Somewhere far away, under a silent night sky, there was a garden. It was lush and green, with strange and beautiful plants. It was surrounded by terraced walls, with exotic and colorful vines snaking about. The garden was large and spacious, with room for dozens of men and women to gather. But on this night, there were only three souls in this garden. Two of them were cloaked figures standing at the entrance of the garden. The third was a girl in the center of it all. She was sitting on a decorative stone table. It was hard and cold, but she didn't mind. The girl was a teenager, wearing a long, pretty dress.
It was late at night. Crickets were making dim sounds in the distance, while a cool breeze blew through wind chimes hanging nearby. The girl thought it was peaceful. She liked being here. Except… she turned her head and looked behind her, at the entrance. Or, more specifically, she looked at the two cloaked figures at the entrance. Although she couldn't see their faces, she knew they were watching her. That was why they were here. She turned away from them, and looked back at the scenery around her, deciding to ignore them. She swung her legs a little while sitting on the table, like a child might. She noticed a small animal nearby. A racoon. She smiled. It looked at her from a distance. She watched as it slowly approached her out of curiosity. She picked up a small bag on the table, and pulled out a handful of berries. She held it in her hand and reached out to feed the animal. It came closer to her, came up to her hand. And then it recoiled, and ran away. She sighed, and put the berries back.
She lifted her hand to her face, and looked at it. She knew why the animal ran. It saw her, and knew that something was wrong. Unnatural. Her hand and entire lower arm were not human, but twisted and monstrous. Her hand looked almost more like a claw. The skin was hard and discolored. The upper arm was still human though. Her other arm was more or less the same, but with one difference; one of her arms had a Fairy Tail guild mark tattooed on the upper arm.
As she sat there contemplating this, she heard footsteps behind her. She didn't turn, but just waited. She heard a voice. "I just came by to see how you're doing." It said. The girl didn't respond. For a moment, there was just the sound of the wind. The voice spoke again. "You don't feel like talking right now. That's okay. Maybe later." Footsteps could be heard walking back the way they came. The girl suddenly turned.
"Wait. Boudica." She said. Boudica stopped, and turned around to look at the girl. She stood there with eyes looking curiously at the girl, and a slight smile. "What is it?" Boudica said. The girl hesitated, looking at the older woman for a moment. Then the girl said, "I want to see him. Please." Boudica considered this.
"He's not here right now. He'll be back soon. Then you can see him. I promise." Boudica said. The girl looked at her for a second, and then nodded. She then turned back around and looked up at the sky. The girl was vaguely aware of the footsteps receding behind her, while looking at a half moon above.
Brain, the leader of the Oracion Seis, stood before the gathered Fairy Tail team. They all quicky poised to fight. His entrance had caught them off guard, but he chose not to take advantage of their surprise. Instead, he stood there looking amused at their display. He looked at the various members, including Wendy and the cats, and shook his head. "Pathetic." He said. He then turned to the sleeping man nearby. "Midnight, wake up." Brain said. On cue, the man known as Midnight opened his eyes, and stretched. He slowly got to his feet, and looked around the room. He turned to Brain. "What's going on, father?" Midnight asked.
"We have unwelcome guests. They need to be killed." Brain said. Midnight looked at the Fairy Tail team, and smiled. "Sounds like fun." He said. Gray turned to Racer, still sitting against the wall.
"Hey, I thought we had sort of a truce here." Gray said.
"I never said anything like that. I agreed to tell you what happened. That's what I did. Whatever happens next is out of my hands." Racer said. Brain turned his attention to Racer. "Ah yes, Racer. You've been keeping them entertained."
"Only until you got back and dealt with them." Racer said.
"I see. So you decided to give them important information about the Oracion Seis and our activities. In other words, help our enemy." Brain said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Racer suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Well, I mean… That wasn't what I-" Brain held up a hand to silence him.
"Enough. How are you going to atone for this? Will you annihilate our enemies?" Brain said. Racer looked down at his leg. "My leg is broken. I can't even walk. What do you expect me to do?" Racer said.
"So, you decide to help our enemies, and you're unable to help me. Then there's nothing more to be said." Brain said. He raised his staff, and aimed it at Racer. Before Racer could say anything, a blast of powerful energy was fired directly at his head. There was now a hole in the wall where the magical blast hit. Racer's body fell backwards, his upper torso outside the hole. He was dead. Wendy made a high-pitched sound in alarm. Gray looked at Racer's corpse.
"You killed him. He was one of you, and you just killed him." Gray said. Brain grinned. "Yes I did, and you're all next." Just then, one of the black lines on Brain's face disappeared. Brain held a hand up to his face. "Unfortunate, but he left me little choice." Brain said. Midnight, who had been watching this, turned back to Brain. "Father… he was one of us." Brain shook his head. "He betrayed us, my son. It had to be done." Midnight still looked troubled. "But…" he said, but didn't finish the thought. "We'll have to look for a new member at some point. And we'll also need to track down Cobra and the others. I may need to kill one of them too, to set an example. But the others could still be useful." Brain said. Midnight looked conflicted, but said nothing.
Gajeel stepped forward. "Enough of this. Let's take this asshole down." He said. Brain spoke again. "I could take you all on by myself. With Midnight here, this will be over quickly." Brain readied himself, and so did everyone else. There was nothing left to say. This was about to be settled one way or another.
Brain and Midnight spread out, with Midnight staying closer to the stairs. Gray and Lucy moved towards Brain, while Gajeel and Juvia moved for Midnight. Wendy stayed back to provide support. This tactic made Brain laugh. "You really think the two of you can defeat me? You don't know who you're dealing with." Lucy took the opportunity to summon a spirit. It was Leo. She even summoned a second spirit, Taurus. Brain watched this, and did nothing to prevent it. He felt unthreatened. He raised a hand and made a "come get me" gesture. Taurus charged at him with an ax. As he brought the ax down, Brain blocked it with his staff. He pushed Taurus' weapon away and then grabbed and threw the large bull man against the wall effortlessly. Leo quickly followed up with a flurry of punches and kicks. Leo was fast, but Brain was just as fast, dodging all of the attacks. Brain punched Leo hard in the midsection, and then elbowed him to the ground. At this point Gray threw sharp ice projectiles at Brain, Brain dodged most of them. The one that connected hardly hurt him.
Gray prepared another attack, but Brain had used this opportunity to charge another dark magic blast, and fired it at Gray. Gray barely dodged it, leaping to the side. Lucy started to shout something to her spirits, but Brain rushed over to her and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her into the air. He smiled, as her face turned to panic. He tightened his grip.
"Let her go!" Gray said, as he fired a large blast of ice at Brain, causing him to stumble. Brain looked irritated, and forcefully threw Lucy at Gray, knocking them both to the ground.
Meanwhile, Gajeel and Juvia were dealing with Midnight. Juvia fired water shots at him, while Gajeel turned his arms to iron to attack. Midnight was able to dodge and deflect all of it. He just held up his hands casually and said, "My reflector magic is impenetrable. You're both too weak." In response, Juvia fired a huge blast of water at Midnight, which he reflected back at Gajeel, knocking him to the ground.
Team Fairy Tail was losing this battle. They attempted to regroup. Wendy cast a spell, using her support magic to boost her allies. This helped them to get back to their feet. But footsteps could be heard below. Gajeel looked down the stairs, and saw what appeared to be dark guild members. Brain noticed Gajeel, and said, "I brought a few friends. Not that we'll need them." There were only about half a dozen of them, but team Fairy Tail was now outnumbered and overpowered.
"What do we do?" Lucy asked Gray.
"We keep fighting. What else can we do?" Gray said.
"You can try, but this will be over in a minute." Brain said. Brain held his staff, and began powering up another attack. By this point Taurus was gone, but Leo charged over to attack. Brain used a dark rondo spell on him, and he fell. Lucy appeared unsure what to do. Gray began charging his ice. While this was happening, Midnight was using his reflector magic to assault Gajeel and Juvia. They were on the defensive, and couldn't find an opening to attack. Midnight, having control over the situation, took the time to gloat. "Even if you attacked me, it wouldn't matter. My magic can deflect any non-living thing. And you can't get close enough to punch me." While he was saying this the dark guild allies began climbing the stairs. Fairy Tail was surrounded.
A huge crushing sound came from below. Gajeel and Juvia braced for an attack from below. But when they looked, they saw the dark guild members knocked over. They had been attacked with a rock wall. A man stepped out from behind the wall. It was Jura Neekis. Coming up behind him were the other members of Lamia Scale, as well as Blue Pegasus. "What took you so long?" Gajeel said. "It took us a while, but it looks like we got here in time." Jura said. The dark guild tried to regroup, but Jura attacked them with another rock attack, breaking a few of their bones in the process. The "tri-men" of Blue Pegasus used combined attacks against Midnight. He was able to deflect them, but less easily than before.
"This changes nothing." Brain said. He launched another dark rondo attack, this time at the tri-men. Eve and Ren were knocked down, and Hibiki managed to dodge most of the attack with only minor injuries. While this was happening, Lyon had run up the steps to join Gajeel and Juvia. "Juvia, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine. Thank you." She answered. Gray, Wendy, and Lucy had come over to join them while Brain and Midnight were distracted with the other guilds. "What do we do now?" Wendy asked.
"We need to try something different." Gray said.
"Agreed. Juvia and I can handle the guy wearing makeup. The rest of you fight the other one." Lyon said. Gray rolled his eyes. "Not the time for this Lyon."
"Actually, I have an idea." Juvia interjected. The others looked at her. She looked uncertain. "What is it, Juvia?" Gray said.
"Well, I'm not sure if this will work, but… Midnight said that non-living things can't penetrate his magic. So maybe we can use something living to get through."
"You want us to just charge at him?" Gray said.
"Well, no. That probably wouldn't work. He moves pretty fast, and can still use his reflector magic to attack. But I can turn into water. Maybe that will work." Juvia explained. Gray looked skeptical. "I'm pretty sure water isn't alive."
"No, but I am. If I turn to water, then its still me. I'm still conscious. So, maybe I could get through his magic?" Juvia said. Gray still looked unsure. "Maybe. But even if that does work, do you think your water magic will be enough to take him down? He's pretty powerful."
Juvia looked at her feet. "It might not be enough. That's why I'll need you and Lyon to help me." Neither Gray nor Lyon looked pleased about that. "Me and him?" they both said. Juvia explained what she had in mind.
While this was happening, Ichiya and Jura had come up to face off with Brain, while Hibiki and Sherry tried their best against Midnight. Ichiya had used a potion to make himself bigger and stronger. Jura, already being big and strong, just used his powerful magic against Brain. Ichiya tried to overpower Brain, but to little avail. Brain was quite powerful, and tossed him to the ground, quickly following it up with a with a gravity spell putting him through the floor and knocking Ichiya unconscious. Jura took advantage of brain's distraction by sending a boulder after him, only for Brain to narrowly destroy it with a staff blast. Brain and Jura both powered up, preparing to assault each other. But before that could happen, Gajeel, Lucy, and Wendy had rushed over to join the fight. Brain was surrounded. Even so, he still looked confident.
While this was going on, Juvia, Lyon, and Gray had stayed where they were to deal with Midnight. Midnight had been battling Hibiki and Sherry. It was briefly a standoff, but then Midnight turned the tables when he launched a series of vicious magic slashes at Sherry, drawing blood. He then followed up by creating a vortex that trapped and pummeled her. She screamed in pain. Gray and Lyon interrupted this with combined ice attacks, forcing Midnight to refocus on them. But the damage had been done. Sherry was out of the fight.
Midnight turned to look at his two opponents. "I'm getting annoyed now." He said, and fired powerful magical attacks at them using reflector magic. Gray and Lyon tried to deal with this by alternating between attacking and defending, but Midnight suddenly disappeared. This left the two men looking confused, until he reappeared behind Lyon and punched him, knocking him down. Gray fired ice spikes at him, but Midnight dodged as usual. Lyon slowly got up and tried to press the attack with ice shards of his own. Hibiki was throwing attacks as well, but he was growing tired. They were trying to overwhelm him. But Midnight looked like he was preparing another big attack.
"Shit." Gray said. He knew that one way or another, this was about to end. Midnight raised his hands. But something blocked his vision. It was a body of water surrounding him. It pooled around him. His concentration was broken. He had been so busy with Lyon and Gray he hadn't noticed Juvia make her move. "You think this will stop me?" he said with annoyance.
"No." Gray said. "But this will." Lyon said. While most of Juvia's body was surrounding Midnight, a few smalls streams were still on the surrounding ground. Lyon and Gray put their hands to these streams and turned them to ice, while the rest of her form followed. Doing this, the three of them created a large ice geyser with protruding spikes around their opponent. Midnight was incased in the ice and impaled by the spikes, enhanced by Juvia's magic and Wendy's spells. Midnight froze, both literally and figuratively. The form was held for several seconds, before breaking apart. Midnight, no longer encased, stood there. He slowly looked up at Gray and Lyon. Both of them looked concerned. Did that really not do anything?, Gray thought. Midnight spoke.
"Only eleven. Another hour, and…" he trailed off. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. The pieces of ice on the ground dissolved to water, and reassembled. Juvia retook her human form, while sitting on the ground. "Did it work?" she asked. Gray nodded. "Yeah it did. Good plan." He said. Juvia smiled.
"Thanks. I just need to rest a minute." She said. The fight had taken a lot out of her. Gray and Lyon weren't as tired, but were covered in cuts and bruises. But while this fight was unfolding, the fight against Brain was happening nearby.
Brain was surrounded by Gajeel, Lucy, Wendy, and Jura. Jura was using earth magic to attack Brain, although Brain was blocking most of it. Lucy had summoned Cancer to attack Brain. But Brain quickly beat Cancer with a series of blows. Brain picked him up and threw him at Lucy. She half dodged, but still got knocked down for her troubles, with Cancer disappearing seconds later. Jura was getting worn out, and Wendy had been unable to directly attack the evil wizard, instead supporting her allies. That left Gajeel to take up much of the load. Gajeel tried using an iron hammer. It connected, knocking Brain back, but he countered by swinging his staff at Gajeel in the face, and firing a small blast at him.
Now that his enemies were vulnerable, Brain took the opportunity to power up. He decided it was time to finish this. He grinned, sensing he was about to be victorious. "You're all about to die. And then I can have Nirvana." Brain powered up his magic, channeling it through his staff. The room glowed with his increasing magic power. Without saying anything, the others all realized the same thing: this was their last chance. They had to take Brain down now, or it was over. They were all running low on magic power, so this would be their last shot anyway. Gajeel got to his feet, and began building up an iron dragon roar. It would use up the last of his iron reserves. Jura began charging a powerful earth attack.
Lucy was badly hurt, and unable to stand. She wasn't sure what to do. Most of her spirits had already failed. She only had enough power for one more summon. She then noticed a puddle in the floor nearby, created by the rain. She knew what to do now. "She's gonna be mad, but I'll deal with that later." Lucy said weakly. She pulled out a key, and dipped it into the water. "Aquarius." She said. Sure enough, the blue haired water spirit materialized out of the water on command.
After that, everything seemed to happen at once. Brain released a huge blast of energy from his staff, aiming it at Lucy, Gajeel and Jura all at once. Aquarius unleashed a powerful stream of water, while Gajeel released his roar. Jura joined in with an attack he calls "rumbling Mt. Fuji", casing a wave of magic power to erupt from the ground near Brain. Brain used all of his power to hold this combined assault off. He just needed to wait several seconds, and they would run out of power. But then a fourth assault joined in from the side. It was Wendy Marvell. She fired a sky dragon roar, yelling it in her prepubescent voice. Brain hadn't even been paying attention to her, writing her off as a non-threat. He had miscalculated. Wendy's added assault was enough to overwhelm Brain, knocking him to the ground. The four magical attacks combined into an unstoppable force, and created an impressive spectacle. Once the assault stopped, Brain lay motionless on the ground. He was defeated. The fight was over.
Now that the fighting was over, the coalition members (the ones who were still conscious) gathered at the top of the steps in what was left of the building. About half of it had been destroyed in the fight. Gray sat down and leaned back against a wall. He felt tired. Actually, everyone looked drained. "We did it." Wendy said in a small, but proud, voice.
"Where did you learn to do that roar?" Gajeel asked her.
"From watching you." Wendy answered. Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "Huh." He replied.
"This has been a long day." Lucy said, rubbing her tired eyes with her hands. Gray, sitting a few feet from her, stretched his arms, feeling both relief and pain. "Yeah. But its over now." He said. Just then, something stirred nearby. It was Brain. He moved his head. The group stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "You're lucky… the others are still linked to me. Otherwise… none of you would have survived." He said. He then lost consciousness.
"What do you think he meant by that?" asked Juvia, who was standing close by. "Who knows?" Gray responded, too tired to care. But something stirred again. This time it wasn't Brain though. It was the staff. Brain's staff began to levitate above him. Gray and Gajeel got to their feet as it approached.
"You think this is over? Its not over." The staff spoke. "I'll find the other members, and we'll come back for you all. Then there'll be a reckoning." Team Fairy Tail exchanged glances with each other, a mixture of confusion and concern. "Who are you?" Lucy said. The staff laughed at her. "I am Klodoa, the secret seventh member of the Oracion Seis. You haven't won. This is just a setback. We'll be back. All of us. Maybe we'll even find some new members to replace the traitors. Who needs them? But all of you-" Klodoa froze midsentence. Literally. While Klodoa was talking, Gray came up behind him and froze the stick using his magic. It fell to the ground. Gray looked down at it. "I said its over now."
Not long after the battle was over, the Rune Knights showed up to clean up the mess. They dealt with whatever dark guilds still remained in the area. Brain and Midnight were arrested. Racer's body was taken away. Nirvana was put under guard until they could figure out what to do with it.
None of the coalition members had died, although some of them, like Ichiya, had suffered serious injuries during the fighting. Wendy had been able to help a few of them with her healing magic, but she was still drained from the battles and could only do so much. Shortly afterwards, the four guild teams all decided to head back. They all agreed to take Wendy back to the Cait Shelter guild in her village, since it was fairly close by.
Things quickly erupted into chaos. It had been building from the moment Raven Tail had shown up, and then escalated when the other faction arrived. Angel's appearance finally pushed it over the edge. No one was willing to stand around talking any longer. The horde of monsters began moving towards the guild quickly. Several Fairy Tail mages charged them. Macao, Levy, Elfman, and others joined in the fray. They began firing spells at the monsters, with varying effectiveness. In most cases the magic didn't seem to do much damage. One of the human monsters grabbed Macao and began clawing at him and biting him, drawing blood. Cana, nearby, threw at card at it, creating a small explosion. This caused the monster to stumble, and Macao threw fire into its face, knocking it back.
Cana then noticed one of the Raven Tail members still present. Flare. Cana looked at her and said, "You gonna help?" Flare looked unsure. "Look, as long as you're here you're in danger too. Its up to you though." Cana said. Flare nodded. "Yeah. You're right." She said, as she let her hair loose. Flare's hair lit up, and she began attacking the invaders. Despite her initial reluctance, she quickly seemed to get into it. Cana, seeing this, suddenly thought of something. She turned to Makarov. "Is it okay to kill these things? They don't exactly seem intelligent…" Makarov looked at her. "We might not have a choice. I don't think we can reason with them, and they don't seem to stay down easily." Cana nodded, and drew more cards.
In the distance, the samurai lord was hanging back. He and his guards were marking symbols into the ground. Elfman, having just finished another monster person, noticed this. "I think they're preparing some kind of spell." He said to no one in particular. He began moving towards the samurai, pushing away the attackers. After only taking a few steps, he was suddenly hit hard by something from the side. It knocked him to the ground hard. He shook his head, and looked up. It was the little girl. In all of the confusion, Elfman had forgotten about her and her father.
"Mirajane told you how my magic works, right? Attract and repel." The symbols on her robe were glowing. She held both hands towards him in a pushing motion, and another strong force came from her, pressing Elfman against a wall. "Seraiisa stop!" Mirajane said. The girl turned towards Mirajane. "No." she said. She then fired another magical force at Elfman. But Elfman slowly got up. "Its okay Mira. It'll take more than that to take me down." He said.
"How about this?" a voice next to him said. Before Elfman could respond, he was blindsided with a hard punch. Elfman fell to his knees. He looked up to see himself. Or at least, someone who looked exactly like him. "What's the matter, never seen a real man before?" the doppelganger said. Elfman didn't know how to respond to this. He took a swing at the imposter, it dodged and punched him back.
"Try to make it quick Gemini. Show no mercy." It was Angel who said this. She was standing a few yards away, observing. While this was happening, Seraiisa was preparing another blast. They were ganging up on Elfman. Suddenly Mystogan appeared and grabbed her hand, stopping the spell. She looked up at him, and used her other hand to launch an attack. He barely moved. Seraiisa seemed confused by this. "You're not a mage." She said. Mirajane, seeing this, remembered Seraiisa saying something about her power being more effective with powerful mages. But what does she mean Mystogan isn't a mage?, she thought.
"You're right. Fortunately for you, I'm also not the sort of man who would hurt a little girl." Mystogan let go of her arm, and she stepped back. Her father put his hands on her shoulders in a protective gesture. Mystogan looked at the two of them. "Leave and don't come back. Next time I won't be so nice." He then turned towards the crowd of monsters. And drew a stave. "Its time to end this." He said. He began preparing a spell. But he was hit with a force from the side. It wasn't Seraiisa. It was a celestial spirit. "Good job Scorpio." Angel said.
Elsewhere, in the middle of the crowd the mages were battling the monsters. Flare was whipping her fiery hair at them, which actually seemed more effective than some of the other spells. But they were still hard to put down. Next to her was Nab, who was trying to fight off an attacker. But as he was distracted something attacked him It was a rollidillo, biting into his abdomen with its large jaw. Nab cried out. Levy, nearby, used her script magic to drop an ice shard on the creature. It seemed to hurt it, but it still wouldn't let go. "Someone help him!" Levy cried.
Flare heard her. She wasn't fighting anything at the moment, so she used her enflamed hair to whip the creature repeatedly in quick succession. Its body was badly burned, and it let go. Nab and the creature both collapsed. They were both dead. Levy watched this happen, and was horrified. She covered her mouth with her hands and took several steps back.
Back at the guild entrance, Mirajane was helplessly watching this all unfold. She was upset at the carnage, and frustrated at not being able to help. But she was most concerned about Elfman at the moment. Elfman was still fighting Gemini in his mirror image. They had both transformed into beast form to fight it out. Mirajane couldn't tell which was which. Mystogan was also still fighting Scorpio, while trying to avoid getting close to the monsters. Mystogan was using his staves to attack Scorpio, but Scorpio blocked it with a sand wall. While Mystogan was distracted, something grabbed him from behind. It was a female monster with a ghoulish face, grabbing on to him. She wasn't hurting him, but she was preventing him from fighting. Scorpio took advantage of this by striking Mystogan with several sand blasts to the abdomen, bringing him to his knees. The monster woman grabbed his head, holding him.
"Finish him." Angel said to Scorpio. Scorpio took aim with his tail, and fired a powerful sand blast. Mystogan pulled away from the woman's grasp, although she was holding onto tightly to his mask. The blast hit the woman instead, bones audibly breaking from the impact. Mystogan, now unmasked, quickly got up and grabbed a few staves. He threw them around Scorpio and cast a spell. A powerful beam of magic erupted from the ground underneath the scorpion spirit. Within seconds it disappeared, and so did Scorpio. Mystogan fell to one knee, still hurt. But his face was now exposed. Mirajane was surprised to find that she recognized him. And so was Angel.
"You're… Jellal." Angel said. "That's impossible." Her face was hard to read. Mystogan looked up at her. "I'm not who you think I am." He said. She looked at him a moment, looking like she was about to say something. But then she heard a loud yell from behind. She turned to see Gemini pinning Elfman down. Elfman had run out of magical power, and was now back in his regular form. Gemini was still transformed though. Elfman appeared beaten. Angel made a decision. She used a silver key to summon something. It was silver and metallic. Some kind of weapon. She held it like a machinegun. "First I'll kill this idiot, and then I'll deal with you, whoever you are." She said to Mystogan. She aimed the weapon at Elfman and began powering it up.
"No, don't!" Mirajane yelled. Angel ignored her and continued powering the weapon. Elfman was too drained to break free from the hold of his double. He looked over at Mirajane. He mouthed something to her, although she couldn't hear it. He didn't look angry, or scared. Just sad. Mirajane screamed. The weapon reached full charge. It fired. A deadly blast of energy shot out of it. But instead of hitting Elfman, it fired up into the sky. It had been knocked to the ground, along with Angel. Angel didn't know what hit her. She looked up, and saw Mirajane. Except she was different. She didn't look the way she had a moment ago. She looked scary, and dangerous. Angel could sense the power from her. Mirajane was now in her demon form. It was the magic known as Satan Soul.
"You hurt my family." Mirajane said in a distorted voice. Angel grimaced. "Gemini, help me!" Gemini let go of Elfman, and ran towards Mirajane.
"Kill that filthy demon." Angel snarled. It charged at Mirajane, throwing a punch. She grabbed his arm and effortlessly pulled him up above her, and slammed him into the ground, leaving a small crater. Gemini's Elfman form dissipated, returning Gemini to their normal forms. Small and weak. They then disappeared as well. With that done, Mirajane turned back towards Angel. Except Angel wasn't there. She was running away, weaving through the fight going on to escape Mirajane. Mirajane didn't want to let her go. She spread her demonic wings and lifted into the air. She flew over the crowd of mages and monsters fighting below. She could see Angel in the middle of it, making surprisingly fast progress. Mirajane dove towards her. Angel noticed the approaching foe. She quickly summoned another spirit. It was Aries, the ram. She stood between Mirajane and Angel. Mirajane plowed through Aries with little effort, knocking her down. But it still slowed Mirajane enough to let Angel get further. She lifted into the air again, and saw that Angel had made it back to the samurai and his guard. She flew closer to them, and saw the guards get up at the sight of her.
They were all carrying swords. But they actually began firing magic at her. Black, smoky projectiles. Mirajane dodged most of them, but one hit her shoulder. It burned. She lowered to the ground to face them. Two charged at her while the other two hung back. Mirajane used her great speed and strength to avoid their attacks, and clawed at them. After several seconds she defeated the two attacking her, leaving only the other two. She prepared for them. But something was coming. She could see a large group approaching. More monsters. More samurai warriors. Dozens of them. Even in her powerful form, this sight concerned her.
On the other side of the battle, Master Makarov had been helping in the fight too. But as it went on, he saw how bloody it was getting. He saw several of his mages killed. Besides Nab, Joey Fullborn and Mickey Chickentiger had also been killed. While there was a lot going on, all of these things had been happening in a short span of time. It hadn't even been ten minutes since the two groups started fighting. Makarov felt overwhelmed by all of this. But he also knew he had to do something. So, he used his signature power. He grew giant. He grew, and his muscles bulged, and he towered over everything. He was able to pick up the monster attackers individually and smash them, until there were only a few left. But then he saw the large horde approaching, just as Mirajane did. This was too much. He decided that there was only one thing to do. He began to prepare the spell for Fairy Law.
Fairy Law is an immensely powerful spell that would take out all of Fairy Tail's enemies at once, but at the cost of some of Makarov's life. But he felt he had no alternative. "You leave me no choice. I will cast Fairy Law, and destroy you all." He said this loud enough for everyone to hear. He noticed the samurai lord quickly get to his feet, and his guard step back. Makarov wondered if they were familiar with the spell. He put his hands together in preparation.
Yoshimoto, the samurai master, took a step forward. "Wait! Don't do that. I command you to stop." He said. Makarov ignored him. The spell was quickly powering. Yoshimoto quickly turned around toward the horde, and signaled. Two samurai came forward. They had their swords drawn, and were pushing two people in front of them. Hostages, since their hands were bound. The two hostages were forced to their knees and the samurai put their swords to the hostages' backs, point first. Yoshimoto spoke loudly, "If you don't stop, they will be killed. They belong to you. Do you want them to die?" Makarov heard this, and looked at the hostages Yoshimoto was talking about. Makarov froze. He recognized the two hostages. They were Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartfilia. Makarov was shocked by this. They weren't supposed to be here. They were supposed to be off facing the Oracion Seis.
Everyone stopped. The monsters that Fairy Tail had been fighting had been taken out. So, the remaining mages looked at what was happening. Gray and Lucy's voices could be heard. "Untie us right now! Fight me like a man." Gray said. "I can't die like this." Lucy said, shaking. The swords were pressed against their backs, with the sword holders prepared to impale them on command. Yoshimoto spoke up again. "If you stop your spell, we will leave, and we will also let them go. No one else needs to die… for the moment." Makarov felt he had little choice. He didn't want to see anymore of his children die. He canceled the spell. The samurai lord nodded. "Good. We will leave now." He somehow summoned a large grey portal behind him. It appeared to be full of smoke and shadow. There was no telling where it led.
"Let them go!" Makarov said. "Of course." Yoshimoto said. He signaled the two soldiers with the swords. Seeing the signal, they impaled Lucy and Gray with their swords. It was quick and bloody. They pulled the swords back out, and Gray and Lucy fell to the ground, lifeless. Makarov screamed. There were horrified gasps from the gathered mages. Yoshimoto, along with Angel, Seraiisa, and her father, took this opportunity to escape through the portal. Seconds later, it disappeared. Almost immediately after they left, something happened. The horde disappeared as well. And so did the bodies of Gray and Lucy. They all vanished. For a moment there was confusion. But then they began to realize what had happened. Makarov spoke it. "Illusion. It was just an illusion." Nobody seemed to notice that the rain had finally stopped.
Shortly after the battle ended, Makarov used a lacrima to contact the coalition. It took some time to reach them. Once he did, it was confirmed that Gray and Lucy were alive and well, along with the rest of the team.
While Lucy and Gray's deaths, along with the horde of reinforcements, had been an illusion, the rest of it wasn't. Several members of the guild died that night. The corpses of the monsters lay about. Later, the Rune Knights arrived in response to what had happened. They cleaned up the monster corpses and took them away. What they planned to do with them was unclear. They also arrested Ivan and the other surviving Raven Tail members. Makarov did mention that Ivan was likely under a magical influence, which may grant him leniency.
After being told what had happened, the Fairy Tail team with the coalition quickly decided to return to the guild as soon as possible. They were expected to be back later in the morning.
The girl had fallen asleep. Hours had passed. She had waited in the garden, with nothing better to do at the time. It was a quiet, peaceful night. And yet, her dreams were not at all peaceful. She dreamt of pain, and lies, and death. She tossed and turned, trying to outrun the grim specters in her mind. She woke suddenly, feeling anxious. The images were already fading, but she was still left with a feeling of dread. She got to her feet and stretched. She heard a noise and turned to the entrance.
"Hello again." Boudica said. "Still out here? You should be in bed." The girl looked at the ground. "I was waiting…"
"For him you mean." Boudica said. The girl nodded. Boudica smiled. "Well, I was going to wait until morning, but since you stayed out here just to see him…" she trailed off, and made a gesture at the entrance, signaling someone to enter. A man stepped into the garden, and the girl's eyes brightened at seeing him. Just seeing him made her forget the bad dreams. She smiled at him. "Hi Natsu." She said to him.
Natsu Dragneel looked at her from under his unruly hair. His expression was hard to read. But he had wanted to see her, just as she had wanted to see him. For a long time, he couldn't see her, or speak to her, because she was dead. But now she was alive, and standing right in front of him. He locked eyes with her, and spoke her name: "Lisanna."
End Notes: Well, time to update the tags. I don't know how people will react to this twist, or the new tags. I could probably wait a little longer before adding them, but I feel its been long enough. I would have added them sooner, since I want to be upfront about what to expect from this story. But certain tags are spoilers, so I felt it was better to wait.
This chapter could probably be considered the end of act 1 of the story. The last few chapters have been more action oriented, but the next few will be more character focused. As for the Nirvana story, I decided to write that differently from the canon for a few reasons. One, because I just thought it would be more interesting to do something new instead of rehashing the same canon story people already know. Two, is because of the absence of Erza and Natsu. Those two characters obviously played a pivotal role in the Nirvana story, and I felt that if the story played out the same, but with those two gone, then logically it would have resulted in the villains being victorious. That's not good, so I had to do something different.
From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to introduce original villains into this story (since that's more interesting than just reusing the canon villains all the time), and I also wanted to explore how Erza's death would change things. That includes the people who knew her, and Fairy Tail as a whole. All of these things will continue to be further developed as the story goes on.