Chapter 69

Oracion Seis' Cobra

Natsu

Thanks to Happy, I was able to take to the sky when the whole city began to shake. I watched as it physically rose from the ground on six legs. Many of the buildings crumbled to the ground and buried much of the streets. This included the one Gray, Juvia, and Angel were on. Fortunately, they seemed to be okay. They were just buried under the rubble.

I lifted one of the boulders that trapped them in and felt the ground beneath me shift again.

"Hey, be careful!" Gray shouted, "We don't need to get in even more trouble!"

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to reply with something snarky back, but Gray was right, if I wasn't careful their situation could get worse.

"Ah, so they're buried down there?"

I jumped at the sudden voice. It was nobody I recognized, maybe it was someone here to help?

"Not really. I'll save Angel, but I don't really care about what happens to the other two."

I turned around to face the person. I looked in the sky and found a man riding a purple flying serpent.

"The name's Cobra, and I'm a member of Oracion Seis."

I lit my fist on fire. Something was telling me he wasn't going to help me.

"What gave it away? I told you I'm not interested in saving your friends. Only Angel."

I was getting confused now, how was he answering my questions? I wasn't even saying anything out loud.

"You don't have to say anything." He replied, "I already know what you're thinking. Now, let's get this out of the way."

He swooped down on me with his serpent. Happy fripped onto my back and flew me away from the man. We didn't escape though, in fact, he must have anticipated what Happy was about to do. His dive bombs instantly changed direction, and he landed a solid blow on me. He only hit me though, so Happy was still able to get us some distance.

"A little aerial battle, eh? Let's see who makes the better team, you and Happy, or me and Cubellios?"

"Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye sir!"

Happy flew at Cobra and I readied my Fire Dragon's Iron Fist spell. We aimed straight for Cobra. His serpent, Cubellios, slithered its body so as to launch Cobra into the air. The timing was absolutely perfect. Happy and I didn't have the chance to readjust our trajectory, and I got a shin to my face as a result.

"Gah!" I clutched my stinging face.

Cobra fell back onto Cubellios and shot me a knowing grin.

"Come on, Happy! We'll get him this time!"

We flew at Cobra and Cubellios and threw our best at them, but they easily dodged all of my attacks. He even got a few good hits in himself. It was like he was predicting every move I was about to make. I was getting very frustrated.

"Gah, take this!" I slammed my fists together, "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

A large stream of fire shot from my mouth at Cobra. He simply extended his palm in response.

"Sound Wall."

My magic hit something. Whatever it was, it stopped my spell in its tracks. The fire spread across the area but never reached Cobra. When the flames died down, Cobra was still flying in the same place he was before. A moment later, he was flying towards us. He looked like he was ready to strike, so Happy and I tried to maneuver out of the way. Cobra and Cubellios adjusted their position instantaneously. Cobra landed a few hits on me, before throwing me back towards the ground. Happy stabilized us before we could reach it.

"Erik, please stop!" Sorano called out from the ground.

I turned my attention to my now freed allies, only to get a right hook to the face.

"Alright, alright, fine!" He yelled down to his former teammate, "I'll finish him now!"

Cubellios flew at us with its fangs bared. They suddenly veered off course when an ice arrow shot past them. Seeing the opening that Gray might have gotten us, Happy and I charged forward and attempted to hit Cobra again. It was to no avail. Cobra and Cubellios effortlessly dodged our attack.

"Erik, I don't want to have to fight you!" Angel cried out.

"That's fine by me." He replied and he kicked me in the gut.

It was seriously becoming a major problem that I couldn't lay a finger on this guy. I was by no means the best at aerial combat, that was reserved for Wendy and Carla, but I was no slouch either!

"Hm, you think Wendy and Carla might be able to match me?" Cobra asked.

"H-how do you know them?"

Cobra looked dumbstruck as he replied, "What part of I can read minds do you not understand?"

"So…you don't know them?"

Cobra's eye twitched, "No, I don't know them!"

I furrowed my brow. I had no idea how he could be reading my mind. I'd never heard of magic like that before. Given how he was smiling at me now, I had a feeling he was reading my mind now.

"Let's go, Cubellios."

The flying snake dashed towards me and Cobra took another shot at me. Once again, I was unable to dodge out of the way. His serpent bent around and whacked my with its tail and knocked us back a bit.

"We're getting nowhere!" Happy complained.

"If we were just a little faster." I mused, "I just need to get a good hit on him."

Happy gasped and before I could ask what was wrong, he started dashing around the battlefield.

"Oh, you think that'll work?" Cobra asked as he intercepted us.

I crossed my arms in front of me as he landed a kick on me, and Cubellios swiped me with its tail again. We flew at an alarming speed towards the ground, but Happy managed to stabilize himself and continued flying around. I caught Cobra approaching us like a blur, and I wouldn't have been able to defend against another strike. I felt something graze my leg as we flew past him.

"Stay still!" Cobra yelled, "Sound Palm!"

I couldn't catch what he was doing, Happy was moving to fast for that. While we probably had the speed necessary to land a hit on Cobra, there was no way we could coordinate our attack. I was beginning to get disoriented and was feeling a little motion sickness.

Suddenly, Happy released me into the sky. I turned around in midair to catch Happy flying straight at Cobra.

"Max Speed Attack!"

Like a bullet, Happy closed the distance between the two in an instant. Cobra had no time to react as Happy slammed head-first into Cobra. Cobra rocketed off of Cubellios and hit the ground. I smiled, finally understanding what Happy was doing.

Cubellios was just turning around to meet with Cobra, but I wasn't about to let him do that. Firing off my magic from my feet, I rocketed towards the flying serpent.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

I contacted Cubellios and launched it into the ground as well. Unfortunately, I was also on a crash course for the ground. I closed my eyes in preparation for the pain, but instead, water exploded around me! I opened my eyes to see I was fully submerged in a large bubble of water.

"Water Lock." Juvia said from slightly below me.

"Thanks!" I bubbled out, giving Juvia a thumbs up.

Juvia released her spell and I dropped safely to the ground. I looked over to Cobra to see him picking himself up. He had Happy in his hand, looked at him for a moment, and threw him to the side.

"Happy!"

"Cubellios…"

"Erik please, just end this already. This isn't worth it!"

"You…hurt Cubellios." I heard the anger flaring in his voice.

Angel ran up to meet me, "Erik, Cubellios is going to be fine."

Cobra looked at me with pure hatred. He clenched his fist and rushed towards me, "I'll make you pay!"

I dashed at him, ready to give him an Iron Fist as well.

"Natsu, stop!"

"Fire Dragon's…" my fist erupted into flame.

"Poison Dragon's Iron Fist!" A blackish red miasma covered Cobra's arm as he ducked under my own attack and slammed his fist into my stomach. He followed through and threw me to the ground.

I felt immense pain in my stomach area as he reared back for another blow, "You aren't the only Dragon Slayer here."

He was forced to retreat though as a flurry of ice shards came our way. Cobra jumped out of the way as the ice passed harmlessly above me. I wanted to get up, but I was in such immense pain that all I could do was lay there clutching my stomach.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review!