Lucy had fallen asleep at Natsu's bed. Natsu was still unconscious which worried everyone greatly. "Natsu…" Happy was still thinking on Zeref's words; if they wanted to defeat Zeref once in for all, that also meant killing Natsu as well. There was just no way he could accept that! "I won't give up! There has to be another way!"


"Warren, how are things looking?" Mavis asked.

"Ah…it's looking pretty intense." Warren responded. "The north is still at a stalemate, but if Gajeel and his team arrive it should get better."

"Oh, are we reporting?" Magnus turned his head to the radar. "The situation in the east is…difficult to ascertain. There was a battle that took place and while a Spriggan is down, I believe that two of them are still heading for us."

"Wait, what?!" Droy's jaw dropped. "Did they get past!?"

"But we had Jura and the other Wizard Saints!" Max said. "Didn't Sidney go there too? Don't tell me even White Eclipse's ace wasn't a match for them…!"

"You guys worry a lot." Mii scoffed while standing behind the bar, getting a drink for herself.

"I'm sure everything's all fine." Said Zelos, leaning back on a chair. Seems he had his fill of beating up Marin.

"You two are always so carefree, I don't get it…" Cana crossed her arms and shook her head. Then again, it kind of made sense since the two of them weren't really taking part in the war. At least Mii wasn't.

"What about the south? Erza and her team." Makarov asked.

"It seems like they've arrived and even managed to take down one of the 12." Magnus reported. "There are still two more of them in Hargeon, however."

"They beat one? This looks pretty hopeful for us!" Macao grinned. Perhaps things were starting to shift in their favor?

"Yeah! We have one of the 12 in captivity, too." Wakaba added.

"So out of the 12, 8 are left…!" Romeo was smiling.

"We're winning!" Nab said.

Makarov had to cut this premature celebration short. "No. As it stands now, we may be wide open in the east. If that's the case, we still have to be wary about the two Spriggan coming our way. We don't know what happened to Sidney or the Wizard Saints…but we might have to assume the worst."

"At least Dealer has us covered on the west…" Laki said.

"They've arrived safely." Warren said. "They haven't moved forward yet, but they've maintained a safe distance from Zeref's army."

"Sounds like an Ace place." Tia crossed her arms. "We're all still kind of beat up. Heck…the only reason I'm in decent shape is because Jack took a hit for me. Ace is making sure that they can monitor Zeref's movements while ensuring the others can rest up. As soon as Zeref starts moving, they're going to meet them halfway. So for now, you don't have to worry about the west for now. And if things get bad, they'll retreat. They aren't dumb." If they didn't, she'd kill them herself.

"That's good at least…" Makarov could breathe easy there. "As for the situation in the east, we should consult the First on that matter." The old master turned to Mavis, who was staring down at the ground.

"I'm sorry. Please…give me some time." Mavis muttered. This response surprised Makarov. "In order to take down Zeref…the only thing I can do is…"


The battle raged on in Hargeon. Even though Wahl was taken down, the battle only grew more intense. "Lyon!" Gray yelled while throwing his hand down.

"Yeah!" Lyon followed Gray's lead. The two of them merged their magic together, forming a joint glacier that froze over a number of soldiers.

Juvia followed up by swiping her arm forward, releasing multiple crescent slashes of water that knocked away several enemies. "Water Slicer!" But what Juvia didn't see was the two soldiers preparing to strike her down from above.

"JUVIA, LOOK OUT!" Gray yelled.

"Huh…!?" Juvia turned, her eyes widening at what she saw. Luckily for her, several pink beams shot forward, striking the soldiers down before they could hit her.

"Phew…" Meredy let out a soft exhale. She made it in the nick of time, dressed in a new outfit, but still had a cloak on to hide her face if necessary. "I made it on time. It's been a while!"

"Meredy!" Juvia's face lit up with a smile.

"You…what? What are you doing here!?" Gray asked, as if that really mattered right now.

"Crime Soriciere's here to help!" Meredy said while waving her hand, giving a bashful smile. "We heard about what was happening and rushed over to Hargeon as fast as we could!"

"…" Lyon stared at Meredy. He'd seen her before, yes. But something about her current outfit just had him stunned! "She's so cute…"


Kagura, Erza, and Daryan hurried to the port. They had to take down the Spriggan who had yet to leave ship, Neinhart. "I see the port!" Erza said.

"Wait, someone's there!" Kagura pointed forward. The three didn't even bother stopping as two soldiers stood before them. They stood out from all the rest, meaning they were certainly of high rank.

"I can smell four of them…" Daryan narrowed his eyes. At this point, the three mages slid to a halt at the enemies before them.

"We are the Neinhart army of the Knights of the Four Crest!" Said one of the enemy soldiers.

"You shall not pass here!" The other said.

Daryan lifted a brow at their title. "You got enough words there?"

They didn't have time for this. "Erza." Kagura placed her hand on her blade.

"Yeah." Erza nodded. The two of them were in sync. Erza shifted to her Clear Heart Armor, stepping forward in tune with Kagura. The both of them cut down their foes before they even had a chance to put up a fight. "Let's force our way through!"

Kagura then gave Erza a deadpanned look. "Are you really injured?" The mermaid question, not buying that story for a moment after what she just saw.

"The same could be said to you, too." Erza said with a nonchalant tone.

"Whew." Daryan whistled. "That was hot."

Kagura felt her brow twitch and she turned to Daryan, pointing her blade at him. "Do you want to be ne…"

"Fools!" A voice came from above. "Did you forget that there are four knights!?"

"Oh crap, I did…" Daryan's eyes went wide….before his lips curved into a smirk. The dragon slayer formed a bone to use as a pole vault, leaping high into the air to slam his leg into the attacker's skull, sending them right through a window. "Not! Haha!" The dragon slayer then landed and dusted his shoulders off. While Daryan was taking in his victory, he cringed a bit from his wound. "Ah…"

"I told you watch yourself." Kagura said, scowling at Daryan.

"THERE'S STILL ONE MORE!" Said a knight, emerging from behind Daryan to take advantage of his weakened state.

"Behind you!" Erza yelled.

"Shit…!" Daryan was actually not ready this time. But before the enemy could strike, they were knocked away and out cold by a fourth party! "Eh…?"

"You…" Erza said softly.

Jellal landed on the ground in a crouched position. No hood on this time, just a slick coat. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh hey…sup dude…" Daryan lifted a hand.

"You should hide your face…" Erza suggested.

"I'm tired of running." Jellal replied. "I've come to defeat Zeref. That's my purpose here."

Kagura started to sweat and tremble at the sight of Jellal. It had been four years since she first laid eyes on him…they even fought once, and still she couldn't get rid of this stomach twisting feeling she got when she saw him. "Jellal…" The best she could do was tolerate him, and even that was pushing her to an extreme. Daryan placed a hand on her shoulder, which lasted for a few seconds before she ultimately shoved his hand aside. "I'm fine. There are more important things to worry about right now."

"…." Erza didn't say a word. She was glad Jellal was here to assist them, but she was also worried for Kagura's wellbeing. Would this truly be okay…?


"Gravity God's Bellow!" Cygnus threw his head forward, a golden wave of gravity releasing from his mouth, easily taking down the incoming soldiers that charged his direction. "Come on, Alvarez! Is that really the best you've got?!"

"Fire Make…" Kuro placed his hands on the ground. "Tornado!" From the ground, a vicious twister of flame swirled into existence. The blazing tornado swept away every enemy in its path, incinerating everything before it in its fiery wake.

"Oi!" Luke slammed his fist into a soldier before turning to Taya. "You said Dimaria was hiding around here somewhere, right?"

"That's right…" Taya said while her vectors choked slammed some poor soul multiple times. "I don't want her think she can get away with the stunt she pulled the other day. But I believe the pink haired god slayer and her archer friend went to take her on."

"All by themselves?!" Sherri gasped at this. "I told her not to do anything reckless!"

"So that's where those girls went…" Luke let out a heavy sigh before deciding to push forward.

"Cynthia is here, isn't she? I'm going too." Taya said.

"We're gonna go ahead!" He had no idea where the girls went too. Luke was actually on the other side of the port where the confrontation with Dimaria was happening, so he had to hurry. Taya was with him as well, so they could likely run through anyone who tried to stand in their way.

"I'm coming with you!" Sherri said while ignoring any objections Luke may have had.

"Fine, just stay out of the way!" Luke yelled. Although, before he could get too far, a pink streak of light came out of nowhere and slammed into his chest, causing him to stagger backwards. "Gah…!"

Sherri was also a victim, getting hit in the side and fell onto ground. "Ouch…!"

"There she is…!" Aira pointed.

Sophie landed on the ground, staring at the mages of White Eclipse before her. "…"

"SOPHIE!?" Luke, Waiston, Kuro, and Cygnus all yelled in unison. Aira never had the chance to tell them that she was here, but they found out about it now.

"Didn't you die…? You definitely died…!" Cygnus pointed accusingly at the small girl.

"And that's why Emmeraude is so pissed!" Luke added.

"I am dead." Sophie said. Their confusion was understandable and she wasn't annoyed by it. "But that doesn't matter now. Right now…you are my enemies. I honestly do not want to fight…but…"

"You gotta be kidding me…" Luke groaned.

"This is the girl from yesterday too…" Sherri placed a hand on her chest. "She looked so sad when fighting…" The older Blendy then shook her head. She didn't have the time to focus on Sophie when Chelia and Raven were in danger.


"If I wanted to, I could easily kill all of you. In the blink of an eye, really!" Dimaria grinned.

"Here she comes!" Carla said.

"Get ready!" Alex yelled.

"And especially if it's you lot…" As far as Dimaria knew, there was no one who could stop her. As soon as she clicked her teeth, everything froze. There wasn't even a gentle breeze. Everything around them came to a stop. "And now, this world belongs to me, and me alone…" The woman felt a sense of euphoria flow through her. "I'm sure everyone's had wishes, no? The kind that went like, 'oh, I wish I could stop time'." The woman then leaned closer to Wendy's face. "Well, as you've heard, my magic has the ability to stop time itself. It's a shame the pink one had to spoil the surprise…but it doesn't matter." The Spriggan used one hand to smush Wendy's cheeks together. "In the end, it's the ultimate magic that can't be defeated. Why? Because in my world, there's not a thing you can do, teehee." Her gaze then went to Cynthia. "Maybe I should strip that one's clothes of. Oh, right…I'll pass on that. Killing all of you would be far too easy and not much fun. But oh! What if…" A lightbulb! "What if I killed one, then time resumed? They'd know who it was and would feel so much despair! Yesss…that sounds oh so much better. I wonder who I'll pick…" She had so many options! Carla, Chelia, Wendy, Cynthia, Alex, and Raven! As her eyes wandered, they eventually settled on Wendy and Cynthia. "Maybe I should kill these two. Em said if one goes down, the other becomes an extreme annoyance…plus they kicked me in the face. Definitely them then." She patted Wendy, then Cynthia's face and drew her sword back. "Oh well…goodbye!" A lazy swing was aimed to cut through both Wendy and Cynthia…but then they moved at the last second! "Huh!?"

"Cynthia!" Wendy yelled.

"Right…!" Cynthia didn't know what was going on, but she and Wendy jumped to the side, immediately firing back with a counter! "Fire Arrow!"

"Sky Arrow!" With their respective elements shrouding their legs, they kicked at Dimaria who was still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Gurgh…!" Dimaria slid back from the direct hits, but little did she realize that this was the end of it. Alex extended her arm forward, the whip-like claw covering a long distance as it nearly impaled the Spriggan's stomach. Dimaria jumped to the side, gritting her teeth as it grazed her instead.

"Sky God's…Hurricane Kick!" Chelia was in front of Dimaria, whipping her leg forward to smack against the woman's chest. This prompted a potent whirlwind of black wind to spiral outwards, pushing Dimaria even further back.

"HOW!?" Dimaria snarled. How!? How were they moving in her time! She didn't see anyone that could intervene with her time like this! Just when she thought she had a moment's rest, Raven fired off another potent arrow of wind. He was attempting to finish her off, but it wasn't that easy and she used her sword to slice the arrow in two.

"There disparities in time…and this small little world of yours has an even stranger sense of time. But the part about this only being your world? I'm afraid that's not the case. This is my world as well." Said Ultear as she casually walked onto the scene, displaying a smile. "Crime Soriciere will punish you for your crimes in this prison of time."

"Ultear…!" Wendy, Cynthia, and Chelia all said at the same time. They were happy that she showed up.

"Were you the one that undid my spell?" Dimaria asked. Her body was beginning to shake. This was the second time someone dared to defile her world!

"Undid? No, time is still in the state that you left it." Ultear explained while examining some of the frozen people like Toby. "My magic my not have such a scope as yours, but I can ensure that myself and a few others aren't affected by the flow of time should it stop." She then turned to the girls and Raven. "Honestly, you girls are reckless…but I can't help but admire your bravery as well."

"Ahah…" Chelia rubbed the back of her head.

"To be fair…I didn't know what we were getting into." Alex pointed out.

"Once again, chopped liver…" Raven rolled his eyes, but he was glad Ultear included him, too.

"Are you…telling me you plan to corrupt this world of mine!?" Dimaria continued to tremble. How…how and why would people defile that which was hers! This was her haven!

"She would have taken us down instantly…" Carla couldn't get that thought of out her head.

"It takes a lot of magic to sustain this amount of people within frozen time. Because of that, I might not be able to lend too much aid in this battle…" Ultear said while turning to Dimaria. "But I will do my best to ensure that nobody is trapped, you have my word."

"GET OUT!" Dimaria screamed at the top of her lungs. The limits of her patience had been reached and she lunged at everyone in sight.

"We're on it!" Wendy and Chelia jumped forward. "Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!"

"Sky God's Boreas!" Both Wendy and Chelia attacked at once. Spirals of cyan and black wind shot forward from their bodies, however Dimaria blocked both of these attacks with her blade. The only thing they managed to do was push her back, only she wasn't taking any damage this time.

"You little brats!" Dimaria pointed a hand down, resulting in a powerful, sudden eruption of raw magic that exploded on the sky dragon and goddess, easily blowing them away. "Get out of my world this instant! It's MINE! ALL MINE!" A yellow aura flared around her sword and she aimed to bring it down, only for Alex's arm to shift into a sword coated in earth that blocked the strike. "Huh?"

"You sound like a whiny kid! Is this how all Spriggan act when they don't get their way!" Alex then sent a roaring uppercut to Dimaria's chin, but the woman evaded it by leaning backwards, pivoting on her heel to send her foot crashing into the back of Alex's skull, sending the red head tumbling away along the ground. "Oof!"

Raven remained grounded, firing an arrow of darkness off into the ground. This arrow took the form of a snake that slithered along the ground, attempting to sink its fangs into Dimaria's exposed ankle. "Serpent!"

"Your arrows aren't hitting me!" Dimaria yelled while striking down the serpent with her blade before it got too close. She'd experienced far too many battles for a mere archer to get the best of her. Although Raven was upset he missed, his attack created an opening for Cynthia and Carla to strike from above.

With her wings out, Carla dove down from above, spinning around to gain momentum and aim a fierce drop kick at Dimaria. "White Moon!" Of course, Dimaria was able to block this attempt with her forearm with minimal effort.

"Talon!" Cynthia yelled, swinging a red blazing foot at Dimaria's face again, but her blade stopped this. Cynthia was close enough now and grinned; for a closer look at her face revealed that her cheeks were inflating. "And…ROAR!" Her lips parted, a massive funnel of omega flames unleashing from her mouth that consumed and pushed Dimaria back! "Got her!"

Ultear watched with an intense stare. "They're doing well…they might be able to win…"

The funnel of flames was quickly dispersed with a simple slash of Dimaria's sword. The embers faded out of existence and the Spriggan didn't look too pleased at first…but then a smile formed on her lips. "Have you ever wondered why I could manipulate time?" Well…let me show you the power of the 12." The gauntlet on Dimaria's arm shattered and she pointed her arm down. What came next was a much bigger pillar of magic than before. This one completely consumed Cynthia, Chelia, Wendy, Raven, Alex, Carla, and even Ultear within its wake!

"WAAAAAAH!"

There was a sudden spike of power. One that the injured Ultear noticed immediately after the explosion. "W-What…what is this power!?"

Dimaria rose from the smoke, her appearance completely altered. Her hair flowed upwards and her body was completely black with yellow markings. There was an aura that flowed around her that was nearly foreign to all of them! "Takeover: God Soul."

"Holy shit…" Raven's eyes went wide. What kind of monster were they up against!?

"The power of a god…" Ultear's jaw dropped. This was more than what she was expecting.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Dimaria screamed and released a powerful surge of magic, one that dwarfed the previous one! This massive explosion threw the mages of Fiore backwards, only serving to injure them more! There was a gigantic crater after such an attack and it didn't cost Dimaria any magic. "Bow down, as I, Chronos, the God of Time descends on you." To make matters worse, the wounds she had on her body started to heal…no, they weren't healing. Time was reversing on them!

"You gotta be shitting me…!" Raven groaned while attempting to stand back up.

"Everyone okay?!" Alex asked.

"Been better…" Cynthia admitted. "You okay Wendy…?"

"I'll…be all right…" Wendy said.

"To think she had an ace like this up her sleeve…the power of Chronos, how did she even obtain that!?" Ultear asked while actually preparing to step into the fray. Magic be damned, things weren't looking great.

"An ancient god was revered in Mildian centuries ago. And now it has become one with my, a descendant of its vessel." Dimaria explained. In other words, she was a descendant of a god! That was a problem.

"Oh yeah!?" Chelia pumped a hand into a fist, displaying a grin despite her own injuries. "I've defeated a god before, and this time it won't be any different!"

"…That's right. So you are the one…" Dimaria tilted her head slowly. "The one who defeated the Ice God."

"Chelia, you can't!" Ultear said.

Dimaria then pointed her finger at Wendy. Nobody could actually see it, but they sensed it. Carla was the first one to notice and immediately shoved Wendy to the side. "WENDY!" At the same moment, a beam pierced through Carla's body. A fatal blow.

Everyone stared in horror as Carla's gaze turned dull and she was barely able to stand. "CARLA!"

"I…I didn't even see her attack…" Ultear began sweating. Were they out of their league here!?

Carla's body trembled in place, the shock of the wound hitting her hard. "Even my…clairvoyance…couldn't…keep u…" She was unable to utter the last syllable. Her body collapsed onto the ground and she stopped moving.

Cynthia and Wendy immediately went to her body to see if she was okay. "Carla! Please, hang in there! CARLA!" The two girls started to cry. Carla couldn't die! Not like this!

"N-No…" Chelia's hands went to her mouth. This…this was horrible.

"All who defile my world…will pay for it in blood." Dimaria stated.

Alex started trembling in anger. With tears in her eyes, she turned to Dimaria and her hands morphed into sharp claws that she planned to use to tear her apart. "Y-You…you bitch! I'LL KILL YOU!" With an emotional battle cry, Alex rushed forward and began clawing at Dimaria wildly. "YOU MADE MY SISTER CRY, I'LL TEAR YOU APART!" Every fierce slashed she aimed was avoided, much to her annoyance.

"Does thou not understand?" Dimaria spoke calmly. Alex's slashes did cut off some of her hair, but it didn't mean much. There was a slash that did land against her chest, but she didn't flinch. Instead, Dimaria slammed her knee into Alex's gut, winding her with the sharp impact. The vessel of Chronos followed suit by swinging her leg into Alex's skull to send her flying away, where she followed up with another explosion of magic to severely injure the dragon slayer. "There is naught you can do against this power."

"Wait until I put an arrow through your skull!" Raven was rushing forward, multiple magic seals appearing in front of him. "Fury Burst!" Each arrow fired shattered a seal, which in turn shifted into a different element. Arrows of fire, wind, water, earth, light, and darkness all attempted to pierce Dimaria. Unfortunately for Raven, he still couldn't land a shot on her! "Damn it!" Dimaria appeared in front of him, her fist smashing into his temple. The blow knocked Raven off his feet, causing him to tumble along before coming to a halt. He could see that Dimaria was pointing at him and he instinctively rolled out of the way, just narrowly avoiding a fatal shot to the chest. "Tch! Tempest Arrow!" A quick shot, but one that turned a small arrow of wind into a massive cyclone that consumed Dimaria, but she stood in the center of the raging whirlwind just fine.

"Carla please, wake up…!" Wendy pleaded.

"She's still alive." Ultear said. "It's…just like on the Isle. I've suspended her time, which means you'll have to use as much healing magic as you can on her before time resumes. Her wound is grave…but she should survive just like last time. But you have to take her down as quickly as possible!"

"Okay…" Cynthia nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. Wind started to wrap around her body as she entered her Sky Flame mode, while Wendy entered Dragon Force. "Let's go, guys."

"Yes." Chelia gave a firm nod. She may not have been as strong as she used to be, but her powers to slay a god were key to this fight. Without even wasting a second, the girls all lunged forward to aid in the battle against Dimaria.

"What do I do…? She's too strong for them like this." Ultear watched the girls fight with a grim expression. "Chelia's their only key to victory, but there's no way she would be able to sustain that level of magic again if she tried. It could kill her, and I promised myself I wouldn't let any harm come to these girls. Think, Ultear…what do you do!?"

Wendy's speed was still unmatched. She reared her leg back and threw it forward, hitting Dimaria right in the chest. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" But despite this, Dimaria didn't even flinch at such a blow. Wendy was about to jump back, but Dimaria already had a fist coming her way. "Ah…!" And just before that fist could hit, Cynthia took the blow by bringing an arm up. "Cynthia…!"

"Flame…Palm!" Cynthia extended her free hand, gathering wind and flame within her palm only to shoot it forward in a concentrated burst. While it was hard to say Dimaria took damage, it did push Wendy and Cynthia back to gain much needed distance.

Chelia was up next, spreading her arms apart as several blades of wind formed around body. "Blade Dance of the Sky God!" These feathery blades were all sent forward. Though composed of stylized black feathers, the wind was incredibly sharp. Dimaria recognized this threat and began to dodge the blades, although a few of them grazed her. That was damage enough and she didn't like it. So she pointed at Chelia…but before the beam could come out, Alex whipped her claw arm forward to stab her.

"I don't think so!" Alex snarled.

"…" Dimaria didn't say a thing. She just snapped her fingers, causing multiple magic seals to form under Alex, Chelia, Cynthia, and Wendy. These seals took the appearances of a clock ticking down, and the moment a second passed, they exploded violently! They were all thrown about from the explosions and landed harshly on the ground. "Does thou understand? Theirs is nothing you can do."

'HAAAAH!" Chelia wasn't giving up! She rushed forward, sending her magic infused fist into Dimaria's chest. The effectiveness of her magic did cause the goddess to stagger back a step, but a step and nothing more. Dimaria opened her palm, releasing a potent beam of magic that consumed Chelia and sent her flying back near Raven. "Agh…ow…"

"You okay…?!" Raven asked while looking at Dimaria. This was bad. They weren't making any progress!

"She's…so strong…" Cynthia growled. "But we can't give up!"

"I've got it!" Raven grinned. "It's time for my special technique! Chelia, give me a boost!"

"You're gonna use that?" Chelia blinked, but considering their situation, it just might work! "Okay…!" Chelia nodded and cupped her hands together and crouched down. Raven took a step forward onto Chelia's hand and she launched him sky high.

"Here we go!" Raven yelled.

"…?" Dimaria watched Raven fly. Just what was he planning?

"TARGET: ON!" Raven aimed down. A large seal appeared under Dimaria, spanning several meters with her in the center of it. Multiple targets appeared above her, soon encasing her in what appeared to be a cylinder of magic.

"What is this? It's useless." Dimaria scoffed and attempted to move but…she couldn't'!? She, a god, couldn't move in some lowly mages seal!?

"Heh…" A slow smirk drew itself on Raven's lips as he pulled the bowstring back, a massive arrow of magic forming. This arrow had a black tint to it as it was laced with Sky God Slaying magic, courtesy of Chelia. "The moment you let that seal touch you, it was over! That seal binds the magic in your body and prevents movement! So with this in place, this time….I WON'T MISS! CRISIS RAIN!" Raven's ultimate technique! The arrow he released flew through the cylinder of magic and right onto the bullseye! The moment it made impact with Dimaria, the cylinder exploded into a massive rising pillar of magic. There was even a scream of pain that followed! All eyes were on Raven when he landed.

"…." You know that feeling when you watch your significant other pop off? That was Chelia right now. "Raven…!"

"Whoa…that was kinda cool…" Alex admitted.

"I didn't know he could do that. Did you…?" Cynthia turned to Wendy and she shook her head.

"Heh…" Raven smirked. "I know she felt that one."

Raven was right. Dimaria did feel that hit. The smoke around the vessel of Chronos cleared and there was one unhappy god right there. "You will pay…in blood." Dimaria then pointed at not Raven, not even Cynthia, Wendy, or Alex…but Chelia. The one who was the biggest threat to her was the reason she took that much damage to begin with. Nobody could even see the beam that was fired and Chelia completely froze on the spot.

"…!" Chelia couldn't move, but for some reason, she felt herself being thrown to the side. Wait…no, she didn't move it was…Raven. At the last possible second, Raven shoved Chelia aside and took the hit in her stead. But it wasn't just one. Multiple beams pierced through his body, and one hit his heart directly. To Chelia, it all happened in slow motion and her eyes were wide in horror. "R-R….."

Raven was dead before he hit the ground. He didn't get a chance for last words or anything. He was a lifeless corpse. Dimaria lifted her hand up one more time and snapped her fingers. "…Anyone who dies within my time…will be removed immediately." Those ominous words didn't hang in the air for long. Raven's form started to fizzle out before he just…turned into dust and scattered away. There was nothing left of his body, only his bow that he had thrown on the ground at the last second. He was just…gone.

"W-Wh…" Cynthia couldn't even find the words.

"T-There's no way…" Alex covered her mouth.

"H-He's…gone…" Wendy said the words, but she couldn't believe what she was saying.

"H…He was erased…from time…?" Ultear…she…she didn't know such a thing was truly possible. And that only meant they could be next.

"R-RAVEN! RAAAAAAAAVEN!" Chelia screamed, the sound of her broken heart echoing through the emptiness of frozen time. The pain was audible in her voice and she started to break down. The crying turned into loud wailing that wasn't stopping anytime soon. "Don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen to you. Because I love you." That's what she told him! That was a promise she was supposed to keep and yet…and yet…!

"Do you finally understand now?" Dimaria started to float up in the air, her divine majesty displaying itself once more. "Against the power of a god…there is nothing you can do. This is the end for you foolish humans. I will now render my divine punish…and you shall pay with your lives."

.

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Next Time: The Wrath of Heaven.