Chapter 171

Giving In

The entire area was quiet, so silent that you could shatter it with a single sound. I stood there in utter disbelief staring straight at Silver Beard, processing the words that came out of his mouth.

"Wh-What?!" was all I could mumble.

"That's right. Nomekop's destruction was all my doing," said Silver Beard. "And I enjoyed every second of it."

"There's... there's no way," I spoke with a shaky tone. "You couldn't have been there. I would have seen you back when I was a kid. You're bluffing."

"Well, that is understandable, considering it was many years ago, but I can assure you, I was there," said Silver Beard. "As a matter of fact, I once used to call that place my home. Back in those days, I was a respected biologist, dedicating my life to researching for a way to enhance a wizard's power to benefit humankind. But then, I learned of the Black Wizard Zeref, and started studying the darker arts, and people began to judge me, believing that I had gone mad, until finally, they all turned their backs on me and had me expelled as a scientist. I was disgraced, humiliated, and most of all, disrespected! Those bastards all betrayed me, turn their backs on me, all because I wanted to help them. So in return, I paid them back by selling them out to a cult that served Zeref, and had them attack Nomekop with me leading the charge! Every single person in Nomekop was killed by my hand, including your pathetic parents!"

My eyes widened as the memory of seeing my mother's dead body flashed through my mind. I could still taste the helplessness and despair I felt on that day, and the horror from seeing her corpse.

Silver Beard then dug into his coat and took out a small sliver of paper. "If you still think I'm lying, then how about this for proof?" he said as he threw the paper in my direction.

The paper flew through the air, drifting a bit before landing on the ground at my feet. The paper was a photo of a man and a woman holding a baby in her arms. Upon seeing the photo, I quickly realized and recognized that they weren't just any other couple.

They were my parents.

"That's right. That was a little trophy given to me from your beloved mother," Silver Beard sneered. "She gave me a bit of trouble, but eventually, she met her end as well, along with that bastard of a husband of hers. However, I didn't expect you to end up surviving that massacre, as well as meeting you again, but I suppose fate has a weird way of doing things. Plus, it gave me the opportunity of the perfect test subject, which was why I decided to take you under my wing. Not only would you be the perfect outlet for my experiments, but it would also be the perfect way to get your parents back for their betrayal, and I'd say I got more than my fair share. Oh, and one more thing, your mother's screams were quite lovely as her blood was quite the beautiful color."

My body grew cold, as more memories of my childhood came flashing through my mind like a movie, while also trembling like a leaf. My vision became tunneled as the mere thought of this man killing my mother, and everyone else in my old village filled me with horror and despair.

"Why...? Why...? Why the hell do I have to suffer like this?! Why is it that my happiness, along with people I love, are constantly taken away from me?! Is there a rule of this world that says I'm not allowed to be happy, and I was born just to be everyone's plaything?! Why the hell does this always have to happen to me?! WHY?! WHY?!"

"You should know the reason why. I warned you time and time again, but you refused to listen, clinging to the hope that something would change, and look where that got you."

My surroundings around me had changed once again into the room inside of my mind where the woman in my head resided, but my gaze was focused downward as I stared at the floor, not acknowledging it or her.

"Poor sweet Willy. You're still so naive about this world, believing that it's one worth living in," I heard the girl continue. "No matter how hard you try to resist or live by that world's standards, it will always bring you down by punishing you for no reason. And do you know why that is? It's because you're weak. You were too weak to protect your parents from that evil man, and weak enough to allow yourself to be controlled twice. And you know what the sad part is? You wanted to believe that there was someone who, despite everything, cared about you despite everything that has happened in your life, but not even your closest friends don't even care. I'm not like them, Willy. I'm the only person you'll ever need to care about you, and it's not too late for me to help you either."

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my chest as someone embraced me from behind, the woman's voice whispering sweetly in my ear.

"This is your chance to take revenge, not only on those who wronged you, but also on this pitiful world that made you suffer so. The place that made you a pariah for far too long. Give in. Let all of the emotions you kept pent up inside unleash. Your hate. Your anger. Your thirst for vengeance. Let it come out all at once. This world keeps taking everything that's yours, and it's time you did something about it. I'll take all of your emotions and make you stronger. Entrust your heart to me, and we'll show the world our power. Just let go."

I felt my head being lifted as I stared into the eyes of the being before me. The woman now looked completely mature and radiated with a beauty that I'd never seen before, her eyes like mirrors, pulling me in with their magnetic pull. The woman held my face in her hands by the cheeks, and slowly grew closer. My mind and senses began to fade away as I surrendered to the allure of her seduction, believing that it didn't matter anymore. All I wanted was to make the pain go away. To erase everything that made me feel so much despair and suffering. Before I knew it, I had closed my eyes and the last thing that I felt, was an icy cold pair of lips touch my own as something inside of me snapped.

NO POV

"You monster!" Erza snarled as she struggled to get up on her feet. "How could you do something like that?!"

"Quite easily, Titania," said Silver Beard. "It's what that lousy town deserves for betraying and turning their backs on me. That miserable place and the people in it deserved it after all the pain and humiliation they caused me."

Everyone was now glaring straight at Silver Beard, appalled and livid from his confession, but none was more furious than Mira, her blue eyes filled with anger and her mouth in an angry snarl. At that moment, Willy fell to his knees while holding his head in agony, grunting and growling like an animal, as an ominous black magic aura enveloped his body like a flame. Then, he let out a deafening scream of despair as his aura exploded in a black and emerald green flame, all of the emotions he kept locked away erupting like an active geyser. The force from his magic anyone was enough to blow Mira back as well as Natsu and Erza, while Byro and Gildarts managed to stay standing, bracing themselves.

Willy's screams of sorrow soon changed into anger as the black flame representing his magic aura grew more intense, causing the ground to crack and crumble, sending rocks flying everywhere. His eyes began to glow green, growing brighter until both of his irises shattered like glass. The black flame exploded again, turning into an intense pillar, making the ground tremble and shake and wind buffet about. Everyone in the vicinity shielded their eyes and tried not to get blown away except for Silver Beard, who was shocked and filled with wonder and elation.

"Incredible... Absolutely incredible..." Silver Beard marveled. "His power's risen even higher than when I was controlling him!" A maniacal smile stretched his face as he began to cackle. "Magnificent! This went even better than I hoped! This is the very thing I wanted to see!"

While continuing to burn with intensity, the black pillar slowly began to shrink until the person inside was revealed. What stood there was not the same boy everyone in Fairy Tail knew. His skin had paled, having numerous black cracks all over his body like his skin was barely containing the power it was hosting. His hands had changed into large black claws with long nails that could rip a person apart in seconds. He had black spikes protruding from his shoulders, four lining his hips with two on each side, and two sticking out from his elbows. His short spiky brown hair had grown past his hips that billowed about in the wind. On top of his head poking out of his hair was a long and black horn along with fin-like protrusions sticking out from the sides of his head. His eyes were now glowing bright green with a black slit showing in each of them. And, in the middle of his chest was a third green eye that glowed and pulsed as it looked around. When everyone saw this, they were shocked.

"Is... is that... Willy?" Natsu asked tentatively.

"There's... no way it could be," Erza spoke, a slight twinge of fear evident in her voice. "That evil aura... that form..."

Willy's eyes then glinted as he let out a demonic roar and attacked the first person he saw, Mira.

"Mira, get out of there!" Gildarts yelled.

But Mira stood completely frozen, still shocked by Willy's sudden transformation. Luckily, at the last second, Byro cut him off and used his staff to block, before Willy had a chance to hurt her. Their collision was enough to bend create a concussive blast of wind that shook the area.

"Please, Ms. Mira! You must run!" ordered Byro. "Quickly!"

But Willy gave Byro a feral snarl and gave him a mighty kick on his hip, sending Byro across the room and gunned for him instead. As Byro quickly recovered, Willy took a breath and unleashed a powerful torrent of black liquid from his mouth.

"A magic attack?!" Byro spoke by raising his staff. "That won't work!"

He then activated his Nullification Magic, but even with it active, Willy's attack hit its mark, taking out multiple boulders as the ground exploded outward.

"No way! His Nullification Magic didn't work?!" gasped Erza. "I thought he could nullify all forms of magic!"

Byro flew out of the smoke from the explosion, but managed to self-right himself, skidding back while using his staff to stop himself from skidding. However, he didn't have time to recover as Willy attacked Byro again. As the man brought his staff to defend himself, Willy unleashed a flurry of swipes and punches, each filled with the intent to kill or rip his skin. Byro did his best to parry and defend, but for every three he blocked, there was one or two that managed to land a hit or a scrape, and the more he got hit, the more his defense began to falter. Then, as Byro swung his staff, Willy caught it in his hand and, in one swift motion, broke the end completely off, and then struck him right in the face. As Byro recoiled, holding his face in pain, Willy continued his attack, assaulting Byro with powerful and devastating blows, and finished with a mighty kick to his stomach, almost breaking the man in half, and sending him flying across the room and smashing into the rocky wall. Willy's claws extended, enough for them to be short, long swords, and charged towards Byro intending to impale him, but before he could, Gildarts swooped in and intercepted with a punch to his gut before he could react, sending him flying.

Willy was stunned, but now had his sights set on Gildarts, letting out a roar in rage. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and his body seemed to bulk up slightly as he quickly charged power. He then uncrossed them, sticking out his chest, exposing his green eyeball, which sparked and crackled with power, and unleashed a powerful black beam with green tinges.

"Gildarts, look out!" yelled out Mira, snapping out of her daze.

The man quickly grabbed Byro and jumped out of the way as the beam shot into the wall. It went straight through, making it outside, and continued on its path towards a mountain, which upon collision created a powerful explosion, destroying the top of the mountain in seconds.

"Holy crap!" Natsu exclaimed as he looked outside. "If that would have hit, we would have been screwed!"

At that moment, when Willy landed back on the ground, the cracks on his body steadily grew bigger in size, and multiple spurts of black liquid began to gush out from them. This made him wince as he growled like a wild tiger.

"Wh-What's happening to him?!" exclaimed Mira.

"From the looks of things, it would seem that his body can't take the overwhelming power he's got," said Gildarts. "It's so powerful, that his body is tearing itself apart."

Then, Silver Beard took his chance and shot straight towards the opening, making a break for it.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going, you coward?!" Natsu demanded as he started to give chase. "Get back here!"

"Natsu, don't!" Gildarts yelled. "Stay where you are!"

But Willy now had eyes on the fire dragon slayer, shooting straight towards him while extending his claws. With a rapid swipe, released a barrage of black crescent-shaped blades. As Natsu looked back, knowing that he had to defend, Mira tackled him to the ground making the attacks miss the two of them. Silver Beard then gave a smirk and chuckle, and jumped out of the opening, falling towards the ground below. Willy then let out a yell while holding his hands up, created a massive shuriken, and flung it. The shuriken zipped through the air, cutting through rock like it was paper, but before it could hit anyone, Gildarts stepped in front and raised his hand using his Magic. In seconds, the shuriken broke apart and dissipated into nothingness.

"Listen, you kids need to get out of here, now," said Gildarts. "Let me handle Willy."

Everyone looked across to Gildarts.

"Wait, you're seriously going to fight him?!" exclaimed Natsu. "You can't, Gildarts! If you end up fighting him, you might kill him! You're way stronger than he is!"

"Take it easy, Natsu. I'll admit holding back ain't really my thing, but I'm not gonna kill him," said Gildarts calmly. "Besides, you need to go after that Satoshi guy, and get Byro some treatment after the beating he went through. Not only that, but Willy's so overwhelmed by his own emotions and power, that his body's tearing himself apart, and his mindset's boiled down to "kill anything that moves," which means if I turn my back on you guys for one second, he'll end up killing you."

"But still... I can't just leave him like this!" said Natsu. "There has to be something I can do to help him! Anything!"

Erza then placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Natsu, think this through for a minute," she said firmly. "None of us are in any shape to help, and Gildarts is the only one left who can still fight. Not to mention we can add Byro to the list of the wounded. We would only be in his way, so let's go."

Natsu was still reluctant, but he knew that Erza was right, so he had no choice, but to agree. "Fine then," he said. "You grab Octogeezer. I'll get Gajeel."

As soon as they started moving, Willy roared and shot towards them, only for Gildarts to block his way.

"Not so fast, Willy. From now on, I'll be your opponent," the man said. "So why don't you play with me for a bit?"

In response, Willy swung his fist, and Gildarts countered, their fists colliding and making a big shockwave. As Erza managed to get Byro on her shoulder, she saw Mira, who was staring straight at Willy, her blue eyes filled with a sense of dismay and sympathy as she watched the two fight.

"Mira, we have to get going," said Erza. "If we stay here, we'll only get in the way."

Mira bit her lips, her fists trembling at their sides as she remained where she stood. Then, she called out to Gildarts, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

"Gildarts! You've got to save Willy! He's suffered so much, and was treated like a savage to the point of becoming broken! Please! Please help him!"

The strongest wizard of Fairy Tail looked back, and gave Mira a reassuring grin. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Mira. When this is over, I'll bring your boyfriend back safe and sound. You can count on that."

Mira was silent as she gave Gildarts a nod, then she went over to Erza and helped her carry Byro away from the area, while Natsu carried Gajeel on his back. As soon as he was sure that the group was out of sight, Gildarts refocused his attention on Willy.

"All right then. I think it's about time that I had a bit of fun," he said to himself. "I've always wanted the opportunity to see how Willy stacks up compared to the others."

He cracked his knuckles as his cape flapped about in the wind, and Willy let out another roar, his magic power flaring and glowing brightly. The two then charged at one another, both cocking back their fists, and throwing punches, signaling the beginning of their showdown.

If you liked what you read, feel free to leave a review and tell me your thoughts!

And as always, thank you for reading! Hope to see you in the next chapter!

Dragomaster, signing off!