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CHAPTER 53
DAYBREAK ON TENROU ISLAND
It would be up to Natsu and me to win this battle now. With the both of us having received a significant boost in magic power from Laxus, we might still have a chance at winning this.
The air inside the room we were in was literally electrifying, with tiny sparks flying everywhere due to our inability to control all of our energy at once. My body was slightly trembling from the overwhelming amount of magic that was inside me… This surely had to be enough to take down Hades, I thought hopefully, as I tried to stabilise my flow of magic.
Natsu roared like a beast; I could sense his magic level increasing tremendously in a matter of seconds. Then, in a flash he was right in front of Hades and bashed him in the face with his fiery fist. Hades crashed into a wall, but before he could retaliate, Natsu shot a powerful lightning strike at him. All right, this was my chance to get a hit in.
"Advanced Storm Technique! Tempest Break!" With Hades stunned by Natsu's spell, I launched myself at him, through the wall of gusts that was surrounding him, and threw a barrage of lightning-charged punches at him. The Strong gusts of wind created by my spell around us kept on pushing my target back at me, leaving him continuously wide open to my attacks. Earlier in my fight against the pink-haired girl I lacked the stamina to successfully pull off this technique to its fullest potential, but with all the magic energy I possessed now, I was able to go all-out. Each strike with my fist was with the intent of inflicting as much damage as possible, aiming at vulnerable spots of his body. Despite landing my hits where I wanted with as much power as I could use, they didn't feel like they were as effective against him as much as I'd like. That body of his, it was so sturdy. To take all these hits from us and still being in good enough shape to stand up… I had no time to finish my thoughts. I finished my combo attack with an uppercut that sent Hades flying upward and revoked the wall of gusts around us to let Natsu have another go at him while I backed off for a bit to gather more energy.
"You're gonna pay for hurting our guild!" Natsu charged in, blinded by rage, as soon as I ended my technique and walloped Hades with another one of his fiery punches. Hades was still unable to properly defend himself against the two of us, as we kept on coming at him with all we got without giving him a chance to recover. Natsu's hits struck with such force, Hades was sent flying again and before he was able to even touch the ground again, Natsu threw a giant bomb of lightning and fire at him that exploded with immense power on impact. Despite all that, Hades jumped out of the blast and this time he threw one of his magic chain spells at both Natsu and me, binding our hands together.
"Now your hands are useless!" Hades laughed, thinking he'd rendered us unable to fight back now. This technique of his might have worked on me before, but with the power I now possessed, I managed to break the chain on my hands by with a burst of lightning. Natsu as well had no trouble breaking free from Hades's spell. Hades couldn't believe his eyes when he saw us countering his technique so easily. Natsu had gone completely mad since he received the power-up from Laxus. The aura around him became increasingly more intense, as he was charging up magic energy for another big spell. I followed his example and grabbed as much magic as I could within this short time-frame. With this much magic energy at my disposal, I would be able to push my existing techniquest to the limit… no, beyond that. The flow of magic inside me was like a raging ocean, no matter how much I seemed to grab from it, there seemed no limit to it, and no way to properly control it.
"New Advanced Lightning Technique! Grand Lightning Cannon!" The sword I held in both my hands, with the tip aimed at Hades, shattered in tiny pieces. In its place, a magic blade the size of at least ten regular swords, materialised, with the bottom end of the crossguard resting on the ground, as with how much it weighed, there was no way I'd be able to hold it up normally. Channelling as much magic to the blade of the giant sword, it began to glow brightly and lightning bolts shot in random directions, as more magic energy was sent to it.
"Lightning Flame Dragon… Roar!" Natsu released a huge blast of fire and lightning from his mouth at Hades. At that very moment, I too, unleashed the fury of my spell. A beam, several metres in width, of raw lightning was fired from the blade, flying parallel to Natsu's roar. Our combined spells blew through the wall behind Hades, tearing a huge gaping hole in the ship. I was sure this had to be the end of Hades; right now he was taking the full hit of both our attacks. Yet, I continued to channel more magic to keep firing. Suddenly, in the middle of this all, a stinging pain went through my head, severely loosening my concentration. I had to cut off the flow of magic and dematerialised the gigantic magic blade again… with this headache I wasn't going to be able to use my remaining power to this extent any longer. Natsu's roar went on for several more seconds before finally subsiding. As quickly as it had come, the pain in my head now disappeared. That was incredibly unfortunate timing, but at least I had still been able to do a ton of damage. There was an enormous hole in the ship where our beams had been fired at, and I could see Hades lying on the ground… had we defeated him?
"I warned ya… not to mess with us…" Natsu weakly said and smirked, then lost his balance and fell down. It seemed Natsu really had used up all of his magic with that one attack, and I could feel I had lost a significant portion of mine as well. But if this was the end of Hades, that wouldn't matter.
"Natsu!" Lucy ran to his side to check if Natsu was doing fine.
"It's all over now." Gray declared.
"We won!" Wendy shouted happily.
I just smiled, glad it was finally over. Even though I wasn't as drained of magic energy as Natsu, the effects of using this much more magic than I was accustomed to at once were becoming noticeable, as I began to feel my body weakening. I couldn't wait to get back to Magnolia and spend a full day resting at home…
"Impressive youngsters, indeed." A voice I really didn't want to hear right now spoke. No, it couldn't be… even after Natsu and I unleashed the full extent of our power at him, he still was able to get back up and fight? Everyone looked in terror in the direction Hades was lying. "Well done, Makarov… These are some truly frightening ones you have raised." He slowly got up again while he spoke to us. "How many decades has it been since I was last trounced like this?" Using his magic, he restored his tattered clothes.
"No way!" Gray exclaimed.
"Exterminating you now would be a trifling matter, but I really must thank you for entertaining me so." Hades removed his eyepatch.
"That attack didn't work!?" Erza took a step back in shock after seeing Hades getting up again.
"Devil's Eye… open." His uncovered eye was all red and glowing, something I'd never seen before. And going by the name of his technique, it didn't sound like it was going to spell any good for us. This was bad… all of us were low on magic power and not in good condition to fight for much longer. If it was true Hades still hadn't even shown us his true powers, there was no way we were going to stand a chance against him. Not even with the remainder of Laxus's energy I think I'd be able to make the difference. Furthermore, my body was heavily aching from the stress I put it through with my last technique. This didn't look good at all.
"Allow me to give you a special demonstration." A dark purple stream of magic circled around Hades, and I could sense his magic power rising once again. "The Abyss of Sorcery. From here extends a realm that far surpasses your imaginations."
We all silently stared at him and the dark aura surrounding him, as he readied to cast this spell. There wasn't anything we could do to stop him. The amount of magic power he was gathering rose to levels that I hadn't ever felt before, and it only kept on increasing. I glanced at Erza, and could see the look of disbelief and fear in her eyes. That, more than anything else, crushed all my hopes of standing up against him.
"This is the end, Fairy Tail."
"D-Damn…" Natsu stomped his fist on the ground. He didn't want to admit defeat. "I don't even got the strength left to move…"
"Natsu! Pull yourself together! Please!" Lucy tried to help him.
"I can't… My body…" It was no use. He really must have used up every last bit of his energy in his last attack.
"To walk the path of sorcery is to sink into its abyss of eternal darkness. What lies there is primordial magic that shines like the heavens. It's close. The primordial magic is close at hand. But that 'close' exists ever deeper. And what fills those depths Is the Grand Magic World. The world of Zeref." Hades explained to us what he was seeking, as he entered the final stage of casting his spell. "Tonight, Zeref will awaken and the world will change. And then it will at last be mine… The primordial magic!"
"We cannot allow that to happen." Erza said. It seemed she had recovered somewhat from her initial shock and was actually ready to fight one more time.
"But there is no place for you in the Grand Magic World. For you lack the resolve to reach for the Abyss." He spread his arms, as he spoke and his aura grew even darker. "From the Book of Zeref, Chapter 4, Verse 12… Arcane Magic: Nemesis!" All the air surrounding us turned dark. From the debris around him, a number of large and powerful demons appeared. These creatures didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before; not like anything that should exist in the normal world we knew.
"With the magic power of the Abyss, from the earth I can even create nightmares. Devilish dancers and heavenly arbiters… Such is the supremacy of Arcane Magic!"
Each one of these demons were a mass of magic power far exceeding our own. Even taking down one of them would be an impossible task for us in our current state. I silently cursed myself for not being stronger… If only I wasn't this weak, we might have been able to win this. Coming to the realisation of my own shortcomings, fear began to take over my thoughts. Was this going to be the end of us…? There was no way out of this nightmare. Not unless we'd be able to beat Hades.
"Don't worry. We got everything we need to beat this guy right here with us." Natsu said softly, his voice piercing the shroud of darkness and despair surrounding all of us. "There is nothing wrong with fear. To fear is to know your own weakness. And knowing your weakness can make you stronger and kinder." It sounded like he was quoting someone else's words. All of us looked at him and listened to what he had to say. "We've learned how weak we are. So what do we do next?" He got up on his feet again as he spoke. "We grow stronger! And stand up to him! We might be too afraid to do anything alone… But we're right here with each other. We have friends right here with us! There's nothing to be afraid of! We're not alone!" He shouted.
"Admirable peacockery. But that, too, ends now." Hades responded to Natsu's speech, but none of us were listening to him. Natsu's words sparked hope and courage inside of us.
"With friends at your side…"
"…There's nothing to fear."
"Even if we have no magic power left…"
"…We won't give up until the very end…"
"That's the Fairy Tail way!"
This spark of hope and courage ignited into a raging fire, burning away the pain and exhaustion I'd been suffering from. Right now there was only one thing to do: to defeat Hades with all we got. Once more, I gathered the remaining magic energy inside of me; I still had my reserves to take from.
"Let's do it!" Natsu yelled and we all dashed straight at Hades and his legion of demons.
"What can you possibly hope to do against me?" Hades yelled. "Now, dance! Devils of earth!" On his command, the demons fired numerous beams and bombs of dark magic energy in our direction, each blast powerful enough to completely obliterate us if they hit. Yet we kept charging forward at full speed, evading whatever was thrown at us; there was no going back at this point.
Natsu, who had suffered the most injuries and spent the most magic during the fight had trouble keeping up with us. In the corner of my eye I could see he wasn't going to make it… despite giving it his all, his legs were too weakened. Lucy and Wendy, who ran just in front of him noticed the same thing and both grabbed one of his hands, and then threw him forward with a mighty swing, giving him enough speed and momentum to fly through the air. Though there was still too much distance to cover… Gray and Erza both knew what to do. Right when Natsu flew past them, they connected one of their feet with each of Natsu's, then launching him onward with even more speed.
Then, it looked like it would be up to me to charge him with enough magic power to deal the finishing blow. Luckily, Natsu was able to eat magic just fine, because I wouldn't have the time or concentration to cast Invoke at this very moment. I took all the magic I had still left in me and formed it all in a concentrated ball of lightning, forming in the palm of my hand. With my remaining strength, I threw the lightning bolt in front of him. Without hesitation he swallowed it and immediately regained his Lightning Flame Dragon mode again. Now all that was needed was for him to hit Hades with all he's got.
"I'll send you in the depths of darkness! It's time for the sun to set, Fairy Tail!" Hades's power rose once again and launched another barrage of dark magic beams at us, but Natsu went at such speed, they weren't able to catch him before his attack made impact with him. A bright orange light engulfed the room, followed by a large explosion seconds later that destroyed the entirety of the upper deck of the ship.. Through the smoke and dust I could see Natsu having successfully landed his final move on Hades, knocking him straight out of his Arcane Magic spell.
"Th–This can't be! My Arcane Magic had no effect!?" Hades had lost his dark aura and I sensed his magic power was greatly diminished after Natsu's attack. "Impossible! My magic is…!" He placed a hand over his glowing red eye; it looked like something was causing him pain. Something was strange about this all, I thought… He was having the upper hand all this time, yet he suddenly lost the majority of his power in a single moment. It didn't make sense. Hades was thinking the same thing; there was a look of confusion and anger on his face, as he tried to comprehend what just happened to him. Natsu, however, hesitated not to take this opportunity to strike Hades with a mighty uppercut.
Cracks started to appear in the summoned demons, which then crumbled to dust. All of the power they had stored inside them was completely gone. At that same time, I suddenly felt a warm, familiar energy flowing through my body, rapidly returning my lost magic energy and abating my pain and exhaustion. I looked in the direction of the island, and to my surprise saw the Tenrou Tree standing up again. How did this all happen, I wondered. The others were just as confused as I was about all of this. The surprises didn't end when suddenly the guild emblem on my hand began to shine brightly, filling me up with even more magic energy.
With our energy restored, Natsu continued to beat up Hades, who was somehow still standing. Though it wasn't over just yet. Out of nowhere, Hades struck back, hitting Natsu with several powerful moves and knocking him back. "Stay back!" He yelled furiously. "Until the day I stand above all others who follow the path of sorcery, the devil within me will never sleep!" It appeared he still had some fight left in him, but it was clear he was driven into a corner and was acting purely out of desperation.
Suddenly, a figure appeared right before him, and in one swift movement punched him right in the face. Laxus… he had returned. Even though he was no member of Fairy Tail any more, had he, too, received the blessing of the Tenrou Tree? "Do it, Fairy Tail!" He shouted, pushing us to finish the job. Well, he was right. It was time we put an end to this. Hades was through pretty much all of his energy and we were completely restored again. If this wasn't going to be our victory, then I didn't know what would be. Natsu agreed and went into Lightning Flame Dragon mode once more.
"We don't have a contract yet, but… Open! Gate of the Sea-Goat! Capricorn!" Lucy held up one of her golden keys, that glowed with a golden light upon calling the spirit within. A tall, bipedal goat wearing a black suit and shades appeared at her side. "Take him down!" She ordered him, and immediately he made a charge at Hades and unleashed a combo of close combat techniques at him.
"I want to get a hit in, too!" Wendy appeared up in the air, behind Hades, with her arms charged with Wind Magic. "Sky Dragon… Wing Attack!" Tornadoes formed around her arms and were blown at Hades, striking him with mighty gusts of wind and sent him tumbling over. When did Wendy even learn that spell, I wondered. This was the first time I'd seen her use it.
Before Hades could even get back up, Gray showed up above him with an Ice spell prepared already. "Ice Make Sword… Ice Bringer!" He formed two large swords made of ice and slashed Hades in a cross motion.
"Requip! Heaven's Wheel!" Erza stormed at him with her silver winged armour and dual swords, and struck him with a swift combo attack, consisting of multiple slash attacks in a matter of a mere split second. "Pentagram Sword!"
It was my time for me to get a hit in on him; this was the perfect opportunity for me to try out one of my other close combat spells that I'd practised on in the week before the trial. I channelled a large portion of my magic into my right arm, charging it so much that it started to glow and emanate electric energy. "New Technique! Meteor Flash!" I Lightning Stepped straight at Hades, but instead of completely halting my movement as I normally would, I used the extreme momentum to strike him with a lightning-charged uppercut at full power. Whereas it had felt my punches had little effect on him before, I was sure he felt this one. I would've loved to punish him some more, but it seemed Natsu was itching to have a go at him next, so I retreated to create room. Natsu roared and charged at him, one hand surrounded with lightning, the other with flames.
"Grimoire Law!" With nowhere else to go and about to be finished off, Hades gathered the last pieces of magic power inside him in an attempt to defend himself and take us all down with him. He put his hands together and a compact, dark-purple ball of powerful energy formed. Natsu saw what he was trying to do and increased his speed even further, then jumped into the air right before him. "Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art!"
"I–I'm too late…!" Hades realised he wasn't going to be able to finish casting his spell before Natsu would hit him.
"Flame Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!" Natsu made a circular motion in mid-air and became surrounded in a violent vortex of lightning and fire, that he then directed at Hades to finish him off with. Hades wasn't able to guard against the overwhelming power Natsu threw at him and screamed as he took the full hit from his attack. I could sense all of his magic energy vanishing; this time we had him for sure… there was no way to recover for him after that.
A bright light appeared from behind the horizon, slowly lighting up the clear sky. It sure was nice to see the sunrise after all this darkness. With how busy we'd been since this whole invasion started, I had completely lost track of time.
Hades lied motionless on the ground, completely knocked out from that last attack. Natsu silently stood there for a moment, then threw up his fists in the air and let out a victory roar. "Fairy Tail… is the greatest!"
Finally… we made it. I still couldn't believe we actually did it. Hades had seemed so strong before… unbeatable even. To think we still managed to achieve victory…This guild, it really is the greatest.
"I'm glad that's over." Gray smiled.
"So I guess, that means we won, huh?" Wendy said happily.
"Ah! Please help us!" Happy and Carla, with Lily close behind them, came running our way. "Help, Natsu!"
"You guys… what is it now?" Natsu replied slightly annoyed, not wanting to deal with any more stress right after our battle.
A large cloud of dust that showed some distance behind the three cats revealed a whole bunch of Grimoire Heart armed grunts that were chasing after them.
"Talk about bad timing." Gray said as he watched the enemy approaching. While quite a bit of our magic energy had been restored since the revival of the Tenrou Tree, we spent almost all of it on finishing off Hades and we were all feeling tired and exhausted. These nameless grunts weren't exactly difficult to handle, but this many of them would still be a pain to fight off. I prepared for the worst and Prequipped myself with armour and weapon again, although I wasn't sure if I had enough energy left in me to put up much of a fight.
"Enough!" Guild master Makarov, accompanied by everybody else who stayed behind at the camp earlier, suddenly appeared and stepped forward, facing the enemy forces.
"Gramps!" Natsu yelled happily. What a relief to see the others all doing okay and arriving just in time to help us out against these guys. Even Gajeel was amongst them… so he'd finally woken up. But of course. The Tenrou Tree's blessing must have revived them, too.
"There's more of 'em!" "I–Is that Makarov!?" The group of masked grunts murmured and they all took a step back at the sight of the newly arrived group of Fairy Tail wizards joining us. "Whoa! Look over there!" One of them spotted Hades lying unconsciously on the ground near us. "Master Hades… has been beaten!?"
"I order you to leave this island immediately!" Makarov spoke loudly, though it was quite unnecessary. Seeing all of Fairy Tail grouped together and their guild master defeated, they ran away as fast as they could. With the last of the enemies finally gone, it was time for a celebration.
