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See ya in the Bottom Authors Note!

Vali ran.

He could feel Ezra running right behind him, it was surprising that she could even keep up with his pace, even with her being an accomplished sword master. He was going flat out, had been at this pace ever since he saw the rising smoke miles away.

They'd run into stragglers, injured men and women who they had spoken to ever-so-briefly to understand the nature of the calamity that had struck Sloth city. They had been forthcoming enough with information, but it was all useless. For all he could tell, the city had been struck by what could only be described as a monster of unbelievable power.

Vali pushed harder as he finally crested the hills that surrounded Sloth city, a natural mountainous barrier that had done no good against whatever had struck the city. What he saw gave him pause, a horrified, sickening pause.

The city was lost, vast swathes of what was once buildings and gardens was now ruins. A gigantic scar cut its way through the town. Nothing had escaped the destruction wrought upon the city, and he didn't know what was responsible.

It wasn't some large monster that could be seen from this far, neither could he sense any lingering dark magic.

"Wh-what happened here?" Erza dared to ask, her eyes widening in disbelief. Vali shook his head; he didn't know any better.

"That's what we need to find out, Erza. We'll split up and try to find whatever caused this. If you can find any survivors, prioritize rescuing them. If you find the culprit, do not engage alone." He spoke. Gone was the playful demeanor he attacked life with. Vali was gone, in his place stood Valentine Mizushima, S-class mage of Fairy Tail.

"I'll take the Eastern side of the city." Erza spoke, dashing off into the distance. Vali gave the city one last look before following her. They split at the gate, trying to avoid looking at the mangled corpses of the guardsmen outside the city.

From there, it kept getting worse.

There was simply nothing left. Buildings that once stood tall were reduced to rubble. Mansions had been plowed through, shopfronts that once stood vibrant were now stilled, reduced to nothingness.

Corpses littered the ground, yet not one living soul was to be found. He meandered through the cobbled streets, unknowing what he should do. In all his years as a mage, he'd never seen destruction on this scale.

'This… who would do such a thing?'

His ruminations came to a halt as he stopped by the side of a rather conspicuous building. It was a guild hall, and keeping in theme with 'sloth' city, the – presumably – dark guild that once called it home hadn't even bothered to hide it too well. When he said was, he meant it. The building was reduced to ashes and timber, corpses lay broken and cold leading up towards the remains of the building.

Vali could see the guild's logo featured prominently on the chest of one of the corpses. These were mages of Belphegor's Slumber, and they were all dead.

It was at this moment that Vali's instincts began to scream.

Sheer luck was what saved him from the first attack, and the second was blocked to little effect, the force of the attack sent him flying, and he had to summon his glaive and drive it into the pavement to kill his momentum. He fired back with his own magic, sending two streams of black water at the presumed location of his opponent, only to hit nothing.

"Oh? I thought I'd missed someone. Didn't know the rat that's been giving us so much trouble snuck into town."

Vali turned around and finally got a good look at his opponent. The man was tall, taller than Gildarts by a head at the least. He was muscled in a way that could put professional bodybuilders to shame. His skin was tanned, but whether through exposure or by birth was hard to tell. His face carried a feral smile and darkened eyes that sparkled with excitement, the murderous kind.

'And he is only wearing a loincloth, boots, and greaves. Crazy wildling hobo monster, just my luck.'

"Saves me the trouble of waiting for you. I rather like my city, having it destroyed in a battle would be… suboptimal."

Vali pulled his Gungnir from the ground and gave his opponent a frown. "I'll have you know, I'm not a Fairy Tail mage known for collateral damage. You might wanna ring up Gildarts if that's more your speed."

To his surprised, the man laughed.

"You're a funny one, Valentine Mizushima." He spoke, and disappeared, appearing right in front of Vali faster than he could follow, fist cocked back, ready to throw a punch.

"I hope you fight as well as you joke."

The punch hit Vali square in the jaw with the force of a thousand explosive spells. He was able to dampen some of the impact by moving his face with the punch but there was only so much he could do. His body was sent hurtling through the ruins of the city, punching holes in buildings till he could finally wrest control and land feet-first on the side of a building. He pushed off, aiming right at the guild building, only for his opponent to meet him midway, midair.

"I've always prided myself for being a lighthearted joker, you know?" Vali commented as he struck out with his halberd, a godslayer spell forming in his other hand, yet to be given command. "I'll have you know though, when I go all out, I'm nothing but dead serious."

His enemy was able to dodge the halberd strike with ease, but Vali had to struggle hard to dodge his fists. It was only because Vali was able to get his spell off that the man had to retreat. It was a moment's reprieve, but it allowed Vali to finally hit the ground and start casting more spells.

Nothing landed.

The torrent of destruction that Vali fired off reduced what little was left of the guild and its surrounding buildings to rubble, but his enemy was faster, being able to dodge each spell by a hair's breadth. The man could have easily countered, but he didn't. Instead, he was taunting Vali, showing him that his best efforts were for naught.

"The thing about magic, Valentine Mizushima, is that it's slow." The man spoke, calmly as he started closing the gap to Vali. He walked leisurely, dodging spells like they were never meant to hit him anyway. "You need to imagine, construct, aim, and cast."

He punctuated his walk with a punch, completely disintegrating a jet of water that could blow a man's arm off. "Yet, we still use it, because it is so inherently destructive." He continued, "But after years on the field of battle, I've come to realize that the body itself is the best catalyst for magic. There is no imagination needed, no construction, no time wasted."

At this point, he finally closed the gap, coming face-to-face with Vali. Yet, he didn't attack, he simply grinned.

"And under the right circumstances, our body can be just as destructive as the strongest spells." He finished.

Vali grimaced, backing up. He couldn't beat this man through targeted magic. He would simply dodge. The only way he could see a victory coming his way was if he could overwhelm the man in sheer destructive force. An attack so large it was impossible to avoid.

He had an idea.

As he backpedalled away, the man started to attack. Vali blocked, each hit leaving a dent in the haft of his divine halberd. His hands were growing numb, but behind the man, a storm was brewing, quite literally. All the spells he'd cast, all the water that was in the destroyed ruins of the city, was now coming together and spinning.

"You hold on to your ideals, that magic is king. You believe it will bring you victory on the field of battle, thinking it makes you invincible, but you are mistaken." He spoke, lashing out with a kick that jarred Vali's hands and made him drop his weapon.

"There have been mages like you in every era, and I felled each and every one of them."

Vali was barely able to dodge the punch that followed, even the air displaced by the punch was concussive enough to make him lose his footing. The next hit landed clean on his chest, and he felt a bone break as the pavestones under his foot shattered due to the sheer force of the hit. Yet, Vali's opponent was confused when he looked at his face.

Vali was smirking.

"You talk a lot." He spoke as he kicked out. His body screamed in pain and the man jumped back to dodge, but that was all he needed. He continued to push forward, lashing out with attacks. He summoned his halberd back and continued to push through the pain, but his opponent barely moved.

It was like pushing a rock up a mountain, but the rock had fists that hit like a truck.

Vali felt his right ribs shatter as another punch landed. His plan was simple, keep pushing while keeping his head safe. It was working too. He fired two quick water spells to force the man back and saw success, so he redoubled his efforts, jumping in.

That one mistake almost cost him his head.

The man ducked low and let loose an uppercut that shattered the ground around him through mere wind pressure. Vali tried to dodge sideways and was able to dodge the initial punch but the air it displaced mangled his left arm, ignoring the pain, Vali lashed out with his right, finally connecting and throwing the man back a few paces.

That's all Vali needed.

"I've been working on this one a while." Vali spoke as the man finally realized that he was surrounded by a circle of black water, which proceeded to rise up and engulf him, barring him from view. Vali raised his right arm and finished the invocation of his latest spell.

"[Sea God's Typhoon]"

All the spinning water sped up, completely overwhelming his opponent. It rose higher, no doubt battering his opponent endlessly as it rose. The typhoon kept growing upwards, and the water kept spinning faster. Hope rose in Vali's chest.

It was instantly rent asunder.

His opponent yelled.

The shout was so loud, so concussive, that it blew apart his spell completely, then kept going as it forced him back a few meters. The water was blown out so harshly that when it returned to the ground, it fell as rain. Out of the circle of destruction walked his opponent, barely injured at all, and grinning like a madman.

"A valiant effort, but a pointless one." He commented like he hadn't just been engulfed within a life-ending typhoon of godslaying magic.

"Yet I couldn't do anything to you." Vali replied, trying to stand straight even though his body wouldn't let him. His adrenalin was fading, and the pain of his broken, battered body was making itself known.

"You know I'm going to fuck you up now, right?" The man spoke.

Vali sighed, or at least tried to. It ended up more like a cough, followed by a splattering of blood. Gungnir appeared in his good hand, and he tried his best to take a combat stance. "Do your worst." He commented as he got ready for battle. His opponent only smirked.

"Don't worry, I won't be gentle. I need to make sure you grow from this. So, the next time we meet, you aren't such a disappointment."

Erza didn't hear the battle till it was too late.

She'd found a family buried under the rubble of their own house, yet somehow saved by a falling almirah, by the time she'd extricated them and sent them towards the town's entrance, she'd seen a gigantic spout of water in the distance, on almost the opposite side of the town.

That, combined with the fact that her communications lacrima was dead silent, instantly told her something was wrong.

She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the destroyed city, the dead bodies strewn across the pavement, the overwhelming stench of war. Her mind was completely focused on one thing.

Vali was fighting.

As she broke through a relatively recent patch of rubble, she finally saw the scene of Vali's fight, and it stopped her dead in her tracks.

Vali's broken body lay in the remains of a building, insensate, motionless. A few feet from him, a man with long, white hair and a musculature that belied the limits of humanity slowly walked towards him, only to stop and look directly at her.

It was only her luck that saved her.

She was the one with the pre-emptive advantage, the positioning, and the first contact. She was also not dumb enough to think she could survive someone that could defeat Vali, but her mind rejected all reason and only one emotion came to the forefront.

Rage.

She launched herself at the man, but he stood his ground. Even requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armour mid-attack didn't elicit so much as a twitch from the man, and as she landed her first strike, it became apparent why.

The man had stopped her strike with his fingers.

"The sheep should stay out of the way when lions brawl." He spoke. There was no humour in his tone, only an undercurrent of irritation. He moved his hand to her chest faster than she could see and pushed.

Her armour shattered as she flew back, in her shock, she was unable to recover till she was through a building. The man hadn't attacked to cause any real damage, but to showcase the difference in strength, and he'd done an absolute clinic.

Not to be deterred, Erza stepped out of the wreck of the building she'd been forced to fly through. If the Heaven's Wheel armour had failed her, none of her other armours would help much. It was then that she saw Vali's halberd embedded in the ground next to her. Without a second thought, she pulled it out and lowered her stance, locking eyes with the man again.

She slowly circled around him, aiming to get between him and the warehouse that Vali had been knocked into. The man kept watching. It wasn't till she stopped circling till he grimaced.

"I gave you a warning. He is my opponent, he has earned this lesson. You? You'll just be collateral. Save your life, run. Maybe one day you'll be worth a fight." He spoke. Erza raised an eyebrow.

"He earned it? What about all the people of this city? Did they earn their 'lesson' too? Who are you to decide that!" She yelled. Her grip on the halberd trembled but did not falter.

"No, that was business. Your boyfriend here? That's pleasure." He spoke. "This town brought this fate down on itself. The guild here decided that they'd disband and go into hiding, didn't want to meet the same fate as the other guilds you two did in." He chuckled. "The boss won't have it. When you join the alliance, you only leave in handcuffs, or in a body bag."

Her eyes widened. "You'd… you'd kill your own companions? How despicable."

The man laughed.

"Companions?" He asked between mirth-filled peals of laughter. "Woman, we're dark mages. They only joined us because we promised them some degree of legitimacy. A front of protection as they peddled their business. There's no companionship in this, only respect, and I have none for deserters."

Erza closed the gap between them, she'd never moved as fast as she did at that very moment. Disgust and rage-fueled her magic to an extent she'd never reached before. Even her opponent was surprised, but only slightly.

As evidenced by him evading the attack at the last second.

"Hm, I wonder what that was." He commented, almost breathing into her ear. Stunned by how fast he'd dodged, she couldn't even put up a rudimentary defence as he kicked her in the stomach.

She hit the ground thrice as she was knocked away, leaving cracks in the pavement on each bounce. She didn't let go of Vali's spear, using it to help her stand up. Her body was crying out in pain, she was losing feeling in her legs, but she stood firmly between Vali and the man.

"What about the townspeople? They weren't part of the guild!" She shouted, and again, the man smirked.

"Oh, but they were. You see, Belphegor's Slumber was an active guild before the alliance ever existed. This building behind me was the first thing ever constructed in this city. The city formed around it. What do you think the guild did?" He asked.

Erza had no answer. Most of the guilds were self-explanatory, others simply followed the theme of their city. Belphegor's Slumber, and the two guilds on top, did not follow any special patterns, at least not ones that they knew of.

"Of course you don't. This here is a city where the rich and famous come to live, protected by the guild themselves. They come here because it is easy to access the guild here. The guild, meanwhile, catered to their fancies. Slaves? Drugs? All the vices and then some." He answered, slowly walking towards her. "This town has seen sins that would make the devil cower in terror. There wasn't a man or woman alive in this town who wasn't affiliated to the guild, and so, they too had to die."

Erza stopped. All the other cities, all the other guilds, they'd all been in public places as well, barely separated from the masses by a thin veneer of secrecy.

"It's settling in, isn't it? Dark guilds like us only exist because the people want us, because then need our services. Fiore may be different, but Sin? We've come to thrive with the masses. Had you entered this city, the guard would be upon you before you could ever get to the Guild hall. You could even say I did you a favor." He chuckled. "Now, step aside."

"So you can kill him? You think I'll allow that?" She spoke as he finally closed the gap to her. She couldn't do anything, her hands wouldn't move. He stepped next to her, and gave her a smile.

"No, I don't kill those who show me promise, I teach them so one day they may be better, that we may fight like the gods of war descended onto the Earth. but I don't think he'll make it easy."

That's when Erza felt it.

It wasn't power, power felt oppressive. This was something different. It felt unnerving. It felt like authority. Unspoken, unmentioned, unsurpassed authority. The smile on the face of the man next to her grew into a feral grin as he felt it too.

She turned, and her heart stopped in its tracks.

Vali was standing again, but everything about him felt different. His slouched, carefree posture was nowhere to be found. Instead, he stood tall. His forearms glowed in patterns much like the tattoos of his homeland he spoke so passionately about. Blood covered the left side of his face, and the eye was closed. Only his right eye was open.

And it glowed with a fierce red light.

She was brought out of her reverie as a heavy hand pet her head. She turned to see the man that was to blame for their current situation. There was a genuine warmth to his face, a warmth that belied the killer that hid behind it.

"You're a good kid. Naïve, but your heart is in the right place. One day, you'll be a worthy opponent." He then looked at Vali, who had picked up a large chain from the warehouse and was wrapping it around his broken arm for support. "Much like him."

"Then, you will understand why your boyfriend and me, we cannot help but do this."

"Broken, battered, unable to even put up a fight. Kinda pathetic, innit?"

Vali's eyes opened, but not to the grey skies above the town of sloth. Instead, they opened to a shade of pitch black.

He turned to face the voice that had spoken, only to find a youth that looked remarkably like himself, standing on nothing.

"Feels weird, doesn't it?" He spoke. "To be honest, why wouldn't it. It's not every day you get to meet yourself, especially the you that 'could have been'."

That's when it hit Vali. This version of him was smaller, but not by much. He had the tattoos that signified his Thallassian descent, tattoos that the real him didn't have. Finally, he didn't have the telltale physicality of a demigod. No, his physicality was human, but at the very edge of what a human could achieve.

"Like what you see, huh? Well, can't blame ya, we really are easy on the eyes." Other him spoke, eliciting a chuckle from the real Vali. It died as soon as Vali realized that where he'd been moments ago.

"The fight! What happened?" Vali asked, and other him shrugged.

"Well, the man beat you into the ground. You almost pulled a fast one on him with your spell, but he just wouldn't be contained. So, here you are, somewhere between life and death." He sighed. "He's fighting Erza now, but his intent is solely focused on you."

Vali's eyes widened. "How can you tell?"

Other Vali chuckled. "I'm you, that's how."

Vali was confused. He didn't have any such power, something that would let him detect the intent of his opponent. His copy noticed that and sighed again.

"You were taken by a goddess, I was not. Your home was destroyed, mine was not. You learnt to rely on a power that was given to you…" He paused, waiting for the original Vali to finish his sentence.

"… and you relied on a power you were born with?" He spoke, and his copy smiled.

"Right in one. I know you don't remember, but you were brought to this world by something greater than the gods. Did you really think he wouldn't give you a chance to fight back against this cruel, cruel world?" His copy spoke, confusing him.

"So, what you're saying is that I have the ability to sense him too? How does that help me?" Vali spoke, and other Vali shook his head.

"Sensing your opponent is the just the tip of the iceberg, this lost magic was once pivotal to this world, it plays a part in the stories of the gods you serve. You are a godslayer, and that's great, but me? I'm fucking peerless." Other Vali spoke, and for some reason, it felt right.

His clone put a hand on Vali's shoulder and smiled. "You were put here to be the greatest, Valentine Mizushima. You have a task, you have a path, and you have a family. Now, take hold of the tools to make sure they aren't taken from you."

"Become peerless under the sun. Leave no quarter, do not survive, fucking win." He spoke, and Vali felt a burning sensation on his forearms. When he looked down, he saw the same tattoos on his arm as his copy had, except they were glowing pure red.

"Take hold of your birthright and teach the heavens themselves to fear your might."

The burning subsided, and Vali's vision began to swim, and he fell. The last thing he saw was his clone looking over him with a proud look.

"By the way, music by Tesseract suits this power more than the weak shit you like, normie."

Vali woke again, for real this time, as he could see the grey skies through the warehouse's collapsed ceiling.

Also, he could feel the pain from the various broken bones in his body, but it was dulled, like something was keeping it at bay.

His mind was abuzz. For the first time in his life, he felt his mind clear. All information was coming in bite-sized, prioritized pieces. He could feel, and it was better than seeing. He could see Erza, even though she was hidden by a wall, and beyond, he could feel the monster that stood next to her.

He got to his feet, his legs crying out in pain, but the pain was dulled by thoughts that almost felt like orders. He needed both arms to fight this man, and a heavy chain lying around the warehouse caught his eye. He picked it up, pulling it behind him as stepped out of the warehouse. He felt it as the man's attention left Erza completely, homing in on him instead. He felt it as Ezra followed suit.

He draped the chain tight over his broken arm. He used his other hand to close his fist, straightening out his broken thumb. He notices as his fist wouldn't open anymore, but he didn't need an open palm for what he was about to do.

He took a defensive stance. Arms in front of his face, shoulders up, low centre of gravity, and he waited. His only usable eye glaring into the back of his forearms.

His wait bore fruit as the man leapt at him. He still couldn't follow the man's movement with the naked eye, but he didn't need to. His mind screamed orders at him, and he obeyed, leaning back just fast enough that the man's hook whizzed past millimetres from his jaw. He saw as the man's eyes widened, and then, he struck.

He used his broken arm to arc up, delivering a shattering uppercut into the man's Jaw. He noticed how the man also arced back, dodging the brunt of the impact. The man moved again, faster than Vali could, and delivered a haymaker, leaning his body into the punch. Again, Vali dodged by a hair's breadth. Vali's leg came up, and taking advantage of the man's imbalance, Vali finally landed his first clean hit on the man's face.

There was enough force behind the kick to send the man skittering backwards. His cheek was bleeding, but that did nothing to hide the maniacal smile on the man's face.

"It seems you've reached some sort of resolution, have you not?" He spoke, "You aren't any faster, you aren't stronger either. Yet, you seem different. If you were a knife before, you are now a scalpel."

Vali shrugged. "Let's just say I reclaimed my birthright." He spoke, his voice horse, but clear. He almost didn't recognize the tone of authority that crept into his voice, but he liked it, he liked it a lot.

"Interesting. Very Interesting. Show me more." The man spoke, and Vali obliged.

Having tested the defensive aspect of his new ability, Vali went on the offence. His mind told him how to move, and his body moved in accordance. There was only one thing troubling him.

As his opponent moved, Vali's mind was showing him every possible move his opponent could make. It was slowly overloading his mind, ramping up as the man moved more and more. His initial jab was blocked by the man, who tried to reply in kind. Vali was able to dodge and counter with a clean cross. The man's head snapped back and then came in for a headbutt, which promptly met Vali's knee, making him lose balance. His opponent's face was cut open by the knee, and Vali pressed his advantage, landing a combination of punches that brought his opponent to his knee. As Vali moved in for a devastating hook, his mind screamed at him to retreat. He obliged.

He was lucky he did, as the air where his head was a moment ago was replaced by an arm moving too fast for him to avoid in close range. It was faster than any punch the man had thrown so far.

"You dodged that." He spoke, getting up again. The blood from the cut on his face was trickling down to his chin, yet the smile was still there. "That last punch was serious, but you were able to avoid it."

As he stood up, his body started to leak something red and black, it rolled off him like smoke, yet clung to him like water. His feral appearance was exaggerated by black highlights, and his power grew till it was suffocating.

"You, Valentine Mizushima, have pushed me further than anyone I have met in my life. For that, you have my respect, but I need to see more."

The man charged, and Vali defended. The man was now punching harder and faster, but still, Vali was able to persevere. It was during this onslaught that something became clear to Vali.

His power was taking its toll. His opponent was moving so fast and so erratically that his mind was throwing up orders at an unprecedented speed. On top of that, all the dodging and countering was breaking Vali further, his broken bones were grating, and his speed was dropping. Meanwhile, for every blow he landed on his opponent, he was getting faster and sharper. He was far beyond the realms of human capability at this point, there had to be an end to his growth. Soon enough, one of them would crack.

And it was Vali who faltered first.

He punched with his broken hand, ignoring the pain, but as he punched, the chain came loose. His opponent took notice of it, and so did his mind, shooting him orders yet again. This time, his body simply could not follow, as the man took hold of the chain, and with all his might, he threw Vali into the ground.

Vali felt his back give, something broke, something vital, but his opponent wasn't done yet. He looked down at Vali, and there was a look of sadness on his face.

"If only you'd have awakened this power earlier, maybe you'd stand a chance. I salute you, you gave me a good fight. Know that you faced an opponent you had no hope against and made him bleed. You have Reigus Verdun's respect."

He raised a foot to stomp down. Vali wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't his mind wouldn't let him, and he knew why.

He knew the attack wouldn't land.

He mustered what little power he had, and fighting against all his pain, he lashed out from his prone position with a leg sweep, surprising his opponent and making him lose balance. At the same time, two blurs, one golden and one red, passed him by. He stood up, only for a gigantic spear to whiz past him. He noticed that the land was shaking, and as the gold and red blurs kept Reigus busy, the spear almost took his head off.

"More sheep join the fray… or are they lions?" Reigus spoke as he landed a hit on the golden blur, forcing it to stop and reveal Meliodas. Who took the attack head-on. Before he could counter, though, Reigus was able to back off and land another hit throwing him back. On the other side, Ban moved in, only to get backhanded away. All the while, King kept weaving in and out of combat range with his spear, covering the airspace. His ability told him that they were distracting him from something.

And then, it landed.

A steel mallet the size of a small house crushed the entire area around Reigus a mere millisecond after the three combatants disengaged from it. Reigus was fast enough to brace himself and hold the hammer back, but he was trapped, and the rest of the physical combatants capitalized.

That was when the dam that was Reigus' power broke.

He moved so fast that even with his new power, Vali was at a loss for words. One blink, one blink was all it took for him to knock back Meliodas, Ban, and King, all the while punching straight through Diane's hammer. Before he could capitalize, though, a man who was – somehow – even more muscled than him, came barreling out of the sky, forcing Reigus to dodge and the earth where he once stood to me atomized. Out of the resultant dust cloud walked Escanor, holding aloft his axe.

"Victory will no be yours today, fiend." He spoke, pointing straight at Reigus as the remaining combats recovered from their damage. Reigus, on the other hand, looked pissed off. It surprised Vali because throughout their battle, not once had Reigus shown any emotion other than joy.

"You… you are neither Lions nor sheep. Pests, the lot of you. You dare ruin my mortal duel?" He yelled. Looking Meliodas straight in the eyes. "Do you not see him? Even after so long, he still stands. His will is unbroken, his pride intact. He knows that only one of us will walk away today, yet, you interfere."

"We're not letting you claim another life, you piece of shit." Ban spoke, cracking his fingers. "We're going to make sure you pay for every life you have ended."

"You will do nothing." He spoke. The energy surrounding him dissipated. "I have no interest in any of you. Him, on the other hand, I will fight again." He spoke, pointing at Vali. "The coliseum in my town, one week from now. We will finish this. This world cannot bear two of us."

"You talk as if you're just going to walk away." King commented, readying his spear.

"You talk as if you have any way of stopping me." Reigus spoke and disappeared. Ban and King made to follow, only for Meliodas to raise a hand and stop them.

"We won't catch up to him. We're not as fast, and Merlin isn't here." He spoke. "Plus, we have more important matters to deal with."

He turned his gaze, and so did the rest of his team, only to see Vali, who had lost consciousness while standing defiantly against Regius.

Ezra's mind was in a flurry.

She'd seen some shit. She'd seen Gildarts, she'd seen Laxus, she'd seen Vali, but the version of Vali she saw, going up against that monster, while she was able to do nothing, was showing her the true gulf between her and an S-rank.

The way the fight had gone, the sheer speed and precision of their movements, the sheer power in each punch. It was terrifying and humbling. It had taken that man one halfhearted push to destroy her strongest armour, and Vali had taken god knows how many of his blows before she reached him, before he attained that form.

And then, with his broken body, he'd delivered an absolute beatdown on Reigus.

It was all on a level she couldn't possibly believe. It was also the level that she had to reach. She'd been utterly humiliated, unable to do anything as Vali was forced to fight alone with his broken body. She'd been dead weight.

She hated it with a burning passion.

"He'll be fine. He's a fighter." Ban piped up from beside her. "He really gave it his all against that Reigus. Not many can last against a monster like him."

Erza shook her head. "Yes, but, the other guilds weren't like this. And now we have to contend with a guild that might be potentially filled with people like Reigus…"

Ban shook his head. "Satan's claw is a one-man guild. It's always been a one-man guild. I fought Reigus once, dude left me broken by the side of the road. A guild filled with people like him would be impossible to deal with."

Ban threaded his fingers through his hair. "Your boyfriend, he really is something, huh? I've never seen anyone do any real damage to Reigus, and everyone in our guild's faced him at least once."

Erza's eyes widened. "You lived to tell the tale? That's impressive."

Ban laughed. "Well, I wouldn't quite say that." Seeing the confused look on Erza's face, he continued. "You see, Reigus is… weird. He's got this set of morals. He won't kill anyone who he doesn't see as 'up to his level', unless – of course – it's a mission given to him by the big boss himself."

Erza scoffed. "He told me very clearly that he was going to kill Vali, and that's before he was able to put up a fight… before he unlocked that power…"

Ban smirked. "That was a logical ruse. He was trying to see what you could offer him when you had someone to protect. I wouldn't put it past him to just beat you up and leave after. It seemed like it had a very different effect though."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Ban's smile never left his face. "Well, his body was broken, I think he passed out, yet he kept fighting because – in his mind – Reigus would kill you otherwise."

Erza dropped her head. "Yeah. That makes sense. Yet, I wasn't able to do anything."

Ban gave her a smile. "You didn't need to. Your presence gave him strength. He must love you a lot to give it his all like that. Man, guys like you two really fire me up."

Erza blushed. "You're mistaken, there's nothing between the two of us. I see him like family, like everyone else in my guild."

Ban stopped, "Wait really? Wow, that makes this… really awkward." He spoke.

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, only for the man to sigh.

"The way he fought, the defiant look in his eyes, the fact that he pushed his broken body to the absolute limit and then beyond to protect you… and I thought I was dense. You, lady, you take the cake." He replied, shaking his head and getting up. He looked at her with a worn gaze.

"I'd say, talk to him about this, because what I see is a man who is hopelessly in love, and a woman who has no idea, and it hits really close to home. Oh, and try not to talk to King about this." He spoke, walking away.

Ezra frowned. "What do you mean? What do I do with this information?"

Ban stopped and looked back, his face lax and uninterested. "I'd say, try and let him down nicely. These things can carry a lot of weight, and currently, we need him."

And he left, leaving Erza with some complex emotions she wished not to feel.

Vali didn't expect to wake up.

He didn't even remember passing out, the last he remembered was the seven deadly sins arriving to take over for him.

The other thing Vali didn't expect was the lack of pain. Though that question was answered when he looked to the side, and saw one of the most beautiful women he'd seen in his life. Suddenly, all of Meliodas' struggles made sense to him.

Elizabeth Liones was beyond the mortal definition of 'beautiful.'

"Well, it seems like you recovered well. I'm glad!" She said. Vali nodded, lost for words, as he forced himself out of bed. That's when he felt the soreness, as he almost fell. Elizabeth was there to catch him, but he was able to stabilize himself.

"I couldn't fully heal you, your wounds were life-threatening. Thankfully, I was able to get most of it. The rest of it will recover in a few days, maybe faster given your physiology." She spoke, and he nodded.

"Is Erza okay?" He asked and felt a wave of relief consume his body as Elizabeth nodded. With that confirmed, he moved on to the next order of business.

"Reigus… did you guys get him?"

This time, Elizabeth paused. She made to answer, but was cut off by someone else.

"He escaped, we couldn't stop him." King spoke from the side, standing next to the wall. "And honestly, without Merlin, we probably don't stand a chance against him either way."

He balked at that. "Wait, what do you mean? You're the Seven Deadly Sins! You're like, living legends!"

King sighed. "It takes a little more than legends and stories of the past to take on an entire city that produces the best mercenaries in all of Sin." He spoke. "Reigus' city is a citadel of men that have trained their entire life under him. They have absolute loyalty to him."

Vali sighed. "Okay so he's out of our reach. Do we go for Lucifer's Crown? If we cut them off at the head, we could then get the Queen's help in whittling down Satan's Claw."

King shook his head. "Lucifer's Crown will not give in without a fight. Imagine if we get pincered by both guilds in the fight. It would be disastrous."

Vali was silent for a moment. "So, our only option is for me to take on his challenge, huh?"

King simply nodded.

Vali started walking out of the room. "I guess there's no point waiting then. We have a week. I need to recover and we need to reach his city."

King followed him, "I truly wish there was another way, but even with your might and ours combined, the chances of winning are really slim."

Vali shook his head. "It's alright. There's nothing much that can be done here. I wish things were different."

King nodded. "We have faith. We saw the end of your fight with Reigus, and you gave him a better challenge than anyone in our group did. If anyone has a shot at defeating him it's you."

Vali chuckled. "Well, glad to see that someone has faith in me."

They arrived into an open room like a bar. It was then that Vali realized that they were in Boar Hat, which meant that travel would be taken care of, and that he'd be able to recover in relative peace. Plus the prospect of travelling on a gigantic boar was enough to take his mind off his impending duel.

Then, he saw Erza.

She rushed at him, but he noticed that she hesitated right before she gave him a hug. It was a salve for his soul, to see her relatively unharmed.

"We need to talk, Vali."

Those words, though, filled him with dread.

"Yes, yes we do."

They found a secluded place a little bit away from the bar. It was a small cliffside from where they could see the ruins of Sloth city, a reminder of their failure.

Not foreboding at all.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" He asked. It took Erza a few seconds to react to him. Even then, she felt unfocussed, unable to meet his eyes.

"I… need to know something." She spoke, her voice betraying her. "After you… after that fight, I spoke with Ban. He revealed some stuff, some things that I should have seen coming, but was too dense to see."

Vali felt he knew where this was going, and let her continue.

"Even with your body destroyed, your arm unusable, your chances of winning next-to-none, you fought Reigus. You fought him past the point of no return. You could have died!" She yelled the last part, tears in her eyes, and Vali felt his heart sink.

"You could have died there! Why, why did you go so far. Why didn't you just stay down?" She spoke, her voice wracked with sobs. "You're too smarter than me, and I heard him tell you that he wanted you to learn. He would have let you go!"

Vali stood his ground. "And what about you? You didn't have to fight him. You had no place in that battle, and I heard him say as much too. Why did you interfere. What compelled you to face death to save me pain?"

Erza fumed. "Because you are like family to me! I cannot stand aside and watch as someone I care for gets beaten into the ground!"

"You think I wouldn't do the same for you? He could have killed you! You were in real danger!" Vali said.

"So were you! You kept fighting. You made him need to kill you. Why, why would you go so far?" She spoke, and Vali realized what she was getting at.

"You already know the answer, Erza." He spoke, and then, there was silence.

"I-I cannot return your feelings, Vali. I see you as family, as a brother, as my closest friend. I could never think of you as anything but." She spoke, there was a hitch in her voice, like saying the words physically hurt her, Vali could tell that she cared, but her caring didn't stop her words from feeling like knives, knives being driven slowly and painfully into his heart.

"You still hold the torch for your old friend, don't you?" He asked, and after a second that felt like an eternity, she nodded.

"He has my heart, even in death. I'm sorry, Vali, but I don't think I will ever be able to replace him. I'm so sor-"

"I need you to leave."

His words cut off Erza midway, she looked up, finally meeting his eyes, only to find them lifeless, his face gaunt.

"I understand. I'll give you time to yourself." She spoke, collecting herself. The blank look on Vali's face has jarred her. To see someone so vibrant, so full of life, look like death warmed over and to know that she was the cause… it was just too much.

"I don't think you understand, Erza. I need you to leave this quest." He spoke, again, his tone was emotionless, his eyes didn't follow her, looking straight ahead at the ruins of Sloth in the distance.

"Y-you can't do that! We've come so far, you need as many people as you can ge-"

"You think it's a good idea, keeping you around when the final two guilds have monsters like Reigus amongst their ranks?" Vali asked, and Erza was unable to answer.

"There are only two mages from Fairy Tail here, and I'm necessary for the fight against Reigus. If I die, someone has to update the guild." He finally turned to face her. "As your superior on this mission, I order you to leave for Magnolia at once."

"Vali, be reasonable. I know you're angry." She started speaking, but he put up a hand.

"This has nothing to do with that. Even if we didn't have this enlightening conversation. I'd ask you to leave." Vali spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If I die, someone has to be there to tell the guild how it happened, maybe get Gildarts out to finish what I started."

"You won't die, you can't." Erza shook her head. She locked eyes with him again, again, the same, lifeless eyes met her.

"I make no promises. Now, gather your things and be on your way." Vali commented, walking off.

Erza couldn't find it in herself to move for a while.

It wasn't till he was halfway back to the bar that King walked out to join him. Vali knew that King had heard them. A byproduct of his new power was that he could feel people around him even when the power was inactive.

"That… could have gone better." King spoke with an understanding gaze, Vali could only muster a small chuckle.

"It had to be done. I can't have her come any further. She's not ready." He replied.

"And you think you are?" King asked.

"I cannot be sure. I need to recover, I need to prepare. I have a week, and then possibly the most important fight of my life." He spoke, not stopping to wait for King. "All I can do is hope my best is enough."

With that, he walked into the bar, closing the door behind him, leaving King alone with his thoughts.

"You'll do fine, for it is when you have nothing to lose that you find a man's true worth." King spoke to no one in particular, turning to face the horizon.

"What this battle will bring, only the Gods know. All I know is that you will be a different person, Valentine Mizushima. I look forward to seeing what this duress will turn you into." He spoke.

"After all, the strongest of diamonds are formed by the greatest pressure."

Right well… sup? Uhh, I did tell y'all a few chapters back that y'all probably won't like what we have planned and that more than a few of y'all will drop it and well… here it is!

T-Tada~

A-Aha… Well, anyways this chapter was fully written by my Co-Writer and Beta Reader CruelRuin! Honestly the chapters are amazing and to a much higher standard than my usual stuff so y'all could probably tell I didn't write it.

Anyways onto the important stuff, I guess?

First off the Vali/Erza Ship… yeah that isn't happening anymore… sorry. Basically what happened was I started feeling really forced with everything, the romance and everything was so superficial it killed to write and was arguably one of the reasons this fic took such a bring/low streak. Now, Vali and Erza will still be friends and Vali does still have another pairing, who that is won't be revealed just yet though.

Next Reigus and the whole shit storm happening in Sin. I actually like how everything is progressing because it contrasts everything in the story so far. It's not relaxing, it's not little to no risk and everything is happening all at once. The Guilds aren't just gonna be sitting around and waiting like the other few. The fact that Belphegor's slumber decided to try to pull out of the alliance is proof that stuff is going on.

Now, all that's left is Satans Claw and Lucifers Crown, both of which are important to the plot!

Now Imma rant because some things are annoying me.

Some of y'all are wanting this arcover for many reasons. People say it's too long or that they want to see canon or whatever and while I do agree with some of these statements I also want to point out that it's probably not gonna go down like that.

This arc is very long and pretty boring and that's completely my fault. I ended up fucking everything up because I went through a really rough patch however I'm hoping the latest chapters are much better.

However what's 'Annoying' me - and I use that in the lightest sense since it only bugged me a bit - was that people are wanting to see Canon so soon after this arc. Now I've got nothing against that but It's not gonna be happening. The next few arcs are gonna be original arcs that will be separate from canon. In fact, Vali won't be in canon for a while. He's gonna be doing other things important to Vali.

Don't get me wrong, Vali will make an appearance in Canon and his presence will change things but this story is the story of Valentine Mizushima. Not the story of Natsu Dragneel. He's not gonna be there on every single quest Natsu was on. He'll be doing his own stuff. The focus of this story is Vali's life in FT and Vali isn't gonna be a character who's just injected into Natsu's Plot.

I hope that makes sense, but the next few arcs will be amazing and it'll set up the canon Vali returns to very nicely. Or well, he should anyways.

I also hope I don't come off as condescending or rude during that spiel because I was just trynna explain why those comments agitated me and if I did then I sincerely apologise because I genuinely wasn't trying to be mean.

Anyways that's me for this week. I'll see y'all when Ruin finishes the second chapter he's writing

Peace out!

Khaos!

Also, I mentioned last week that I was working on a Danmachi fanfiction. I'm still working on it and it's turning out pretty good so far. However, I do feel bad for poor Ash… honestly, the beginning for this fic and for Ash's is pretty similar except… well, Ash's families death was much more traumatic for the poor boy.

And I even tried to keep them alive! Just goes to show that the parents of a character actually do have to die for them to become a true Shonen Protagonist!

Anyways, 'Legend of Fire' will probably appear on this page soon. Though it may have a different name. Legend of Fire sounds kinda trash to me but eh...

P.S. If either Bored, Ginger, Zephyr, Brighter, Sammay- basically anyone from the discord sees this- Nyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahaahaaa!