White Eclipse
Chapter 59

Daityas runs through the forest full speed, on route to Magnolia. He could barely hold the excitement in as he began boasting about the success of his plan as he holds up yet another compressed piece of lacrima that was once Tartaros Castle. "And that's how you have a plan come together." The Demon Slayer says with a sadistic grin. "Alls well that ends well, and with Zeref almost here, life couldn't get any better." He continues to smile as he runs through the sea of trees. Seconds later, he spots a group of bodies up ahead. "They aren't..." Once close, Daityas comes to a sliding stop, now feet away from the rest on Tartaros, minus Mithril. This time, everyone was awake and angered. The six of them stared down their "leader" as they slowly surrounded him.
"Okay, okay, I know what it looks like, but it's not like that at all." Daityas says as he puts his hands up as if surrendering.
"What is it then, Dait?" Maggie replies as she stand to his right.
"It better be a damn good explanation I know that!" Kiora exclaims as she stood to the left of Daityas with her hands on her hips.
"At this point, I don't care what the explanation is." Rugal chimes in, standing behind the Tartaros guild master.
"Look, yes I blew up the castle and no I wasn't gonna tell you. But if you were to die, which you didn't may I add, I was going to revive you with Zeref's vase."
"And where's the vase?" Tobias asked.
"Funny story." Daityas replies. His reply quickly led to disbelief as Kiora slowly slid into her shadow make stance. Ruika slowly pulled out a key. "Wait, listen. I had the vase, but Jellal distracted me, and one of those brats snuck in and stole it. It wasn't my fault."
Though they heard him, Daityas' words seem to fall on deaf ears as no ones expression changes as the rest of the gang readies themself to attack. Daityas merely raises a brow. "Oh, you actually think you have a chance against me? Okay, here's the deal you sack of ungrateful shits. You can either believe the man that gave you a home, a place to eat, sleep, and plot revenge on the world that turned their back on you with. Or, you can attack the guild master of the strongest dark guild in Fiore and this time actually die! Who do you have? Arc? That's your only chance here. Once that fails then what? Now, we are going to put this behind us and go meet Zeref. You know why? Just listen right now." Daityas then points to the sky as he cups two fingers around his ear.
"... I don't hear anything." Sora says as she tries to listen.
"I do..." Arcturus replies. "It's another dragon...except-"
"Except it's not just any dragon you hear Arc! That, is the dragon harboring our leader. Acnologia is flying Zeref into Magnolia as we speak. If we all leave now, we can just get there as soon as he does. Now, stop being such petty mages, and lets go."
The rest of Tartaros look around towards each other, silently deciding if they can trust Daityas or not. Arc finally speaks. "For Zeref."
"For Zeref." The rest of them recite as they drop their guards.
"Good...now lets go."

.

"K-Kuro... Is it really you?"
"This is unreal...he's dead remember?"
"Say something buddy.."
The fire make mage blinks a few times. He then holds his stomach with a smile and closed eyes. "I'm hungry! Lets get some noodles!"
Zalen quickly begins to tear up as he tackles Kuro to the ground with the rest of White Eclipse (besides Sidney and Taya) joins in on the dog pile. "Wah!"
"It really is you!" Skye shouted.
"I'm not even questioning it! Welcome back, amigo!" Luke yells.
Taya smiles and Sidney gives a slight nod to the pile as the rest of White Eclipse continue to give their shouts of glee and happiness. Fairy Tail and the others stand around watching with a smile as they celebrate the life of a family member. They finally hop off of him as they all stood or sat, the soreness and pain in their bodies return after the adrenaline of seeing their friend alive wears off.
"Now that Kuro is alive," Takeru says with a smile as he sat down. "We can all die together. "
"What?" Natsu says as he looks at Takeru with a confused expression etched on his face. "Die?"
"Die. We failed on stopping Daityas. Zeref is on the way here. Now there's nothing we can do."
"Don't give up!" Natsu yells.
"Yeah!" Lucy added. "We can still fight this! We just have to catch up to them and-"
"And what?" Taya asked. "Give it up. It's over, they won. We're beaten up to the point Aira and Wendy can't even heal one of us fully."
"Sorry.." Aira says as she lowers her head. Taya pats her on the top of the head. "For what? You did a great job. There's nothing anyone can do now."
"There's a lot we can do! Why are you all giving up!?" Natsu took a step forward, clenching his fists. "Natsu's right." Gildarts says. "There's some fights you can't run from. And this is one. You believe we're going to die. Why not die fighting for the sake of the world?"
"Because I don't owe the world anything." Tak replies. "The only people I'm in debt to is my family, and they stand behind me right now and I don't hear anyone against the decision to give up."
Natsu looks up to the rest of White Eclipse. Every mage had their eyes averted, some staring at the ground, while others just kept their eyes away from Natsu.
"Look on the bright side." Takeru says as he speaks again. "At least you won't be alone when you die."
The clenching of his fists become tighter. Natsu begins to shake a bit, until Lucy grabs his right shoulder. He looks up and turns to see his teammate, as well as the rest of the guild standing behind her, giving small smiles. "Lets go, Natsu. We have a world to save."
Natsu looks back at White Eclipse once again as the sat and stood around. He then turns back to Fairy Tail and begins running off with the rest of them.

"Are we wrong?" Aira asked as she held her arm, still looking at the ground.
"There is no right and wrong in these situations." Sidney answered.
"What did you want to do Sidney?" Luke asked.
"Whatever the team wanted to do. I have no decision. I'm just here to help. If you guys don't want the weight of the world on your shoulders, then we aren't going to lift that weight."
Taya sighs a bit. "I should of brought Nami if I knew we were going to fail."
"You'll see her again." Takeru says with a smile. "I'm just glad I saw Arc again. Even though he nearly killed me."
"Wow you guys suck!"
Everyone turns around to see an upset Kuro.
"Rude, Kuro." Kairi replies.
"No, seriously. This is pathetic. Are we really giving up!? How long have I been gone? What happened to White Eclipse or second place?"
Takeru slowly turns around. "We just told them, Kuro. We aren't fighting such a battle to save the world when they never gave us a chance."
"Screw the world!" Kuro yells, causing even Sidney and Takeru to be taken back a bit. "I had no one to turn to either once. White Eclipse saved me too! So it's my job everyday to make sure that White Eclipse breathes, just like it's your job to do the same! It's White Eclipse or second place and if Fairy Tail somehow pulls off the miracle, no matter how many Grand Magic Games we win, no matter how many times we beat them, we'll never be considered better than them, because they'll be heroes! Do you know what we'll be? The ones who quit! We can't just sit here and let them go down swinging alone. Reve told us things like this would happen remember? He said the more we get noticed, the more people will count on us for bigger things. And we agreed to the responsibility! So here we are, the second strongest guild in Fiore because of the games; first strongest guild because we know we're better! So lets go! Lets go save the world, to keep the White Eclipse name alive."
"...I should of broke the vase."
Kuro smiles at Takeru's response, knowing that his guild mate had given in. He grabs his hand and pulls the Shadow Dragon Slayer up to his feet. "Who knew Kuro would be the one with the motivation speech." Cygnus lets out a small laugh through his groan as he made his way to his feet.
"Cygnus!" Kuro shouted happily to see the gravity mage was complying with his plea. Right behind him, everyone else who was sitting down begins to stand. "We can do this!"
"Yeah yeah, lets just get going." Sidney says as he begins walking off.
"Wait! What about Adam!?" Aira asked.
Sidney looks up to the sky as Mithril and Adam continue to fly around, exchanging roars. Each attack ending in a stalemate. "That fights going to end in a stalemate."
"I'll stay with Adam just in case then." Aira says with a nod.
"Aira? Are you sure?" Tayakata asked, looking over at the now confident wind mage.
Aira gives another nod. "I'll be fine. Adam needs a healer and I'll be ready by the time his fight ends. He's White Eclipse too, and we can't leave anyone behind."
Taya smiles and nods towards Aira. Selene then gives Aira a quick hug. "We'll see you both back in the city."
"Okay.." She smiled as quickly returned the hug. The rest of White Eclipse then runs off back towards Magnolia as Aira turned back to the dragon fight, watching Adamantine and Mithril continue their fight in the sky.
"Come on Adam.."

.

"The castle is gone!" Makarov yells. The entire mage filled city begins to roar in victory, believing they've won. They watched and cheered as they castle fell, and continued to cheer as it completely disappeared from their view. All they could see was the flames devouring the castle until it existed no more. "Has to be Natsu!" Macao shouted. "He's the only one with fire strong enough, that reckless mage!" Wakaba added as he wrapped an arm around Macao's shoulder celebrating.
"I bet all the guild's alcohol that they saved Lisanna as well!" Cana roars as she throws her hands up, cheering for her guild mates.
"The entire castle is gone! Now what's WILD!"
"FOUR!" The entire guild of Quatro Cerebus adds to Bacchus' exclamation.
"That can't be it.." Calium murmurs. "After all that, there has to be something else."
"Look here they come!" Levy yells, but as she takes another look, she realizes there's only seven people running in their direction.
"...That's not them.." Makarov said as he quickly stops celebrating.
"I knew it was too good to be true." Calium steps forth next to Makarov and the other guild masters as Daityas and Tartaros come to a stop from their run, everyone except Arcturus comically gasping for air. "Are we late!?" Daityas asked the mages, as if they weren't enemies. He stood up straight as he took in deep breaths. "Doesn't look like it, everyone here is still alive."
"Where are our children!?" Makarov asked in a demanding tone as he threw aside his robe, ready to fight if necessary.
"Hm?" Daityas looked at the short old man with a grin. "Probably dead. I destroyed the castle with them inside so yeah, probably dead."
"He destroyed his own castle?" Romeo asked as the voices of the other mages begin to murmur around. Daityas look around with a smile, noticing a sea of mages from every guild in Fiore, even the unpopular and unrecognized. The Demon Slayer's ears then perk up along with Arc's as he averts his gaze to the sky.
"He's here, and it looks like you've brought just enough for a welcome party."
"Who's here!?" Bacchus asked as he growled at the Demon Slayer. Levy's eyes widen as she then finally noticed the book hanging from Daityas hip.
"That's the.."
Before she could answer, Daityas leaps up to one of the buildings still remaining. He sat on the edge as he garners everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen. Victims of all ages. This is the day we've all been waiting for." Daityas then pulls out the compressed lacrima from his pocket and holds it up to the air. "Thanks to the Magic Council, and your heroes themselves, White Eclipse and Fairy Tail; with the power invested in Tartaros..."
The lacrima begins to float. In the next second, the three pieces of lacrima zoom of into the sky, just above Daityas himself.

"This is my stop. Go find those dragons and get rid of them. I'll meet you back here in this town." He jumps off of Acnologia and begins his diving descent to the ground below him as the dragon quietly flies on towards where the castle once stood.

Daityas then stands as a giant black magic circle appears in the sky. He raises his arms and spreads them as he gave a wide sadistic smile. "I present to you, the king of magic, the sultan of life and death; your judge and jury, Master Zeref!"
On cue, through the magic seal he fell. Landing on his feet on top of a tower behind Daityas he now stood. Faces of shock and awe and of course fear were painted everywhere. He looks around, noticing the waves of mages lined up in the streets. "What's going on here?" Were his first words to the crowd of people that stood below him.
"Master Zeref." For the first time in his life, Daityas bows. "I- we, have revived you, your natural state, so you could end this wretched era and take us to the great world of magic, and the mages below us are the ones who dare to oppose you!"
Zeref slowly directs his eyes to Daityas. "You fool."
Daityas eyes widen from Zeref's insult. "What..?"
"I was already awake. Your efforts were wasted. The only thing you've done was give me a boost in magic that I obviously don't need, and I don't reward unneeded efforts."
Daityas slowly stood from his bowing, a look of confusion was etched upon his face. "But...this is what we've been told! I even have your book!"
"My book?" Zeref spots the book of Zeref as Daityas lifts it from his hip. "That book isn't for me, it's for anyone after me with the same intentions. I know my own magic by heart, why would I need my own book."
The rest of Tartaros look on with Daityas in utter confusion.
"Well the important thing is that you're here right?" Kiora asks, chiming in. Zeref slowly turns his view to her as she stepped forward a bit. "We're your biggest followers. We went through a lot to get you here, even if it was in vain. So you will lead us to the great world of magic right?"
"...No."
"WHAT!?"
Zeref keeps a stare on Kiora as he raises a hand into the air. As he does so, the book Daityas held opens on it's own, flipping to the page where the spell Zeref was about to use was. The words become highlighted as Daityas held on to the book. "There's no place for weak mages like yourself in such a world. Let me show you real mages. Real mages that will be allowed to roam such a world." As he speaks, four black magic circles sprout from his hand and into four different directions. North, South, East and West. "Demons. Demons will control the new world, because long ago, it belonged to them first. My army of demons will take back what's theirs. And my four generals will make sure of it."
As he spoke of his four generals. Out of the four magic circles, four humans, or who seemed human, appear.
From the North, stood a man in a white formal shirt and black formal pants and black boots. He had a tannish skin complexion. Over his eyes he wore a black mask. He had long, maroon hair that was tied up in an elevated ponytail. He bows. "Amon of Prudence, at your service Lord Zeref."
From the west, a man with pale skin appeared out of his magic seal. He had long black hair that was wrapped in a ponytail as well, except his hair fell to his ankles. He was barefoot, and his pants were a dark grey. The legs of the pants also stopped at the ankles. He wore a torso piece that exposed his abdomen, his chest covered by a white triangular piece that flared out just inches past his shoulders. His red pupils gathered attention just before he bowed. He then looked up and gave a sickening laugh. "Giha! Bune of Justice, here to serve you Lord Zeref!"
From the East stood a man with white shoulder length hair. He wore a normal grey short sleeve shirt with black jean like pants. Grey boots covered the yellow eyed mage's feet. Like the other two, he bowed to his master. "Corson of Restraint, ready to serve you, Lord Zeref."
Finally, from the South stood a man with black shoulder length hair; messy, as if it was tied up for a while and then finally let down. His body was covered in a fitting black armor with a grey trim as an outline to each section of the armor; the abdomen, the legs, the chest and the arms. On his back he carried a thin sword that reached down to his calves. He bows just like the other. "Danjal of Fortitude. I'm ready to serve, Lord Zeref."
The four mages all stood in different stances. Their eyes gazed upon the guilds below them, Bune was the only one with a grin on his face because of his insane personality.
"These are mages. They're also demons." Zeref gives a nod. "My four generals, create my army."
"Yes Lord Zeref!" They all say in unison. Upon command, the four mages open their right hand exposing their palm. From that palm a magic seal appears from each one. They rear their arms back, and launch the magic seals a good ways behind them into the air. The four seals then begin to spin, and out from the spinning circles, black figures fell from the sky; all of them with the exact same appearance.
"A demon army...!" Arc says with surprise in his voice.
"What!? Talk to us Arc! You're the one with the knowledge here!" Kiora shouts.
"Aye, for real now." Maggie adds as she watches the magic seals pour out endless swarms of the tall black figures that now showed glowing red eyes.
"I'm kinda scared.." Sora says as Maggie pulls her to her side.
"You." Zeref says as he points to Tartaros. "You want to live? Lets see your abilities. Take out the mages that stand against me."
With fear in their persona, everyone, including Arc who hesitates at first, gave a bow before they began their walk towards Fiore's last line of defense.
Makarov begins to glow a golden aura as he stood in front of everyone, along with GoldMine, Ooba and Calium. "We'll stop you no matter what it takes!" The old man shouted.
"Please, let us do it."
Makarov and the others turn around as four figures slowly make their way through the crowd.
"You're alive!?" Tobias asked with widened eyes. He and the others couldn't believe that they stood in front of them. "You didn't expect to get rid of the council that quick did you?" Correll says with a grin. He held his bruised body up as he stood next to Odin, Layanna and Ultear.
"But how!? I saw my Ourobouros get tied of you!"
Layanna stood, using her shield as a prop as she gave Kiora a slight grin.
"No matter! Just kill them now!" Daityas yells, trying to snap his team out of their trance.
"Wait a minute."
Once again, everything was halted as Zeref began to speak. "You fought the mages before you, and they're still alive?"
"Yeah but-"
Before Maggie could get off another word, Zeref opens his left hand towards the group of mages. "That's proof enough that you don't belong. Begone."
"Zeref wait!" Daityas yells, but his mind was already made up. After a small charge, Zeref fires off a massive wave of death magic toward the crowd. As he fires, in a panic, Daityas quickly flips through the book to counter the spell. Quickly running out of time, he picks a random spell and sloppily runs through the hand signs and chants.
"Get down!" Makarov yells, and quickly, everyone who wasn't Tartaros complied, ducking down to their stomachs, some even behind buildings as the entire area was covered by a black wave of magic...

.

Aira stood a decent distance away as Adam and Mithril continued their fight. She looked up to the clear yet ominous colored sky as the two dragons continued to fight it out.
Adamantine and Mithril hog the skies, dancing around each other, looking for openings. Adam fires off another ice roar that was once again stalemated by Mithril's lightning roar. Mithril then swoops by Adam in a near blur, wrapping his tail around the ice dragon's throat. He then slings Adam to the ground. The ice dragon crashes into the earth, causing a plethora of stones and dirt to fly towards Aira. She shields her face as she holds her ground. "Adam!" She yelled out for him after taking what seemed like a huge blow to her, but Adamantine quickly makes his way back to his four giant claws. Mithril quickly swoops down towards Adamantine, his wings glowing in lightning "magic" as he neared him. Adam's tail does the same, except in ice as he watches Mithril swoop towards him. Simultaneously, Mithril's lightning wing slash slams across Adam's jaw as Adam's frozen tail crashes against Mithril's left temple. From direct hits, both Dragons fall over, conscious, but too groggy too move so quickly from the blows.
"Oh no, Sidney was right. They're gonna kill each other. There isn't going to be a winner. I need to go help Adam!" Aira began her sprint towards the two downed Dragons. As Adam tried to force himself up, along with Mithril, something catches his attention. He then looks over towards Aira after realizing what it was. "Aira! Get away!"
"I'm coming to help!" She yelled back. But before even making it halfway to her guild mate, a loud roar was heard. Aira stopped in her tracks, realizing that it was neither Adamantine nor Mithril. With her eyes wide she stood stiff as a board. Aira then covered her mouth as Acnologia dropped right in front of her like a falling boulder. Landing on all fours, Acnologia faced the terrified Aira. His head was eye level to hers as he lowly snarled at the wind mage.
Aira couldn't move.
Neither could Adam.
Acnologia slowly raised his front right claw,
Preparing to squash Aira where she stood.
"I..."