Fairy Tail has put up a good fight, but the Duat Kingdom is putting up one even better. The bad news is that The Ten seem to be overpowering some of the guild's wizards. The good news is that Nashi and her friends were able to take on Captain Drav and the air attack.
"How can this be?" Drav questioned as he dropped to the ground. Nashi walked around and saw the Duat Kingdom's air attack was nearly beaten. There was only a handful of soldiers left.
"So do you guys want to give up or should we continue? We can keep going." Nashi said.
"I don't know what Zeref was freaked out about." Drake said. "These guys aren't as scary as he made them sound like."
"This is only the first wave. More will come, but let's finish this here." Simon said.
"I'm with you on that, Simon." Nashi said as she stepped forward just when Drake heard something.
"Nashi, behind you!" Drake called. Drav stood straight up and screamed.
"You're the ones who should gust give up!" Drav said as he pulled out a club. "You can't defeat us, let alone the Duat Kingdom!" He proved his point as he smashed his club against Nashi.
"Nashi!" Storm called.
"We can't, can we?" Nashi said. She knocked the club off him and drove her fist right into his gut. Drav took some real damage and got the wind knocked out of him as he dropped back to the ground. The remaining soldiers couldn't believe what they just saw. "Shall we continue?"
...
Kardia Cathedral
"How you holding up, Fred?" Raren asked.
"I'm doing quite well, but until I hear otherwise, I must maintain the shield. We can't allow anymore enemies to past through the shield." Fred said. "It should only be a little longer."
"The others should be wrapping things up, hopefully." Bisslin said.
"I'm sure they are and we've got nothing to worry about." Raren said. They were sure about that until they heard the doors open. They looked towards it and saw Bradford walk inside.
"So this is where the shield is originating from." Bradford said. "An annoying little nuisance that could cause problems in the future. Not anymore."
"It looks like the enemy has found us." Fred said.
"Don't worry. We've got this guy." Bisslin said as he and Raren stood in the way.
"We're the Fairy Knights. If you want to leave now, we'll be nice enough to let you." Raren said.
"My name is Bradford Grim. I am one of the Ten Gates of Ankhselam. I hold the mark of the elephant."
"Mark of the elephant? According to what we were told, this would mean he is the seventh ranked member of Ankhselam's inner circle." Fred said. "Be careful, both of you. I can't move from this spot without dropping the shield."
"No worries. We'll take care of him." Raren said.
"We don't care who this guy is. He's going down just like all the rest." Bisslin said. Both of them used their magic and attacked him with earth and darkness. They thought they had him, but Bradford just walked through like their attacks didn't do a thing.
"Is that really the best the two of you can do? I expected more from members of Fairy Tail." Bradford said. He held out his hand and they saw a dark aura coming from it. Then, small traces of dark light came form the ground and the ground combust with Raren and Bisslin were blown back and hit the wall.
"What was that?" Raren said.
"No clue. The ground just burst out of nowhere." Bisslin said.
"That was only a small bit of what I can do." Bradford said. Bradford kept his focus on Fred and moved closer to him. "So you're the one holding the shield up. That means you will be the first to fall."
"Think again." Raren said as he formed stone around his fists. "You've got to get through us first." Raren went to attack and tried to strike him, but Bradford caught his fist and tossed him away.
"Take this!" Bisslin said as he unleashed streams of darkness, but Bradford just deflect his attacks. Bradford held out his hands and used his magic again. His magic affected the windows near Raren and caused them to shatter. Raren tried to protect himself as shards of glass fell around him. Bradford's magic also caused part of the ceiling to break apart and nearly fell on Bisslin as he jumped out of the way. "How's he doing that?"
"What kind of magic is this?" Raren said.
"Keep your guards up. This one appears to be tricky." Fred said.
"Well, he's not going to scare us." Raren said.
"You said it. It's not in us to get scared and just run off." Bisslin said. Both of them charged right at him as they tried to attack again, but Bradford used his magic and it caused both of them to trip on their own legs. Then, he slammed both of his arms against them and bashed them into the ground.
"What is this?" Fred questioned.
"You were right. My magic is a tricky one." Bradford said. "My magic is curse magic."
"Curse magic?" Fred questioned.
"That's right." Bradford said. "My magic is one of curses. Things we have bequeathed such as bad luck, misfortune, even an unexpected death. These strange and unexpected occurrences are under my control."
'Does he really have something like random chance under his control?' Fred thought. 'There are many uncertainties in life, but to think someone who holds actual power over that is unreal.'
"Wait. Is he saying he's been using something like bad luck against us?" Bisslin said.
"Sure sounds like it." Raren said. "Although, it sounds a little hypocritical. How can magic be a curse?"
"Curses are a darker form of magic." Bradford said. "This particular form of magic is very difficult to master. It takes years to master and has great strain on the mind and body. As you can see, I have mastered it." Bradford moved closer to Fred. "You haven't moved at all. So you are truly stuck in that position. Moving would cause the shield to fall. That's good to know." He stood over Fred and there was nothing Fred could do to defend himself without putting Magnolia at risk. However, Raren and Bisslin found the strength to get back and fight as they hit Bradford in the back.
"You haven't finished us yet." Bisslin said.
"We won't go down without a fight." Raren said. Both of them went to attack him again, but Bradford held out his magic at them and unleashed a dark blast of curses with both of them getting seriously hurt.
'So this is the power of our enemies, but no matter what, we must hold our ground.' Fred thought.
"Fred!" Zeref called with telepathy. "What is going on?"
"One of The Ten is here. I won't be able to hold the shield any longer, but I will hold it until the last second, until the enemy drops." Fred said. "I will give up my life to protect Magnolia." Fred thought this might be it as Fred stood right over him and held out his hand to him.
"Fred!" Nashi called through the line. "We've taken down the air forces! You don't need to hold the shield up anymore!" Nashi and the others succeeded in defeating every single soldier. Now Fred doesn't need to hold anything back.
"That's good to hear." Fred said. "Now I can focus on the battle." Fred drew his sword and swung it at Bradford with Bradford pulling his arm away.
"So you're choosing to fight? It's clear that you are overpowered." Bradford said.
"You're about to learn that our guild will always stand and fight." Fred said. "We care not for how the odds are against us. You scoundrels attacked our guild, our home. We have no mercy for your kind. Blade of Light!" Fred formed a blade of light from his spare arm and tried attacking with both blades, but Bradford avoided each attack.
"I commend you for fighting, but you still can't defeat us." Bradford said.
"Let's find out, shall we?" Fred said. "Come forth, soldiers of holy light!" Fred called on an army of of white knights made out of life and they had Bradford surrounded.
"Not bad, but it doesn't matter how many there are." Bradford said as he clapped his hands together and formed some magic. "Skeletal Uprising!" His magic unleashed a wave of magic, a black wave, that took the form of skulls with all those inside get caught in it and the knights vanishing.
"I have you now!" Fred said as he got above Bradford and came down as he slashed against him. Bradford's magic cleared away and Fred thought he had it. He turned to him, but Bradford grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
"How brave, but you should be more careful with who you challenge." Bradford said.
"Say whatever you wish. No one in Fairy Tail will back down." Fred said. "We understand that you're after one of us and because of that, we will fight to our deaths. Go ahead and kill us. We will proudly die if it means we're protecting one of our own."
"We know you will. Lord Ankhselam has shared much about your guild with us." Bradford said. "However, we aren't going to kill you at the moment." Bradford smashed Fred against the the floor and caused an explosion to go off. The Fairy Knights have now fallen.
...
David and Reginald
David and Reginald have beaten their opponents. They stood on the building rooftops and waited for Bradford to show up.
"Here he comes." David said as they saw him appear.
"I take it you took care of that shield that was overhead." Reginald said.
"That I did." Bradford said. "However, it would appear that our air reinforcements have been defeated by a small group in the guild."
"They were just soldiers." David said. "Our forces number in millions. This guild will be overwhelmed and since this is the strongest guild in Fiore, the others should fall as well. Then again, the country might have a few surprises for us."
"Personally, I don't see what is so special about this guild." Reginald said. "No matter. We have our orders. You two head north and I'll head south." Both of them agreed and spread out as they headed in the two directions.
...
The Guild
"It looks like we're in luck." Freed said. "There are no enemy forces in the area and the ones that were here appear to be leaving." Zeref took a look at a map and saw two signals heading north and the third heading south. Two directions where other enemy forces are coming from.
"They're not retreating. They're regrouping with coming forces." Zeref said. 'I know those who are leaving Magnolia are members of The Ten. Not a single one was defeated. That's not good. We might be able to hold our own against the soldiers, but those ten must be defeated like Ankhselam if this war is really going to end.' This was only the beginning. It's only going to get worse from here.
...
Nashi
Nashi ran as fast as she could to Kardia Cathedral. Since the rest of the enemy forces were beaten, she thought she tried to help the others.
"Fred! Raren! Bisslin!" Nashi called. "When you guys didn't respond to telepathy, I moved here as fast as I could!" Nashi entered the church, but when she got inside, she saw the condition all three of them in. "No..." She couldn't believe it. All three of them were hurt badly and this was just the start. Fairy Tail couldn't beat a single member of The Ten. Soldiers and other lower-class fighters they can handle. The Ten are on a completely different level. Perhaps Fairy Tail has finally met it's match.
