Dragonslayer
Chapter 62: Gigantomachy
"Fairy Tail"- Regular Speech
'Fairy Tail'- Regular Thoughts
"Fairy Tail"- Flashbacks
"Fairy Tail"- Dragon/Demon/Monster Speech/Names of Spells
'Fairy Tail'- Dragon/Demon/Monster thoughts
Fairy Tail- Stating of the year or a place
Summary: I was told I was alone...in a world where NAKAMA were every person's desire. Then HE found me, he said he saw great potential in my small body and he raised me. Because of him I lived...I learned...and I finally found someone I could call nakama. Even if he didn't call me the same. That is why I will do whatever I can to live up to his name. As the son and dragonslayer of the greatest being I have ever met. Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.
Tenrou Island
Forty years.
That was how many years had gone by since the title of Fairy Tail's guildmaster was passed on to him. Now eighty-years old, this meant that Makarov had been forty-years old when he was appointed guildmaster, but the passage of time had not been kind to the elder Dreyar when it came to his health and vitality.
On the other hand, Purehito Gaebolg, if Makarov was doing his mental math correctly, would currently be beyond 100 years of age. It was almost unfair to the Titan Magic user to see his predecessor the way he was now. Ignoring the malefic, violet aura and glowing crimson eye in his right socket, the former second Master of Fairy Tail was almost exactly the same as he had been when he retired from Fairy Tail to go on a traveling trip around the continent. From his lithe yet strong frame to his silvery-white hair, it was as if time itself had not affected Purehito for the past forty years.
Little did he know of the lengths to which Hades went in order to regain this form.
"Ultear!" His voice carried out over the moderately far distance between himself and his second in-command.
"Yes, Master?!"
"Get the other Kin and meet me on the island!" Hades cracked his neck in anticipation. "I want to stretch my legs for a bit!"
"As you wish!" Ultear ran inside the airship to do as instructed.
Hades gave a grandfatherly smile to the young woman, a smile that Makarov once had directed towards him once upon a time. It only made him that much more confused at the former second Master of Fairy Tail.
"Master Purehito, what happened to you?" Makarov asked. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Oh, this and that." The devil blood holder replied vaguely. "As for the 'why' of the matter, it is far too complex to completely explain my machinations to you right now."
The centennial began looking over his successor. The wrinkles on his face were a distinct contrast to the strong, rippling muscles of his titan form. "You've truly gotten old, boy. Time has not been kind to you."
A stabbing pain entered Makarov's chest. At first he thought it was his heart acting up again or it was the emotional stress response to seeing his mentor alive, but the pain was revealed to be due to being impaled on the business end of magically forged chains of eternano.
"Master...Purehito..." The betrayal was paramount in the Titan Magic user's eyes and Hades capitalised on it.
His Devil's Eye shone and with the blood of a demon flowing through his veins, Hades's muscles visibly bulged beneath his clothing as he pulled on his magic chains. At his maximum height of 200 feet, Makarov's weight was easily that of a battleship's, if not greater. So when the centennial dark mage threw Makarov through the air like a ragdoll with no visible show of effort, it was not just amazing, but also practically disrespectful.
Earth met sky for Fairy Tail's third master and the momentum of Purehito's swing forced the tip of his magic chains to free itself from Makarov's flesh in a splash of blood. With a cry of pain, the Titan of Fairy Tail slammed into Tenrou's coastline. His momentum carried him further inland, and Makarov lay groaning on his back.
Hades glanced down and his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists with a nod of approval. He expected the demon's blood to have restored his power to its former glory, but it far exceeded his expectations.
"Come on! Get up, boy!" Hades bellowed, his Devil's eye glowing with glee. "You will make a fine warm up after all these years!"
Ozone filled the air and Hades felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Hmm?"
A boom of thunder seemed to shake the sky itself and the glow from Laxus's Thunder in Heaven spell washed over Hades's body. Hades would admit that he did not expect Laxus to be capable of such a feat of speed, but a strike to the face was always predictable, especially as said strike was coming from a holder of the Dreyar bloodline.
"I'll kill you for doing that to Jiji!" A swiftly raised forearm blocked the backhand blow aimed for his neck, a small shockwave making Hades's hair shift. Black and crimson eyes looked upon the face of the angry young mage and Hades could only chuckle at how much the Lightning Magic user reminded him of his guild's successor.
"You really are Makarov's blood aren't you?"
"Damn right!" Laxus roared as he moved to unleash a glowing blue fist. Hades quickly avoided it by simply leaning his head back.
"You're straight forward." Another punch was let loose which Hades dodged by tilting his head. "It shows in your fighting style." Laxus snarled as he followed up a hook shot that would have probably ruptured the kidneys of a normal man, but the dark mage swung his forearm across to deflect the blow. Hades then raised his other arm, hitting Laxus in the throat with enough force to temporarily cut off the Lightning Magic user's breathing before crashing a strong punch to the stomach.
Laxus tumbled through the air, the world a dizzying spiral of blue and white to the point that he could not differentiate the sky from the sea. He managed to right himself, a couple coughs echoing through the air as he regained his ability to breath. Hades capitalised on Laxus's moment of recovery and a violet magic seal formed above the younger Dreyar's form with a mere hand movement.
"Seal Magic: Amaterasu Formula Number 50!" Gravity increased ten-fold and Laxus found himself being forced to move in a direction not of his own choosing. However, the electrokinetic mage's body relinquished its physical form and Hades watched with mild fascination at the tactic. Laxus converted his body to lightning and thus having no mass with which for the gravity seal to act upon.
He escaped the trap which would have drowned him beneath the waves and moved at the speed of lightning. He returned to his physical form, his fist charged with electrical energy as he reared it back.
"LIGHTNING MAGIC: CRUSHING FIST OF MAJESTIC THUNDER!" The blow landed and a resounding shockwave echoed through the air like the boom of thunder. The spell itself then activated and a beam of pure lightning sent Hades rocketing through the air. Laxus roared as he refused to give his opponent any room to recover, following after him to rain down powerful blows that knocked Hades around as if he were a living pinball.
"Lightning Magic: Voltage Hammer!" Laxus clasped his hands over his head and swung them down in a violent arc. The blow struck true and Hades descended at an angle, slamming into the sands that made up Tenrou's coastline. A large column of the granulated earth rose up from the impact, but Hades's momentum caused him to skip across the island like a stone. He quickly recovered his bearings and the dark guild master flew through the air, weaving through the foliage before bursting through the canopy, his eyes glancing every which way for the younger Dreyar.
His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of him, an electric blue magic seal hovering in front of Laxus's hands.
"Lightning Magic: Thousand Thunderbolts!"
The electrical weapons rocketed towards Hades, surrounding him in a hemisphere of lightning. There was no feasible way to dodge the onslaught, but that was merely an annoyance for the centennial who spent the vast majority of his life studying the laws of magic. Elemental magic was practically primary school level reading, inclusive of their strengths...and weakness.
"Wind Magic: Swift Blade Shower!" The leaves shifted beneath him as the wind bent to his will. A grey-green magic seal formed above his head before unleashing a storm of wind blades. Each blade arced through the air, easily matching the number of Laxus's thunderbolts and meeting them head on. Each thunderbolt was reduced to mere sparks as it made contact with the high speed wind blades.
A few more thunderbolts managed to sneak through the onslaught of Hades's counterstrike, but the devil blood holder dodged them with ease. The trees that were struck became blackened and set aflame as the leaves were burned away and the bark channeled the electrical currents into the earth. However, Hades's eyes widened as he noticed one of the lightning arrows suddenly alter its trajectory mid-flight.
"You won't fool me with such a simple tactic, boy!" Hades raised his hands, a crimson magic seal hovering before his left hand while an azure one sprung forth from his right. A tongue of raging hot fire and a stream of pressurized water rushed forth from the magic seals towards the speeding lightning bolt that was Laxus.
Laxus's Lightning Body spell ended and with a thunderous boom, the younger mage was forced to make a series of evasive maneuvers as the fire and water spells chased after him. His body sparked with magic and lightning before the sound barrier broke, turning on a dime to fly directly between the two oncoming elemental attacks and straight towards his target.
Hades crossed his arms quickly, effectively blocking the outstretched fists that were aimed for his chest. The two combatants were carried through the air once more, but Laxus chose to head downwards instead. He pushed Hades through the foliage, snapping thick trees and ruining various pieces of flora before kicking off the elderly mage's stomach to send him crashing into the ground.
The earth cratered as Hades managed to go into a quick flip and land on his feet, but the moment his feet touched down, a trio of golden yellow magic seals sprung to life beneath them.
"What on earth?!"
"Light Magic: Three Pillar Lock!"
The magic seals shone before three large pillars of hardened light energy burst forth, stabbing themselves into Hades's arms and stomach. The ground then began to rumble and shake, a haphazard series of cracks forming before the very earth Hades stood upon was being hefted high into the air. A large hand was shown to be the source of this phenomenon and Hades's eyes narrowed in anger as he saw Makarov, now in his normal height, but with his arm plunged into the ground. It was likely the Third Master of Fairy Tail had dug a tunnel with his hand in its titan form before enlarging it even further to attack from below.
The Master of Grimoire Heart was then knocked out of his thoughts as the roar of the younger Dreyar met his ears. Magic and lightning filled the air above with the scent of ozone, a condensed orb of lightning easily matching the surface area of the piece of torn rock Hades was standing upon held tightly in the blonde mage's grip.
"Lightning Magic: Thunderbolt Destruction!"
"You're crafty little bastards, I'll give you that much." Hades commented as the orb of lightning crashed down upon him. A powerful electrical shockwave seemed to rock the heavens themselves and the piece of rock cracked heavily. However, the two Dreyars of Fairy Tail were forced to stare in awe as Hades was wrapped in an aura of violet-black flames and a massive hand of said flames held back Laxus's spell.
The pillars of light which had once held him in place were burned away by the demonic flames and steam flowed from the gaping holes in his limbs and stomach to reveal freshly healed wounds. The Devil's Eye glowed brightly as if to let all those present know that Purehito's healing factor was as a result of its doing.
"What the hell are you?!" Laxus exclaimed as he tried to push past the resistance brought about by Hades's elemental limb. It was an effort in futility however, as Hades pushed back against the orb of lightning and an explosion of lightning sent its user tumbling through the air. The limb of demonic flame then vanished before Hades summoned forth his trademark Chain Magic. The sharp ends which had once dug into the flesh of the Titan of Fairy Tail now embedded themselves into the rock which he stood upon.
Hades gripped the magically forged chains tightly before flipping off the edge of the rock. His muscles contracted and with a loud battle cry, the demonic dark mage wrenched the piece of the earth out of Makarov's grip to then swing at the elderly Dreyar. Makarov would have none of it as he quickly drew back his fist from the tunnel and enlarged it it to shatter the oncoming projectile with a literally titanic punch.
"Earth Magic: Earth Flow Spears!" The Devil's Eye shone brightly within its socket as Hades slammed onto the ground with crater creating force. The earth rumbled and a series of lengthy earth spears erupted forth to impale Makarov through and through.
"JIJI!" A boom echoed across the island's airspace as Laxus rocketed through the air and snatched his grandfather up before he could be run through. Laxus dug his heels into the earth to then go into a no-handed cartwheel. As he was upside-down, he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply, lightning and magic collecting within his chest.
"Lightning Magic: Thunderforce Cannon!" It was similar to his Rairyu no Hoko back when he was a Second-Generation Dragonslayer, but it was an excellent source of inspiration for this particular spell's inception. The beam of blue voltage speared through the earthen spears, turning them to dust before crashing into Hades with terrific force. A powerful explosion of lightning rocked Tenou Island, but Makarov and Laxus both knew that such a spell would not be enough to put down the rejuvenated dark mage.
"Light Magic: Giant's Wrath!"
"Lightning Magic: Motor Drive!"
Light and lightning empowered their respective users before the two Dreyars sped towards their target. Hades's eyes widened as he was caught on the receiving end of both Fairy Tail mages' fists. A powerful shockwave raced out from the points of contact, time seeming to slow down for the dark mage as the impacts against his face registered with his body. He rocketed across the island's landscape, a massive dust cloud marking his path before he fell over the edge of a waterfall and crashed into the lake below.
Laxus and Makarov were hot on his trail as they too jumped over the waterfall's edge. Makarov stood atop his grandson's shoulders as said grandson retained aerial superiority.
"Lightning Magic: Thousand Thunderbolts!"
"Light Magic: Rain of Light!"
Golden yellow magic seals burst into existence above the two Fairy Tail mages before concentrated beams of the respective elements raced towards Hades. The lake surface turned into a physical representation of oblivion as each bolt of lightning and every beam of light caused a pillar of water to explode into existence.
Hades exploded out from beneath the water's surface, utilizing Earth Magic to raise a pillar of stone up from the lake bed. Attacks from the two Dreyar mages struck him, but his healing factor treated them nearly instantaneously. He then hopped off of the earth pillar as a series of amber coloured magic seals formed around it. The pillar shattered into perfectly cut cubes before glowing with demonic violet magic energy.
"Earth Magic: Meteor Rain!" The cubes of burning earth rocketed towards the S-Class level mages, but Makarov enlarged his hands before clapping them together to create a devastating shockwave that sent every single projectile off-course. The area around the waterfall exploded as each piece of magically charged stone detonated upon impact. As the lights of the explosions temporarily blinded the two Fairy Tail mages, Hades struck forth as he formed a series of hand motions.
"Seal Magic: Amaterasu Formula Number 50!" Gravity increased ten-fold and brought both Dreyars down to a more suitable level. Chains of magic sprung forth from the centennial mage's hands before they wrapped themselves around Laxus and Makarov's waists. With a disgusting amount of ease, he pulled his opponents towards him and crashed a devastating kick into Makarov's chest while a powerful fist dug into Laxus's face. However, Hades did not let the two younger mages escape as he continuously pulled them back in to receive further punishment.
Blows rained down upon the two Fairy Tail mages and if it weren't for the enhanced durability that came with the Giant's Wrath and Thunder in Great Heaven spells, they surely would have had some shattered bones and Makarov likely would have already been a shattered corpse.
"That seems like a sufficient amount of punishment, don't you think so, boy?" Hades relinquished his grip on the chains and thus Laxus and Makarov were now allowed to soar through the air as the momentum from Hades's final kick and punch carried them away. However, they were granted little time to recover as a pair of dark violet magic seals formed on either side of them. One of Laxus's right and the other on Makarov's left.
"Seal Magic: Amaterasu Formula Number 28!"
"GAH!" Powerful explosions of energy erupted forth from the seals and sent grandfather and grandson crashing into the each other with devastating force.
"Seal Magic: Amaterasu Formula Number 52!" A concentrated pillar of gravitational energy carried Laxus and Makarov beneath the lake's surface and carved a tunnel in the water as they were slammed into the lake bed, laying within their own personal crater.
"Now we end this!" A few hand motions were formed once more and Hades's magic spiked drastically as a violet magic seal formed beneath Laxus and Makarov.
"Seal Magic: Amaterasu Formula Number 100!" The magic seal shone brightly before a powerful explosion of magic energy rocked the island. The lake's waters were evaporated and the dome of light and energy tore apart the lake bed and nearly one-eighth of the entire island's land mass.
The rising dust cloud was dispersed by the accompanying shockwave and Hades's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he saw Makarov sweating slightly as he stood in front of his grandson. Both of them were both covered in minor burns and dirt, but were otherwise unharmed as they lay within the center of a massive crater that was easily twice the size of Fairy Tail's guild hall. The remainder of the lake waters trickled down into the deep hemispherical mark of Hades's destructive spell.
What caught Hades's interest though was that the two Dreyars were surrounded by a trio of ethereal pillars, each pillar encircled by dark magic seals.
"Maximum Defense Seal: Three Pillar Gods." Hades remarked with a smirk of what could only be described as pride. "So you've finally mastered the one piece of Seal Magic I managed to teach you, eh boy?"
"I was never one to be on the defensive, Master Purehito. You know that as well as I do." Makarov replied as the pillars vanished from view. "But you had me learn this one just in case, and now I can see why you did. It was quite helpful."
"Cheeky brat." Hades surged forwards through the air, his leg already reared back as he touched down in front of Makarov. The powerful kick dug into the dwarf's body and the eighty-year old guildmaster's eyes widened, spittle and blood escaping his lips. He rocketed through the air and slammed into what had once been the cliff side that the remainder of the waterfall fell from.
"Jiji!" Laxus glared at the former Second Master of Fairy Tail before he vanished from view in a spark of lightning. Sparks of lightning decorated the air around Hades as he glanced every which way in an attempt to keep track of the swift moving S-Class mage. The earth exploded behind him and Hades turned around, firing off a blast of violet magic energy, but the spell hit nothing but air as the dark guild master caught sight of the hole in the ground.
The ground rumbled beneath his feet and rays of azure coloured light bled through the cracks which formed. Laxus emerged from the bowels of the earth and a powerful uppercut crashed against Hades's lower jaw with terrific force. A powerful shockwave formed from the impact as the dark mage was carried skyward.
"Lightning Magic: Mjolnir!"
It was only through years of experience and battle hardened reflexes that he was able to regain his bearings to perform a midair barrel roll. The hairs on the back of his neck rose in response to the threads of lightning which lanced from the spell named for the mighty hammer of the Nordic thunderer. Hades smirked as he turned to Laxus.
"Your aim requires work it seems!"
"You'd think that wouldn't you?!" Laxus grinned toothily. "Let 'im have it, Jiji!"
A bright shine of light occurred and the demonic dark guild master could only stare in surprise as Makarov Dreyar now wielded a titanic axe forged of golden light and sparked from the lightning that came from his grandson's spell.
"UNISON RAID: JARNBJORN!"
"Wind Magic: Tornado Wall!"
The defensive wind spell formed as quickly as it could, but it did little to hold back the might of a Unison Raid spell. The shield of swirling winds was torn through as if it were made of wet paper and Hades howled in agony as hundreds of thousand of amperes of current tore through his system. His nerves felt as if they were on fire and his skin reddened from the intense heat before a powerful bolt of azure and golden light carried him to ground zero.
The island itself seemed to shake from the impact, a spiderweb of cracks marring the already ruined battleground as lances of lightning and light raced out from the point of impact.
"Now stay down!" Laxus roared. Even if it was a Unison Raid spell, even if it was one of the most powerful combination moves that could ever be made between these two S-Class mages, Laxus would not believe the former master of Fairy Tail would be dead until he saw the body reduced to ashes.
Lightning sparked and twisted within his outstretched hand before solidifying into the mighty weapon. The muscles in his arm contracted tightly as he reared back his arm, his eyes zeroed in on the target below him.
"LIGHTNING MAGIC: HEAVENWARD HALBERD!" With a mighty roar, the S-Class mage threw the halberd as hard as he could. It raced towards Hades at breakneck speeds to the point that it appeared like a beam of blue light.
As was the nature with most Lightning Magic spells, it was far too fast to be able to dodge. The light of the halberd washed over Hades's form as time seemed to slow, but he blinked in surprise as he realised that it wasn't just the adrenaline flowing through his system that brought about the effect as a violet magic seal formed between himself and Laxus's spell.
"Arc of Time: Pause!"
The sound of his second in-command's voice met his ears and Hades glanced up in time to see the tip of the lightning bolt a few centimetres away from his face. An orb of magic and symbols surrounded the halberd as it was frozen in time.
"You're a good girl, Ultear."
Ultear gave her guild master a small smile in response before turning to their ace. "Bluenote, get Master out of there!"
"On it!" The Gravity Magic user moved towards Hades, but just as he grabbed onto Hades's arms to pull him out of the crater, the ground began to shift beneath the two. "What the fu-!"
Bluenote never got a chance to finish his exclamation as he choked on a mixture of sand and blood. Spikes of hardened sand erupted from the bowels of the earth, spearing through Bluenote's legs, spine and neck. The crimson life liquid didn't even have much of a chance to drip to the ground as the sand absorbed it.
Hades was in a similar predicament, but unlike Bluenote, he was very much alive. As a result, the wizened dark mage was forced to endure the agony that came with having been impaled. Purple blood was soaked up by the spikes of sand as he was held in place by the weapons of granulated earth.
Ultear, Meredy and Caprico turned to the two sand users of the group, seeing that Gaara was the primary culprit due to the positioning of his outstretched hand. They never even had an opportunity to voice their exclamations before they were wrapped by giant sand arms courtesy of Shukaku. A wall of sand then rose up in front of the other Kin of Purgatory before Shukaku gave the Arc of Time user what looked like an apologetic gaze.
"This might hurt a bit."
"Shukaku, what are you doing?!"
The dark haired mage's answer came in the form of a painful impact with the ground. With her focus now lost, the effect of pausing time on Laxus's spell vanished. The Heavenward Halberd regained its movement and a powerful dome of light and electricity expanded out from the point of contact. Hades and Bluenote were caught in the heart of the explosion and an electrical shockwave tore the land asunder.
The sand wall remained strong against the explosion, but the force was still enough to cause a spiderweb of cracks to decorate its surface. After a number of seconds, the resulting cloud of dust and dirt began to settle and Shukaku dropped the defensive structures to reveal the massive crater that formed from Laxus's spell.
All that remained of the two most powerful members of Grimoire Heart were a pair of blackened and charred corpses.
Shukaku released a low whistle in recognition of the level of destruction. Golden eyes shifted to stare at the red haired Sand Magic user.
"Told you we wouldn't be able to jump out of the way in time."
Gaara remained stoic, but the faintest hint of a pout could be seen on his face.
"Shukaku, Gaara, what are you doing?!" Ultear's face was red with fury. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Of course we know what we've done." The tanuki-like Exceed replied. "We're betraying you."
"I thought our relationship with Grimoire Heart wasn't strong enough to use betrayal to describe what we are doing."
"Semantics." The youngest of the Nine waved a paw in a nonchalant manner.
"Betraying...But why?!" Meredy exclaimed.
"It's a simple reason of just getting things into place for when the brat arrives."
"You mean..." Ultear's dark coloured eyes widened. "Fuujin is coming here?! Now?!"
"The Fuujin?!" Meredy and Caprico looked between Ultear, Gaara and Shukaku, clearly lost as to what was just happening in front of them.
"He will arrive in a number of moments." Gaara informed the three Kin of Purgatory. "He may fly faster than sound, but that is still a great distance to cover between here and his base."
"Though I'll be honest, making the decision as to leave the kid alive was a bit iffy."
"I am still in favour of crushing her here and now."
Meredy's eyes widened. "Wh-What do you mean?"
"Well given that things are about to go sideways, I think it'll be fun to let the cat out of the bag wouldn't you say?"
"Shukaku, you fucking bastard, don't you dare!"
"Like you're in any position to make demands, Ultear." Shukaku chuckled as he registered the shocked look on the daughter of Ur's face. "The main goal here is to wipe out Grimoire Heart and take your resources. Now normally, we would have killed you all sines for the goat here since he's a Celestial Spirit and thus immortal. Though that's besides the fact that there's a plan held in store for the golden key spirits themselves."
"What are you talking about?" Caprico's normally even tone of voice held an uncharacteristic edge to it. He was used to being the one holding the cards, not the other way around. "What plan?!"
"A story for another time." Golden eyes shone with amusement at the goat spirit's slightly emotional state. "Anyway, Ultear here was offered a chance to join the Fuujin and Kyuubi, and lo and behold...she was considering it."
"You...You were going to leave us? Leave me, Ul-chan?" The look of betrayal on Meredy's face was practically heartbreaking, and that expression amplified when Ultear refused to meet her gaze.
"Yup! Ul-chan here was ready to leave your little self behind while she ran off into the big strong arms of her blonde saviour." The Ichibi no Tanuki cackled as he could practically feel the flames of conflict sparking between the three. "With that in mind I thought he might hold a bit of a soft spot for her so I kept her alive. You on the other hand..." Shukaku shifted his gaze to Meredy. "You hold no value in the long run. Gaara here would kill you without batting an eye, but I'm not much for killing kids especially when they've been manipulated and taken advantage of by those in a position of power to do so."
"I still believe she should die." Sand flowed from Gaara's gourd in a menacing fashion and Meredy could only tear up as Shukaku's sand arms still restrained her.
"By the dragons, you're so fucked up." Shukaku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But yeah, so that answers your questions. Anymore? Nope? Good. Then we'll just wait here for the brat and Kurama to arrive before we leave with you three."
Laxus touched down beside his grandfather and the two looked at each other in confusion before turning to the group of dark mages.
"What the fuck?"
Laxus's words caught the attention of the two moles.
"Hmmm?" Shukaku and Gaara turned away from their captives, their own looks of confusion being directed towards the S-Class mages. "What do you want brat? Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?"
"What is going on here?" Makarov asked.
"As I said before, Gaara and I..." The Ichibi gestured to the impaled figures of Hades and Bluenote. "...we're not on their side."
"What?" The disbelief on Laxus and Makarov's faces made Shukaku roll his eye.
"The original order was to hold off from killing Hades and letting Fuujin take his head, but I think this was the right call." Shukaku glanced at the restrained Kin of Purgatory. "It was stupid of me to let you all even get this far simply because I was ordered to let it all happen. One little cog shifting out of place by our hands and we could have brought this entire operation burning to the ground before it even started."
"Fuujin and Kurama are going to be quite annoyed." Gaara commented.
"Fuck them." The tanuki-like Exceed snorted. "They should thank me for getting this bullshit out of the way so they can focus on the important parts of their little master plan."
A tired sigh brought the entire conversation to a halt, and all eyes shifted to the source of the sigh.
"I knew you and Gaara could not be trusted, little tanuki, but to think you would actually go out of your way to deliver a killing blow." The sickening sound of flesh and bone shifting echoed through the air as the burnt-to-a-crisp corpse of Hades began to move. All eyes watched in disgust mixed with fascination as his burnt body fell apart only to then be immediately replaced with freshly regrown bone, muscle and skin.
"Master Purehito..." Makarov's body shook with legitimate fear at what he had just witnessed. "What have you done to yourself?"
"I've made a deal with the devil. It's as simple as that." Was the Grimoire Heart master's curt reply. "Much better. Now then I believe the matter of betrayal is to be addressed. Caprico would you be so kind as to..."
"Gaara!" Shukaku's unspoken order was followed as Gaara was immediately wrapped in a portion of Shukaku's sands. Pale green eyes became shining gold with star-shaped pupils as Shukaku's own eternano melded with Gaara's to achieve his coveted Ichibi Modo.
With a bestial roar, the ground cracked heavily as Gaara launched himself at the Spirit of the Goat. As one of the best close-combat fighters amongst the Twelve Golden Key Spirits, Caprico did manage to block the charge, but the force of the strike was still enough to send both combatants vanishing into the forestry of Tenrou Island.
"Still a bloodthirsty beast to the end, isn't he?" Hades rolled his neck before snapping his head in the direction of Meredy. "Meredy, go after them. Assist Caprico and kill Gaara."
"Yes, Master."
As Meredy ran after her fellow Kin of Purgatory, the centennial mage raised his head and looked to the Bijuu-Exceed.
"I believe it is time we have a little chat, tanuki."
The Devil's Eye shone menacingly and a violet-black aura of magic energy sprung forth around the dark mage.
"Yeah, we're not doing that." Shukaku's eyes glowed as he unleashed his own killing intent in response to Hades's. The ground rumbled and the hard earth softened. It swirled around Shukaku's form and within seconds, the Ichibi unveiled his true form to the humans below. "I'm finishing this now!"
"My thoughts exactly." Hades replied.
Command Centre- FKS Terumi
"What the fuck?!"
Lieutenant-General Alice Brosnan's summed up every Rune Knights' thoughts in three simple words as they witnessed the sudden appearance of a giant tanuki that seemed to be made of sand.
"Isn't that one of those beasts that fought the Kyuubi?"
"Does that mean the others are here too?!"
"Are they with Grimoire Heart?!"
"Forget that! What about what happened to Makarov and Laxus?!"
"They were getting beaten around for a moment out there!"
"Something flung around Makarov in his full titan form like he was made of pillow fluff!"
"Grand General!"
Lahar did his best to remain composed, but beads of sweat still formed at his temples. The sounds of combat, the shouts and cries of his crew, all of it was white noise to him.
"Grand General!" Tyson shook his superior officer roughly by the shoulders. "Grand General Lahar, I...I know what you're thinkin'. The situation is the dictionary definition of FUBAR, but still...we...you...you gotta say something. Anything."
The Grand General looked around the room, his subordinates looking directly back at him.
"Wh-What's the plan, sir?" One navigation officer did her best to maintain a steady tone, but her voice easily cracked with fear.
"The plan..." His chest felt tight and his glasses slipped from his face slightly as the sweat began to accumulate across his face. "The plan is..."
With the plasma shield compromised there would only be so much left they could do to defend the left flank. The evacuation of said left flank was near completion according to the last progress report, but that now put them at a disadvantage when it came to overall firepower as now there were tens of ships literally like sitting ducks. With four S-Class mages on the scene, surely they could attempt some sort of counter-attack, but saying this titan's appearance throwing a wrench into any sort of strategy he could formulate was an understatement at this point.
This was a legitimate monster of magic, a beast that as far as they knew, equaled the Onibi Myobu in both height and power. The Magic Council was prepared to deal with the threat of a dark guild and had what they believed to be the appropriate amount of firepower to do so. But there was no way in hell were they prepared to deal with something of this magnitude.
But...they didn't come here to fight monsters. They came here to fight humans. Humans who were hell bent on causing chaos in their kingdom and that was what they were going to do.
Lahar took a deep breath and slapped his cheeks hard. The loud sound echoed throughout the room and the now red faced Grand General turned a resolute face back to his startled crew.
"The plan..." He shook his head, forcing down the myriad of thoughts of everything that could go wrong, down. "The plan is the same." The bespectacled Rune Knights turned his head, his dark eyes staring through the glass of the Terumi's superstructure and focusing on the hovering airships. "We're here to take down Grimoire Heart!"
"Sir?"
"You heard me!" Lahar adjusted his glasses, the light reflecting bright off his lenses. "We fight on as we always have! We are the defenders of not just the kingdom, but of the continent of Ishgar! Now adjust those cannons and fire on the enemy!"
"Aye sir!" The crew chorused loudly.
A stiff nod was their reply and a chuckle escaped the lips of the hat wearing Major General beside him. "Something to say, Tyson?"
"Got a way with words, boss."
"Hn." A snort of amusement accompanied the smirk on the Grand General's face.
"Umm...Grand General Lahar, I know you just gave a morale boost with that nice little speech and all, but..." Lahar and Tyson turned in the direction of the radar monitoring staff as they parted slightly to give their superiors a view of the screens.
Five blinking red dots in V-formation appeared behind the Fiorean fleet.
"Oh fuck."
Tenrou Island
"What, you think five Jupiters are enough to handle me?" Shukaku snorted in amusement. "In your dreams!"
"I'm well aware of the magnitude of power the Nine possess and I've taken the necessary precautions to ensure I would be able to fend you off." The centennial mage's normal eye shone with confidence. "The first step of course being that ten Jupiter Cannons would be enough to give me some time to advance to step two. Ultear, if you would be so kind."
"Ten? But you only-"
"Fire!" The Communication Lachryma in Ultear's hands released a faint teal glow to signal its activation.
The Ichib's eyes widened, his ears twitching as he registered the familiar hum and whine that came with Jupiter Cannons quickly charging. The purple orbs of concentrated eternano shone brightly in front of him as the five airships before him prepared to attack with their most powerful weapons, but it was the additional sounds that caught his ears, originating from several kilometres directly behind him.
His head snapped in the opposite direction. Five twinkling lights akin to stars shone in the distance and the cries of the five additional Jupiter Cannons reached a fever pitch within moments.
A pincer attack from ten Juipter Cannons was not the most ideal situation. Ten large beams of pure magic-based destruction raced across the Fiorean Sea with such speed and force that the waters far below were disrupted. All ten aimed directly at the impossibly large target that was the Ichibi no Tanuki.
Defense was his forte and combined with his legendary stubbornness, it made Shukaku to be quite an annoying foe to take down. Those were the words of his very own kitsune of a brother. However, despite his tenacity and endurance, he was still the youngest and so when it came to threats directed at their baby brother, Gyuki and even the shy Isobu, it was something that would not be tolerated.
"BIJUUDAMA!"
The surface tension of the Fiorean Sea shattered with explosive force as the two Bijuu-Exceed burst forth from their stations beneath the waves. Red negative eternano and blue positive eternano combined within their respective maws to become tight spheroids of purple-black. With a mighty roar, the Sanbi and Hachibi unleashed their respective Tailed Beast Bombs, the beams of reddish-white rocketing through the air and meeting the Jupiter Cannon blasts mid-way. The heavens themselves seemed to quake from the collision of high intensity energies. The Bijuudama and the Jupiters struggled for dominance, pushing back against each other with the hopes of completely overpowering the other. However, the outputs from the opposing attacks could only withstand so much before they destabilized.
The world was engulfed in blinding white light for a brief moment before twin explosions of multicoloured energy occurred as a result of the power struggle. The resulting shockwaves accompanied the towers of water and steam, droplets falling like rain. The Fiorean Sea shook violently and unfortunately for several of the abandoned ships that were caught up in the blast radius, they capsized. Those with crewmembers aboard were placed on the verge of capsizing as massive waves battered their hulls, but luckily were able to stabilize themselves.
Hades stared with shock mixed with self-righteous fury, while the rest of his guild merely stared in shock. The massive Sanbi and Hachibi revealed themselves from their hiding places beneath the waves, their eyes glowing with power as they stared down the airships in the distance.
"My guns are bigger than yours."
"Don't get cocky, rodent!"
Hades's challenge to Shukaku's overconfident boast towards the power of his brothers made the golden-eyed tanuki twist his expression into one of confusion. Once again, loud whine and hums met his ears, but rather than it being the sounds of a Jupiter Cannon being activated, it was something else entirely.
The two groups of five airships shifted into a practiced formation before large attachments sprung forth from various portions of each one, connecting them to each other. Hydraulics and mechanics adjusted themselves until they finally forged two of the most monstrous feats of magic-based weapons technology since the Satellite Square: Etherion.
Command Centre-FKS Ikaruga, Fiorean Sea
"What the hell?"
"Woah!"
"Look at that!"
"Are those...ARE THOSE MECHAS?!"
Unable to support the cumulative weight of their combined forms, the two titans of steel dropped into the sea. Massive waves raced across the surface and the Ikaruga shifted greatly, but that did little to deter the fascination of the battleship's commanding officer.
The aqua blue eyes of Lieutenant General Ernesti Doma sparkled with inappropriate levels of wonder as he gazed upon the titanic mechanic marvels.
"WOOOOOAH! SO COOOOL!"
His outburst led to many a crew member within the command centre to groan with annoyance at their superior officer. Particularly the male and female twin Captains who stood by his side, their audible groans seeming to echo through the command centre.
"Er-chan, now is not the time for your geeking out sessions!"
"Come on, man! You're Lieutenant General of this ship! Act like it!"
"But Addyyyy! Kiiiidd! Look at theeeeem!"
The fraternal twin Captains, Adeltrud and Archid Olter, affectionately referred to as Addy and Kidd by those who got to know them, gave the silver-haired Lieutenant General a deadpan stare in response.
"Maybe Guran Ji-sama was too lenient with you when you were growing up, Ernesti!"
"Using my deceased grandfather against me is a low blow, Kidd."
"I'm not using him against you, but if he were alive, you know he would not be approving of you fawning over the enemy's new giant mechanical weapons in the middle of an attack!"
"Addy, I thought you loved me!"
"I do, Er-chan! Very much!" A bright smile adorned the beautiful brown-haired Captain's face for all of a millisecond as it was replaced with a disapproving glare. "But we are currently in a war! Get your act together, especially when we have non-Rune Knights present!"
"I'm so confused." Levy, Gajeel, Natsu, Lucy and Happy spoke in unison as they witnessed the scene before them.
Archid gave a small bow to the Fairy Tail mages. "I'm sorry you have to see our Lieutenant General being such an idiot."
"No, that's fine, we deal with idiots on a regular basis." Lucy waved off the blatant insult to a high-ranking officer of the Rune Knight Corp. "What I'm actually confused about is, and I'm sorry if I offend you Lieutenant General, are you a boy or a girl?"
Ernesti's shoulders drooped slightly as dragged a hand down his face. Throughout his entire life, Ernesti was not the most masculine of characters despite being born male. Due to his silky smooth skin, round face, shining hair, lithe frame, short 5'5 stature and feminine voice, all of it culminated into Ernesti Doma developing what many would refer to as an androgynous appearance.
"He's a guy." Natsu and Gajeel stated immediately.
"Yes!" Ernesti grinned toothily. "I new my manliness would shine through one day!"
"Nah, you still look girly." Gajeel responded.
"Gurk!" Ernesti choked on any follow-up words he may have had.
"Yeah, Kurogane's right, you do." The Salamander of Fairy Tail nodded in agreement. "But you smell like a guy."
"Why are you smelling my Er-chan?!" Adeltrud gasped. "Are you in love with him too?!"
The two dragonslayers raised their eyebrows as the curvaceous Captain pulled the shorter Lieutenant General into the comforting embrace of her bosom. Unfortunately, that was neither comfortable nor soft as she ended up slamming Ernesti's face into her breastplate. Quite painfully.
A collective wince was released by the crew as flesh met steel.
"Ow."
"ER-CHAN! YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACE!"
Levy sighed, running a hand through her blue locks. "I guess this is what they mean when they say never meet your heroes."
"Meet your heroes?" The Iron Dragonslayer shifted his crimson eyes to the Solid Script Magic user. "You know about this guy, squirt? Actually, don't answer that, of course you do."
"Who is he, Levy-chan?"
"Ernesti Doma." She answered. "He's the grandson of Guran Doma, the late head of the Magic Council who died in Era during the Kyuubi attack. Though he wasn't much of a front line fighter, he was quite a genius when it came to weapons and technological advancements for the Corp. In fact, he was the one who created and improved upon the plasma shields they were currently using."
"Unfortunately, a downside to his fascination with anything tech related is that whether it be the enemy or an ally, he gets easily distracted and loses his current train of thought very easily." Archid sighed. "It's endearing until you find yourself pinned down behind a rock waiting for him to give orders, but he's too busy admiring the armour plating on the Magic Four-Wheelers that some dark mages had."
"In my defense, that plating was very interesting." Ernesti wrenched himself free from Adeltrud's embrace and looked to the male Olter twin. "It was deflecting our attacks and if it wasn't for my fascination, then we wouldn't have figured out how to beat them. Speaking of interesting..."
The Lieutenant General turned his aqua coloured eyes in the direction of the new Grimoire Heart weapons.
"What's the plan, Er-chan?"
"That's a good question, Addy." Ernesti replied to the female Olter twin. "A very good question indeed."
"Lieutenant General!" Ernesti was forced to set aside the current conversation as a Rune Knight called out to him. "Contact from the Terumi! Grand General Lahar is on!"
The androgynous Rune Knight then noticed a flash of teal coloured light as the Communication Lachryma at his work station was being activated. He placed a hand atop the orb and pumped his magic energy into the device.
"This is Grand General Lahar issuing a fleet wide command! Earlier aboard my vessel, I issued an earlier command that we were to continue fighting Grimoire Heart with everything we had, but there has now been a change in the current situation as I am sure everyone is aware!" Lahar paused briefly as he took an audible breath. "Once all ships have completed the task of receiving the evacuees from the left flank ships, I am ordering all ships to fall back so as to not be caught in the crossfire of what is obviously going to be a literal clash of titans! Juvia Lockser, Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail have been given orders to assist with this process!"
"Well that explains why Gray and Juvia left with Erza when we were helping with the flank evacuation." Levy stated.
"This is not a full retreat for I still believe we can do something to continue making any and all attempts to slow down or destroy what we know are the Grimoire Heart weapons! The three giant beasts, I cannot say whether they are our allies or enemies, but it does seem like they are against Grimoire Heart due to the way they cancelled out the Jupiter Cannons! Now I repeat, all engines into full reverse and fall back!"
The Ikaruga's crew followed the Grand General's command and the engines roared as they were placed in full reverse. Ernesti's eyes remained trained on the mechas as they began to distance themselves from Tenrou Island's coastline. The shining blue orbs seemed to scan the twin titans of steel and within thirty seconds, another report of Grand General Lahar calling to the Ikaruga was announced.
"Ernesti, I believe that was sufficient time to get a look at our new foes?"
"You know me too well, Lahar-kun." Ernesti laughed lightly as he ran a hand through his silver hair once more. "But yes, I've gotten a pretty good look at the mechas."
"What do you have for me?"
"From what I could see, that thing is at least 220 feet tall. Overall combat capabilities have all been boosted significantly I'm sure because given that they are formed from combining the airships into one, it be would be most disappointing from an engineering standpoint if the defensive capabilities were the same as a normal airship's. Offensive wise, probably the same weapons and not to mention they now have close quarters advantage if they decided to blitz the fleet. The only options we currently have at our disposal if we want to continue to pour on the offensive would be to take aim at any possibly weak spots, particularly gaps in the armour plating and joint areas given that the mechas are humanoid in their overall shape."
"Any possible way we can pinpoint the location of the power source and take aim there?"
"I can only hypothesize at this point, but given that a large amount of power would be needed to keep the mechas moving, it is likely they are using the lachryma used for the Jupiter Cannons and repurposing them. However, I do not believe that the locations of the lachrymas, due to their size, would not be able to be shifted significantly."
"You got all that just from looking at it?" Levy asked.
"My dream in life is to actually create something like that. Primarily why I joined the Corp was so I could end up getting funding to make a mecha of my own."
"Ernesti, this is not something you should be saying to your superior officer." Lahar sighed and Ernesti could not help but laugh at the younger man's annoyance.
"You're just honest to a fault, aren't you?" Lucy's rhetorical question was spoken with a deadpan tone.
"I guess." The silver-haired Rune Knight shrugged before turning back to the Communication Lachryma. "Though, Lahar-kun, if at all possible, do you think we may be able to launch a salvage request should we succeeding in defeating the mechas?"
"Provided that there will be anything left, I can grant you permission to retrieve any pieces of the mechas afterwards."
"You're the best Grand General Fiore has, Lahar-kun!"
"I'm the ONLY Grand General Fiore has, Ernesti." Ernesti chuckled as he could practically hear Lahar rolling his eyes at him through the teal coloured lachryma. "We will follow your analysis and make a concentrated barrage on the joint areas. In addition to this, we have a cause for concern as Makarov-sama and Laxus have yet to make any sort of report as to their current status ever since they were assaulted by the dark mage that came from one of the airships."
"Don't sweat it!" Natsu replied to the young Rune Knight. "It's Ji-chan and Laxus! They're strong as hell!"
"I am not doubting their strength, Natsu-san, but you saw the way Makarov-sama was flung through the air in his full titan form."
Natsu frowned, having no retort to that kernel of truth.
"I am sure that you and your guildmembers are also worrying about them both, so I have ordered the formation of a joint strike team to go to Tenrou Island. The members from Fairy Tail have already been confirmed to be yourself, Natsu...along with Erza-sama, Gray, Gajeel and Juvia. My Lieutenant General, Alice Brosnan, and Major General Tyson Hammer will go along with the twins, Captains Adeltrud and Archid Olter!"
"Sir!" The twins stood a bit straighter upon being addressed.
"Finally lettin' me out to play?"
"Please do not make light of the situation, Natsu as this is no game. Your master and guildmate are in very real danger and you must prepare yourself should the worst case scenario come to pass."
The Fairy Tail mages aboard the Ikaruga frowned deeply, glaring at the Communication Lachryma as a replacement for Lahar. If they were standing in front of him, Natsu would have given the Grand General one of his famous burning right hook to the face and no one in Fairy Tail would have faulted him for it.
"The mission involving you nine is to find and retrieve Makarov and Laxus Dreyar!"
"Yes sir!" The Olter twins saluted to the Communication Lachryma.
"We're on it!" The dragonslayers of Iron and Fire nodded firmly.
Tenrou Island
The waves crashed harshly against the legs of the two mechas. Their black, violet and silver colour scheme made a stark contrast to the afternoon sunlight. The sounds of their mechanics whirring seemed to echo across Tenrou's airspace as the mechas raised their massive arms and their claw-like fingers curled inwards to form tight fists.
The eyes of the mechas shone with a brilliant violet light and the eyes of the Bijuu-Exceed all narrowed, bestial growls coming from the backs of their throats as they registered the threat before them.
Shukaku turned back to the master of Grimoire Heart, unbridled rage present in his golden eyes. "Of course you would be the one to make a giant mech! I thought your appearances were the only similarities, but you sure make it seem like you are Faust's counterpart!"
"I don't even know who that is." Hades remarked.
"You'll find out when I send you back to the pits of Hell where you came from." The Ichibi unleashed a burst of magic energy and the sand beneath Hades's feet sprung up around him, but before the granulated earth could wrap him in a bone crushing embrace a dark violet-red magic seal formed around the demon blood holder.
"Flame Magic: Samsara!" Violet-black flames emerged from the magic seal and the blazing temperatures quickly turned the sands into glass. Hades stamped his foot on the ground, a powerful shockwave racing out from the point of impact and shattering the wall of glass into pieces. "You will have to try harder than that to kill me, but at this point in time I have other matters to attend to. Ultear."
"Charon and Cerberus, engage!"
With the command from the younger Milkovich twin, the lights of the eyes in both mechas flashed and their massive legs shifted in unison. For such hefty pieces of metal, they moved with surprising speed as they charged towards the Sanbi and Hachibi. Shukaku's eyes narrowed and he extended his geokinetic reach to the seabed in front of his elder siblings. The waters sprung forth along with the heavy walls of wet sand that came to the aids of Gyuki and Isobu.
The knee joints of the two robots bent and the waters bubbled as extreme levels of heat were unleashed beneath their feet. The Charon and Cerberus units leaped high into the air, and with the additional level of thrust given to them by the rockets under their feet, they were capable of clearing the massive walls. The two robots met one another in midair, planting their feet against each other before pushing off each other and slamming devastating kicks against the backs of Isobu and Gyuki and sent the two members of the Nine skidding across the Fiorean Sea.
The two massive mechas then turned their eyes upon the Ichibi, his own visual organs wide in shock at what he just witnessed. Taking advantage of that surprise, the Cerberus raised its arms and an aura of dark violet magic energy cloaked said upper limbs. Mechanics shifted and the two clawed hands of the Cerberus morphed into what seemed to be a pair of massive jaws. The jaw-hands of the Ceberus rocketed towards Shukaku, clamping tightly down upon the tanuki's sand-like flesh.
"What the hell?" Shukaku's surprise grew even further as the tightly wound titanium cables which connected the jaw-hands to the Cerberus's wrists retracted. Shukaku soon found himself being pulled through the air and once his feet no longer touched the surface of Tenrou, the jaw-hands released him from their clutches. But as he was released, the Charon stepped forward and pair of ebony scythe blades sprung forth from compartments in the mech's forearms.
In one smooth motion, the Charon sliced through Shukaku's torso, effectively splitting him in two as if he were made of butter. Both parts of Shukaku were about to crash into the Fiorean Sea, but Gyuki emerged from the depths and his lengthy tentacle-like tails stretched out and snatched his younger brother's halves out of the air with ease.
"You okay, Shukaku?" The Hachibi asked as he put Shukaku's body back together, the sands easily reconnecting as if he had never been cut.
"Y-Yeah." The star-shaped pupils of the Ichibi no Tanuki shone with annoyance. "What the hell are those things?"
"Shouldn't you be the one to know that? You've been our mole."
"Yeah! I know that asshole, but I mean, what the fuck are they that they can even move and kick us around like that?!" Shukaku exclaimed. "Nobody can do that to us! Nobody except...well...us!"
"You have a point. From an engineering perspective, those things shouldn't even be able to move as quickly as they should but I guess that's what you get when have the power output from five giant lachryma that are used to fire off Jupiter Cannons."
"Yeah well, that's gonna change shit! I've got the sand beds under my control and they couldn't have picked a worse battleground to fight on given that water is Isobu's territory! Show 'em what we mean, Isobu!"
Responding the call of his younger brother, the Sanbi no Kyodaigame burst out of the depths and raised his forelimbs.
"Suiton: Hatou!" Water and magic energy swirled within his palms before he thrust them forth to unleash the powerful pressurised blasts of water that made up the Surging Sea spell. Both water blasts rocketed towards the Charon and Cerberus, but the Cerberus immediately moved to counter as it raised its jaw-hands. Dark coloured magic energy concentrated within the jaws before it was unleashed as powerful blasts of violet-black energy.
The twin beams of dark eternano collided with the bursts of water which resulted in a massive explosion that formed an equally large tower of water. However, the water tower was quickly bisected as the Charon unleashed an arc of dark energy from slicing the air with one of its scythe blades. The attack raced towards the Sanbi at an incredible pace, but the three-tailed beast, while slow on land, was near unmatched in agility when in water. Thus, Isobu dove beneath the waves to avoid the strike while his siblings shifted to the side and watched arc sail past them.
The sounds of explosions and death cries met the ears of the ushioni and tanuki causing their eyes to widen in surprise. They were so caught up in the battle that they failed to remember that there was an entire fleet of ships retreating behind them. A part of which were now smoldering wreckage as a result of the Charon's attack.
"Oh shit, I forgot about them." Shukaku couldn't help but comment.
"Same." Gyuki gnashed his teeth in annoyance. "But we have to protect them."
"Yeah Yeah, I know." Shukaku replied with a roll of his eyes. "It's all a part of the long plan that Kurama and Naruto have."
The two siblings quickly turned their heads back towards the two mechs as Isobu's rapidly pumping tails propelled him out of the water. Utilizing his momentum, the Sanbi rotated his body and lashed out with his three heavy tails, slapping the against the torso of the Cerberus and sending it rolling off to the side across the seabed. With its crew in a bit of disarray from being struck, the Ceberus clumsily tried to climb back to its feet only for a massive wave to crash against it, courtesy of the turtle-like beast. The Ceberus rolled once more, but this time it was able to capitalise on the momentum and rise back up into a stable position.
With jaw-hands raised, dark purple orbs of magic energy charged before being fired at the charging Sanbi.
"Kagenade!" Isobu quickly curled into a ball, dark blue magic energy cloaking his form as he utilised his Shadow Stroke spell. The blasts of magic fired by the Cerberus were practically nothing in the wake of the spinning spiked shell that boasted to be harder than diamond. His movement remained uninhibited by the Cerberus's attack and so he crashed against the mech's body with all the force that a 270-foot tall sea monster could. Ricocheting off of the Cerberus sent the Sanbi skyward and he unfurled his body to slam down upon the supine robot.
However, the waters beneath the Ceberus began to steam and bubble as it activated the rocket thrusters under its feet, shifting its body through the water and causing the Sanbi no Kyodaigame to miss his target. The Ceberus then climbed back to its feet and with another push from the rocket thrusters, stretched out a jaw-hand, clamping it down harshly on Isobu's hand as he raised it to protect himself. The second jaw-hand struck, but Isobu raised his other hand to block that strike as well. However, the Ceberus remained vigilant and so it raised Isobu's arms into the air to expose his unprotected head. With the roar of its rocket thrusters, the Cerberus unleashed a deadly knee strike to Isobu's chin.
A roar of pain was elicited from the Sanbi as another knee strike caused his grip to slacken. The Cerberus then unveiled the level of strength it was truly capable of as it snaked its arms underneath Isobu, latching onto his throat and underbelly to then lift the massive sea monster over its head and hurl him through the air.
Isobu splashed down, his head filled with cobwebs from the dizzying throw. His single eye widened as a bright purple glow washed over his body and he witnessed oncoming attacks from the mechs. The Charon had swiped its arms and twin blades of energy flew forth from the scythes on its forearms accompanied by the twin blasts from Cerberus's jaw-hands.
However, the attacks did not land as a bombardment of energy blasts and artillery were sent on a collision course with them. In a bright explosion of light and fire, the Fiorean Kingdom ships had launched their counter-attack-slash-assist for the Bijuu-Exceed.
The three members of the Nine all looked between each other and the fleet behind them.
"Did...Did they just save Isobu?" Shukaku could not hide how flabbergasted he was.
"It seems they did." Gyuki nodded. "We owe the humans now."
"Do we really? Because we're basically doing fighting off these two robots which they obviously cannot do on their own. If anything, we're now beginning to break even with them."
"Shukaku has some bit of a point, Gyuki Nii-san."
"Hn." The ox-like Bijuu-Exceed snorted. His circular eyes then focused back on the mechs as they climbed back to a stable position.
"Hmmm...well that's new."
Both mechs shifted and stood a bit straighter as their chest plates shifted to reveal six small cannon barrels. Each of the twelve barrels hummed and whined in a manner to similar to that of a Jupiter Cannon's charging, but it was far faster as they were already firing off the arcing beams of violet destruction.
Shukaku summoned a wall of sand, but due to it being from that of the seabed, the sands were wet and thus unable to form a significantly stable structure. It held off several of the blasts, but the majority of the attacks punched through Shukaku's defenses like wet paper.
"Shit! This is why I hate working with wet sand!" Shukaku snarled.
The two large beasts quickly crossed their arms in front of their bodies and faces, enduring the powerful blasts of energy quite easily. But a string of curses escaped their lips as some of the attacks bypassed them and were on a collision course with the retreating Fiorean Kingdom ships.
"Don't worry!" Isobu rose from the seas and stretched out his armoured tails to block the beams of violet energy.
"Good job, Isobu!"
The usually shy Sanbi laughed lightly, relishing in the praise from his younger brother. Said Sanbi quickly swam back over to the main area of the battle and the three Bijuu-Exceed watched a concentrated bombardment from the ships was launched at the opposing mechs, nailing them directly in the torso where the exposed cannons were. A small explosion occurred as one of each of the six cannons the two mechs possessed were destroyed, but it did little to affect the overall firepower of the Charon and Cerberus as they continued to fire their energy cannons.
"Isobu, gimme cover!" Gyuki exclaimed.
"Okay!"
Isobu dove underwater before turning back around and pumping his tails and arms furiously to break through the water's surface and make himself airborne. Energy blasts from both ends were being launched as the mechs were being fired upon by the Rune Knights, but given the size of the members of the Nine, it was practically inevitable that some element of friendly fire would occur.
'Good thing we're practically immortal or this would be really difficult.' The three of them thought in unison.
"IMARI!" Both Shukaku and Gyuki unleashed powerful blasts of crimson from their jaws, arcing through the air around Isobu to collide with the oncoming attacks from the two mechs. Though weaker than the Bijuudama, the Imari spells were faster to make and were still able to their job of preventing the mechs's attacks from reaching Isobu, and the blast wave from the resulting explosions gave Isobu a little bit more air time before he crashed beneath the waves.
Using Isobu's splash as a cover, Gyuki charged and burst through the cloud of water in a surprise attack. His tentacle-like tails struck forth, wrapping themselves securely around the Charon mech's arms. With a harsh yank, Gyuki pulled the Charon in closer which caused it to stumble into an already reared back fist. The devastating right hook landed home, but Gyuki did not stop as he climbed atop the Charon and followed up with two more punches to the face. With his entire weight bearing down upon the mech, the Charon unit fell to its knees.
"REKUDAN!" Shukaku came from the left and slammed a strong fist against his belly, unleashing a powerful burst of wind and eternano from his concave maw. The compressed blast of raging air currents slammed against the side of the Charon and caused it to tilt over and allowed Gyuki the opportunity to submerge the mechanical titan.
The ushioni-esque Bijuu-Exceed raised a massive hand and slammed it down on the struggling Charon's head and began to apply pressure with the aim to completely crush its head. However, the Cerberus unit decided to intervene and fired off one of its jaw-hands to nail a devastating punch to Gyuki's left jaw. The bovine-esque Bijuu roared in annoyance and pain and his grip on the Charon slackened, allowing it activate its thruster systems and push itself back to its full height and also deliver a powerful slash with one of its forearm blades.
The attack sliced off a tail and Gyuki roared in pain as the tentacle fell to the ocean in a spray of blood. Gyuki quickly ducked under a follow-up slash aimed to decapitate, but the energy blade that came from the slash was sent on its way to take down several of the fleet which lay behind him.
'They're really taking advantage of how we can't protect them and fight simultaneously.'
'That's the perks of being the villains I guess.'
'Not now, Shukaku!'
The Hachibi channeled his annoyance at his youngest brother and lashed out with his tails. He crashed them against the side of the Charon, sending the bladed mech careening through the air before it was once again grounded by a powerful hammer-like swipe of Shukaku's tail. The tail then snaked its way around the Charon's torso and he raised the mechanical giant high over his head just as the Cerberus began to do battle with the Hachibi.
The Cerberus blocked one of Gyuki's punches and struck back with one of its own, nailing Gyuki in the snout before following up with another to the temple which temporarily stunned the massive tentacle-tailed ox. However, that moment was all the Cerberus needed as it reared back its arm and a thruster revealed itself at the elbow. With the elbow rocket engaged, a burst of violet-blue flame propelled the arm forwards and crashed against Gyuki for the ending of the three-hit combo.
Gyuki tumbled through the seas, but his youngest brother would be the one to avenge him as Shukaku snarled and stampeded across the Fiorean seafloor, racing past his brother. The Ichibi roared and swung its tail to throw the captive Charon mech at its fellow mech. The Cerberus was hit with the Charon with enough force to cause a devastating shockwave. Both mechs tumbled across the Fiorean Sea, causing the metal to dent and damage some pieces of circuitry as loud and unnatural roars of their inner mechanisms echoed through the battlefield.
The mechs were able to quickly recover and stand upright, but the battle damage was done as evidenced by how the shoulder joint of the Charon was dented heavily and sparks were jumping off of the Cerberus's torso every few seconds.
"That ought to have broken something." Shukaku chuckled.
"Maybe, but it hasn't taken them out yet." Gyuki snarled as he pulled himself upright. He looked at the bleeding stump that used to be his tail and frowned. "It's been a while since I lost a tail."
"Not really something to worry about."
"True." This was then evidenced by a quickly application of magic as the tentacle-like tail regrew like an actual cephalopod's tentacle.
"Shukaku can't you hold them down with the sand?" Gyuki asked. "Using Sabaku Kyu and Sabaku Soso would be most helpful since basically crushing them seems like an easy method to get this over with."
"You think I haven't been trying?" Shukaku snapped. "This is the reason why I don't like the seafloor. The sand is too wet and I can't get it to form a stable structure like I can with dry sand. The best I can manage are the sand walls for defense, but I can't make something complex like my mausoleums or spikes unless the sand is dry."
"I thought you said the sand beds were under your control?" Gyuki scoffed.
Shukaku turned slightly red in embarrassment as he did indeed make that claim.
"Just shut the fuck up and let's kill these bastards!"
Forest-Western Coastline, Tenrou Island
The joint strike force of Rune Knights and Fairy Tail mages finally managed to make landfall on Tenrou's western edge.
"Did we really have to take such a long route to get here?" Natsu grumbled.
"Oh I'm sorry, did you want to be the one to avoid active laser cannons and bullets while also avoiding the attacks from three giant monsters and two mechs?" Tyson's sarcasm was apparent as he raised an eyebrow at the rose-haired dragonslayer.
"Well I mean...we're pretty good flyers." Natsu shrugged as he looked to the three Exceed and Erza. "We can practically fly faster than the speed of sound once we push ourselves, and by we, I mean those of us who can fly."
"No I can't, Natsu."
"Oh." Natsu replied intelligently to Erza's words. "Well, Happy and the other Exceed are expert flying cats! They could do it!"
Said Exceed turned to Natsu with deadpan stares.
"Wh-Wh-What?" Chojuro stammered, his anxiety levels spiking as he envisioned himself trying to avoid an untimely demise on a battlefield.
"Natsu-san, Juvia does not think your level of optimism is healthy for Chojuro-san." The Water Dragonslayer stated as she acted to console her Exceed partner.
"Yeah Salamander, don't be an idiot." Gajeel scoffed. "Lily's a badass and even more badass than your cat, but even I'm not gonna send Lily through that!"
All eyes followed the direction Gajeel pointed in as the battleground was a mixture of bestial roars, mechanical parts working, cannons firing and explosions.
"He's a got a point, Natsu." Adeltrude and Archid nodded in unison
"I agree." Tyson looked back over to the location of the fleet. "In addition to needing to avoid friendly fire, there's also very high level spells being fired off from those beasts and the mechs. There's a high likelihood that we would have died in the process of taking a shorter route involving us passing through that."
"See dumbass, this is why you're not S-Class and I am."
"As if you didn't rub that in enough, frostbite! You're S-Class because you played tricks, not because you're stronger!"
"You wanna go?!"
"Let's go!"
"Stop that!" Erza stood between the two hot-blooded males, her glare very much more intense than her previous glares of disappointment. "Gray! Natsu! This isn't the time to be bickering and getting into playful scuffles. We are here to perform a search and rescue mission for Master and Laxus. This is practically an S-Class mission, and you cannot afford to be doing what you normally do on quests. We have more lives at risk here, so get your acts together."
"S-Sorry, Erza."
"Good." The red-headed Wizard Saint turned to the Lieutenant-General of the team. "Alice, you want to give the orders? You are basically the highest ranking official here."
"You would be actually, Erza-sama." Alice chuckled. "You're probably still not used to it, but a Wizard Saint is practically equal in status to a Grand General and so if you were to be stationed on a battlefield, outside of the Grand Generals and the Supreme Commander, you'd be the one giving the orders."
"O-Oh!" Erza's eyes sparkled with newfound wonder as she looked at the Wizard Saint badge that was attached to her breastplate. "Then I guess I'm in charge then."
"Aye sir, Erza-sama!" The other Rune Knights saluted to the crimson haired mage while the Fairy Tail mages could only shiver at the thought of how Erza could hold so much power.
"Well then, the format of the team will be as follows: Natsu, Juvia and Gajeel will lead the party. With your enhanced senses, particularly your sense of smell, you can pick up Master's and Laxus's scents and track them. Gray, Tyson and the Olter twins will follow after. Alice and I will bring up the rear." Erza then turned to the Exceed trio. "Happy, Pantherlily and Chojuro, please wait here on the coastline for us when we return. If something goes wrong, either Alice or myself will launch a signal into the air and you are to leave us and report to both Lahar and Gildarts about the situation."
"Aye sir!" Happy saluted to the Titania of Fairy Tail.
"Good cats." Erza smirked as she patted each one on the head.
The young Wizard Saint then turned back to the strike force.
"Remember that the mission is to search and rescue. If we have to fight, then we fight, but saving Master and Laxus are the main priorities." A stiff nod was her reply from each of her compatriots. "Alright! Let's move out!"
(A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys. Life in general has been pretty hectic what with working, COVID, trying to get my job applications and whatnot in place, among other things. Also I had a serious bit of writer's block when it came to these scene transitions, but I managed to get it out there. Man it feels good to actually a chapter out again.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to introduce some new Rune Knights so that way they aren't just being cannon fodder and will actually help during the main plot of this arc, and I think it will shape up pretty nicely once the climax of it reaches once Naruto touches down. I also wanted to try and incorporate them into the big fight of the chapter in some way, even though they are literally just shooting little energy blasts at the 200+ tall robots, I basically treated it like a video game where their assists matter in some manner to at least whittle down the HP of the boss.
I drew a lot of inspiration for the battle between the Bijuu-Exceed and the mechs from Pacific Rim and got a whole new source of inspiration due to the trailer dropping for Godzilla vs Kong! Man am I hyped for that movie! After so long, we've finally got a trailer and I am quite pleased they didn't give away too much and it looks like we're getting as advertised. Kong versus Godzilla looks like it will be just that. Giant ape versus Giant radioactive lizard!
Shit will go down!
Anyway, I know Naruto hasn't arrived yet, but as you're all aware, he's on the way and I've got to set the stage for everything else so it comes together cohesively. I actually have chapter 63 in the works already, as this chapter was starting to become very lengthy and so I cut and paste the chunk into what will now be chapter 63.
Again, hope you guys liked the chapter! Remember to review!)
