Author's Note 1: Sorry about the late update, but I wanted to set up a bit more for the Justice League story. So anyway, here's the latest chapter of FTAND!
Chapter 14: Disaster times Three
The battle between Fairy Tail & Phantom Lord continued to go on with the tide starting to turn in Fairy Tail's favor. The fabled Element 4 had been neutralized, rendering the Jupiter Cannon inept and the Abyss Breaker spell itself was taking way too long to be a threat. As the majority of the guild continued fighting off the Phantoms (Erza having recovered and joined the battle) and the infiltration team still in the bipedal Phantom Guild, the Star Liberator pirates had moved the Jabberwocky, flanking the massive structure as they readied their cannons.
"Are all the cannons loaded?" Alexander asked his first mate as he stepped onto the bridge.
"Ready to fire at your command." Marianne replied, the two then looking up at the structure.
"Alright, then. All cannons, open fire!" The blue-haired captain ordered, pointing at the mobile guild.
Inside of the mobile guild, Natsu and Happy felt the shaking from the cannon attack, giving the dragon-slayer a slightly nauseous feeling that quickly went away.
In the main chambers of the mobile guild hall, Jose was wreathing in calm anger. All of the Element 4 had been defeated, disrupting the Abyss Break spell and the drawing away massive power from the Jupiter Cannon. The only reason the guild hall was still upright was the lacrima core, and now the attacking ship and the speed wizard's continued assaults would continue to bring an end to that.
"Well, this is embarrassing." Robin stated as the Unholy Trinity and their guild master were matching the battle from several camera lacrimas. "Didn't think the E4 would go down like a..."
"Like you on a belly dancer?" Gajeel teased.
"One time that happened!"
"Robin's omnisexuality aside, we should probably do something." Natalie stated, watching the feed that showed Lucy summoning Taurus and taking down more phantoms with her whip. "I know accepting the Heartfilia girl's bounty was just an excuse to f*^k with Fairy Tail, but we could probably use that reward to fix up the guild hall and the Oak Town branch."
Hearing this made Jose calm down a bit. But before he could say anything, the walls on the other side of the room were smashed apart.
"Knock, knock." The four Phantom Pain wizards looked and saw a cobalt-covered Lyle standing in the hole in the wall, his left arm transformed into a massive spiked fist that shifted back to normal. "So, ready to give up yet?"
"What the hell are you talking about, old man?" Gajeel growled.
"Well, four of your strongest wizards are out of the fight. Me, my family and the rest of our comrades are still able to fight, and your guild hall is about to come crumbling down. So the way I see it, this can go two ways." With a determined expression, Lyle took off his glasses and placed them in a pocket before looking at the four enemy wizards with a stern expression. "You can keep fighting until we eventually beat you into submission, or you can turn around and save both of our guilds the time and bruises."
After being silent for a few minutes, Jose started chuckling, confusing Lyle and the Unholy Trinity. "I should've expected such bravado from a veteran of the Golem War."
"No way!" Natalie gasped.
"This guy was in the Golem War?!" Gajeel asked in shock. 'No wonder he's so tough.'
'Ya, we might have a problem.' Robin thought to herself, slightly terrified at facing a man who fought in one of Fiore's most chaotic wars.
"But, you've underestimated your guild's strength. Besides, we don't have to defeat you perse." Jose stated as his magical aura started to flare up. "Robin, Gajeel, Natalie. Go deal with our 'guests'. I'll handle Mr. Hudson."
"Gehehehe." Gajeel chuckled, his shock fading as he felt Jose's power start to rise. "Got it. Come on girls."
The two fellow Trinity members nodded and the three left the room, leaving Lyle and Jose to stare each other down. The Absorption wizard sighed before placing his fingers on another orb on his wrist. "And here I was hoping we could avoid anymore needless fighting. Absorption: Diamond." In a flash, Lyle's skin transformed into green diamond.
"Tell me something, boy. Do you really think you match a Wizard Saint in combat?" Jose asked as his aura flared even more.
"Hey, I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard. Facing overwhelming odds is what we do." Lyle stated, his hands transforming into large diamond hammers.
And then...
Back in the Lacrima chamber, Alyssa continued to beat on the massive crystal, breathing heavily as from her continued attempts to smash it.
'Damn it, this sucker's tough. I could use my Overclock to...no, then I wouldn't have enough magic to get away if I run into one of the Phantom wizards.' But before the amazonian wizard could continue her thinking, she was forced to evade as several pieces of the floor and consoles were sliced up by Magic Wires. Seeing this, Alyssa looked up and saw a certain fedora-wearing wizard.
"Valelanca." Alyssa glared before getting into a fighting stance.
"Holy crap, you're a woman!" Robin shouted in surprise. "Sorry, but from a distance I just assumed you were one of those weird guys who puts their hair in a ponytail."
An anger vein appeared on the Speed Queen's forehead, this not being the first time someone's questioned her gender based on her musculature (despite her obvious chest and lack of an Adam's apple). Especially from Erza.
"At least I don't leave weird-ass letters about f*^king food!"
"That was a metaphor." Robin said as adjusting her hat with a bored expression that quickly turned perverted. "Anyways, I was wondering if Mr. Magic Hands snuck on board with you."
"Magic...Hands? Never mind, I don't have time for this!" Alyssa stated before launching towards her opponent at superspeed. But Robin just smirked and motioned her hands, forcing the amazoness to evade as the thin magical wires sliced through the air, even leaving small cuts on her arms and legs. 'Damn it! Her wires are faster than I thought.'
"Oh how cute. You actually thought to you could get past my wires. Well news flash Big Bertha, my wires react to instantly to my mental commands." The Wire Wizard boasted as she pointed to her forehead. "So unless you can move faster than thought, any attack towards me will leave you as a pile of bloody chunks on floor." To emphasize her point, Robin motioned her hands, her wires shining as she gave a killer smirk. "Although you're more than welcome to try."
Alyssa scowled and said nothing as she started planning out her next move. Like before, she considered using her Overclock spell to move faster than the wires, but it would leave her open if it failed. As such, she decided to use her long-range spells.
"Speed Queen: Twin Twister!" After unleashing two wind funnels at her opponent, Robin evaded the attack and pulled on her wires.
"Nice trick! Here's mine! Wire Cyclone!" The fedora hat wearing wizard proclaimed before unleashing spiralling wires at her enemy, which Alyssa dodged but still suffered small cuts.
'Damn!' The speed wizard thought to herself as she continued to evade the high-speed wire. She backed up and started vibrating her fist before charging. "Speed Queen: Vibration Punch!"
But as soon as Alyssa charged in, Robin smirked once again and quickly moved her hands. "Wire Snare!" In a flash of yellow, the amazonian wizard was ensnared by several wires. "Any last words before slice you up?"
All Alyssa did was vibrate enough to loosen the wires, getting a chance to sneak away before increasing the vibrations of her arms before raising them up. "Here's four! Speed Queen: Vibration Break!"
With a powerful slam, the floor gave way and the two female wizard along with the Lacrima core started falling. Before Robin could get her barrings, Alyssa used a piece of falling debris as a jumping board and launched towards her opponent, quickly grappling her and starting to spin.
"Speed Queen: Spin Toss!" With a powerful yell, Alyssa tossed the wire wizard with all her strength, making her slam against the next floor.
'Facedown with another woman beating my ass. I'm the one who does the beating!' She yelled in her mind as she wiped the blood from her lips before raised her hands up. "Alright! Let's up the ante a bit!" Soon, multiple wires started flying up from her sleeves, shirt and pants pockets, glowing as they surrounded the shocked Alyssa. "Wire Hurricane!"
And before Alyssa could react, her sensations were blinded by a barrage of agonizing pain as the barrage of wires cut into her and she fell to the ground, blood starting to flow down her face, arms and torso.
"Oh that looks like it really hurts." Robin stated as she staggered back up. "You know, I'd make a time of the month joke, but I'm above that. And least I manage to protect the..." And just like that, the lacrima core landed on the other side of the room, shattering into thousands of shards. "Well...shit."
Soon enough, with the destruction of the core, the bipedal guild started shake and wobble, falling to its 'knees', much to joy of the battling Fairy Tail wizards on the cliff side. Back with the two, Alyssa started to grin despite the pain she was feeling.
"How about that? You beat me and I still won." However, this was short lived as the amazonian woman as pulled up with wires surrounding her neck.
"Enjoy your little victory party for the last few seconds you have!" Robin scowled.
"Hey, I'm the Speed Queen." Alyssa chocked out, her eyes starting to glow with magic. "A few seconds is all I need!" With another vibration, she pushed the wires back before quickly turning and socking the wire wizard with enough force to draw blood and knock her fedora off.
"Okay, now I'm pis..." But before Robin could react, her orange-haired opponent headbutted her, knocking her out.
"Told you all I needed was a second." Alyssa stated before rubbing her head from the impact. She then started using her magic to speed up her healing process.
Outside, the Jabberwocky continued to fire on the kneeling guild with Alexander standing behind the wheel. Unbeknownst to the Star Liberators, Natalie watched from a distance as she placed an orange ring on her right pinky finger. "Teleport!"
Suddenly, the green-haired woman teleported onto the ship, much to the shock to the crew.
"What the..." Marianne shouted.
"Hello. Explosion!" Natalie quickly chanted before blasting apart the cannons and knocking back the pirates. But then she was forced to evade a shot from Alexander's Celestial Pistol.
"Get the hell off my ship before I throw you off." The one-eyed wizard threatened her.
"Gee, you sure know how to charm the ladies." Natalie sarcastically replied. "Although I'm kind of curious why a bunch of pirates are working with Fairy Tail."
"Not relevant. But what is relevant is that you're one of the Unholy Trinity." Alexander stated as he pulled out Gongji's key. "Everyone, stand back. I'll handle our guest."
"Oh, well look at the big balls on you." Natalie replied as she slipped on more rings onto her fingers. "This is gonna be fun."
Alexander smirked and held out his key. "Open, Gate of the Rooster - Gongji!" And from the gate came the sharply-dressed humanoid rooster.
"You called, Captain?" The rooster spirit asked as he adjusted his collar.
"I did. You would help me dispose of Miss..."
"Sabre. Natalie Sabre of Phantom's Unholy Trinity." Natalie introduced herself before holding out her right hand. "But enough chit-chat! Bind!" Several magic circles appeared around the Celestial Wizard and his spirit before chains shot out towards them. Gongji quickly kicked the chains away and Alexander sliced them up with his saber. He then quickly aimed his flintlock and fired...
"Defend!" ...Only for Natalie to summon a barrier and block the shots as Gongji ran and threw a kick that the green-haired wizard was forced to evade. This pattern continued until Alexander flanked to her right, which Natelie spotted and activated the teal ring on her right middle finger.
"Blade!" Another magic circle appeared and transformed into a teal blade that Natalie used to block her opponents sword strike.
"Didn't think you were one for close-quarters combat." Alexander taunted as sparks came off their clashing blades.
"Gotta be ready for anything. Explosion!" Natalie taunted back before creating an explosion that knocked Alexander and Gongji back a bit.
"For a ring wizard, she's pretty strong." The rooster spirit groaned as he quickly got back up. Hearing this made the green-haired woman scowl and she raised her left hand in the air, one of her rings glowing.
"Big!" To the shock of the crew, Natalie arm phased through the magic circle and turned gigantic. "How's this for a ring wizard you chicken f*&K?!"
"Actually I'm a roost...OH SWEET CELESTIAL KING!" The lanky spirit yelled as he and his wizard leaped away from the massive falling fist, the impact smashing a large part of the deck. While there was a large part of Alexander's brain screaming that his ship was being smashed up, he noticed the sudden change in his enemy's behaviour. He looked to his oldest comrade and saw that Gongji had the same look of realization on his face.
"You must've shelled out a lot of jewel to get those rings." Alexander taunted, making an anger vein appear on her forehead.
"You think these rings are that store-bought crap?! I spend days finding the materials and forging them into the perfect rings!" She then held out her hands. "Bind!" Two magic circles appeared in front of Natalie and shot a series of chains at the two. However, Gongji quickly gave the chains a look before taking in a breath. He then unleashed a powerful sonic attack from his mouth, shattering the chains.
"What the hell?!" A shocked Natalie exclaimed.
"Question: What is a rooster's most well-known trait? Answer: Their voice. And mine happens to be powerful and precise enough to shatter steel on the right pitch." Gongji said with a smug expression.
"Shatter this!" The green-haired wizard yelled as she held one of her hands up. "Copy!"
As she started to create copies of herself, Alexander quickly uncovered the secret lock on his saber and placed Houzi's key into it. "Houzi, lend me you power!"
"You got it, Captain!" The spiritual visage of the monkey replied before the blue-haired celestial wizard turned and placed the key in, making the saber's blade glow blue with magic energy.
"Explosion!" The thirteen Natalies exclaimed as they held their hands out.
"Final Wave!" Alexander yelled before sliced vertically, creating a crescent blade of energy that shot forward.
"Hyper Caw!" Gongji yelled unleashing a massive sonic attack.
In a massive burst of magic energy, the three attacks collided and created a powerful explosion that caught everyone's attention.
"What was that?" Laki asked.
"That looked like it was coming from the Jabberwocky." Alzack stated.
"Oh no. Alex." Mirajane said in concern. However, the battling Fairy Tail wizards didn't have long to think about their comrades before something jumped from the mobile guild and impacted with the cliff side, making them cover their eyes before the dust settled. And standing in the impact crater was Gajeel Redfox, a cocky smirk on his face.
"You, blondie! You're coming with me!" The Dragon-Slayer ordered, making Lucy back away while Taurus and Mystogan stood in front of her.
"You come anywhere near Ms. Lucy's bod and I'll turn you into mincemeat!" Taurus exclaimed.
"I partially agree with Sir Taurus." Mystogan followed up. "We won't let you harm Lady Lucy."
"Well, well, well. You must be Mystogan. Let's see if you live up to the..."
"GAJEEL!" Gajeel's taunting was stopped as a blazing orange figure crashed down near him. The smoke cleared and revealed an angry Natsu glaring at the other dragon-slayer.
"Ah, Salamander. This really is my lucky day."
"Natsu!" Lucy stated. The salmon-haired wizard looked at his three (hiding his surprise at Mystogan's presence).
"Lucy, Mystogan. Leave this creep to me." Natsu said as he cracked his knuckles.
"Go get him, Natsu!" A nearby floating Happy cheered on.
"Aw, pinkie thinks he can take me on." Gajeel taunted as he loosened his arm. "Guess we can finish what we started in Oak Town."
"This isn't about that." Natsu growled. "You wrecked our guild, attacked our friends and hung them on a tree! This is purely payback."
"Bring it on, little man! Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel exclaimed, turning one of his arms into an elongated club which Natsu grabbed and spun the pierced wizard around before tossing him, making Cana, Max and Reedus evade the thrown slayer.
"Watch it, Natsu!" Max yelled.
Natsu came down on Gajeel with his fists on fire, which he blocked, creating a cloud of debris before the two jumped out of it and Natsu punched Gajeel onto the roof of the half-destroyed guild hall. The Iron Dragon-Slayer quickly got back up and saw Natsu coming down with his leg on fire.
"Fire Dragon Talon!" The impact from the attack sent the two through the roof, much to the shook of the guild.
"Oh great! As if the guild wasn't wrecked enough!" Macao yelled as he barely evaded another Phantom, the long battle starting to weigh on him and everyone else.
Inside the guild, the two dragon-slayers got back up and Gajeel chuckled. "You're not fooling anyone with that fake bravado."
"Trust me buddy, that ain't fake." Natsu said, his face still and stern. Crashing through the mostly destroyed guild just made the salmon-haired wizard more cross as he ignited his fist. "I'm gonna melt your face into iron slag."
Gajeel just smirked at this threat. "I'd like to see you try!"
The two dragon-slayers then charged at each other and started exchanging offensive spells of fire and iron. Gajeel unleashed another club spell that Natsu jumped over and kicked his opponent in the face. This didn't slow Gajeel down as he transformed his arm into a blade and swung in an arc, making Natsu leap away to avoid it.
'What the hell's going on with his magic?' The scarf-wearing wizard thought to himself as he looked at Gajeel's transformed arm. The blades on the edge then started to spin rapidly effective turning his arm into a buzzsaw.
"My Iron Dragon Sword can cut through anything! Why don't we test it out on you, Salamander!" Gajeel taunted.
"Hmph. I don't care how sharp your 'blade' is!" Natsu proclaimed with a smirk before being forced to evade Gajeel as he leaped and swung his spinning blade down, slicing apart the floorboards underneath them.
"What's the matter?! Aren't you gonna try and block this one?!" The red-eyed wizard taunted as he swung his blade around, slicing apart more of the guild hall. "I thought you didn't care how sharp my blade was?!"
'Shit! If we keep this up, the guild's gonna be totaled!' Natsu thought to himself as he continued to evade the spinning and swinging blade. "Time to get serious!" With a yell, azure fire exploded out of Natsu and pushed Gajeel back, who looked in surprise for a second before smirking.
"So you can amp up the temperature of your flames to the point of changing the colors. Neat trick." A pale green magic circled appeared underneath the Iron Dragon Slayer and much to Natsu's astonishment, Gajeel's skin started to change from flesh to Iron Scale Mail. "But you're not the only dragon with a power up!" He then leaped and Natsu, who slammed his hands to block.
"Fire Dragon Shield!"
"Iron Dragon Hard Fist!"
When Gajeel's fist made contact with the azure fire shield, a magic circle appeared and the force of the attack blasted Natsu, making him smash through the bar counter and causing several of the bottles to break around him. "Now that was a nice sound."
Natsu seethed as he felt his left hand start to welt up. Thankfully his Shield absorbed most of the damage, so he was able to continue. But before he could catch his breath, Gajeel charged in and socked with metal fist into his face. However, the salmon-haired wizard was able to evade his opponent's kick, the force of which created a wind pressure that smashed up some more tables.
'So his scales work like my Azure Flames, doubling the strength of his attacks.' Natsu thought to himself as he socked Gajeel in the face with an Iron Fist attack. And much to Gajeel's shock, he actually felt the heat from the attack and staggered a bit. The two dragon-slayers backed up, silently reeling from the pain of the collision (Gajeel from the enhanced punch and Natsu from actually punching the iron skin.)
But this only lasted a second before the two went back to fighting with Gajeel headbutting Natsu through a wall, causing some blood to spill from the Fire Dragon-Slayer's mouth as he quickly recovered. "Hardheaded bastard! This will blow you away!" He then started to inhale some air from his next attack and Gajeel proceeded to do the same.
"Fire Dragon..."
"Iron Dragon..."
"ROAR!" And with that, the two unleashed their respective attacks of blue fire and iron-laced wind, the force of the colliding attacks blasting a hole through the walls.
"The hell?!" Ur yelled out as the Fairy Tail wizards looked at the explosion coming from their guild hall. Back inside, Natsu and Gajeel were standing, panting as they felt the impact from the opposing attacks.
"I gotta admit, Salamander. I thought this would be a one-sided battle." Gajeel panted and grinned even as his metal body had smoke coming from it and cracks on some areas. "But you're actually putting up a good fight."
"Hehehe. Hate to admit it, but I'm actually starting to enjoy myself." Natsu said, grinning despite the numerous cuts on his exposed flesh. With another roar, Natsu's Azure Flames started to blaze around him again. "You feel like giving up yet, Black Steel?"
"Not on your life! I'm just getting started!" Gajeel exclaimed as his magical aura starting flaring up as well. "Beside, there isn't enough room for two dragons in the sky!"
"For once, I agree with you!" And with that, the two powerful wizards leaped at each and the battle continued. Their fists collided, causing enough wind to send debris flying everywhere before the two took off into the sky, bursting through the roof. The two then started a slug fest in mid-air before landing on the roof again and headbutting each other, neither one giving the other any room to breath as they continued their savage battle, actually leveling another part of the roof in the process.
"What the hell is Natsu doing?! He's destroying the guild hall!" Erza yelled.
"I doubt Sir Natsu is having any chance to fight safely." Mystogan stated as he looked at battle even as he sliced apart a phantom. "This a battle between magics capable of killing dragons. We should consider ourselves lucky not be caught in the middle."
"Natsu." Happy said, concerned for his father figure.
Back inside (specifically the guild clinic), Natsu evaded another attack and noticed Gajeel quickly taking a chunk of some metal and started eating it. In a matter of seconds, the cracks in Gajeel's skin started to close up and his magical energy was restored. "Now I feel energized."
"I can do that too!" Natsu exclaimed as he reached for something under his wrist bands. He pulled out a tiny red ball and tossed it against the floor, creating a massive explosion. However, the fire was quickly sucked into Natsu's mouth and the fire in his belly was relit. 'Thank you, Zeke.'
"Carrying around a small piece of your element with you. Gotta admit, that's pretty clever." Gajeel stated as he held up arm out. "But that still won't save you! Iron Dragon Spear: Demon Logs!" A magic circle manifested in front of his extended arm and several iron spikes launched out towards Natsu.
"Fire Dragon Shield!" Natsu yelled, slamming his fists together and creating a torrent of fire that actually melted the spears before they could reach him. 'This is getting me nowhere! Our power is almost the same level!' He thought to himself as he continued to evade Gajeel's metal-laced attacks. 'But if I used my Brilliant Flame or Supernova, then I could..." But as he thought about this, Natsu then came to the realization that if he used either one of those attacks, he would also destroy the remains of the Fairy Tail guildhall. This slight distraction was enough for Gajeel to kick him through the wall and back into the dinning hall once again.
"What's the matter? Did your fire go out already?" Gajeel taunted as he stepped through the new hole in the wall. As his opponent started to walk towards him, Natsu got back up, his mind thinking back to the memories he had within these halls. He remembered the time that Mira made fun of his inability to read and how Zeke convinced Erza that he would be the better one to teach Natsu about basic vocabulary. He remembered the day he asked Alyssa out in front of everyone, despite his embarrassment. He recalled the his first big fight with Gray and how it ended in a tie. How he first met Jackson and insulted his weird speaking habits. He even recalled the recent memory of his team welcoming Lucy into the guild. 'Everyone...I'm sorry.'
(Music Que: Ambiguous English cover by Sapphire)
With a sorrowful look on his face, Natsu looked up and glared at Gajeel.
"Oh, now that's a scary look. Did I hit nerve, Salamander?"
"Damn you." Natsu said as a blue magic circle appeared under his feet. Gajeel started to notice that the air around the two was starting to get increasingly warmer as the salmon-haired wizard started to channel all of his magical energy into his next spell. "Damn you for making me do this!"
"Don't get cocky!" Gajeel transformed his arm into a buzzsaw again and he charged. However, Natsu's spell was ready as he opened with eyes, revealing his dragon-like irises.
"FIRE DRAGON...SUPERNOVA!" With his most powerful yell yet, the salmon-haired dragon-slayer unleashed a massive explosion of azure fire, stopping Gajeel in his tracks and blasting apart the guild hall.
Outside, the rest of the Fairy Tail guild were stunned as the guild hall was consumed in a massive sphere of azure fire.
"What the hell is that?!" Bisca exclaimed.
"Is that...is that Natsu?" Nab asked in astonishment.
Lucy looked on in shock. 'Just when I thought I knew how strong Natsu was, he goes and does this.'
"The Supernova." Happy stated with wide eyes. "He's actually using it at full strength!"
Erza looked on in shock, similar to when she first learned about Natsu's Azure Flames. 'You've really become stronger, haven't you?'
Underneath his face wrappings, Mystogan smirked as he looked on at the massive sphere of flames. 'Bravo, Sir Natsu. Bravo.'
Inside of the raging inferno, Gajeel continued to slowly push on ahead, even as the heat started forming cracks all over his skin. "You...you think this is gonna stop me?!" The Iron Dragon-Slayer yelled as he pushed forward. Seeing this Natsu knew he would have to use everything he had.
"Levy, Jet, Droy, Gramps, Lucy and our guild hall! I'm going to make you pay of all of that!" With the full might of his magic, Natsu yelled and made the Supernova go critical. The resulting increase in force caused a massive explosion so bright that the Fairy Tail wizards were forced to cover their eyes and took out most of the Phantoms. When the light faded, the guild were finally able to open their eyes and saw that the guild hall had been completely incinerated with only Natsu and Gajeel standing in the epicenter of the blast.
Cracks then began to form all over Gajeel's iron skin until it completely shattered, revealing the red-tinged skin underneath before he fell on his, fading into unconsciousness.
(Music Que Ended)
Natsu was also standing and breathing heavily before falling forward and also fading. 'I...actually.'
And with that, the fire dragon-slayer fell on his face, barely making out the sounds of Happy and Lucy before nodding off.
Somewhere else...
Two figures were walking inside of an emerald tinted cathedral. One of them was a young man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore a dark blue befitting a prince with a rapier strapped to his side. The other figure was a woman with her body completely covered in a heavy red rode, hood and expressionless garnet theater mask. Suddenly, the woman staggered and held onto the left side of her mask, getting her younger colleagues' attention.
"My lady, our you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Michael. Just an old wound acting up." The woman replied, standing up straight. Seeing this, the young man turned around and heading off, leaving the masked woman to herself. She looked up at the emerald skylight and placed her gloved hand back on the left side of her mask.
"So the abomination has grow stronger. How...repulsive." The woman said with venom in her voice.
Back with our heroes...
'Come on, where is everyone?' Amelia thought to herself as she ran through the halls of the now downed guild. She eventually turned a corner and saw Elfman.
"Mrs. Hudson. Good to see you're still kicking." The Take-Over wizard greeted with a smile.
"Good to see you too, Elfman." The strawberry-blonde greeted back. Suddenly, the two heard rumbling coming from the down the hall. The two wizards ran towards the sound to investigate, but much to their shock, the walls exploded and a familiar man flew through the new hole.
"Lyle!" Amelia exclaimed as Elfman caught him. She ran to her husband's side and was stunned to see that his diamond skin had cracks over most of it.
"What happened?" Elfman asked before the two heard footsteps and turned, seeing Jose walk towards them with his dark aura flaring up.
"Ah, how touching. The great hero Amelia tending to her husband." Jose said as he wiped some blood from his jaw. "You should be proud. He actually managed to draw some blood from me."
"H-Hey, I'm not done yet!" Lyle said, staggering up but then falling as his skin changed back, Amelia catching him. She scowled at the Wizard Saint before turning to the other wizard.
"Elfman, get Lyle somewhere safe." She said with a stern expression.
"You expect me to just leave you here? A real man doesn't abandon his comrades!" Elfman replied, only to be silenced by the anger in her eyes.
"This isn't up for debate. Take him back to the guild and get him some medical treatment!"
"R-Right." The white-haired man said, sweating as he put the injured man over his shoulders.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." Jose said before unleashing a blast that moved past Elfman and destroyed his route of escape. "No Fairy Tail wizard is going to be leaving here alive."
"Is that so, you mustache-twirling psychopath?! Arch Shot: Drill Arrow!"
"Ice-Make: Saucer!"
While any normal wizard would have evaded the attacks, Jose just raised his hands and destroyed oncoming spells with a pulse of his magic. After this, the group turned their attention to the two new arrivals from the opposite ends of the room. A shirtless Gray in his usual stance and Zeke with an unconscious Juvia draped over his shoulders.
"Now that was a manly entrance!" Elfman stated, giving his teammate a thumbs up.
"Zeke!" Amelia stated, happy to see her son was okay until she noticed the unconscious woman draped over him. "Wait. Isn't that one of the Element Four?"
"It's a long story." The brunette archer replied before as he took a position next to his comrades, Gray doing the same. If you were wondering about Zeke's current predicament, after the mobile guild nearly collapsed, the archer said he needed to take care of something and then started treating his wounds (which involves lifting up his shirt). After treating himself, he saw that for some unknown reason, Juvia was now unconscious and her face was red. As such, he put his shirt back on and carried her until he spotted his mother and his knocked out father and decided to intervene.
"Gray, can you put Juvia and my dad into a protective shell?" Zeke asked as he laid the water mage down.
"Um, I can do that for Lyle. But why should I do that for one of Phantom's wizards?" The shirtless wizard asked.
"Look just do it!" Zeke said with a stern expression, surprising Gray. Amelia on the other hand started looking back and forth between Zeke and Juvia, starting to put things into place in her mind as stars to twinkle in her eyes.
"My baby boy's in love!" She stated, making everyone man (except the injured Lyle) look at her with deadpan expressions.
"What?" Gray flatly asked.
"Oh, it's an old classic! Two lovers meet from opposing sides meet on the field of battle! Enemies at first, but then their love puts aside all hatred towards each!" Amelia cheered, acting more like a teenager than the adult she actually was.
"W-Wait! You got it wrong! That's not what happened!" Zeke retorted, his cheeks as red as Erza's hair since what his mother was spouting was true on his part, not so much on Juvia's (at least to his knowledge).
"Woah, you beat her with love? Now that really is manly!" Elfman cheered as manly tears ran down his face.
"You're blowing this out of proportion!"
"If that's true, then why are you blushing so much?" A new arrival teased.
"Alyssa, when did you get here?!" Zeke yelled.
'I'm surrounded by idiots.' Gray thought to himself as he subconsciously removed his pants. Suddenly, any further banter and teasing was silenced as Jose left off a sudden pulse of powerful shadow magic.
"You will peons stop this nonsense! I honestly care what this whelp did to Juvia. She failed her mission so she'll die along with the rest of you." Jose coldly stated, making Zeke scowled as he conjured up an arrow and aimed it at the Wizard Saint.
"Not a chance." The brunette replied as his fellow wizards readied for battle as well. Gray encased his forearms in spiky ice, Elfman transformed his right arm into a lizard-like arm, Amelia conjured up her crossbow, and Alyssa started vibrating her arms at superspeed.
And with that, the final battle in the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord had begun.
To be concluded...
Author's Note 2: Sorry for the month long hiatus. But between some things going on in my life and debating about the direction this story will go after the Phantom Arc is complete, I've decided to go for broke and have the arc after this be an Original Arc concurrent to the Tower of Heaven arc, which the Masked Woman will play a big part in. And don't worry, it's not pointless filler.
Also, anyone on Youtube should check you the channel Sapphire. She does amazing english covers for anime songs! Please help this amazing woman and subscribe to her channel. Hell, she didn't even ask for this plug, I just feel like helping her out. And all song credits go where they deserves, so there you anal-retentive copyright jockeys!
(We see Lucy and Mystogan standing the remains to guild hall.)
Lucy: The guild. It's gone.
Mystogan: A tragedy. But don't feel too broken up, Lady Lucy.
Lucy: Why do you say that?
Mystogan: While seeing the guild hall destroyed is heart wrenching, we should consider ourselves lucky that none of our comrades were caught in the battle.
Lucy: You're right. I didn't even know Natsu could do that last attack.
Mystogan: Next time: Rebirth! Have at you!
Please remember to read, review and help this fic by editing the TV Tropes page! See ya next time!
