Chapter 91: Wings of Retribution

Thirty two minutes remained until the activation of Face. Erza and Kyouka engaged in their back and forth, a clash of sword and claw continuing with no signs of an advantage. Clashing once more, the two ended in yet another stalemate, standing across from each other vigilantly until finally...

A bubbling noise occurred, and as the knight and the demon turned to the noise's location, brows raised as their feet became submerged in a red substance. That substance then began to burn, but before either one of them could move, two geysers of magma shot high into the air, launching them both into the sky then back down to the ground as their pained screams filled the atmosphere. Kyouka landed on her feet as Erza hit the ground, quickly struggling to lift herself up once again.

"Mind if I cut in?" She asked with a sultry grin, rising back into form. With a lava whip in each hand, slamming into the ground once just to show its strength and potency, Maggie licked her lips, allowing a drop of her element to fall from her tongue and onto the floor, incinerating it like acid.

"Maggie!" Happy shouted, scared for his life as he and the exceeds stayed next to Mirajane. "Of Tartarus?" Minerva asked, Happy nodding. Maggie peered to her left, noticing a fallen Sayla, which caused her excitement to only grow, calculating the odds into her favor. "Don't you worry. I won't be alone for long. Kiora will be here any second now, but until then, lets have some fun between the three of us gals, shall we?"

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{Ten Minutes Earlier}

"What was that?" Lluvi asked, wiping herself down as if any of Alegria was still holding her down. Tyson, Micaiah, and Reiss did the same, unsure of what the batch of rookies just went through. "I don't know, but it seems like it's over now." Reiss added. That's when Ilaria shouted. "Welcome back!" Her words puzzled everyone else. "I was lonely without you guys, but now you're all back again! Thank goodness! I don't know what I would have told Reve-Senpai if you guys would've died or something!"

"Wait..." Tyson began, arching a brow while pointing her way. "Ilaria, are you saying that you didn't get pulled into the ground like we did just now?"

"Nope!" She shouted proudly, hands clasped behind her back. "But...why not?" Reiss asked, Ilaria replying with a shrug, not knowing herself.

"Luck?" Lluvi asked, to which Micaiah threw in her own guess. "Maybe she just fit into the small percentage that would survive it?"

"Either way!" Reiss interjected, placing a hang on Ilaria's shoulder, smiling. "We're glad that you're safe, and that everyone is also okay! So now let's keep beating these Tartarus followers down and make it easier for our seniors, right!?"

"...Ralo-kun!" Ilaria shouted lovingly, clasping her hands together, to which everyone then shouted in comedic fashion. "What a switch!"

Smiling, Reiss tried to remove his hand from Ilaria's shoulder, but for some unknown reason, his body wouldn't cooperate, keeping his hand attached to the Soul Binder as she blinked a couple times. "Uh, Ralo-kun. You can let go now?"

"I'm trying! But...my body won't move!" The Summoner admitted. This caused Ilaria to slip away, but as she did, everyone else except her would succumb to the same problem.

"I don't get it!" Lluvi shouted, trying her best to move her body, but to no avail. "I'm really stuck!" Tyson added, doing the same fruitless motion in an attempt to free himself. That's when an evil giggling could be heard echoing as if they were in a cave — though they were out in the open space of the destroyed Tartarus. Holding a deformed stuffed animal, Sora of Daityas's camp appeared from the shadows, holding out her right hand towards those who were held still. "Sora has your shadows!" She said in the third person. "Now Sora will use your shadows to kill you, and Arcy will come back and Daityas will be proud of her."

"She's doing this?" Micaiah asked, still struggling. That's when Ilaria turned to her, scowling. "Hey, let them go!"

Her voice caused Sora to turn to her, growing a malicious grin as her eyes hid under a giant hat. "So why aren't you affected by Sora's curse? There's only one reason why, and it's the same reason why Alegria didn't take you under."

Sora's depiction caught everyone's attention, and the clues caused everyone to come the same conclusion, leaving them flabbergasted at the thought. "No way...Ilaria, you're a..."

The atmosphere became eerie, the temperature dropping as Sora and Ilaria stood before each other. A smoky vibe, like the cliche atmosphere of an old cemetery, and Ilaria gave off the eeriest grin to boot. "Oh my. I don't think my friends will accept me now, Sora. Now I may be lonely because of you. How will you pay for this? Oh I know how..."

As she held out her arms by her side, a few phantasms became visible — souls, floating around Ilaria as she prepared for a fight. "How about, with your soul?"

Sora grinned as well, slowly raising her arms just the same and from the ground, a plethora of shadows took form into two legged creatures, all standing around their creator. "Is that so? Sora won't give you anything you ask for. It'll be you and your friends that will die. Sora will make her friends proud. Sora will kill you!"

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The heated deadlock between the two vector demons slowly, gradually began to shift in Noboru's favor. Despite Tayakata channeling her rage into strength to even the odds, it remedy that her strength was slipping away while Noboru was maintaining his easily. He also caught whim of this, growing disappointed the more he manhandled his own daughter. Taya continued to charge in, leading with her fatal vectors, only for her father to easily slip past them with his own as a shield, causing her vectors to bounce off of his as he darted directly for her. Slamming an elbow to Taya's nose, her head snapped back, returning back forward only to see another vector coming straight for her heart. She was able to deflect with her own, but that just left her open to another fist, this time slamming into her abdomen and causing her to hunch over in pain, grabbing her stomach as she stumbled forward into her father's arms. The one place she didn't want to be.

"It seems you just can't reach that pinnacle I know you're capable of." Noboru said in disappointment. Taya desperately swung a right hand for his face, only for him to swat it away with his left, then retaliating by literally smacking her against the cheek viciously with his right hand. Taya fell to her knees, held up only by her father's grip against her left wrist in an embarrassing fashion. "You hurt me, Tayakata. I'm so ashamed to be your father. You allowed a human to stunt your growth, and now look at you. That heart of yours can't pump the vitality into your curse like it's supposed to when you're too busy harboring the wrong type of emotion for it to do so. That's not what I created you for."

"Shut up!" She shouted, swinging once more with her free hand. Once more Noboru simply parried it, then retaliated with a hard right hook to her skull.

"To think that very human's threatened existence is what woke up this demonic nature of yours. Something we all knew you had, but you were supposed to surpass that. If I wanted another plain demon running around, it'd be a different story, wouldn't it? But alas, I've rambled about my disappointment enough. Unfortunately I'll have to kill both you and Nami here. So goodnight, Tayakata. It's been somewhat a pleasure to see you again."

No matter how much she fought, Taya couldn't stop the vectors of Noboru from slowly wrapping around her, covering her entire body as they threatened to suffocate her completely, as if devouring her. An outstretched arm, unable to grasp anything as Nami was the only thing she could see as the vectors finished coveting her. "Nami...I'm sorry. Everyone...Reve...I'm... —"

Suddenly, her eyes widened from an immense pain, but simultaneously to that, the vectors that threatened her life retracted back to Noboru. Free from them, Taya found herself seated on the ground, turning to the immense pain in her leg. A bullet sized hole now rested in her left thigh, and upon realization, she let out a muffled scream of pain as she turned to the only one capable of leaving such a mark.

"Whoops. It seems my aim's a little off. I was aiming for your ass to get it in gear. It looked like you were giving up just now. I'm pretty sure you even called my name as if you were apologizing before a death or something. Can't have that."

Her eyes softened. That cocky tone and wordage never got old to her, and it showed on her face as she stared towards the shirtless, bandaged gunslinger. His wounds were far from healed, but there he stood with gun in hand, smirking towards the demoness. That's when the pain in her leg snapped her back to reality. "Why the hell did you shoot me!? You could have hit him!"

Reve chuckled. "I did. Isn't that right, old man?"

Taya turned, and her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed Noboru holding his abdomen — the left side. As he removed his hand, a hole just like Taya's was seen, and the demon gave off the most angered visage he's shown so far.

"You...have no idea who you're messing with." Noboru warned. "I have an idea after our first encounter." Reve replied. "That's why I'll need your help, Taya. Whatever you have left, we're going to need it. Lets take him down together, yeah? I'm willing to admit that I need your help, but only if you're willing to do the same."

His words caused her to smile, forcing herself up to a stance as a vector of her own wrapped around her wounded leg to give it support. "Fine. I won't mind admitting that I do need your help against the opponent before us. Only because my sister is too injured to aid me, you have my permission to team up with me, cowboy."

"Hot." He replied, giving off that cocky grin as he conjured another pistol into his free hand, standing side by side with the demoness as they faced off against an angry Noboru once more. The Tartarus demon himself then removed his hand from the hole in his stomach, baring his teeth as his eyes turned completely white — shouting to the sky while causing the earth to rumble. "Since you can't reach the plateau I've preached to you about, Tayakata...let me show you what it looks like instead! I'll devour you both!"

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"That's a lot of faces." Said Waiston, staring out over the edge to get a good look at Fiore's newest plague. Faces as far as he could see, stretching out past the horizon. Waiston the clenched his dragon scaled jacket, smiling to himself. "If magic does die, then everything Tunundra had taught me would go to waste. But how can we stop that many Faces? Especially with such little time? I don't..." His words trailed off because of what just hit his ear drums. It struck fear into the fearless dragon slayer, now sweating as he trembled alone. "W...What...? There's no way...H-How!?" He asked, looking up towards the sky past the horizon. He continued to shake in fear, unable to actually move from his position as the roar became louder and louder by the second.

"You...you died in Magnolia! We...Natsu...we finished you off! We killed you! How are you here!? A...Acnologia!?"

Upon the call of his name, the dragon of the apocalypse came into view, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake as he did.

Off to the distance, Takeru was experiencing the same thing. Fallen to his hands and knees, the omega shadow dragon stared at the ground with a sweaty visage, gulping in fear just as the other dragon slayers. "How!? We watched him disappear in Magnolia! Natsu took our strength and defeated him...! How is he..." The deafening roar halted his thoughts, causing him to cover his ears as he prayed it was a dream. But a dream it wasn't, as a large shadow casted over him, zooming past him just as fast. "How is he here!? Did Natsu miss!? Did we not notice him slip away from us on that day!? Why!" That's when Takeru stood up and screamed at the passing Dragon of Apocalypse. "Why can you continue to haunt us, but I can't even get a clue to what happened to Umbra! Why!?"

{Flashback}

Maggie, Kiora, Sora, Arcturus, Tobias, Daityas, they all stood around their hidden guild, minding their own business as Tayakata walked in with a small figure next to her. Daityas raised a brow as Maggie and Kiora hopped down from their seats and walked over. "Oh? Taya did you bring home a stray dog?" Kiora asked. Takeru remained close to the vector demon, nostrils flaring in hostility though he proved to be no threat to the demons. "A cute little bugger, ain't he?" Maggie asked coyly, reaching out to pet him. Takeru then snapped back, causing Maggie to pull her hand back. "What the hell you little shit!? I'll burn you alive for that!"

Chuckling, Taya then introduced the little boy to the others. "This is Takeru, right?" She asked for clarification, and Tak nodded in response. "I found him alone, being kicked into the dirt by some humans. I slaughtered them, and I planned on killing him too, but he was nothing but thankful, and even gestured for me to take his life because he has no love for humans either. Apparently they've done nothing but treat him like shit ever since he ran into them."

"Ran into them? Where—"

"SHUT UP TOBIAS!" Kiora shouted to interrupt the other. She would then asked the exact same question he was about to. "Ran into them? Where has the runt been before you ran into him?"

That's when Taya grinned again. "Apparently, what we have here, is a first generation Dragon slayer. Shadow Magic, right? He says he's looking for Umbra. I assume that's his dragon, but until he finds his dragon, I figured I'd turn him into a killing machine so he can slaughter whatever human gives him trouble. Yeah, raising a demon sounds pretty fun."

"He's not a demon." Taya turned to the voice, Arcturus the darkness demon himself. Bandaged eyes turned towards the two, and the demon snarled like a predator. "Don't label him things that he isn't. He's human, and nothing else. I should devour him right now."

"You'll do no such thing." Said Tayakata as Arcturus took a step forward, doing the same to block his path between himself and Takeru. With Kiora and Maggie making instigating jeers in the background, Daityas finally stood up with the final word.

"Let him stay. If Taya wants to experiment with the cretin, let her. If he dies, he dies. If he becomes one of us by mindset, it's a plus for us. Normally I wouldn't allow it, him being a human and all, but the fact he's a Dragon Slayer means he's got plenty of potential. Lets see where this goes."

The verdict had been reached, ending with Sora shouting and cheering about a new playmate and from there, Takeru would grow...

{Years Later}

"Ah, another dead end." Takeru stared monotonously. "How do people get Wyverns and Dragons confused like that? Now I had to kill one for no reason."

Taya walked past, the two alone as they sat down in the quiet guild hall. "You also didn't kill anyone while we were out." She stated. Takeru then responded. "Neither did you." It caused Tayakata to grin before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, I won't lie about it, Takeru. And I'm only saying this to you because I feel like you feel the same. But I feel like I'm growing tired of being a merciless demon. Sometimes, no, all the time now, I've wondered what it would it be like to live a human's life. I want to leave here and try that."

A moment of silence filled the air before Takeru answered. "No...I don't feel the same, Tayakata."

Charcoal eyes filled with options on what to do from here turned to Takeru as he stared at the wall across the room. Pondering on if she had to kill him now in case he would try to tell Daityas what she said or not. But, his follow up changed all of that. "I can't feel the same as you, because you're a demon. I'm human. I've always wanted to be human, if when you found me getting kicked around by my own race...even when I told you I wanted humans dead. That never changed the fact that I wanted to live like one. I've noticed your want to be one of us for the longest time. I've just never said anything because I know exactly what you yearn for, because I yearn for it too. Umbra also wanted me to live a normal life, and I feel like I'm disappointing him. It's something he wants me to do, so it's something I have to do..."

"Then do it."

His voice shocked them, Tayakata and Takeru quickly turning to the appearing Arcturus vigilantly. "Who knows? I might join you two. This place is cramped anyways, and killing humans for fun was never my thing to do anyways. I just want a place to sleep and grow stronger."

Easing up, sighing in relief that one of the strongest in their guild was on their side, Taya and Takeru nodded. The demoness spoke once more. "Alright then. It's settled. We're getting out of here. But first, we'll need a plan of escape."

With everyone in agreement, Takeru clenched his fists, staring at the band of knuckles as h thought to himself. "And when I'm free of this place...I'll be able to find you, Umbra."

{End Flashback}

"Why!?" He shouted, pounding his fist into the ground, sobbing as tears fell from his eyes. "Why you!? Are you the only dragon left!? Where is Umbra!? Where!? Don't take me away from this world until I see him again! I refuse to go! I refuse! Umbra!"

As he shouted to the sky, Takeru's chest began to glow brightly as his heart began pounding against his chest vigorously. He placed a hand there, unsure of what was happening. Off to the distance the same thing was happening to Selene and Waiston,

to Natsu and Gajeel, to Sting and Rogue as well. Even Wendy was falling victim to it, and as those shining lights took to the sky, Takeru could only look up as the familiar voice called out his name — large black wings expanding across the sky before him and a powerful roar echoing into the atmosphere.

"Wipe your tears, boy. That's the last thing I taught you how to do." The dragon demanded, causing Takeru to wipe his eyes after the shock settled in. He could barely speak, yet he managed to say his name, the name of the dragon that fostered him, taught him his magic, raised him...

"Umbra..."

On the other side of Tartarus, Skye Ravenwood stood completely frozen alongside Kuro Crane. The once poised assassin was now stricken with the commonplace ailment of fear as her eyes remained glued to Acnologia who closed in on the battlefield. "No..." Was all she could muster, not even bothering to speak what was on her mind at this moment — flashbacks of the Ice Dragon she adored so much, not even being able to see him one last time before he fell to The Dragon of the Apocalypse itself. Kuro could only look at Skye as she stared, knowing exactly what she was feeling, watching her sword quiver in her hands as the rest of her body followed suit.

"Wait..." Kuro spoke, noticing another giant figure making its way towards Acnologia. As it arrived in the sky, Kuro's eyes widened as Igneel himself rammed into the other dragon, now battling in the air above. "A second one? There's a second dragon that's not Mithril or Adam?" His question went unanswered verbally, but Igneel's presence was all he needed for reassurance. Skye continued to watch, but the fact that two dragons were now occupying the sky only caused her to continue to mourn over the fallen Adamantine. "..."

Her words were nonexistent as Igneel and Natsu spoke to each other incoherently, even as Igneel launched Natsu towards a location she didn't bother making out. She didn't even have words for the ongoing battle between two dragons, but what caused her to speak was what suddenly happened below her.

Because of the plethora of rubble and destroyed terrain, along with the broken Tartarus on top, it was nearly impossible to make out where exactly they were once the cube crashed back to the ground. But as the sound of crackling began, catching both Skye and Kuro's ears. "What's that?" Kuro asked. Skye blinked a few times, and as they continued to listen closely to it, the sound became clear, yet still unfamiliar.

"It sounds like...like Ice breaking?" He added, turning to his feet as he could feel the ground beneath him trembling. The assassin pressed a palm to the ground, feeling the steady vibrations beneath. It caused her to dig through the earth, surprisingly with ease until she came across an ice casing. Her eyes slowly widened in the utmost disbelief as the ice continued to break and finally, it shattered. After unleashing a mighty roar, a large, light blue and white dragon flew high into the sky before spreading its wings. Kuro and Skye were speechless, and the entire guild of White Eclipse could now see him as well... Adamantine the Ice Dragon was alive and well, released from a frozen cocoon of sorts, and glaring towards Acnologia and Igneel. He then turned back to Skye and Kuro. "It's been a while."

Her eyes welled up, and tears fell from the corner. She didn't know what was happening, how it was happening, but the dragon she adored so much was now before her, preparing to take off towards the other two that dwelled in the sky. "A-Adam...how?" He didn't answer, only flying off, to which Skye would quickly chase after with all of her speed. "No you don't! I want answers! How are you alive! Come back here, Adam!"

"Now isn't the time!" He shouted back, but Skye didn't deter. "Now is the perfect time!"

Adam huffed, never turning back as Skye chased him. "To give you a short version, Acnologia killed Mithril, that much is true, but before I could fall, Igneel called to me. He told me that this fight was too soon, and that it wasn't time for it, that dying here was pointless. So, before he could kill me, I cocooned myself in ice underground in order to recover from my fatal wounds. I barely escaped with my life. I've been fully healed for a few months now, but once again, that dragon fighting Acnologia right now told me to wait just a bit longer. So I did. I understand you're full of emotion right now, Skye, but there's more important things to worry about right now. So please, sit tight, and we'll talk later."

He run began to slow after the explanation, and Adam began to ascend higher. That's when Skye shouted. "You better not disappear again this time! Come back to us Adam! Come back to me! Promise me that!"

He looked back, grinning once before joining Igneel and Acnologia in the skies above, slamming a powerful Fist of the Ice Dragon into Acnologia's sternum just as Igneel landed a powerful Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon to the jawline, sending him spiraling towards the ground.

"Hmph. So glad you could join." Igneel admitted. "It's the only time I'd let a fire dragon tell me what to do." Adamantine fired back as Acnologia rose once again.

"Now lets finish what I started, shall we, Acnologia?"