Chapter 18- Erza Scarlet's Death

Juvia & Gray attacked first with a unison raid that hit the dragon head on. Riku shifted forward to charge, but Erza held up her arm, wincing at the movement. Just as he was about to comment on it, the cloud of the steam cleared and the flame dragon stood, unharmed.

"Foolish humans," the dragon chuckled. "You can't break through Atlas Flame's hell fire." The dragon moved forward to swipe them all away, but Freed broke out his runes, shielding the swipe, but not for long.

Riku covered his face with his arm to protect himself from the light of two magics clashing. They were nearly swept away by the flaming hand, which just barely missed the mages. Then it was Master's turn. He grew to his giant side and met Atlas Flame head to head. Something stirred in Riku's chest. The excited bubbles began again in Riku, though there were a churning of something else as well, deep within waking up as it never had before. He felt as if his limbs were vibrating ever so slightly.

It's not going to work, growled something deep within Riku, almost more of a feeling than a voice. Riku looked about. No one else seemed to have felt any change. It has to be dragon slayer magic, the feeling snarled.

"It's gotta be dragon slayer magic," he called out, as master shrank back to his normal size, burns across his body. In perfect time, Natsu's voice called across the city, calling all Dragon-Slayers to take a dragon and fight. I'll destroy him. The feeling jarred his very bones in excited, almost painful anticipation.

"We'll back you up," agreed Erza, sword drawn.

Riku nodded, first to Erza, then to Laxus, drawing his own sword. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

"Probably not the time to contain yourself," he said.

"Wouldn't want to make the situation any worse," Riku reminded him, feeling like every moment he was getting more and more excited with a feeling he wasn't sure he'd be able to focus on one enemy. Let the chaos out. Destroy it all.

"Looks like someone beat you to it," Laxus observed in his usual bored tone.

Eggs zipped through the air as they dropped from above, crashing into place all around the city. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the ovals began to crack. One by one the eggs revealed miniature dragons with metallic scales. Despite their lack of eyes they peered about, heads tilting as they searched for their prey. They opened their mouths, releasing an unearthly sound. They moved to a standing position on their hind-legs and charged.

"Master," Erza said and in a swift movement she was in front of Makarov, her sword slashed through one of the creature and it split in half.

The other dragons paused to observe this development.

"You take care of the hatchlings," Laxus commanded, tossing his coat to the side. "Riku and I will deal with the dragon."

"We'll assist Laxus," Freed agreed earning a nod from Evergreen and Bickslow. They all readied their fighting stance.

Riku gave Erza a final glance to see her nod to assure him of her own ability as she cut another miniature dragon to pieces.

Riku, shifted his footing out, sword held at the ready as he stared at the dragon. Laxus and his thunder league were already charging, their attacks having no effect. They were going to need more power. Maybe a meal? But there wasn't any lightning here and Riku couldn't remember the last time he'd seen dark energy to eat. What was it Acnologia had told him?

"Dark energy is everywhere," Acnologia growled, arms crossed. "Every magic is made of energy and all energy is both dark and light, or what humans perceive as dark and light."

He held out a palm full of dark energy, an orb like a black-hole levitating in the palm of his hand. Riku reached for it, taking it in his hands and slurping it up as if it were spaghetti. He could feel a bubbling of power in his limbs, as if they were vibrating with excitement.

"That's how all magic tastes," Acnologia said, taking a fighting stance. "If you can master this type of dragon slayer magic, you can eat any form of magic to power yourself up. But all dragon slayer magic has a cost."

The key to seeing dark energy, Riku remembered, was to see the magic as energy, not whatever the magics usual form was. "These aren't hell flames," Riku muttered. "These are flames of energy."

An arm swiped at him and Riku barely avoided it.

"You plan on joining this fight anytime soon," panted Bickslow. Riku looked at Bickslow, who was glowing black, his magic aura broken into energy.

"Oh, I think so," Riku agreed. He lunged, sending a dark twister at the dragon just as Evergreen, Laxus, Bickslow, and Freed also attacked. They all hit the dragon at once, Riku using the smoke to get closer to the dragon's foot. There he could see. The flames had a dark glow to them- dark energy. He could eat that. Riku reached out, trying to grab the dark energy. Instead of forming a void in his hand, he felt the fire scorch his hand.

"Don't get so bold," demanded Atlas Flame and he swiped at Riku, knocking him back against Evergreen. They both hit a stone wall.

I can see the energy, but I can't eat it, Riku thought annoyed, the churning more distracting now than it had been before. He ignored Evergreens snarls and insults. Was his sword holding back his ability? Of course, that's why he used it, after all. To stay in control. Riku held up his sword and looked at it. It had always helped him maintain control once he had left Mystogan and Erza. He hadn't lapsed back into that creature that had appeared at the Tower of Heaven, not even once in the last seven year. But, this wasn't the Tower of Heaven was it? He peered up at Atlas Flame. This was a dragon. He tucked the sword away and charged.

Dark dragon roar. Dark dragon slash. Dark dragon blast. He hit Atlas Flame with each attack consecutively, some of them mixing with Laxus' attacks, others hitting Atlas Flame on their own. He didn't pause to evaluate the damage, opting to continue hitting the dragon as often in the same spot as possible. Riku barely registered that the excited bubbling feeling was slowly turning into something else. A rage was building in his stomach and chest, pushing him to continue his attack. With each hit his energy seemed to grow stronger and his appetite to fight grew larger.

"Pesky flies," Atlas Flame called, moving his head up for a dragon roar of his own.

"Dark dragon scale," Riku growled, though it seemed distant from his conscious mind. Dark scales covered his body as he leaped into the air. "Dark dragon roar!"

"You idiot," called Laxus. "Dodge!"

Riku didn't hear him and if he had, he probably wouldn't have moved, not when he was aching to destroy this beast before him. He felt the dragon's roar hit him full force as he reached midair. It pushed him back, back,back. He was crashing through stone walls until he finally came to a stop with a suddenness that pushed all the air from his lungs. He coughed, falling forward as his scales disappeared. He felt himself fall forward, his energy and focused interrupted. The churning desire for destruction quieted, leaving him to try to explain to himself what just happened. He'd been losing control, that was obvious, building up energy and then...

"Riku!"

Riku turned his head to find Erza and Jellal standing before him. Riku looked to the other side. Milliana and Ultear were standing there, looking torn between anger and surprise.

"Having a chat," he asked coughing again as he pushed to sit up fully. That dragon roar was no joke. He should have been paying attention.

"Something like that," Milliana agreed, moving her eyes across Ultear to Erza and Jellal.

"Don't let me interrupt," Riku said half sarcastically, though it obviously didn't translate because they did continue from where ever they'd left off before his entrance.

"I've forgiven Jellal," Erza said, making Milliana's face go dark with anger.

"Erza," she growled "How can you-"

"You shouldn't blame Jellal, either," Ultear said sternly. "I'm the one who manipulated Jellal. I made the Tower of Heaven and killed Simon."

Milliana made a move to strike Ultear, but she froze as Jellal's meteor shot between them, slamming straight into two miniature dragons that were poised to attack them from behind before returning back to his original place.

"Why would you..." Milliana began but Ultear cut her off again, a sinister look on her face.

"I'll give you your chance for vengeance once this is over, but you'll have to survive."

"We're in a battle," Riku reminded them, drawing his sword and sending a dark twister to destroy a miniature dragon who had appeared in the Riku sized hole in the stone wall. Riku pushed himself up and stretched as his eyes scanned the surrounding area. He felt surprisingly limber, considering he'd been hit full on by a dragon roar.

Milliana turned and rushed off to rejoin her guild as Riku and Ultear approached Erza and Jellal.

"You're weaker than you let on," Ultear observed of Erza, who smiled sheepishly at Riku.

"Of course you did," he sighed. "How bad?"

"You just slammed through stone walls," Erza pointed out. "Maybe I'm not the one we should focus on."

"True we should focus on-" Ultear began but before she could finish her sentence she sensed it. A magical energy. She didn't get to finish her sentence as they all looked up at once to see a group of five miniature dragons, all with their mouths open revealing energy building up in their mouths.

Simultaneously, the mages attempted to jump out of the way as the energy converged where they had been standing. The explosion of power threw them away from one another. Riku felt himself hit the ground, the bubbling feeling exploding back into the forefront of his mind, clouding his thoughts as he jumped up quickly, grabbing hold of his sword. His eyes focused as he came back to himself, throwing as many attacks as he could. The miniature dragons crumbled. That was close, Riku considered.

"Is everyone alright," Riku called.

"I'm fine," Ultear and Erza called.

"They hit my leg," Jellal's voice admitted, he pushed himself up and Riku could smell burnt flesh. Riku hurried over, pulling Jellal up, securing him against his shoulder. Erza used her sword to push herself up to a standing position, taking a deep breath at the near miss they'd had. They could have been killed.

"That was rough," Riku joked, turning to look at Erza.

It happened so fast that Riku could barely register it.

One moment Erza was pushing a strand of scarlet hair from her face and throwing Riku a lopsided smirk, about to comment on his poor attempt to lighten the mood. Then, streaks of light began to rain passed them. Riku felt a few streak across his chest and arms as he kept hold of Jellal, pulling them both out of the way. He felt his sword slip from his hand. Black scales instinctively appeared to protect him. He barely registered Jellal's dead weight on his shoulder. Riku couldn't unglue his eyes from Erza as the shots made contact.

They hit Erza. First in the stomach. Then through the chest. Then through her forehead. They moved so quickly that Riku couldn't move, frozen in time. The force sent Erza back through the air in a graceful arc until she hit the ground, head first, then the rest of her landing like a rag doll. Neither she nor Jellal moved. There was a vibrating of magic in the air as the miniature dragons readied themselves for the next attack on the remaining mage.

Let me destroy it all, growled a voice deep in Riku's chest and Riku had no power to stop it from overtaking him completely.

Thanks for reading! It's been a while since I killed off a main character. Sorry about that. Hope you stay tuned for Chapter 19-The Future was Written