Chapter 15

"Frankly, she is exaggerating!" Gajeel growled as he flew through the air. "Sending us to do a simple errand to a lost village! Does she take us for vulgar messengers or what?"

"If it bothers you, why didn't you tell Najenda?" Lily asked him. "Are you afraid of her?"

"Shut up, you! I didn't say anything because I had nothing else to do!"

"Then what are you complaining about?"

"I told you to shut up!"

"In any case, from what she told us, one of the soldiers from another base had found a weapon that could be a teigu!" Lily remembered. "All we have to do is go get it and bring it back! And then maybe it will become your teigu !"

"I'm not going to try something that gives me another headache like the other damn eye! I already have my powers and that's good enough for me! Still, if we went in there for nothing, I'm going to slaughter everyone!"

"Hey, look!" cried Lily suddenly.

"Hmm?"

Gajeel looked down and saw a sort of carriage stop below them, while three people stood before him.

"Bandits?" Gajeel wondered.

"If so ...!" began Lily, seeing several guards standing in front of the trio. "Either they are fools or unconscious; or they are super strong!"

Charging then, the guards began to run towards the colossus of the trio, who only smiled at their advance. Then, in an instant, he took out a strange axe and used it to slice all the guards with one blow.

"What strength!" cried Lily.

"Let me go!" said Gajeel suddenly, putting his mask in front of his face. "This time we're going to have some fun!"

Lily, knowing very well what he was going to do, lost altitude, then transformed and let go of Gajeel to take his sword.

"And away we go!"

"How can you do this when you're a soldier in the army?" wanted to know an old man.

"Sorry, former prime minister Chouri! But...!"

Suddenly passing behind him, River now had his arm covered in blood, as the former minister's head fell to the ground.

"Esdeath-sama's orders are absolute!"

Turning over then everything, starting to clean the blood from his arm with a handkerchief, he wanted to know:

"Is everyone dead?"

"There is only Onee-chan left!" said Nyau, pulling a young woman by the hair. "Just give me twenty seconds for her...!"

A sudden kick hit him in the face, throwing him backwards at the feet of River and Daidara.

The two men were astonished when they saw Gajeel and Lily. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who we are!" replied Gajeel, beginning to crack his knuckles. "All I want to know is if there's someone strong among you!"

"Oh, a little bonus!" Daidara rejoiced. "Can I take care of it?"

"Just make it quick!"

Smiling with joy, Daidara brandished Belvaac towards Gajeel while saying:

"I'm going to cut you in half and make me stronger!"

"IRON DRAGON'S SWORD!"

Turning his arm into an iron sword, Gajeel struck it against Daidara's axe, stopping the man's advance.

"Wha...?"

"Haha! That's a nice toy you got there!"

"You call that a toy?" Daidara took offense, putting more strength into his attack. "This teigu will cut you in half in an instant!"

Yet even using all his power, he was unable to make Gajeel back down, who nevertheless had to apply as much pressure so that his sword wouldn't give way to his opponent's axe.

"Haha! A tough one!" Gajeel rejoiced. "I love it!"

Suddenly retreating, Daidara split his axe in two, before throwing one side to Gajeel. Simply tilting his head to the side, the wizard managed to avoid his attack, while continuing to smile boastfully:

"Does it also act as a projectile? Very interesting!"

"I would say rather ... boomerang!" Daidara replied.

"Gajeel, behind you!" Lily suddenly shouted at him.

"Huh?"

Barely able to turn around, Gajeel was saved by his reflexes, which commanded his hands to activate to block the part of the axe that had come back to him. He covered it with metal, and hardened it sufficiently for the needle to strike it without harming it.

Nevertheless, busy with this diversion, Gajeel was almost surprised, feeling a terrible pain in his back.

Licking his lips, Daidara stared at the second piece of his teigu, which had just lacerated Gajeel's back. Seeing the wizard fall to his knees, his opponent called upon his teigu to return to his hand. He then put the two halves together and immediately ran to Gajeel, saying:

"You shalt never let thy guard down in a fight!"

But as he turned his back to him, Gajeel suddenly turned to him and turned his arm into a metal pillar. Then he extended his arm and struck Daidara's belly, and this last made a magnificent glide.

"I'd advise the same thing to you, fatso!"

Landing on the ground, Daidara rose angrily, feeling a trickle of blood spill from his mouth.

"You're going to regret this!"

Seeing that his companion was having trouble getting rid of Gajeel, River decided to intervene. Pulling various bottles from under his clothes, he prepared to open them, when he found himself obliged to draw his sword to counter Lily's.

"I don't know what you're going to do with these, but I advise you to put them on the floor immediately!"

"I don't seem to have told you that I would obey your orders!" replied River.

Suddenly moving his fingers, he managed to shake the contents of each of the flasks, in spite of the fact that they contained only water. The walls of the containers burst open, and all the liquids rushed towards Lily, and began to look like arrows.

Surprised by this, Lily felt compelled to shake her sword back and forth to stop each attack.

"No, but what's his power? Does he control the water like Juvia?"

Then his body stopped moving, against his will.

"Wha...?"

Filling the air, the melodies of a flute could be heard not far from him as Nyan approached River.

"It's all right, I've got control of his body!" the young man assured.

It didn't take much longer for River to swing more arrows, this time piercing Lily. Coughing up blood, the exceed kneeled to the ground as blood spilled from his wounds.

"Lily!" Gajeel shouted, turning to him.

Daidara immediately launched an attack on him while holding both parts of his teigu in each hand, Daidara repeated:

"Never take your eyes off your opponent!"

Feeling the axe wounding his shoulder, Gajeel grunted in pain, before finally managing to grab both of the man's arms, thus immobilizing them.

"Wha... What?"

"You have too much confidence in yourself, big oaf!" said Gajeel. "I'll show you the power of a dragon! IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Unable to help himself, Daidara uttered a cry of pain as he was sent backwards again. Yet, as soon as Gajeel saw him fall, an arrow of water shot through his body. Gajeel didn't even have time to see River, so Gajeel felt Nyan above him as he lowered his flute onto his skull. Gajeel fell to his knees and hit his head.

"Hahaha! You're no match for us!" Nyan assured him.

"Dirty brat!" Gajeel roared as he ran at him. "IRON DRAGON'S SWORD!"

Seeing his arm turn into a sword, Nyan barely had time to understand what was happening as River was already in front of him, using his own sword to counter Gajeel's sword.

"You're not bad!" the man acknowledged. "Therefore, wouldn't you like to join us and work for Esdeath-sama?"

"Esdeath?" wondered Gajeel. "Do you work for her? But then, for what purpose do you kill these people?"

"In order to satisfy our master's expectations!"

Hearing this, Gajeel sneered a little, before noticing:

"You're just this woman's lapdogs and you expect me to join you to imitate you and lick her boots?"

Losing his smile, he said:

"I'd much rather kick his ass!"

"As you wish!" River sighed simply, using his sword with finesse.

Parrying each of his attacks, Gajeel seemed to take the upper hand with his physical strength, which made River back down with each blow. Yet, the longer the fight dragged on, the heavier the magician's eyelids became.

"Wha...? What's happening to me?"

Hearing Nyan's music, he saw Nyan playing his flute and making a noise that sounded like a lullaby.

"The little bastard! His flute is also a teigu!"

"This is a one-way ticket to hell!" assured River, wielding his sword at him.

Nevertheless, suddenly screaming in pain, River lowered his gaze to see the tip of a sword coming out of his arm.

"How?"

"It takes more than that to kill me!" Lily assured, behind his back, while struggling to keep his warrior form.

"Damn bum!" roared River. "BLOOD SWORD!"

Immediately, a stream of his own blood pierced his back and shot so fast that it went through Lily's body. He could only scream in pain, and Lily could only back away, allowing River to pull the sword from his shoulder. Once free, he took out a new bottle of water and began to control the liquid so that it shaped like a bullet and crashed violently against Lily's face like a baseball.

Taking the brunt of the impact, the mask of the overflow cracked before a part of it fell to the ground, revealing half of Lily's head.

"What...?" River stared, staring at him. "A panther? You're an organic hemlock?"

Unable to hold his shape any longer, Lily suddenly took on his chibi form and fell backwards.

"What's that?" Nyan wanted to know.

"No idea! But we have to get it over with as soon as possible!"

Suddenly tilting his head to the side, he felt a gash forming on his cheek, while a spear had almost pierced his skull. Wounded in the stomach, but still able to fight, the young woman Nyan had intended to kill was now standing, brandishing what was left of her fighting spear.

"Dirty monster!" she roared, as particles of blood came out of her mouth. "I, Spear, swear to avenge my father's death, here and now!"

Looking at her with an evil eye, as the loss of his blood began to be felt, River ordered:

"Nyan, put her to sleep!"

"No pro...!"

"IRON DRAGON'S CLUB!"

Nyan was hit hard by Gajeel's punch and was thrown off the stage with a bloody face.

"What?" frightened River, seeing him standing there. "But how...? The melody should have...!"

A drop of blood fell to the ground. Breathing with difficulty, Gajeel held his hand over the wound in his abdomen that he had just inflicted on himself.

"He wounded himself, to free himself from the bewitchment of the flute... ?" River wondered.

Turning his gaze to analyze the situation, Gajeel saw Lily on the ground; Spear struggling against the pain that almost forced her to fall to the ground; River in front of him, holding his sword and ready to attack him again; Nyan fainted and Daidara determined to get up and resume the fight.

His eyesight became blurred at this moment, as the blood loss became more and more severe.

"Damn it! This is no time to pass out!"

But Spear, unable to hold on, eventually fell close to him, caught up by the injury Daidara had inflicted on her.

"It looks like this is the end for you!" River assured.

"Don't count on it!" replied Gajeel, swelling his cheeks.

"I already know that attack!" River replied, getting into position.

Nevertheless, instead of spitting a tornado at him, Gajeel aimed at the ground and created a huge cloud of dust.

"Wha...?" wondered River.

Not wasting a moment, Gajeel ran to Lily and questioned him:

"Hey, can you hear me? Can you fly?"

Opening his eyes, Lily said:

"Just enough to... get us out of here!"

"So, let's go!"

Finally fleeing, Gajeel grabbed Spear under his arm before Lily carried him and flew away with him.

Turning around to chase away all the smoke, Daidara saw them fleeing into the distance.

"River, what do we do?"

"Unfortunately, apart from going back to tell Esdeath-sama the bad news, I see no other way!"

"I have some bad news to tell you!" Najenda confessed.

"It's about the attack Gajeel suffered?" Natsu wanted to know.

"How are he and Lily doing?" asked Leone. "What about the woman who was with them when they came back?"

"All three were taken to the infirmary and are well! They just need to rest now!"

"Who is that girl?" wanted to know Lubbock.

"The daughter of the former prime minister! Apparently, the carriage carrying her and her father was attacked by a trio that managed to kill everyone but her! And still she's alive because Gajeel was able to intervene in time! But here's the bad news! First of all, I can no longer contact most of the local teams!"

"Local teams?" Tatsumi wondered.

"These are the closest bases to ours!" Akame explained to him.

"And if they don't answer ...!" began Bulat.

"It's because they've been attacked!" Najenda said. "Second, Esdeath is back in the capital!"

"You're talking about the most powerful person in this world?" Natsu and Happy wondered. "I thought you said she wouldn't be here for another year!"

"She's already massacred the enemies of the north!" understood Mine.

"In any case, a large part of her army didn't return with her, having remained in the north to kill the last garrisons still present! We must take advantage of this advantage before it is too late! Leone, I charge you to follow Esdeath on a tail!"

"Understood, sir!"

"And the third point concerns the matter of the generals being killed one after the other!"

Then brandishing a poster with the Night Raid symbol on it, she declared:

"This was found at the scenes of the massacre and claims that we are the perpetrators!"

"I see!" said Bulat. "From now on, the empire will blame its crimes on us!"

"I don't get the idea!" confessed Happy. "Calling us criminals, I understand! But why kill such important people as former ministers?"

"They were against the prime minister's ideas!" said Akame. "So, he decided to kill them and blame it on us!"

"And that's not all! By doing so, he also hopes that we will take care of the assassins, while falling right into the trap he has set for us!"

"So, what are we to do?" wanted to know Tatsumi. "Give up fighting and wait for it to calm down?"

"It's up to you!"

Suddenly hitting the poster, she was still holding in her hand, a spark quickly ignited it, while Natsu said:

"Using the name of another group... to get rid of her crimes? Unforgivable!"

Staring at Najenda, Natsu roared:

"This time, that's enough! Najenda, I refuse to sit idle any longer! It's high time I fight against this prime minister to stop this once and for all!"

"What are you thinking of doing, Natsu?"

"Break into the palace and get rid of this scum!"

Dumbfounded, everyone looked at him, dumbfounded by his idea, leaving Najenda to be the only one barely surprised by his plan.

"Both Budo and Esdeath are there! You don't stand a chance! I know your strength, Natsu! You're a very good fighter, but it won't be enough!"

"It doesn't matter if it's enough or not!" Natsu roars, bursting into flames. "I won't let others die! How many more people will have to suffer, if we follow your plan to the letter, until victory? I refuse to wait any longer!"

Running out the window, he put his mask in front of his face, just like Happy did, before jumping out the window.

"No, Natsu!"

It's too late for that. So, the duo set off for the capital.

"These idiots are going to get killed!" Lubbock cried out.

"Boss, what do we do?" Tatsumi wanted to know.

"Nothing!" said the latter, while breaking the armrest of her seat with her metal arm. "Nothing but hope that they'll turn back on their own!"