Carla knelt in front of Ultear in her human form as protection. Kai inched his way over as well. Mard Geer's eyes fell from that pathetic lot over to the tall and proud Iggy and Wendy.
"The last chance I had to squash those two vermin I was robbed," Mard Geer said. "But I suppose some force has given me an opportunity to fix this."
"I won't let you get away, little girl," the massive blue demon said. He looked like some sort of spiky octopus.
"You know I was hoping to get to flex my new power on my own in front of Carla," Iggy said. Carla blushed. "Guess Mard Geer will do."
"I'm not some sparring partner for you."
"Exactly. You're just a benchmark."
Mard Geer laughed. "The brazen spirit of Fairy Tail is what makes crushing them so delightful."
"It was Natsu and Gray who defeated you last time," Iggy said.
"It was only because there was Demon Slayer magic present," Mard Geer said. "Whatever pithy magic you have will not even come close to my strength."
"Let's find out. Wendy, you got this other guy?"
Wendy focused on him and ignited into Dragon Force, making the other demon wince.
"Ezel, right?" Wendy asked. "You used to big and scary, now you're just in our way."
Chills ran through Kai. Damn, Wendy, that was cold.
"Ezel, crush her friends," Mard Geer said. "Then kill the Dragon Slayer. I want to watch the hope fade from her eyes."
The blue demon nodded and launched at Wendy. Iggy swung her arm out and redirected him.
"Not so close," she said, and Ezel went flying. Wendy soared after him.
Mard Geer sneered. "That was a might bit more impressive than I would have expected. Judging by everyone's appearances I would think that some time has gone by."
"You threatened my entire family while I sat by helplessly," Iggy said, starting toward Mard Geer. "I could only fly around and get people to safety, if I was lucky. I couldn't actually stop you if you decided to bear down on us with all of your strength. Well now I want you to do just that. I want you to give me everything you've got, and I'm going to obliterate you."
"Those aren't the words of a fairy."
"They're the words of a pegasus."
Mard Geer crossed his arms. "I won't waste my time on a vengeful little girl. There are far greater creatures who need my attention. I sense another of my brethren on this country that I wish to see."
Iggy let that comment slide. Kai tensed. Another brethren? All of Tartaros was destroyed in the battle. Unless he meant another demon of the Books of Zeref. That wouldn't be too surprising if Zeref stacked the Spriggan Twelve with some of those, just to give him a tactical and masterful edge.
Iggy stopped and held both of her hands out. Lightning and thunder cracked around.
"Storm Sabers: Cumulus and Stratus!"
Two swords, like her other Storm Sabers, appeared in her hand. Mard Geer flicked his wrists down at her and sent vines flying at her that she easily cleaved apart. Iggy zipped through the air at Mard Geer, who tried to dance away from her but got a boot to the shoulder when Iggy twirled around in anticipation of his move.
Mard Geer flipped around and caught himself on his thorns. He created massive network of thorns to protect himself from Iggy, who flew by overhead, aiming her swords down at him.
Thunder boomed and the winds swelled down around her, ripping through the thorns like they were nothing.
Mard Geer set his jaw at the sight and charged into Iggy while she drove down at him. He dodged one strike and struck her hard while black lightning coursed around his fist.
Iggy flew away, but not at all in pain, just from the force of the attack. She swung around and toward Mard Geer, who'd collected himself once again.
He held a hand out toward her. "Bind!"
Thorns shot out of the ground in pursuit of her. Iggy ignored them, still heading straight for Mard Geer.
She ripped through him, though it was only an illusion. Mard Geer reappeared in front of Kai; not to worry, though, as a localized tornado blew Kai back a bit but also sucked Mard Geer up and spat him back out into the sky.
"Enough toying around," Iggy said, standing tall in front of Kai, her storm sabers crackling with lightning. "It's time you took this fight seriously."
"As if I need to," Mard Geer responded, landing gently a few feet away. "None of your attacks have caused me any damage. I don't fear you."
Iggy stepped toward him once more. Mard Geer's smile persisted.
"Is that why you've landed fewer hits than I have?" Iggy asked. "You don't have any reason to fear me yet because we haven't even begun to fight. I just wanted to warm up a little."
"Then why don't you start trying?"
"Because I don't want things to be over before I see that Etherious form of yours."
"You don't have the honor."
Iggy nodded and vanished, her sheer speed completely stunning Mard Geer as she reappeared next to him, far too fast for him to realize that she'd moved.
A huge gust of wind blasted Mard Geer away as Iggy took his spot atop the hill.
"How's that little sneak peak?"
Mard Geer managed to catch himself. "Explosion!"
Thorns shot up around Iggy, lighting up.
"Skybreaker!"
The air shimmered and shivered around Iggy, then it burst before Mard Geer's explosion could take place, the two cancelling one another out and shooting dust everywhere. Mard Geer launched thorns into the area to draw Iggy out, and it worked as she descended the hill toward him.
"You have power, demon!" Iggy shouted, slicing across his chest with her storm sabers. "Not speed!"
A thorn almost punctured Iggy's side but she sliced through it and head-butted Mard Geer away.
The demon bled for the first time that…well, the first time that Kai ever saw.
"How dare you," he growled. "If it is your wish to truly die, then far be it from me to grant it."
"Don't make this about me," Iggy said. "It's what you need to do."
Mard Geer snarled. "Wretch! You will suffer beneath my heel!"
A dark vortex consumed him before black lightning coursed around him and the ground trembled around everyone. Even Kai felt shivers. Carla ducked down to protect the two from the flying bits of debris.
Iggy stood tall, waiting for the transformation to finish. She wasn't even breathing heavily. How much power had she really exerted in this fight?
Kai bit the inside of his lip. All of this power had really been stored away for so long? Or was Iggy already tapped out at a hundred percent, and now she'd just finally meet her match?
Well, he supposed she wasn't known as Blue Pegasus's strongest mage for nothing.
Mard Geer's Etherious form took hold and he lowered his arms and spread his wings while Iggy spread her own wings, positively shining in the face of his darker, sharper, more demonic wings.
Iggy raised her arm. "Skybreaker!"
Mard Geer moved into the spell, through the explosion.
"That's more like it," Iggy muttered, and stepped into his attack, matching his fist with her own, the two's collision shattering the ground beneath them.
Iggy stabbed upward with her sword that Mard Geer swatted aside. He blasted her away with a powerful purple energy beam then followed, completely ignoring Kai and the others.
Had that been her plan? Piss him off enough so that he'd be distracted and enamored with her? Maybe give Wendy enough time and leeway to defeat Ezel and get back to heal everyone?
Iggy took to the skies alongside Mard Geer, occasionally exchanging blows. Kai half-smiled. The hubris on that demon. He hadn't even realized that he rose up into her domain.
The two clashed again, dark and bright lightning colliding as their magic exploded. Iggy stood atop a cloud for a moment as Mard Geer waited for an attack, then swung up and ushered a huge wave of powerful black magic at her.
Iggy weaved around it and Mard Geer absorbed the attack, then flung her away and berated her with a barrage of attacks, sending her plummeting to the ground.
Iggy slid back, clearly wounded. Her storm sabers were gone.
Mard Geer soared down at her.
"Explosion!"
Iggy moved to dodge but Mard Geer had created a second one, blowing it up where Iggy moved to. She screamed in pain as Mard Geer crushed her into the ground.
Iggy kicked him away, scrambling to get to her feet and then taking flight once again. Mard Geer, like a rabid dog, pursued, not giving her an inch or a moment to even breathe.
There, at last, came the fear of battle in Iggy that spurred on her warrior heart. The fear that gave her purpose, that told her how to survive.
The fear she craved for so long.
Because it was, at last, a fear to act on.
"Storm Saber: Nimbus!"
The storm saber shot down riding a bolt of lightning into her hand that she shot down, point-blank, on Mard Geer, who took the attack full-force and was only temporarily stunned. Iggy grimaced. Maybe she'd been expecting that.
Mard Geer sped up, shooting through the sky at a sonic speed that Iggy could, indeed, outmatch.
She still held the storm saber in her hand and slowed down enough for the demon to reach her. She swung the blade down at him and he blocked.
"Skybreaker!"
The sky seemed to pulse before blowing the two combatants apart. Mard Geer recovered fast while Iggy did the same, grimacing. Mard Geer struck hard and fast, slicing through the sky, magic lashing out at Iggy. Some of them hit her, drawing blood from her face and her hands.
She swung through one with her blade, deflecting the power back at Mard Geer who dodged it and aimed an attack at Iggy.
"Enough! You're proven to be a formidable opponent, but my time on this plane is not long. It's time you died. Memento Mori!"
Sheer darkness consumed Mard Geer as well as the skies that Iggy once commanded. She dropped her storm saber, reaching out for two more before she slammed her hand together.
"Tronada Storm!"
A huge cloud of storms lowered around Mard Geer, casting lighting all around as the dark mists around him shifted to cover Iggy.
At once, silence befell the battlefield before both the opponents broke through the silence with their own shouts and yells. Magic built and built and pressure mounted in the sky even to the point of the ground shaking and breaking around them.
"What's going on up there?" Carla asked.
"Titans are clashing," Ultear muttered. "The heavens are colliding with the shadows. It's only a matter of who wins."
"We know exactly who is going to win," Kai said through grit teeth. "Iggy! Don't you dare give this guy an inch!"
Both spells flared their auras, colliding and causing a massive explosion that rocked the area around them.
In a blinding flash, both warriors blasted from their positions in the sky and broke into the ground near the others. Carla, in an instant, rushed in Iggy's direction, but stopped when Mard Geer's low laugh filled the once-sullen silence. Kai's heart raced.
"Nothing can break the Memento More." He rose through the dust and debris, his armor and carapace shattered. He could only hobble.
"And nothing can break me."
Mard Geer froze, too frightened to move. Carla gasped and Kai smiled ear-to-ear.
Striding out from her crater, holding a broken arm on one side and closing her eye from the heavy blood running down her head, with one wing significantly clipped, strode Iggy.
"You—what are you?"
"A wizard of Fairy Tail. Iglacia Stormrunner. Remember this name when I send you to hell."
Mard Geer nearly doubled over from pain and brokenness. "Th—this is impossible. How have you all gotten so strong?"
"So we can beat foes even greater than you," Kai said.
Mard Geer spat out blood, demonically black, and laughed again. "But you're so blind that you cannot see that your greatest foe is in front of you. Has been near you all this time!"
"We will defeat Zeref," Ultear said, straining the words.
"No, not him. He's your friend. Yes, I realized it only too late." Mard Geer managed to stand straight. "You are friends with E.N.D. And soon, that shall be your ruin."
"I've had enough of your talk," Iggy said. "Enough of your fear-mongering! This is it, demon!"
She leapt into the air, holding both hands over her head, then ushering in a mighty stream of wind and magic that obliterated Mard Geer on the spot.
Iggy tumbled forward, crashing to the ground between Kai and the others, and could not move. Carla slid to her side. Kai used his sword to get to his feet.
"Is she breathing?"
Carla nodded. "Yes, thankfully, but she's…she's heavily wounded. Even more than when Wendy found you."
"She defeated Mard Geer all by herself," Ultear said. "Of course she would be."
"Where did she even come from?" Kai asked. "He died. Natsu said Zeref himself eliminated him."
"Wendy destroyed Ezel last year, too," Carla said. "He can't have come back unless they have some sort of Necromancer."
Iggy groaned while Carla held her. Ultear barely found the strength to roll over and watch them all.
Kai surveyed the battlefield. Quiet, thankfully, and riddled with destruction and damage. There were far fewer sounds of battle coming from Hargeon. Based on the scents there, Kai could only assume Fairy Tail was winning out.
Wendy arrived a few moments later, soaring back from the battlefield not all that damaged.
"Iggy first," Ultear said before Kai.
"No, Kai," Iggy said weakly. "I can't do anything in this state."
Wendy shuffled back and forth between the two. Carla nodded to Kai while adjusting her hold on Iggy.
The Sky Dragon Slayer completed Kai's healing. Indeed, he was back at a hundred percent, just like Ultear had hoped for. He nodded at her.
"Thank you, again," Kai said.
"Don't mention it," Ultear said.
Wendy set to work, quickly, with healing Iggy. Kai sighed, happy to no longer feel that intense weight of exhaustion. He and Iggy locked eyes, and there was a clear joy in them. Joy that she managed to defeat Mard Geer and prove herself.
"We should head into town once Iggy's all good," Kai said. "Wendy can recover on our way back to Magnolia."
"You and Gray need to set up the perimeter," Ultear said. "Hargeon may not be safe otherwise."
"There may be Spriggan reinforcements coming if they learn of the other three's defeat," Carla agreed. "It may be best if some of us stay behind."
"Splitting up is dangerous," Kai said.
"And so is abandoning the town," Ultear said.
Kai nodded. "You're right." Why was he always with people just that much further ahead of him in intelligence? He wished he was with Natsu now. Then he wouldn't be the dumbest person in the room.
Kai leaned down and picked Ultear up. She was practically limp in his arms, unable to even hold onto him for extra support.
"I'm so sorry," he muttered.
"Don't be," Ultear said. "I did what was necessary to save us all."
"You're a hero."
Tears welled in Ultear's eyes. "Meredy would've said the same thing."
"Because it's true."
Ultear smiled, and winced in pain from doing so. Kai turned around.
Wendy was still healing Iggy, Carla was still resting by Iggy's head. Kai approached and stopped.
A faint red aura permeated the ground around them…no, the whole world around them. He glanced around.
"What's going on, who's doing this?"
The ground began to rumble.
"What's happening?" Iggy asked.
"Wendy, stop!"
Wendy cut off her magic, just in case this new aura would do something. The light intensified. Kai slid forward toward the girls before everything burst alight in red and, in a flash, everything settled down.
He cautiously opened his eyes. He hadn't felt a rush or really anything against him. What'd even happened…?
"W—what's this?" Carla muttered.
"Impossible," Ultear said. "How are we here?"
Kai shook his head, making sure to hold onto her even tighter than before.
The five all lingered on a hill, one that'd never been there before, that overlooked a massive battlefield brimming with soldiers that waited right before Magnolia. Several structures and small villages that'd once been miles upon miles away were now practically on top of Magnolia.
Not to mention all of the scents and smells that'd suddenly returned to Kai's nostrils. Ajeel and Dimaria, it appeared, were back.
"Great," Kai muttered. "All that hard work for nothing."
"She won't have her God Soul," Ultear said in his arms. "We defeated Chronos, banishing him from her body. She's no real threat to us anymore, besides whatever Time Magic she may have left over."
"Ajeel is another issue, then," Iggy said.
"Anyone else around?"
"We're the closest ones," Kai said. He gestured at the waning sunlight. "And night is coming. Whatever spell this is must've completely reorientated space and time around us."
"We can't just rest here so close to the enemy."
A massive pressure built out from the town, and not just from the surrounding army. Zeref was in there too, and someone that smelled an awful lot like Erza.
"We can't take on everyone in there alone," Kai said, and set Ultear down against one of the nearby trees. "Besides, we need to give Wendy time to recover, too. We should wait to see if we hear anything."
"Just sit around and wait? What about our guild hall and everyone in there?"
Kai sighed. She was right. If Zeref had control of the guild hall, then he could have control of Fairy Heart.
He set his teeth. Iggy and Wendy looked exhausted.
"The enemy isn't moving, they're waiting for something too," Kai said. "We just have to hope we'll be ready enough for us, when the times comes, to stop them."