Those things are really beginning to piss meh off," he growled, rolling sideways and flipping easily back onto his feet as they tried to blast at him again. He sprinted forwards at high speed, flipping and dodging erratically as the dolls swarmed around him, trying to blast him. He seized one and threw it into another like a discus, kicked another over his head and vaulted over a fourth, homing in rapidly on Bickslow himself.
"X FORMATION!" Bickslow shouted and the dolls all suddenly swerved back around to converge in front of him, one in the middle and the others slapping in around it so they easily formed an X-shape, taking the full force of the kick that Caprico had thrown at Bickslow's stomach. But the kick was strong enough to slam the dolls back into Bickslow himself and knock the Seith Mage onto his back. He skidded across the turf as Caprico flipped over, stamping his foot down towards Bickslow's unprotected face.
But Caprico wasn't the only one with incredible athletic ability - Bickslow was a master of it too and prove it backwards rolling himself into a handstand so Caprico's kick stamped down upon empty ground, then spinning himself around on his hands to sweep his legs out in a kick that broke Caprico's sunglasses. Yet at the same time Caprico had powered another kick into Bickslow's midriff which meant the two of them were sent crashing backwards and away from each other.
Which was all the opportunity Lily needed to swoop back down, levelling off over Bickslow and ramming his shoulder straight into Caprico with the force of a battering ram, tossing him backwards like a rag doll. The Exceed hefted his sword high above his head and sliced it down upon the goat man. He rolled to the side to try and avoid the blow but this time Lily was prepared for it and twisted the blade over onto its side, enlarging it so Caprico found the enormous flat of the blade still crashing down on him. He would never be able to dodge that in time so instead he summoned another human from thin air - a bulky man that looked particularly strong. The newcomer tried to catch the sword but such was the power of the blow that it still smashed him down into the floor, but he was able to slow it just enough to give Caprico the chance to dive out of the way before he too was struck.
"Hhnnn…" Caprico gritted his teeth when suddenly he found himself surrounded by Bickslow's dolls and was forced into swift, dodging leaps once more as they fired a storm of lasers in on him.
"You've got to give it to him - even without being able to wield any power over us he's a tough opponent," Lily muttered. "I've seen few people as skilled in hand to hand combat as him."
"Maybe so, but my babies and I are still just warming up," Bickslow smirked. "And the sooner we take him down the sooner we can help everyone else! Come on, let's get him!"
Tenroujima was rapidly becoming a war zone - with barely a single person on it not currently involved in a battle. Screams, roars and bellows rent the air from all directions along with the clang of swords and the crushing sound of rocks being torn to pieces by the flurry of attacks.
Gray, Wendy and Ultear had to relocate their battle when Cana's Allosaurus came charging through their midst with its teeth in the Gale Belfast's neck. Elfman had to catch a falling boulder torn from a cliffside by one of Rustyrose's attacks and threw it at Meredy, only for her to skip nimbly aside. And over on the beach, the Death Eaters were fleeing in terror before Makarov - the twenty-five foot tall Fairy Tail Master shrugging off everything they threw at him and sweeping his arm out, light trailing from his fingers to form several spheres that glowed with such intensity they were like miniature suns, huge beams of light firing from each one to bombard the area around him like rain. Over two dozen Death Eaters were sent flying as the beach was rent asunder and most of them were knocked unconscious almost instantly.
It seemed in this area, the tide was beginning to turn in Fairy Tail's favour.
The same could not be said for those fighting in the forest.
"NNNGH!" Natsu yelled as he was pounded into a tree trunk so hard he left a Natsu-shaped hole in the bark, and moments later Zancrow's fist smashed into his chest and knocked him the rest of the way through. The tree tripped over as its trunk was snapped like a twig threatening to crash down on top of Zancrow, but the God Slayer sprang upwards and seized the falling tree before it could hit the ground, lighting the entire thing up with black fire and hurling it down towards Natsu with inhumane strength.
"Damn it… just go down already…" Natsu croaked as he rolled upright and shot upwards to intercept the tree, channelling all of his fiery power into this fist and smashing the incoming projectile head on, the flames ripping through it and splitting it into plank-sized pieces. But still Zancrow's consumed him and he bellowed in pain as it wrapped around his body, searing at him as if it was trying to melt his very skin. And through the black blaze Zancrow himself rushed in and seized Natsu by the arm, hauling him up and over to try and bring him smashing down on his head. Natsu's foot smashed into Zancrow's nose before that could happen, tearing the Inferi loose and allowing him to turn his fall into a forward roll, but Zancrow took a millisecond to recover from the blow and blasted a Flame God's Bellow from his mouth that caught Natsu full in the back.
"GWWWWAAAAAAAAAAH!" Natsu yelled as he was fired across the forest, the trees around him crumbling and dying as Zancrow's flames washed over them.
Not far away, Azuma was still locked in combat with Lisanna and Freed, one of his branches having successfully snagged Lisanna by the tail and swinging her bodily around until she crashed straight into Freed like the world's scaliest bullwhip. The both of them tumbled towards the ground and Azuma propelled himself downwards after them, slamming his hand into Lisanna's stomach and shouting, "BLEVE!"
"AAAAAAH!" Lisanna cried, and Freed was no different, the blast enveloping them both to send them smashing back down upon the earth, with a huge tree fist smashing in towards them from above for good measure. But despite burns across some parts of her skin, Lisanna was still good to go and pushed herself off Freed to charge in towards the fist and raised her hand to shout, "SCRINCAN!" And almost immediately the fist shrank until it was the size of a regular human hand, allowing Lisanna to catch it easily in her own palm and set it on fire with a thought, sending it and a volley of other fireballs shooting towards Azuma like a meteor shower. He countered with a Folium Sica, the two attacks smashing into each other and peppering each other to pieces, which gave Freed more than enough time to get back to his feet and charge for Azuma again.
"YAMI NO ECRITURE: ZAN!" He shouted and a huge stream of purple runes rushed out of his sword to form what looked like a long, thin blade made of purple letters which he carved in towards Azuma's chest. Instantly several huge roots sprouted out of the ground between him and Azuma, creating a barrier several layers thick but the slicing sword cleaved through them all in one blow. However they slowed it down enough to give Azuma time to leap backwards so it only nicked his chest and moments later a tree branch struck Freed and Lisanna in the stomach at the same time and knock the breath right out of them as they flew backwards.
And as for Sirius… he'd been duelling fiercely with Bellatrix for a good five minutes, moving faster than he had in a long time in his bid to get the better of her and yet she still seemed no the worse for wear. No matter what spell he cast she was able to turn it aside with relative ease and mostly the same could be said of her own spell-casting, but every now and then there came a jet of green that he was forced to dive away from.
If Neville hadn't been there, dodging around the battlefield and throwing Stunning Spells, Sirius was certain Bellatrix would have gotten the better of him by now. Every time he was forced to leap away she would try to double her attack on him while he was momentarily defenceless and Neville was able to keep her at bay enough for Sirius to recover and add his own spells to the fray once again.
"WHEN WILL YOU JUST LIE DOWN AND DIE!?" Bellatrix shouted, sweeping her wand out and generating a cloud of daggers in the air above Sirius and Neville, all of them dropping down point first. Sirius was forced to morph into a dog and dash over to Neville, leaping upon him to knock him backwards and out of the way and the both of them rolling almost uncontrollably down a hill as the ground where they'd just been was peppered with knives. "WHEN WILL YOU REMOVE YOUR STAIN ON OUR FAMILY TREE!?"
"Stain is it?" growled Sirius as he turned back into human shape and banished many of those same daggers back towards Bellatrix only for her to vanish them into thin air before they could reach her. "Far as I'm concerned, I'm making the stain that is our entire family smaller by just being me."
"Look out!" Neville cried as another Killing Curse streaked in at Sirius, making him have to drop onto his stomach so it whistled past his hair.
But Sirius wasn't the only one caught in the middle of a duel - Lupin was in the middle of a raging battle with another Death Eater close by. And it was a Death Eater that Lupin recognised well as soon as his lost his mask - Walden McNair. And he was certainly living up to his position as a executioner, as he generated an axe in mid-air with his wand and brought it slamming down towards Lupin as if he was on the chopping block, only for Lupin to transform the axe into a bunch of flowers before it could strike him and casting two rapid Stunners and Petrificus curse, all three of which were dodged as McNair ducked behind a tree.
"Should have known you'd be a part of Dumbledore's precious Order, Lupin," McNair called out to him mockingly from behind the trunk as he caught his breath. "If by some miracle you manage to escape this island with your life I'll be sure to drop a line to Fenrir Greyback. Tell him to spread the word amongst the werewolves that you can't be trusted. Maybe the next time you two meet he'll finish what he tried to do to you when you were five!"
"You won't bait me, Walden," Remus said calmly, though he was admittedly seething. "And the werewolves will never join your cause."
"With the power that Morgana can offer them on the table… I think they will," McNair smirked before he suddenly Apparated behind Lupin and fired a Killing Curse at his back! Remus heard the tell-tale crack though and threw himself aside and around… but before he could think of a spell to fire back at the gruff Death Eater something came barrelling out of the trees and sprang on top of McNair, taking him completely by.
"AAAHH! AAAAAHHH! GGAAAAAAH!" McNair cried, staring wide eyed up at the grey wolf pushing him down against the forest floor and trying to tear out his throat, only one arm against the wolf's neck holding it at bay as lines of spittle from the wolf's snapping jaws spattering over McNair's face. Lupin stood there, slack-jawed and momentarily stunned, but when he saw McNair fumbling for his wand and pointing it at the wolf he seized the moment and Disarmed McNair with a flick of his wand. McNair's immediate reaction was to try and use his suddenly wandless hand to try and push the wolf away only for its teeth to bite down upon his fingers and draw another earsplitting yell from the man.
Lupin ran over quickly and as he approached the wolf sprang backwards and away, giving Lupin the opportunity to Stun the Death Eater before he could recover, blood streaming from his hand. The werewolf breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the wolf, who was regarding him with head cocked.
"You… did you just… come to help me…?" Lupin whispered. The wolf said nothing of course, but Lupin's ears caught the sound of rustling behind him and he turned to see other wolves emerging from the trees, all of them staring at him. There was no question that this was the same pack that had acknowledged Lupin as the alpha back in the Cairngorms. This was their island after all but Lupin was still astonished that they were actually here. Could it be that they'd caught his scent, heard the sound of battle and come roaring in to help their alpha?
Either way it didn't matter. What mattered was that Lupin was now surrounded by wolves, all of which seemed to be waiting on him to decide what to do next.
"GAAH!" came a shout from nearby and Lupin whirled around in time to see Sirius fall backwards, the front of his robes torn and a bloody gash visible against his chest. Bellatrix cackled and lashed her wand out for another blow, a plume of purplish fire lancing from her wand once, twice, thrice in rapid succession to carve through the air like a blade and Sirius' desperate dodge to the side ended up with his skidding painfully on his shoulder. Neville darted forwards launching as many Stunners as he could muster at Bellatrix in a bid to give Sirius time to recover his wits, but Bellatrix blocked them all with ease and cast a spell that sent the leaves on the ground swirling upwards around Neville, pasting themselves over his face. Neville yelled and stumbled backwards as he was swarmed by the leaves and it was pure luck alone that allowed him to avoid Bellatrix's next Killing Curse. If he hadn't tripped on a fallen branch and landed flat on his back it would have hit him full in the chest.
Lupin was already moving before he could think about it and the wolves seemed to get the idea and bounded in around him, overtaking him and charging towards Bellatrix en masse. So preoccupied was she in her apparent victory that she didn't hear the wolves until they were almost upon her, whirling around and screaming when a set of fangs came flying right for her face! She smashed the wolf aside with a Banishing Curse at the last second but leapt aside to whip ropes from her wand that ensnared another two coming in from either side and send them rolling away, thrashing to escape, but the fourth and fifth were already upon her and Bellatrix screamed when one of them pounced upon her and sank its teeth into her arm while the other latched onto her ankle and started pulling like it was trying to tug her foot off.
The rest of the wolves converged instantly, but with an ear-splitting scream of rage Bellatrix managed to Disapparate. The two wolves biting her ended up being transported with her but the unfamiliar sensation made them let go, reeling away. Bellatrix rolled herself upright, almost falling as she tried to put weight on her bloodied ankle, but just before she could cast the Killing Curse at the wolves that had dared attack her she was forced to stop a hail of jinxes that came her way from Lupin and Sirius both, the latter having successfully got up.
Sirius twisted his wand and several branches above Bellatrix's head snapped like twigs and fell in a shamble down towards her. She tried to dive aside but it became an awkward fall and roll as pain lanced through her ankle. Her bedraggled hair matted across her face as she looked up, only to see the wolves dashing in for another assault en masse. With her ankle half mangled like this there was no way she could properly fight any more.
"You and your disgusting friends will taste my Killing Curse one day, dear cousin!" she spat out a parting shot before Disapparating, leaving the battlefield behind. The wolves all milled around, trying to pick up her scent, but it was no use. She'd gone.
Sirius breathed a sigh of relief and turned to grin at Remus. "So… these are your buddies now are they?" he said.
"It would seem so, yes," Remus shrugged. "I didn't ask to take over their pack but apparently they didn't forget about me."
"Well its a damn good thing they were here. I reckon I'd have been a goner then otherwise."
"…First time me being a werewolf has actually helped save someone's life."
"Not true. If you weren't a werewolf I'd never have become and Animagus. And if I couldn't transform into a dog, I'd have gone stir crazy in Azkaban a long time ago. Hey kid, are you alright?"
"I… I think so…" Neville grunted as he sat up, only to find a wolf's face directly in his own. "AAAH!"
"No! No, don't!" Remus ran forward before the wolf could potentially do anything. The wolf didn't get the words but understood the tone and quickly backed off, the pack gathering around and waiting for their next move.
"Remus! Sirius! Neville!" shouted a voice nearby and they turned quickly to see Hagrid dashing towards them out of breath. "'Urry up over 'ere. Harry and the others are fighting You-Know-Who! We've got teh go help him!"
"If he harms one hair on Harry's head," Sirius growled, dashing off in the direction of the bright flashes in the distance, with the rest hard on his heels.
"GGNNHG!" Gajeel cried eloquently as the back of his head smashed into a large boulder… again! Kain Hikaru came rushing towards him with all the ferocity of a charging rhinoceros and Gajeel was forced to heave himself into a backwards roll over the top of the boulder just before Kain could kick it and splinter it to pieces.
The Iron Dragon Slayer smashed both his arms out in a double Iron Dragon Club attack, smashing one straight into Kain's face and the other into his neck, but the big man had already changed his little doll into cotton by this point so the attack sunk into him without seeming to do him much harm. It threw him backwards certainly but he flumped to the floor like a dishcloth instead of crashing into it painfully. Gajeel tried to press home his advantage by leaping up and slashing down with an Iron Dragon Sword but again Kain changed his body to become water so the blade slashed straight through him harmlessly, allowing him to roll out of it and punch up at Gajeel, becoming normal again a microsecond before his fist connected with Gajeel's face. If Gajeel hadn't had iron skin at that moment it would have shattered his nose.
"FUCK!" he shouted as he was sent somersaulting backwards, landing on his feet able to prevent himself from crashing onto his back by turning his feet into iron poles and burying them in the ground. "DON'T COPY JUVIA DAMN IT!"
Kain gasped, wide-eyed and pointed at Gajeel accusingly. "You just swore! You used a nasty word! Don't you know how impolite that is! And I don't copy anyone ever! I'm entirely original in my battling techniques!"
"Oh shut up," Gajeel muttered, rubbing his chin and scowling. "Got admit, that damn dolly thing of yours is annoying as hell."
"Your friend the Fire Dragon Slayer would never have been able to defeat me if that blue cat of his hadn't stolen Mr. Cursey from me," Kain grinned. "And I'm not going to give you the chaMMGHH!"
He yelled because a large IRON word had suddenly dropped right on top of his head with a solid clang, sending him reeling about with his ear ringing. Gajeel blinked and turned across to look at Levy, who was standing nearby and conjuring up another word even as Kain recovered from the last one. "SOLID SCRIPT: DRILL!" she shouted and the word that appeared before her twisted around and fired at Kain, spinning around and sharpening itself into an actual drill shape as it went. But Kain was able to recover in time and smashed the word aside without even changing form.
"That hurt, damn it!" he shouted angrily. "And it was an absolute cheap shot! Oh, I'm going to make you pay for that!"
"Like hell you will," growled Gajeel, summoning his energy and taking a couple of steps forward to put himself firmly between Levy and Kain. "You want to get to her you're going to have to go through me!"
"…Oh… am I?" Kain smirked knowingly, and held up Mr. Cursey. Gajeel thundered forwards, his feet smashing the ground with each step and both his arms morphing into Iron Dragon Swords but as he went, Kain removed the black hair from Mr. Cursey's head and pushed another one in… a much longer black hair.
And as soon as it was in Gajeel stopped moving, instantly freezing in the positon he was in as if he'd been put in suspended animation, although quite clearly he hadn't been because he gasped and yelled, "Guh… what the…?" while his limbs trembled as he strained to move them. "The hell did you do?"
"You've got such long bristles," Kain smirked as he held up the doll and manipulated it in a way that its fist hit its own face and suddenly Gajeel ended up punching himself in the cheek and knocking himself over. "You were practically begging me to steal one."
"…Oh fuck…" Gajeel grunted.
"STOP SWEARING! IT'S NAUGHTY!" Kain yelled like a petulant child, but then his sinister grin returned and he said, "You said I had to go through you to attack your friend? I don't have to do a thing! You'll be the one attacking her!"
"WHAT!?" Gajeel shouted but Kain had already turned his body around and sent him shooting through the air right towards Levy, not even running - he was quite literally airborne. "LEVY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he screamed as Kain made him smash one arm down at the Solid Script Mage… and his arm was still in the shape of an Iron Dragon Sword.
"HWAAAH!" Levy screamed as she dove frantically to one side, the sword cleaving through the ground where she'd just been like it was wet paper. She turned to look back but Gajeel had already twisted around to cleave his other arm through the air at her and she only just managed to block in time by throwing up a large GUARD word in front of her. It took the brunt of the blow but it still cracked and Gajeel's swords pummelled against it over and over again until it smashed straight through. Levy threw herself backwards just in time for one of the swords to shave through the ground between her legs. She backed away hurriedly and Gajeel sprang after her… or at least he tried to. But his feet had transformed into clubs which punched their way down into the floor and sprouted iron bars to keep himself anchored in place.
"Hey!" Kain shouted, pointing at Gajeel accusingly. "That's cheating! You're not supposed to do that!"
"Nnghh…" Gajeel grunted, even as his limbs thrashed wildly around out of his control, attempting to slice Levy in half with Kain additionally jerking the doll up and down in an attempt to heave Gajeel's feet loose from the rock, but he held himself firm as his arms transformed back from swords into their regular shape. "Damn doll controls people's bodies but it can't control their magic. Levy, get out of here quickly! I'll…"
But he stopped when he got a look at Levy's expression, pure terror radiating across her face as she lay paralysed, trembling with fear before him. She could see it… the brutality of his motions… the speed and ruthlessness… swinging her way. It was like the memory of the night they'd first met was pasting itself over the top of what she was seeing now, and her mind rang with the echoes of his cruel laughter.
"St… stay away…" she croaked, grabbing her head in her hands and curling into a ball. "STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
"…Levy…" Gajeel whispered.
"What's this?" Kain blinked. "That's not the behaviour I was expecting… unless… oh my… have you beat her up before?"
"SHUT UP!"
"You have, haven't you?" Kain gasped. "That's monstrous, Dragon Slayer. But it's very fitting I think, if she's suffered at your hand before. This time, let's make it even worse for her shall we?"
"YOU FUCKING…" Gajeel bellowed but suddenly his body changed into cotton, including the iron clubs embedded in the ground. Kain easily ripped him up from the ground with a swing of his doll and then transformed him back to normal to slam him down towards Levy with ruthless force. She saw him coming and rolled herself swiftly back onto her feet, making a break for it as he crashed down behind her but he'd barely touched the ground before he was shooting at her and his fist slammed straight into her back, right atop the guild mark on her left shoulder blade.
"AAAAAAH!" Levy screamed with pain as she sent crashing to the ground on her front.
"LEVY!" Gajeel yelled, but even in mid-yell and as Levy tried to push herself back upwards his foot hammered out to smash into her stomach from below and heave her off the ground, tossing her up into the air with all the breath driven from her as she crashed down on her back, heavily bruised and gasping for breath. But she didn't get much before Gajeel's foot stamped down on her chest repeatedly, pressing her down into the ground again and again and again.
"AAAAHH! AAAAH! GGAAAAAH!"
"LEVY! HOLD ON, LEVY! STOP IT! JUST STOP IT! I'M FUCKING BEGGING YOU, STOP IT!"
"I'm not doing anything," Kain sneered. "You're the one kicking your stuffing out of your little lady friend, not me. Must be pretty nostalgic for the two of you, right?"
"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU TO HELL, YOU BASTARD!"
But through the blur of pain as Gajeel's foot slammed down upon her chest once more, Levy was able to squint up at her attacker. His anguished roars were a direct contrast to the raucous laughter from the past ringing in her ears. His face was different too - she remembered the barbaric smirk and the bared fangs twisted into a ferocious leer but now… she'd never seen him look so guilty as he did at this moment. So wretched and filled with … fear. He looked terrified! Levy couldn't remember ever seeing Gajeel look so afraid.
Afraid of hurting her.
And not just that… she could see a flicker of self-loathing running through him as well. It was plain as day… and suddenly Levy could see everything clearly. The day Gajeel had attacked her wasn't just haunting for her… it was for him too. Perhaps even more so, for he had carried out the repugnant act and guilt was a far worse thing to carry than fear. And ever since then he'd been trying to make it up to her without actively saying so. He protected her from Laxus, he volunteered to be her partner at the S-Class trials not just to try and help her through but to try and protect her from harm… and now that he was being forced to turn on her again it… it was one of the most horrifying experiences he'd ever been put through.
And worst of all, Levy's fear of him was eating him alive. He usually didn't show it, but now in this moment of vulnerability and helplessness, it was clear as day.
Even as his foot stomped down on her stomach and she screamed in pain, Levy's heart went out to Gajeel. Ironically, the direct contrast between his emotions while attacking her between then and now became the final straw to make her cast the last vestiges of her fear of him aside and she knew then how she really felt. She pulled her emotions together… she gritted her teeth… and she whispered, "Don't worry, Gajeel. I… I promise… I'll save you."
"Huh?" Gajeel and Kain both said at the same time, a lull appearing in Levy's beatdown in Kain's momentary confusion. Barely able to move and aching everywhere, Levy lashed her arms upwards and a huge STONE suddenly smashed Gajeel in the face, knocking him backwards and allowing Levy to scramble out of the hole, clutching her chest and grimacing in pain, but thankfully unable to find any broken ribs. Perhaps Gajeel had been able to hold back himself just enough to prevent more serious damage.
"Heh, that was a cute attempt at rebellion," Kain smirked, readying the doll. "But you're laughably weak. There's nothing you can do to keep your friend from crushing you. Oh, wait - he's not your friend is he? He's beaten you up twice now after all."
"No… Gajeel is my friend," Levy whispered as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. "He's one of the best friends I've ever had. And I've not told him that enough. Ever since I got to this world I've been pushing him away, consumed with fear reawakened in me by those Dementors. Fear because he hurt me.
"But I know how guilty he feels about what he did. That day has effected him even more than it did me, turning him into the kind, caring man I know him to be. I know how hard he's trying to put it right ever since. And that's why I know he'll never hurt me again. It's the one thing he would never, ever do. At least not of his own free will. And maybe that's why… I can let my guard down around him. Why I know I can trust him. Why… I think maybe one day… I could even fall in love with him."
"…" Gajeel stared, his brain suddenly freezing. Even if he hadn't been controlled by a doll he probably wouldn't have been able to move at that moment. Surely… he must have misheard that. There… there was no way… that Levy could… that she could…
But the little bluenette turned to look back at him, her cheeks flushed red but her smile genuine.
"Erza was right," she whispered. "I wasn't afraid of you because I was worried you'd hurt my body, not for long. I was afraid… that you might hurt my feelings. And yet all this time I've been hurting yours because of that fear. I'm sorry, Gajeel. I mean it. You're one of my best friends but… I won't deny… I've thought about whether we could be more one day because there's nobody else I trust more than you. I don't know whether that's something you'd be interested in and if you're not, I'll understand. But I swear I'll never hurt you again. Just as I know you'll never hurt me. I swear it on the name of Fairy Tail itself."
"…Levy…" Gajeel whispered, struggling to comprehend what she was saying. The very idea that she might have feelings for him seemed utterly ridiculous and yet here she was saying that she did. It was stupid. It was senseless… how could she ever fall for the guy who beat her and her two teammates half to death and bolted them to a fucking tree!?
And yet she'd just explained exactly why she could. And… to Gajeel's surprise… it actually made sense.
But what the hell did he feel in return?
"WOO-WEEEEEEEEEE!" Kain yelled, chewing on his cape angrily and interrupting Gajeel's thoughts before he could come to any decision on that score. "Acting all lovey-dovey in front of me! How dare you! How dare you, damn it! If that's the case I'll make your beloved crush you to a pulp in a single blow!"
"Jealous?" Levy smirked. "I'm guessing you don't have a girlfriend, but no girl worth having will ever want you as long as you continue to delight in hurting people. Besides, not even the Iron Dragon Slayer can kill me as long as we're on this island."
"WE'LL SEE! Change Mr. Cursey to cotton!" Kain shouted as he thrust the doll up into the air, sending Gajeel shooting upwards until he was at least two-hundred feet up and directly above Levy's head. "And now I change it to iron! I'll have him crush you with his own Dragon Slayer element. How do you like that!?"
He smashed the doll downwards towards the ground and Gajeel plummeted straight for the battered and bruised bookworm. "LEVY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he bellowed. But Levy didn't move an inch. She swept her arms up in front of her, grinning triumphantly. She knew casually mentioning Gajeel was the Iron Dragon Slayer would make Kain choose to turn the doll into iron - he was fairly predictable like that. And that's exactly what she'd been banking on when she cried:-
"SOLID SCRIPT… MAGNET!"
As soon as the metallic words appeared in the air before her Kain's hand was suddenly wrenched forwards in its direction, the iron Mr. Cursey yanking its way out of his fingers before he realised what was happening. "WHA!" he cried as the doll clanged up against the magnetic word, it's sideways motion flinging Gajeel backwards as well so he crashed to the ground some distance behind Levy instead of landing on top of her like he'd been about to do. Levy darted forwards as fast as her bruises would allow, seizing Mr. Cursey as the magnet disappeared and wrenching Gajeel's hair out of it.
"See!?" she grinned. "Told you I'd save Gajeel."
"YOU LITTLE…! YOU LITTLE…!" Kain roared, slamming his arms up and down and stamping his feet like a gigantic toddler in the middle of a temper tantrum, but before he could say much more Gajeel suddenly leapt over Levy's head, his eyes afire with rage.
"YOUMADE ME HURT HER!" he bellowed, lashing an Iron Dragon Club down to strike Kain full in the face and knock him backwards a couple of steps. He landed in front of Levy and seized the iron doll from her hands, ripping its head off in a single bite and swallowing the rest of it down with three distinct chews. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S ABOUT TO GET BEATEN TO A FUCKING PULP!"
He thundered forwards to spring into a flying kick that smashed both his feet into Kain's stomach before he could block with his hands and knocked him flat onto his back, the Iron Dragon Slayer rebounding off his stomach to somersault over and land on his feet. The moment he hit the ground he clapped his hands together above his head and summoned as much of his magic as he could.
"METSURYUU OUGI!" he shouted, his hands merging together into a single iron blade that shot upwards until it was even longer than Pantherlily's sword. "GOUMA: TETSUJINKEN!" His roar shook the rocks as he brought the blade thundering down on top of Kain's head, pile-driving him to the ground and cleaving the rocks open into a huge ditch that Kain fell several dozen feet down into. The Grimoire Heart man bellowed in pain, but at the last second he'd been able to grab hold of the sword in both his hands and hold it back a bit with his great strength which significantly reduced the impact upon his own body, though it still hurt like hell. Rocks cascaded in on top of him but even though he was left temporarily stunned when Gajeel withdrew the sword and separated his hands, he was still able to push himself into a sitting position.
"That… hurt…" he growled, which was certainly true.
"Not done, huh?" Gajeel snorted. "Good. Wouldn't have been satisfying if I'd ended it with that blow alone."
"Well you'll be wishing it finished me soon enough," Kain grunted, producing another doll from an inside pocket of his cloak. "I can learn from my losses - I spent the last few days making more Mr. Cursey dolls to be sure I'd never run out."
"That right? Well I'm shave my bloody head before I let you get your mitts on another one of my hairs," Gajeel growled, activating his magic to turn his skin metal once more and even turning his hair into iron to make sure Kain couldn't pull another one out when he wasn't paying attention. Hethe turned back to the bookworm who had flopped down onto her backside behind him. "Levy… you were epic just then. Take it easy for now while I rip this shithead a new one."
"Language, Gajeel," Levy grinned lopsidedly. Gajeel smirked and turned back around. Until this battle was done he had no choice but to push what Levy had said to the back of his mind. For now, he had to focus, and he barrelled forwards once more as Kain came rushing into to meet him as well.
While battle raged on Tenroujima, Severus Snape sat quietly in his office, perusing the homework he had to mark for the new first years by tomorrow. Nobody had disturbed him since McGonagall had told him that she and the other Heads of House were planning on taking a little field trip with Fairy Tail and some of the DA members to that island that the Fairies called sacred ground. He'd been half expecting Umbridge to come waddling down and demand to know where the other teachers had gone, but she did nothing of the sort. Unbeknownst to Snape, she'd spent the evening locked in her own office, afraid to come out lest the mysterious werewolf tried to strike at her in the darkness.
But just as he was giving one of the Gryffindor students a low mark for the work, a foot appeared on the parchment.
"What the…!" he gasped and careened backwards, looking up to see Mavis was suddenly standing on his desk and looking down at him earnestly. "You… what are you…?"
"Severus, I don't have time to explain in detail," Mavis said earnestly, crouching down to look him directly in the eye beseechingly. "There's an attack in progress on Tenroujima right now. Voldemort and the Grimoire Heart members are attacking the teachers, the DA and my guild, and they'd set up a sort of barrier preventing anyone from using magical transportation means unless they have a Dark Mark. They're doing well - they may even be able to pull out a victory but I would rather throw everything we have at them to make sure. We need Gildarts, and at the moment you're the only way he can get to the island in time to help."
"…I see," Snape stood up, getting swiftly to his feet. "But you will no doubt be aware that if the Dark Lord or any of his subordinates see me on that island, suspicion that I am not truly on their side will be raised, will it not?"
"Yes, it will, but all we need you to do is Apparate Gildarts to the island and that's it. Done. You don't need to go anywhere near the battle until its over and we've driven them away. But you have to hurry. When last I left there was still high percent chance that somebody will die and Harry was under attack from Voldemort himself and…"
Something changed in Snape's demeanour in that second, his face going pale and his pupils shrinking. Then he was running, rushing around the desk before Mavis could finish speak and sweeping out the door with a whirl of his robes. Mavis blinked in surprise - from what she knew of Snape he did not like Harry at all and yet the moment she mentioned him being attacked he looked panic-stricken. That was rather odd. But she was not about to complain and swept after him as he all but ran towards the seventh floor.
Along the way though they ran into a significant bonus. As Snape cleared the fifth floor, suddenly none other than Albus Dumbledore stepped out from a corridor just behind them.
"Ah, Severus," he called. "You wouldn't happen to know where Minerva is would you? I seem to have returned to a castle with a surprising lack of teachers in it."
"There's no time, Headmaster," Mavis turned around urgently. "Minerva and the others went to Tenroujima after our Fairy Sphere lowered, and they took some of the students with them, including Harry. We don't know how, but Voldemort and Grimoire Heart found the island. We didn't think they'd be there but they're there right now, and it's become a warzone where only those with Dark Marks can Apparate in or out!"
Dumbledore's face became ashen and for such an old man he moved at high speed, not even bothering to ask any further questions as he hurried after Snape. The three of them ran together to the Room of Requirement door and quickly summoned it, charging straight through to the empty stadium where Gildarts was sitting reclined upon a chair.
"Oh it's you lot," he said casually. "Thought that the others would be back by know. I guess they're enjoying…"
"Cana's in danger!" Mavis shouted.
That was literally all she needed to say for Gildarts to leap onto his feet and stare at her wildly. "What!? Who!? How!?"
"We'll explain later. Come on, let's move!"
Gildarts too fell in step behind the others as they dashed down the corridor that led right the way through to the Hog's Head, bursting out from behind the portrait of Ariana without any warning, making Aberforth jump right out of his skin. "What…?" he spluttered. "Albus, the hell do you think you're doing!?" he shouted. "You can't just…"
"Leave that door open for us, Aberforth," Albus instructed as both he and Gildarts grabbed hold of Snape's arms at the same time. "We'll need it in order to get Fairy Tail back into the castle when this is all over."
"When what's all over!? What are you…?"
*CRACK*
And Snape was gone. Mavis sighed in relief before she too vanished.
She re-appeared high above the island and lowered herself down in search of the entry point that Snape, Dumbledore and Gildarts must have taken… but her eye was quite quickly drawn to something else. A gigantic elderly man upon the beach bombarding the area with his fists and sending black-robed men flying or fleeing, or both. Mavis gasped, a flush of joy filling her up at the sight of him.
"Makarov," she whispered. "Yuri's son… oh thank the fairies you're okay."
Makarov didn't hear her of course. He was too preoccupied and she was too far away. But as she descended towards him she saw Dumbledore and Gildarts running towards the recovering teachers and DA members. Snape crouched behind a rock, though he really needn't have bothered. The Death Eaters were still too preoccupied with screaming, running or being unconscious to notice his presence, but Mavis dropped down next to him all the same and whispered, "Thank you."
"If you need me later, come and tell me," Snape said curtly, before he Disapparated once again.
"Albus!" McGonagall gasped as the Headmaster approached, a wave of relief rushing through her at the sight of him. "I honestly don't think I've ever been more pleased to see you. But I… I'm so sorry that I…"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to talk about taking students on impromptu field trips another time, Minerva," Albus said, looking around at the students and relieved to see that all of them in the area were alive even if most of them were injured. "Where is Harry?"
"In the forest with some of the others. I haven't seen him in a while but he has Sirius, Remus, Hagrid, Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna all keeping an eye on him. I'm sure he'll be okay."
"Whoa, is that my daughter!" Gildarts suddenly gasped, pointing across the gap to where Cana and her Allosaurus were smashing the Gale Belfast creature up against the cliff face repeatedly. "That's… it is! That's my daughter! That's my daughter everyone! Look at her, look at her riding that thing! That right there, that is awesome. Er… though where did that thing come from exactly?"
Nobody had a chance to answer his question before Makarov stepped back and away from the Death Eaters. Those of them that were still conscious had either successfully fled or could now barely move and the Third Master of Fairy Tail nodded in satisfaction before turning back to the group. He glanced across to where the other Fairy Tail members were still fighting ferociously, but he could see that they seemed to have a handle on things despite the brutality of their combat, and the spell upon the island should protect them from death. He didn't need to go rushing to their aid immediately - the strangers behind him were his primary concern at the moment.
Makarov stepped carefully towards them, shrinking rapidly in size as he went. Staff and students alike stared in amazement as the enormous man descended down, down, down… and then even further down than they were expecting until when he finally stopped he was only just taller than Professor Flitwick.
"Gildarts," he said gruffly, but with a smile. "I am relieved to see you and so many of the others safe… relatively speaking."
"The feeling is very mutual, Master," Gildarts chuckled.
"Perhaps though you would like to introduce me to these strangers who seem to have found their way to our island. Which unless I am very much mistaken is in a completely different location to where it's supposed to be."
"It is indeed, and the long version will take a while to explain. But the short version is that we all survived Acnologia's attack but were somehow all sucked into another universe, kinda like that Edolas place that Natsu told us about but not that world. This is Albus Dumbledore. He's Headmaster of a school for magic, which is the closest thing this world has to wizard guilds, but he and his friends have been the ones who've been looking out for us since we arrived. Giving us room and board, helping bring us back together, trying to help us stay out of trouble… and failing."
"…Well that's something that I can sympathise with," Makarov muttered, even as he dipped his head to Dumbledore. "But if that is true, then you have my unending gratitude for watching over my children when I could not, Dumbledore-dono. My sincerest apologies if they turned out to be… a handful."
"That's one way of putting it," Dumbledore said, a slight twinkle in his eyes. "But it was my honest pleasure - your children are all extremely fascinating people and I am elated to make your acquaintance at last. They have mentioned many good things about you, Sir Makarov. But we will have to wait before getting to know each other better. Some of my students are still out there and I need to hurry and find them."
"Quite right," Makarov nodded, turning his head towards the distant battlefield. "My brats are locked in battle as well. Our highest priority is to drive the enemy from this island and keep all our respective families safe. Let's go."
But he'd barely taken even one step forwards before a whirlwind erupted out of nowhere a short distance down the beach, between them and where the other Fairy Tail mages were fighting. Sand was thrown up in all directions, forcing many of them to shield their eyes, but by the time the wind died down their path was blocked by a young-looking woman with long, raven-black hair and a haughty smirk written across her face.
"It appears that the proverbial gang is all here," said Morgana, flicking a little of her hair over her shoulder. "Albus Dumbledore… what an honour it is to meet you I'm sure. After all you're the most powerful magic-user born into this world in centuries. I should know. I've been watching it all this time."
Dumbledore's face became noticeably ashen, stepping forwards next to Makarov in order to very deliberately place himself between this woman and his tired students. "Then may I presume you are who I think you are?" he asked curtly.
"If you are thinking that I am Morgana Pendragon, or Morgan Le Fay as many people like to call me nowadays for some bizarre reason, then yes, that is me. How very flattering that you recognise me. Not that I am surprised. After all, Harry Potter does seem to tell you almost anything, doesn't he? Such a sweet young boy… I imagine he's having some trouble fending off dear Voldemort right now."
These words did not go unnoticed by those students who were still conscious, which was the majority of them. There were some very mixed reactions, from incredulity to near-panic - every one of them struggling to comprehend what they'd just heard. Morgana Pendragon… the Morgana… was standing in front of them now?
"So you're her, are you?" Gildarts said, as he stepped up beside Makarov and Dumbledore, as if the three of them were forming a physical barrier between the ancient witch and her potential prey. "Somehow I pictured you to be a little more… extravagantly dressed."
"Extravagant dresses can wait until I have resumed my birthright as ruler of this country, Mr. Clive," Morgana smiled. "But how very exciting it is, to see the headmaster of Hogwarts and the Master of Fairy Tail side by side. Makes me wish I had a camera on had to capture this historic moment."
"I don't know who you are, but I would ask you to please step aside," Makarov glowered. "I have no quarrel with you unless you make one with me."
"Oh, but I do have a quarrel with you. You see, you righteous Fairy Tail mages are hardly going to sit back and do nothing while I try and take over, even if you are completely alien to this world. That's just not the kind of thing you can do, which is why I came to your sacred alien to recruit two fallen Grimoire Heart mages I knew to be resting here so as to further combat you."
"I see… then if that is the case," Makarov glowered as he began to glow yellow, a blazing aura of light appearing around him. "If you make yourself a threat to my family, I have no other alternative but to crush you as well."
"I thought you'd say that," Morgana chuckled. "And that is exactly why I went to the Pool of Nemhain as well. Against someone of your calibre… I knew I was going to have to get myself even more help."
She raised one hand high into the air and a second whirlwind spring into existence beside her, flinging more sand up in all directions. And in the midst of the swirling wind another figure began to appear… tall, cloaked… and when the wind died away, horribly familiar. At least to Makarov… and to Mavis.
"Oh no…" Mavis whispered from where she was still hovering far above the battlefield, clapping her hands over her mouth.
"…You… again…?" Makarov breathed.
"You look surprised to see me, boy," said the man, his armoured arms folded across his chest and his cloak and long white hair billowing out behind him in the dying remnants of the wind from the transportation spell. His long white beard was tucked in beneath his arms, and his one visible eye narrowed with obvious amusement while the other eye was hidden beneath a thick, black patch. "From your perspective it shouldn't have been that long since we last encountered each other."
"…Precht…?" Mavis whispered, unable to believe her eyes. "But… how is this possible? Wasn't… Zeref… was he supposed to have… killed you?"
But despite what she'd heard it was unquestionably him. Hades, the Master of Grimoire Heart, was standing before them alongside Morgana, the both of them smirking with obvious satisfaction at the dumbfounded faces before them. Unlike Zancrow, he was no Inferi. To all intents and purposes… he was alive.
But that was impossible surely… there was no spell that could simply raise the dead in either world! There was the R-system from her world, but that was a magic item that would take years and years to construct, along with an insane amount of magic power and a sacrifice. There was no way he was alive!
And yet… here he was.
"…So this is Master Hades, is it?" Dumbledore eventually asked. "I have to say… Wendy might have had a point when she said there was some resemblance between us."
"You believe so, do you?" Hades raised his hand, a magic circle appearing beneath his palm. "Well then, if you'd be so kind as to hold still, I'll put out your eye and make that resemblance a little stronger, shall I?"
And with a burst of magic two hooked chains erupted from his hand and swept across the beach towards them.
