AN: Thank you NinjaFang1331, Goku275, AliceCullen3, Wadeparker, and skyalpha27.
I don't really have anything else to say this time. I hope you enjoy the chapter.
"I think we lost them," said Yukino as she and Rogue ran down a hallway. Ahead, she saw a crossroads. "Let's turn right up ahea— ugh!"
Out of nowhere, the two Fairies felt a crushing weight slam down on them. From the left path of the crossroads, out stepped Franmalth. Oddly, the Etherious had a pair of scales hanging from his horns.
"You won't get away!" laughed Franmalth. The demon then turned toward Rogue. "Now, I'll be taking your… crap!"
As Franmalth spoke, Rogue sank into his shadow. He had forgotten that the dragon slayer could do that.
Rogue's shadow darted toward Franmalth. The dragon slayer flew up out of the ground, Shadow Drive active and a punch wound up. "Shadow Dragon's Slash!"
"Aaaaargh!" screamed Franmalth as Rogue punched his face. "Again with the face! How much will you pay for that!?"
"Shut up!" responded Rogue coldly. To him, the Etherious was nothing but an obstacle on his way to rescuing Frosch. "Shadow Dragon's Haste!"
The dragon slayer brought his open hand to Franmalth's face, determined to end this battle as soon as possible. However, he jerked his hand away at the last moment, when the demon's head was replaced with Libra's. Rogue's spell shot to the side, destroying a wall rather than the Etherious.
"Libra!" exclaimed Yukino.
Not one to ignore a potential cheap shot, Franmalth returned his head to normal and sucker punched Rogue. The dragon slayer was knocked right, slamming into a wall. Franmalth looked at the now-injured Rogue smugly, admiring his handiwork. Unfortunately for Franmalth, he was not the only one willing to attack a distracted foe.
"Open Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!" declared Yukino, summoning the two gigantic fish. "Both of you, attack that demon at the same time!"
Pisces obeyed, ramming into Franmalth, knocking him back a few feet. They followed up with another strike, which the Etherious reacted to by turning his head back into Libra's.
However, this only stopped the light fish, who had aimed for his head. The dark fish, having aimed for his body, continued his attack unfettered and made the Etherious gasp in pain.
"Did you think I wouldn't see that coming?" asked Yukino rhetorically. It was pretty obvious that they just needed to attack the demon in unison to overcome his trick. "Now give up and undo whatever you did to Libra!"
"You little brat!" shouted Franmalth. "I'll show you the most valuable soul in my collection!"
The Etherious's face morphed, though everybody only looked at him with confusion.
"Are we supposed to know who that is?" asked Rogue.
"We've got to hurry, Lector!" shouted Sting, as the Exceed flew them toward where they saw Face on the map. "Faster!"
"I know!" replied Lector. "But… how are we supposed to shut down Face?"
"I'm not sure, but we have to!" said Sting. "If Master Natsu were here, he'd find a way! So I'll stop Face even if that means smashing it to bits with my bare hands!"
The rest of the flight passed quickly, and the two soon found themselves plunging into the Great Caverns of Cowbane Canyon. Lector, his Magic Power exhausted from the trip, rested in Sting's arms as the dragon slayer walked through the caves in search of Face.
After searching for a bit, Sting felt a trace of Face's magic. He began following it, until a demonic voice echoed through the caverns.
"A rather skinny morsel," complained the voice. "Kyôka just had to stick me, Ezel of the Nine Demon Gates, with a petty task like this!"
Sting turned to the source of the voice, in time to see an Etherious with tentacles for a lower body shooting toward him.
"Tartaros!" exclaimed the dragon slayer to himself. Sting jumped back, dodging Ezel's pounce, then started running away. "He must be the one who started up Face. I'd love to kick his… does he have an ass? No, not important! I need to find Face as soon as possible!"
"I can hear you, bastard!" roared Ezel as he chased after Sting. It pissed the demon off that a mere human thought so little of Ezel that he spoke such mindless things while running from him. "I think I'll have some fun and cut loose a bit! Tenga Goken… Onimaru!"
The Etherious crossed his arms, then swung them out. An enormous shockwave launched forward, cutting through the cavern walls and floor. Sting narrowly avoided it, gaping as he noticed how deep the holes produced by Ezel's Curse were.
Unfortunately, this moment of distraction cost the dragon slayer. The demon slammed a tentacle into his body, knocking him into a wall and making him drop Lector. Then, as Sting recovered from the blow, Ezel unleashed another of his Curse attacks.
"Juzumaru!"
The force of the Curse sent Sting flying. He smashed through a wall, producing an x-shaped hole. When the dragon slayer came to a stop, he was battered but intact.
"It's a good thing I activated my Dragon Force," the Fairy thought to himself. Indeed, Sting had reflexively triggered the Dragon Force before Ezel's Juzumaru landed, saving him from having any limbs severed.
As the dragon slayer rose to his feet, the Etherious walked through the x-shaped hole. Rather than use his Curse, though, Ezel gazed at something behind Sting and spoke. "Look. This is Face!"
Sting turned around, gasping as he saw a giant white pillar with a top shaped like a face.
"Only five minutes until it goes off," continued Ezel. "I'm tempted to let you live until then, just so you can suffer. Seeing Face puts me in a good mood, however, so I think I'll do you a favor and crush you into power before that happens."
"Like hell I'd let that happen!" yelled Sting, shock replaced with anger as he turned back to the Etherious. "In the next five minutes, I'll kick your ass and stop Face! White Drive!"
The true battle had now begun.
"It's Hades!" shouted Franmalth, both shocked and angry that his opponents didn't recognize this soul. "He was the master of Grimoire Heart! A founding member of your guild and its second master! How do you not know what he looks like!?"
So focused on his rant, the Etherious failed to notice Rogue's attack until it was too late. "Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!"
The dragon slayer morphed into a shadow that twisted around Franmalth, then slashed away at him as it reformed into Rogue's body. He looked at the demon with disdain. "It doesn't matter whose soul you try to use against us. We will defeat you, stop your guild, and rescue everyone!"
"Then I'll just take your souls!" exclaimed Franmalth, launching Hades's Chain Magic at the dragon slayer. Rogue dodged, only to find his leg grabbed by one of the demon's stretched arms. It was swiftly accompanied by the demon's other hand gripping his shoulder.
"Contact!" shouted Franmalth, pulling the dragon slayer towards him.
"Not a chance!" responded Rogue, firing a Shadow Dragon's Haste from his hand. It hit the demon, forcing him to release Rogue. The dragon slayer then took advantage of the shortened distance between himself and his opponent. He activated his Dragon Force and breathed in, preparing his spell. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!"
"Ooooooh!" yelled Franmalth, oddly sounding happy instead of in pain from Rogue's spell. "I like this soul. Absorb!"
"What!?" exclaimed Rogue, baffled as he watched the Etherious absorb the 'soul' of his magic and become wreathed in shadows.
"We are demons from the Book of Zeref!" taunted Franmalth. "Living weapons born from tomes that the Black Wizard Zeref wrote long ago! Never forget that any one of us is fit to take on the army of an entire coun—"
Franmalth's speech was cut off as the two fish known as Pisces attacked him.
"I hope you didn't forget about me and my Celestial Spirits," teased Yukino. "Water damage can destroy dusty old books, after all."
"How much will you pay for your countless acts of disrespect!?" screamed Franmalth, finally snapping. "How much!? How much!? How much!? How much!?"
He continued repeating 'How much!?' for a bit. Finally, he launched himself at Rogue and Pisces, unleashing a frenzy of physical attacks. "It will cost you a hundred thousand of your souls! Give me your souls!"
Rogue and Pisces were forced onto the defensive, only able to dodge. Not that being able to attack would do much, what with Franmalth's ability to eat the souls of their magic.
"And don't forgot," spoke the Etherious. "I also have Hades's magic at my disposal!"
Magic patterns formed around the Fairies, surprising them.
"The likes of you could never beat me!" continued Franmalth. "Type Twenty-Eight Amaterasu Pattern!"
A massive explosion burst forth from the patterned, engulfing the Fairies. When the dust settled, they all laid battered on the ground.
"The power of Hades," groaned Rogue.
"He's got too much Magic Power," uttered Yukino.
"This time, I really will such all your souls!" spoke Franmalth gleefully, grabbing the two humans and two spirits in his elongated arms. As the demon began to absorb their souls, the Fairies all screamed out in agony. "The first for my collection of S-Class souls! And some Celestial Spirits, too!"
"No!" shrieked Yukino through her pain. "Even if you get me, I won't let you take away the freedom of my spirits! Pisces, forced closure!"
To Franmalth's shock, not only did the two fish begin to disappear, he started to get pulled along with them. "What's happening to my body!? Pisces, disengage!"
The two fish were ejected from his tentacle-like grasp, giving Yukino an idea.
"Libra, forced closure!" she shouted, forcing Franmalth to release the gravity-manipulating spirit too. "Rogue, forced closure!"
"You mean he's one of your spirits too!" exclaimed Franmalth, releasing the dragon slayer as he recalled reports about Leo the Lion being in Fairy Tail.
"Nice one, Yukino," thanked Rogue. He grabbed a large piece of rubble, created by the earlier explosion, then turned toward Franmalth and spoke darkly. "Now, an inanimate object does not have a soul for you to absorb, does it?"
Franmalth gulped. "At least this is only temporary. I'll lose all of my souls, then just wake up in Hell's Core later."
Sadly, the demon's false hope didn't make his death any less painful. Nor did it change the destruction of Hell's Core.
"White Dragon's Roar!" shouted Sting, breathing a stream of white light at Ezel. When the Etherious dodge, Sting leaped after him and followed up with another spell. "White Dragon's Claw!"
Ezel crossed his arms to block the dragon slayer's attack. However, when he tried to strike back, the demon found himself unable to move.
Sting grinned as he saw Ezel's shocked face, then circled around the demon until the dragon slayer faced the Etherious's back. "And now that you're held in place by my Stigma… White Dragon's Holy Breath!"
The concentrated beam of White Dragon Slayer Magic seared a small hole into Ezel's back as it sent him flying into a cavern wall.
"Gaaaaah!" screamed the demon, feeling the most pain he ever had. But, to Sting's surprise, Ezel's wails quickly turn into laughter. "Hahaha! This is good! You're strong enough for me to go all out! Slash Attack Mode!"
The Etherious's four arms turned into swords, and Sting felt his opponent's power rise. "My Curse Power, Tenga Goken, can cut through anything and everything! Mikazuki!"
Ezel swung his sword-arms, unleashing a barrage of crescent-shaped slashes. Sting tried to defend himself with a White Dragon's Roar, only for the demon's attack to tear through his spell.
"Aaaaah!" screamed the dragon slayer and he was sent flying, ultimately slamming into Face. Sting slumped to the ground and mumbled to himself, injured and in shock. "He… he tore apart my magic. I…I can't beat…"
The Fairy trailed off, remembering his Exceed partner's words from the S-Class Trial. "No… I can do this. We can beat this Etherious and destroy Face! Wait… Face!"
"Lector!" called Sting as he stood up, raising his voice from a whisper to a shout. "I have a plan to take down Ezel and Face at the same time, but I need your help!"
"Of course!" cried Lector without hesitation. The Exceed had been staying out of the way to avoid being a burden to his partner, so he was overjoyed at the thought of being able to assist Sting.
"Hah!" snorted Ezel as Lector flew over to Sting. "You're bluffing! There's no way you could destroy a massive and dangerous weapon like Face!"
"Correction," replied Sting smugly. "A massive, dangerous, and white weapon!"
With that, the dragon slayer bit into Face, eating a small chunk of it. He felt his Magic Power soar due to the weapon's high Ethernano concentration. Ezel could only watch, dumbfounded.
"Now, Lector," Sting started to explain. "I need you to grab onto me and avoid Ezel's attacks as I prepare my next spell."
"Aye sir!" replied Lector, mimicking another Exceed.
Snapping out of his stupor, Ezel furiously launched a storm of slashes at the dragon slayer with him sword-arms. "Diiiie!"
Up, right, twist ninety degrees, left, up again. Moving at Max Speed, Lector used his Aera to bob and weave through Ezel's assault. Not a single hit landed, which only made the Etherious more enraged. Yet, no matter how much faster he made his attacks, the most Ezel could do was create a few shallow cuts on his foes.
"Now Lector!" exclaimed Sting. His Exceed partner reacted instantly, knowing exactly what his friend wanted him to do. Lector moved the dragon slayer so that Ezel and Face stood in a straight line before him, allowing Sting to strike both of them at once. "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Holy Nova!"
"Juzumaru!" yelled Ezel, attempting to cut apart his opponent's trump card. However, the attack was simply swallowed up by a world of pure white, one that consumed the Etherious himself moments later.
"Impossible…" uttered Ezel, eyes widening in disbelief. As he and the weapon behind him were annihilated, Ezel had a realization. "Before a dragon, even us Etherious are prey, aren't we? No wonder Master Zeref had one train Master E.N.D.…"
Omake
"It's a shame nobody remains who is aware of Lumen Histoire," mused Hades. After his attack on Tenrou Island, a little bit of light had returned to the Dark Mage's heart.
Watching Fairy Tail fight Franmalth from within the Etherious had also helped restore his spirit. It reminded him of the early days, back before he become obsessed with researching the 'One True Magic.' If only he could do it all over.
But he couldn't change the past, and now Hades… no, Precht… was unable to rescue his former guild from destruction at the hands of Tartaros.
"It doesn't matter, though," thought Precht, cracking a smile as he departed for whatever was next. "Mavis and Makarov's Fairy Tail always finds a way. They'll be fine."
AN: I just want to clarify right now that Sting and Lector did, in fact, destroy the Face that they attacked. If you want a justification for how they did so when a canon Face was undamaged by Blue Pegasus's Magic Bomber, Christina, I do have one in mind. It will be mentioned in Sting and Lector's next scene, provided I don't forget by the time I write that part.
That's all for now.