MAKE SURE TO LEAVE A REVIEW AND READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!
Chapter 19
As the dust settled Makarov stood out in front of the army of mages and yelled furiously, "We are Fairy Tail!" As his voice resonated through the guild hall, all of the Fairy Tail mages gathered magic power before lunging forwards at the now terrified Phantom Lord mages. The Phantom Lord wizards jumped in the air as wave after wave of them barrelled towards the Fairy Tail mages. The battle that ensued was overly brutal, with the strong Fairy Tail mages destroying the Phantom lord guild hall and all of the wizards in it in a fury of explosive magic spells.
Gray and Elfman rushed forward, quickly plowing through the enemy towards the heart of the guild. Gray had quickly frozen the ground, establishing the upper hand as Elfman created his beast arm, smashing apart the ground and any and all magic weapons that the Phantom Lord wizards attempted to attack them with. Alzack and Bisca fired gun magic from behind, keeping a constant suppressing fire, while more and more wizards from either side joined into the growing fight.
The the Fairy Tail wizards trampled through the Phantom Lord mages, however it was still not a fight that would be so easily given up by either side. The stronger Phantom lord wizards rushed forwards and channeled their magic before yelling, "Don't get too cocky, you punks!" The Phantom Lord mages blasted through the wall of wizards in front of them, before they were hit by a large tidal wave of water, which crashed through the guild hall, destroying countless tables and ripping up the floor. Behind that there stood Wendy having her magic ready for battle.
Erza rushed forwards as she summoned countless swords, slicing through the mages, while Mira sent out massive blasts of dark energy, dividing the near endless waves of Phantom Lord wizards. As the number of Phantom Lord wizards slowly decreased, an opening in the Fairy Tail mages line of defense ruptured, allowing the Phantom Lord mages to rush through Fairy Tail's line of defense. Erza lept forwards to counter them before she was stuck in the side of the head with an iron rod, sending her flying into the wall. She pushed herself up and lifted two swords and looked around, before spotting a man with long black hair laughing at her as the iron rod retracted back into his hand.
He is a tall and muscular young man, with broad shoulders, probably standing a full head taller than most of the people in the guild. He has long, slicked back spiky black hair. He has red eyes dark pupils, indicating that he is a dragon slayer, which Erza quickly took note of. As he smirked while looking down at her she could see his grin of elongated spiked teeth, similar to Wendy's. He has no visible eyebrows, while most of his exposed body is covered in sets of simple, round studs. His head is intricately covered in metal studs, which multiple on his chin, nose and ears, with 3 over each eye replacing his eyebrows. He had a black Phantom Lord guild mark on his revealed shoulder, with the other one being covered in a strange black feather-like ornament. He wears a tattered sleeveless black tunic with studded edges, a studded belt around his waist, loose, beige pants tucked inside studded black boots, with a pair of studded fingerless gloves. This was Gajeel Redfox, Phantom Lord's strongest S-class mages, and the iron dragon slayer.
Gray looked over to Erza to see her distressed state before yelling, "Ice-Make: Lance!'' A light blue magic circle appeared before multiple long spears made out of ice shot out of Gray's spell towards Gajeel.
At the same time Elfman yelled, "Bear Arm: Reptile!" His right arm transformed as it expanded in size while getting covered in green reptilian scales, with pointed plates forming on his forearm, jutting backwards. He threw his fist forwards with all his strength, not expecting how powerful Gajeel really was.
Gajeel sighed in annoyance, as he extended one arm towards Gray and formed a tall oval curved shield made out of iron, which Gray's ice spears harlessly bounced off, shattered into tiny pieces and falling lifelessly to the wooden floor. His arm then transformed into an Iron rod, which he shot out, disconnecting from his arm, and striking Gray, sending him flying away as the iron pillar fell to the ground, sending dust into the air.
Gajeel turned his attention towards Elfman, as Gajeel caught Elfman's first effortlessly, stopping him in his tracks. Elfman roared out as he transformed his other arm, "Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" Elfman transformed his left arm into one composed of metal, which is similar to a gauntlet, sporting plates and different lines of bolts.
Before he could punch Gajeel though, Gajeel yanked Elfman forwards by his reptilian arm which he still had a hold of, before punching Elfman in the face, slamming him into the ground and knocking the wind out of his chest, before kicking him in the side, sending him rolling away as he said, "I'm only interested in Titania! All of you are too weak!"
Gajeel turned one of his arms into an iron rod before extending it, indiscriminately striking any mage within his vicinity, however holding back as if he were toying with them. Gajeel extending an iron rod from his foot, striking Nav and Warren. He turned around before changing his arm into a giant sword and cutting through the spells that had just been thrown at him. Gajeel smirked evilly as he looked around at the mages and said, "You guys may not be Titania, but it sure is amusing seeing that expression on your face!"
The Fairy Tail wizards rushed over to attack him before Gajeel coated his hand in magic and then proceeded to smash it into the ground, released a pulse of magic, blasting away all of the wizards around him. As he stood up and looked over at Erza he heard from his side, "Sky Dragon's Roar!" A tornado-like spiral of magic raced towards Gajeel from his left, but he merely raised his hand and coated it in iron scales, harlessly nullifying the attack.
Gajeel smirked and looked over to see Wendy glaring at him having just fired a blast of magic, and was now standing in a fighting position. Gajeel revealed his sharp teeth as Wendy Lunged forwards and coated his fist in lightning as she yelled, "Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!" However, as she tried to strike Gajeel, he grabbed her by the neck, stopping her movement. He grinned as he looked at Wendy struggling in his grasp, unable to break the coating of scales surrounding his hand and forearm.
Gajeel said, "You're amusing, especially because you're a dragon slayer, but you're not quite strong enough." Wendy however reared back her head as he was talking before firing off a sky dragon's roar directly to his face. Gajeel let go of her neck as he rolled away, dropping Wendy to the floor.
Wendy stood up and said, "Don't underestimate me!" She rushed towards Gajeel who looked at her and yelled excitedly, "You're more fun than I thought!" Gajeel sighed, "But, by yourself, you're nothing." Gajeel shot out multiple Iron rods from the end of his leg as he brought up his arms, blocking multiple incoming attacks from the Fairy Tail wizards, before effortlessly throwing them away. The Iron rods struck Wendy multiple times, before embedding her in the opposite wall of the guild hall.
Gajeel turned away from Wendy and looked down at Erza and laughed, "I never expected to get such a fantastic chance to meet the mighty Titania!" He Covered his arm in iron scales before lunging at Erza and striking her in the side of her abdomen, sending her flying across the Phantom Lord guild hall.
Erza grit her teeth as she pushed herself up, before noticing the lack of pain in her abdomen, then looking up at Gajeel who smirked evilly in a taunting mannered before he leapt out of the way as Makarov's massive fist smashed down in the spot where he had previously stood. Erza heard Makarov's booming voice yell out, "You dare hurt my children!"
The Phantom Lord members backed up as they screamed "Monster!" Gajeel merely looked up at him and smirked as he thought, 'Everything is going exactly as Master Jose said! This is perfect!' Although Gajeel really hated Master Jose at times as well as his controlliveness, Gajeel really admired Jose's evil genius, and as someone ranked as the 6th ranked wizard saint, he is truly powerful. Gajeel had been invited to become a Wizard Saint, but he refused because he thought he would be restricted too much, and given what he had seen what Master Jose had to do at times because of the Magic Council, he never wanted to be a member.
Gajeel looked at Erza who asked him angrily, "Where are the other members of the Element 4?! Why have they not shown themselves?!"
Gajeel merely kept his cocky smirk as he looked at her, dodging another attack from Makarov who yelled out, "You have awakened a great monster that cannot be tamed! Don't for a second think that you will be protected by human laws for harming my children!"
Gajeel now stood in front of Erza as an aura of magic surrounded him as he said to her, "I really exped more out of you guys, but it appears you didn't bring Laxus, Mystogan, or your Ace, Gildarts with you. If you don't have your trump cards, we shouldn't expend ourselves using our own… " Gajeel leaned in close to Erza's ear as he grabbed her chin, bringing her face closer to his and whispered to her ear, "Especially because you left our main target wide open."
Erza thought for a second about what he could mean about their 'Main Target' before her eyes widened as a sense of realization came over her as she yelled at him, "You… You're after Lucy!"
Gajeel smirked as he rolled away, casually dodging a blast of dark energy from Mira, who landed in front of Erza and stated, "You need to be more careful." Although Mira didn't like to show it, she deeply cared for the safety and well being of every member of the guild, even if she was normally mean to them.
As Gajeel retreated back with a satisfied smirk on his face, he saw Makarov crash forward through the rest of the guild and yell out, "Jose! Show yourself!" He crashed forward through multiple walls of the guild hall, quickly ascending to the upper floors as the battle between the Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord wizards raged onwards.
Gajeel leapt up to the rafters before setting down as he made a spike appear on the bottom of each foot. He stood on the bottom of the support beam looking at the battle, which he thought was amusing, but boring as Aria floated down beside him and said, "I hope you didn't antagonize them too much, it could lead to a flaw in our plans."
Gajeel merely smirked as he replied, "Oh, everything will be fine. Just do your job like Jose said, or else we might not succeed."
Aria bowed his head as he disappeared into the wind and said a tears streamed down his face, "It is so very sorrowful that I must do this."
Gajeel waved his hand before responding angrily, "Can you quit it with this 'sorrowful' business!" But Aria was already gone, unable to hear Gajeel's crude comment on Aria's annoying behaviour.
With Makarov…
Makarov smashed through the massive door into the guildmaster's office of the Phantom Lord guild hall. Magic flowed off of Makarov as his eyes glowed yellow, with flares of magic striking the walls of the room, turning it into absolute chaos. Makarov spoke in a terrifying voice, "What the hell do you think you're doing…?"
Jose merely smiled as he looked at Makarov. Jose is a tall, slim man with long, straight, maroonish-purple hair reaching down to his shoulders and a thin mustache that reaches down around his eternally smiling mouth. His attire resembles that of a mix between a fictional witch, wizard, and jester, consisting of a purple flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a mantle and jagged lower edges, adorned with a lighter purple trim. It featured two navy blue bat-like wings, as well as with a matching purple witch-like hat with an extremely long, bent top hanging down over the left side of Jose's face. He sports a plain white shirt which is adorned with his Wizard Saint medallion around the neck, with two red ribbons falling down from it. He wore a pair of red and black pin striped pants, tucked into tall white socks, and a pair of pointed shoes.
"Why hello there, Makarov. It had been a long time since that regular meeting O so many years ago… 6 I believe. I was so drunk and stupid back then… I must've overdone it with the sake…" Jose let out a light chuckle, ignoring Makarov's terrifying aura.
Makarov threw his massive fist forwards as he yelled, "I'm not here to reminisce with you Jose!" Makarov's fist crashed into the ground, sending wood and stone debris into the air. The dust slowly settled to reveal the flickering image of Jose. Makarov shrunk down to his normal size as he looked around before stuttering out, "A-A thought projection?! You're already gone from the guild?!"
Jose's thought projection smiled as he said with an arrogant smirk, "A battle between two of the great wizard saints could lead to cataclysmic and extraordinary unnatural occurrences. I prefer a rational victory."
Makarov yelled angrily back at him, "Show yourself Jose! Fight me fair and square-" Makarov stopped mid sentence as light flicked in front of Jose before an image of Lucy appeared. She had a few bruises but for the most part was unharmed. She lay on the ground unconscious, having both of her arms bound together. Makarov stuttered, "W-why?!" Jose pulled out a dagger and grinned evilly and prepared to stab Lucy.
Makarov reached out his hand to stop Jose before Makarov felt an imposing presence behind him. He turned around and looked up at Aria's imposing figure and inwardly cursed himself, 'Shit! I was too focused on Jose and didn't even detect his presence!'
Aria pressed his hands together and said, "Metsu!" Two large purple magic circles appeared behind either of his hands. Makarov was enveloped in a globe of airspace, draining his magic completely. Aria pressed his hands forwards launching makarov away and sending him through the floor as tears streamed down his face, "So sorrowful!"
As Makarov flew away he tried to use his magic but to no avail. He looked back to see Jose's laughing face as he dropped the dagger which embedded itself in the ground while he said manically, "Ho, ho, there's no way that we would kill Lucy… at least not yet…" He looked up from Lucy back at Makarov and said, "Please don't tell me you don't know who Lucy Heartfillia is, even though she belongs to your guild. Well, I guess it's none of your business anymore."
Aria looked at Makarov's form as he crashed through the floor as tears poured out of his eyes as he cried, "It's too sorrowful! Where hath this sorrow come from?! Is this sorrow due to the world losing a great mage?!"
Makarov fell through the floor before slamming into the ground below him, creating a noticeably loud "thud." Everyone turned towards him, noticing Makarov was struggling on the ground, now having his skin turn a sickly pale green color. Erza rushed over to him as she cried out, "Master!" She picked him up and held him in her arms.
Gajeel looked down at the mages from the rafters as she smirked, "I could never have imagined that Jose's plan would turn out this well. I guess the fun is over now." Gajeel sighed as he thought, 'Although, I was hoping to get a better fight from Titania and The Demon.'
The Phantom Lord wizards began encroaching on the Fairy Tail wizards as they started to charge their magic. The Fairy Tail mages still couldn't move from their shock before they heard Erza's booming voice yell, "Everyone! Retreat to the guild!" Erza thought, 'This is our only option. After the Master was defeated, with our low morale, we have no other choice.'
Gray looked back at her in shock as to what Erza said. He had never seen Erza retreat, with her always boisterous and brave personality. Elfman yelled, "Men never retreat!" As he punched another wizard away from him.
Other mages had a similar response, saying that they won't stop fighting, but Erza responded by yelling, "We cannot defeat Jose without or Master! We must retreat!"
Mira looked at Erza with a smirk and asked Snarkily, "Are you getting soft Tin can? We have plenty of strong wizards with us right now!"
Wendy replied pleadily, "But they have a dragon slayer, whose magic power could be almost considered to be on Gildarts's level! We stand no chance without Master!" Mira grit her teeth. She always hated to back down from a fight, especially because she gained so much strength. What would be the use of her strength if she couldn't even use it to protect one person?
Mirajane replied reluctantly, "Fine! Let's go everyone." The Fairy Tail mages ran from the guild as the Phantom Lord wizards fired blasts of magic behind them, chasing them away, back to the guild hall to nurse their wounds.
Phantom Lord Headquarters…
Lucy felt the coldness of the floor seeping into the side of her face that was rested on it. The musty and dirty smell of the floor made it to her nose as her eyes slowly opened up, and taking that chance to have an opportunity to take a long look around the room. The walls and floor of the room were made of dirty beige bricks that had small amounts of moss growing from in between the cracks. At the front and back of the room were two thick iron doors with small bars allowing Lucy to see outside of the cell, noting how high she was off of the ground. She felt the scratchiness of the ropes binding her hands together as she tried to shake the rope off of her hands.
Lucy yelled out, "What is this?! Where am I?!" She saw a shadowed grin from behind the bars of the cell door. She saw the strange wide smile and the thin purple mustache of the man on the other side of the door looking at her menacingly, causing her body to freeze up under his creepy glare.
The man's eyes became visible as his smile widened, revealing how rows of white teeth as he said menacingly as Lucy heard a clunk from the door, "You're finally awake, Lucy Heartfilia."
Lucy yelled back to the man, "Who're you?! Where am I?!" She frantically looked around the cell as she heard the door slowly creaking open as the man stepped into the room. The man was revealed to be the guild master of Phantom Lord, Jose Porla.
Jose replied, "I am the guild master of Phantom Lord, Jose Porla." Jose bowed his head, not sounding sincere at all, "I'm sorry for locking you up in this filthy cell, but we couldn't take a liability of you escaping from this place, afterall, you are a valuable person, Lucy Heartfilia."
Lucy yelled back at Jose, "Untie me! Why did you do all of that if Levi and the others?!" She glared at Jose who kept his confident and arrogant smirk plastered across his lips as he continued to look down on her.
Jose opened his arms as he said, "Depending on your attitude, we may treat you as a 'VIP' instead of a captive as you are now." A centipede crawled up the side of Lucy's thigh as she let out a shrike, jumping away from the centipede. Jose continued, "See, you don't want to stay here. If you behave yourself I can upgrade you to a suite room."
Lucy ignored his previous statement and asked in a serious tone, her voice filled with contempt, "Why did you attack us?"
Jose raised an eyebrow as an evil grin spread across his face, "Oh? You mean Fairy Tail? That was just for fun, an extra if you will." He continued as Lucy's face slowly morphed into a scowl, "In reality, our true objective is a certain individual, and that certain individual happened to belong to Fairy Tail. That certain individual is you, Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of the Heartfilia conglomerate."
Lucy stuttered out as her entire body shivered, "How… How do you know that?" She had tears brimming at the edges of her eyes as the realization that she had brought all of this misfortune upon her friends hit her.
Jose explained, "I heard that you were hiding your social status while you were in a guild, and a rather well known one at that. I don't know why the daughter of one of the richest men in the country would be taking such a dirty and dangerous job though."
Lucy asked as her body continued to shiver as she forced herself to not let tears roll down her face, "So you… kidnapped me?" Jose smirked as he heard her question.
Jose replied simply as he made himself seem better than he actually was, "Oh no, of course not. In fact, we aren't doing this for personal gain, but rather, as a request from… your father." At all times he liked to be as formal as possible, and one of his favorite things to do to antagonize people was uphold his honour, even when he severely lacked it.
Lucy's eyes widened as she yelled back at Jose, "I'm never going back to that place! He would never come back to get me! He never cared and he never will!" Lucy seathed out through her teeth, "Release me at once!"
Jose sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and thought, 'What a troublesome girl.' Jose said to her, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Your father is giving us a large sum of money after all."
Lucy thought, 'Alright, I have a plan. All I need to do is get through that door and I'm good to go. Then I can go back to Fairy Tail to warn them!' Lucy looked up at Jose with fake pleading eyes, "But I have to go to the bathroom."
Jose smirked, "Such a classic excuse. Did you really think that something like that would work on me?" Jose gained an evil glint in his eyes, "If you really have to go, you can go there." Jose pointed to a metal pale sitting on the floor next to Lucy.
Lucy stood up and pretended that she was actually gonna use the bucket to go to the bathroom as Jose's eyes widened, "You… You're actually going to do it?!" Jose turned away as sweat beaded on his forehead, "What a shameless lady!"
As Jose turned around, Lucy gained and menacing glint in her eyes as she smirked evilly, before kicking Jose from behind in the family jewels. Jose collapsed on the ground as he clutched his crotch. Lucy stepped over his clapped form as he lay on the ground, unmoving, "I guess a classic strategy isn't so bad afterall! Well, see ya!" She walked over outside of the prison door only to be greeted by a cold up draft as the wind swirled around her, looking down from the tall tower to see the long expanse of desert below her.
Jose laughed evilly as he pushed himself to his feet, "A pity isn't it. This is our sky prison." Jose stood up as he walked towards Lucy menacingly, "How dare you do that to me… It's punishment time… LET ME TEACH YOU THE FEROCIOUSNESS OF THE PHANTOM!"
Lucy took a few steps back as she gulped before walking backwards off of the edge of the tower. Jose screamed in shock as he saw her fall, realizing that if she died he would be to blame. Lucy thought, 'I heard someone's voice. They have to be here. It was the same person from those other two times, I can feel that amazing magic in the air… He has to be here!' As Lucy neared the ground she screamed, "Help!"
As Lucy yelled out, she was suddenly grabbed out of the air as she floated calmly to the ground. She looked up, to see the same person she had already seen twice. His missing eye, his dragon tattoo, his broad shoulders, and his pink hair and horns. He was unmistakable. It was him. She now had a chance to observe him in full detail, being so close to him while he carried her as she could feel the heat being generated from his body, easily outweighing the deadly heat she felt while in the sun.
Natsu put Lucy down as he thought, 'I hope you appreciate what I'm doing, Anna. I'll make sure that no matter what, nothing bad will ever happen to Lucy, who is destined to be the strongest celestial spirit mage.' Natsu began to walk away before he heard Lucy cry out to him.
Lucy asked him as she grabbed onto his hand, pulling him to face her, "Who… are… you?" She looked up at his imposing figure, causing her to freeze up at she finally noticed his reptilian eye that felt like it could see into her soul.
Natsu replied, "As far as you're concerned, someone inconsequential." He didn't want anyone to know who he was, because he didn't want Acnologia to target him through them. Although Acnologia had a large degree of pride, he would use any way possible to defeat Flareon.
Natsu yanked his hand free from her grasp as he walked away once again. Lucy reached out of grab onto him, but as her hand touched him, she felt cold ice beneath her fingers. She looked up to see what appeared to be a man made of ice, which quickly shattered as the chunks of crystal clear ice fell to the ground. Although Lucy didn't know it, she had just met the strongest person in Ishgar.
Hey Guys! So I finally managed to get this chapter out, and oh boy is it long. This chapter is 4,427 words, which is my longest chapter yet. I tried to demonstrate Gajeel's power in this chapter, as obviously he is powerful as hell, so he has to easily be able to fight against most Fairy Tail members. I've decided to have him fight against Mira and Erza for their battle because I think it would make more sense later on. I'm sorry that I didn't finish the arc in this chapter, but I wanted to get a good fight in, and I didn't want the fight to just be 1,000 words long, which would make it unbearably short, and I feel like I wouldn't be doing this arc justice given how much I have been hyping it up. Just for you guys, before you blast me in the comments about not wanting this to be NaLu, it's not, and it never will be. Natsu is helping Lucy because he feels he owes it to Anna. Keep in mind, he has already been married, so there is no way that he would fall in love with Lucy, given his personality. For a change, I have no questions because I already have the next chapter all planned out, but feel free to give me suggestions if you want to see something.
Alright, see you guys next time!
