{Merry Holidays Folks!}
"Okay everyone, roll call. Is everyone still in their position?" The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and Kain's groggy voice entered through everyone's mind.
Way to start the morning of Fairy Tail's greatest fight yet.
"Alpha Squad?"
"We're all present, command."
There was a followed yawn coming from Kain in the mental link. Warren must have been also too tired to filter that out or he automatically filtered it in because he was tired. Either way, it wasn't hard to blame him considering how stressful the night before was.
"Beta Squad?"
"*Hic* All good on this front."
"Despite Cana being the opposite sober, she's right. All's clear here."
And so it went on, all teams were accounted for and still… waiting.
At one point in the night, things felt tense. An attack could come up at any time during the dead of night, so everyone was feeling tense and sleep was far away from most minds. It was only through the instance of Master Makarov that people allowed shifts and the mages were allowed some semblance of rest.
Come morning though, everyone still felt on edge. Their one day grace period was running out and there was still no sign of Phantom Lord.
"Okay then umm… Master Makarov wants to warn us about four other acclaimed mages under Phantom Lord known as the Captains."
"Thank you, Kain. Now, all of you are aware of the Element Four and Black Steel Gajeel. However, Phantom Lord has four other mages that mange the Northern, Western, Eastern, and Southern branches. While not as acclaimed as the Element Four and Black Steel, they are famous in their respective areas and Jose has placed great trust in them managing their sections."
The air grew still. Fairy Tail still barely saw the true abilities of the Element Four or Black Steel in their opening skirmish, now they had to deal with potentially four more acclaimed mages?
"I'll start with the South Captain, Alexandra Raphael. Her nickname is known as the Gladiator. Stories go around how she defeated the infamous Pirate Mage, Brown Beard and his one hundred ships single handedly. I've heard rumors she could match Erza in weapon mastery."
At the mention of the name, Erza gripped her fists tighter.
"Next up is the mysterious, Amanda Peaks, West Captain. Her rumors all vary, but some constants I've heard that is she's surprisingly young… and horrifying to her enemies. A pack of giant eels once plagued a nearby valley city, but both the eels and the people evacuated the area after she took the job."
Warren gulped before Kain looked at him. "I sorta had a flash of what everyone's been thinking. … We have some really creative people in our guild."
"Third is the Eastern Captain, Zolon Mercer. The stories surrounding him are the opposite to the former in the sense that there are too much exaggerated stories about him. A boastful fellow by the sounds of him, but with a unique magic no one has ever seen before."
"Tch! A man shouldn't rely on rumors." Elfman bitterly whispered.
"And last but in no way least, Voyu Carliso, the Northern Captain. Instead of telling you hearsay like the others, I'm going to state a fact about him that I know for sure: he is the guild master's right hand man and long time teammate with magical mastery over portals before the two became the powerhouses they are today. He is no doubt the one capable of bringing all members of Phantom Lord scattered across Fiore in one day and making them appear nearly anywhere near Magnolia, even right on top of us."
"Okay, that literally makes him the number two mage to look out for in Phantom Lord right under their Guild Master." Kain said out loud, but Warren accidentally transmitted what he said to everyone scattered across Magnolia.
Needless to say, the Captains bolstered Phantom Lord's already massive strength. Perhaps maybe if they were alone, they could be beaten by a singular powerful mage, but seeing as how they were brought together, they'd be a force to reckon with.
Seeing Makarov finished, Kain made a signal which allowed Makrov to back off.
"And on that note," Kain took hold of the link spreading to everyone. "Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, when the hell are they coming!? I've been waiting for hours, damn it! I even mastered two of the new Pyromancy Spells waiting for those jerks! OWWW!" The sound of a metal fist cutting him off was heard throughout the link.
"Any questions not from Natsu?" Kain quickly corrected as the link around Natsu was wisely filtered out by Warren since he was about to scream again.
Out of everyone, Reedus was the one to break the silence. "… When do you think they'll attack?"
…
…
Mirajane gasped. "Master, there's something in the map!"
Everyone in the cathedral turned their attention to the hologram of the town and its surrounding area. There was some kind of blinking light appearing around the edges of the town hologram.
"Foxtrot, I need you to confirm visual from vantage! Something's appeared five miles away from Magnolia's main western gate!"
"I see it with my scope!" Bisca's voice cried out. "It… It's a red portal! Someone I haven't seen before is walking out—I'm more than willing to bet it's Voyu!"
"Everyone, battle stations! Phantom Lord is here!" Despite stating the obvious, Kain did manage to snap out those still in stupor and ready themselves for their upcoming fight at the appearance of the right hand man of Phantom Lord's Guild Master. "Bisca, give me a play by play! Is he with anyone!? What is he doing!?"
"He's-He's alone and just… standing there… shit! He's preparing a spell by chanting!"
"Can you stop him from there!?"
"No! He's too far, and with how much magical pressure I'm sensing even from here, there's a good chance he can easily counter it!"
Everyone suddenly felt a massive spike in magical power; even the non-mages could feel the tense shift in the air.
"Everyone, brace yourselves! He's summoning all of them!" Makarov shouted as he got the Thunder Palace charged up.
No sooner than he said this, the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord began with a bang unlike any other.
The bang being space ripped up open like a sword slashing through a curtain as a colossal tear towered behind the portal mage and revealed a giant mobile castle with a cannon sticking out aimed right where Magnolia currently was.
"No! He had Jupiter Class Magical Convert Cannon!?" Makarov cried out in shock at what had escaped the portal. In the briefest of nanoseconds, Kain took a mental note to just shorten that name into Jupiter Cannon.
The large cannon in question unleashed a powerful blast towards Magnolia with the intent to wipe it off the map. The Fairy Tail guild master, seeing no time left, activated the Thunder Palace, making all orbs surrounding Magnolia shoot up and quickly combine into a massive bolt of thunder right for the Jupiter Cannon blast.
"Brace for impact!" Kain managed to yell into the link seconds before the two massive weapon's powers clashed.
It was nothing short of seeing a nuke go off.
The effects were devastating even though there was something like a five mile gap between both parties, the shockwave of both attacks hitting was enough to blow away some of the closer houses in Magnolia's edge.
Everyone held on for dear life as they felt the earth shaking. It felt like hours, when only seconds had passed after the two attacks clashed.
"Ro-Roll call! Roll Call!" Kain cried out before Warren put the link back up. "Report! Any main casualties!? Beta Team, you were stationed over Magnolia's main Entrance. Status Report! Beta Team respond!"
"Macao here… ow… having the second worst headache of my life right about now. We… We caught the worst of the blast but despite some rubble falling on us and being disoriented as heck, I think we're good."
Kain sighed in relief before looking back at Master Makarov and the holo map. "Foxtrot, what is Phantom Lord's next move!?"
"Right! I… they're just standing there! Their base is just stationed there! They don't seem to be doing anything else!"
The wyvern rider's eyes widened as something came to his mind. "Where's Voyu?"
"Voyu? … Shi-Shit! I can't spot him anymore—wait! I got him! He's… on top of the Jupiter Cannon!" The sniper cried out. "He's… shit! Oh shit!"
"Bisca, calm down, tell us what you see!" Kain was starting to sweat right now despite him trying to calm their sniper down.
"It's all of them damn it! The Element Four, Black Steel, and the Four Captains! All of them are on top of the cannon with Jose freaking in front of them!"
Needless to say to hear all of Phantom Lord's ten best mages together made even Natsu actually feel a twinge of doubt… before he pushed it back down into whatever hole he threw away into first. "So what!? Bring it on! We can take them!"
"Natsu is right." Kain quickly played on Natsu's outburst. They needed a morale boost desperately and Kain was quick on the uptake. "We can still do this! We need to be smart and cautious but we can take them down. This is without a doubt our greatest fight yet, do not let it be our last! Lima Squad form up with Juliet Squad! Hotel squad, assist Quebec and Whiskey Squad! Yankee Squad, move out! I don't think they'll be attacking from the sea anymore but a portal opening there is still possible! Move up and meet with X-Ray and Zulu teams!"
"Kain! I mean command! Voyu is opening several portals! They're all splitting up and heading into them!" Bisca cried out.
"Max with Echo Team here! Portals have opened up in front of us! It's Phantom Lord's lackeys; they've started attacking directly!"
"Same here!"
"Portals are popping up like magical daisies!"
Kain looked to the map where over a dozen blinking lights appeared all across Magnolia. In the distance, the once deathly quiet streets of Magnolia now became filled with explosions, cries, and magical blasts.
"Voyu truly is a mage worth fearing. Dare I say he might be on the level of our strongest mages." Makarov gripped his fist with anger and traces of fear.
Suddenly there was an alarm sound as one of the Thunder Palace orbs flying in the air suddenly vanished from the holo map. Then another.
The temporary tactician quickly realized what they were doing. "Everyone! They're aiming to attack the Thunder Palace! Do everything in your power to protect all the orbs! Do you hear me!? Protect the Thunder Palace!"
Perhaps in another time, Fairy Tail would do all in their power to destroy the Thunder Palace. This most assuredly was not that time.
Kain looked to Master Makarov. "Does our defense have any form of defense!?"
"It is laced with body link magic so if one destroys one, they are basically destroying themselves. However, Phantom Lord's numbers work in favor of this. They could all possibly sacrifice enough of their men to destroy Thunder Palace without harming their battle strength."
Kain finished a thought that no one wanted to hear. "And leave us open to Jupiter Cannon."
They were sitting ducks at that rate! Fairy Tail had higher quality members, but Phantom Lord was smart enough to turn it into a battle of attrition that they were sure to win. Kain had to give Phantom Lord credit where credit was damn due. They knew how to expose their weak spots, but it was time to see how well they can handle Fairy Tail's trade mark unpredictability. "Screw it. Time to do something crazy! Alpha Squad, pick up Charlie Squad on Ignis! You two will spearhead a strike team to destroy Jupiter Cannon!"
"What!?" Lucy cried out as she looked to Kain in shock.
The wyvern rider quickly turned to the celestial mage. "We won't win by playing only defense. If we have any hope to win, we're taking down their weapon of mass destruction as well!"
"I'm all aboard for it! Warren, lead us to Charlie Squad!" Natsu's voice echoed back into the link.
"Something isn't right though." Makrov muttered before accessing the link. "Has anyone spotted any of Phantom Lord's top ten!?"
There was a bad feeling in the air as more and more of the teams were quick to say no.
It was nothing compared to the doors of the cathedral being smashed in.
Makarov used his magic to freeze the flying doors from crashing into his 'children' and let them drop into the ground.
From outside, three figures stepped out of the smoke and into the cathedral: Black Steel Gajeel, The Northern Captain, Voyu, and Jose Porla, the Guild Master of Phantom Lord himself.
"N-No way! Thr-Three of Phantom's best, right here?!" Lucy cried out in horror as Marajane stepped in front of her, Éclair, and Momon.
"Mira, get the girls and Momon out now!" Makarov ordered instantly as magical aura started flowing out of him.
"Yes sir! Come on you two!" Mira then grabbed the two girl's hands and ran towards the back exit with Momon not to far from them.
"Gajeel, you and I will pursue." Voyu stated in an impassionate manner. "It's best not get between the two guild masters."
"Tch! Everyone else is having a fun battle, while I'm stuck with you, old fart." Gajeel disappointingly folded his arms.
Voyu seemed to ignore that comment and opened up a red portal behind him and Jose. The two then easily walked into it.
"Warren, Kain, I know it's hard, but you two must protect Lucy!" Makarov stated.
The two were about to question it until they realized… this was going to be a battle between guild masters.
"A-Are you sure, sir?" Warren started before Makarov threw his hand.
"I said go!" The two young men didn't need another word as they both bolted after their allies.
When the left, despite all the fighting, all the explosions and magical blasts surrounding the town…
Everything was deathly still between Makarov and Jose.
"Jose…" The Fairy Tail Guild Master said with trembling fists of anger. "You have three seconds to cease this foolishness and call off all your men."
The opposing wizard saint, in his own wizard saint uniform, still kept his hands behind him as he did when he had first entered. Instead of increasing his own magical power like Makarov was, he was just standing there with an impassive look on his face.
"One!" The aura around Makarov started to glow even brighter and started to become like that of fire.
"Two!" Makarov slammed his hands together and started charging, but all Jose did was removed his hand out of his cloak, revealing a suit case while still looking impassive.
"This is your final warning!" Makarov's voice echoed with power. "Call them off, now!"
At last… Jose blinked before sighing. "You really don't remember do you?" He said with a trace of disappointment, yet it felt like he was half expecting him to do that.
His reaction was not what the Fairy Tail guild master was expecting. "What are you talking about?"
"55 years ago." Jose began, confusing Makarov. "It was when I was 4 years old that we truly first met."
"First met?" While keeping his guard up, Makarov eased on the power he was exerting. He was surprised they had actually met before and that he was older than he looked.
"The town of Figo Valley," Jose's voice was eerily calm but there was some restrained control behind it. "Do you remember that?"
"Figo Valley? What about—" In one instant, Makarov dropped his accumulated energy. His eyes widened, his mouth gapped, and his hands shivered.
"So you do remember. I'm actually impressed." Jose scoffed with venomous sarcasm.
"N-No! That… that means you're… you're…!"
"Why don't I say it for the both of us?" There was Jose's teasing tone before, but there was no smile as he said this, no playful tone… only scorn and rising hatred. "I'm the only survivor of Figo Valley."
"Warren, cut Master's link." The telepathic mage winced as he looked to Kain while they both ran into some streets that somehow remained untouched by the fighting.
"Wha- what!?"
"Warren, cut his link now! I don't think we're supposed to be hearing this!" The armored rider cried out to the telepathic mage.
"So you do remember. I'm actually impressed." Through Makarov's link, all of Fairy Tail was confused by what Figo Valley was and why Jose seemed extremely hostile about it.
"N-No! That… that means you're… you're…!"
"Warren, cut the damn link!" The wyvern rider practically roared when Makarvo's voice started shaking.
The telepathic mage did so with more effort than he thought he could, a treacherous side of him wanted to know what that was about but Kain was right. That did not seem like something to be exposed to everyone unless it came from master Makarov himself.
"It's done!" Warren cried out.
With that done, Kain quickly used it. "Update! Command has been breached! Jose is now fighting Makarov, all units avoid the cathedral and continue protecting the Thunder Palace! Voyu and Gajeel are pursuing Lucy Heartifilla, all groups have a secondary objective of helping her and the others!"
"What!? Jose is with gramps!? Kain, what's going—!?"
"No time, Natsu! How are you and Charlie team!?"
Erza's voice came up on the link. "We've broken into Jupiter Cannon with Laki, Elfman, and Alzack. Kageyama and Vijeeter are in our entrance point with Ignis and trying to secure it in case we need a hasty escape."
Taking that in while checking his surroundings, Kain continued. "What's the status there?"
"I assume most of Phantom Lord's forces are in Magnolia because security is surprisingly light." There was a slight pause which felt like Erza was defeating some foot soldiers. "We're en-route to Jupiter's main lacrima and destroy it before falling back to Magnolia."
"Careful, Erza, only Voyu and Gajeel have been accounted for," Kain's voice spread to the link. "There is still no sign of the Element Four and the three other captains!"
"Huh?" Warren suddenly looked back towards the Cathedral. "Kain, I'm sensing another power spike from the Cathedral!"
"What?" Kain also turned back before a sudden explosion came from the center of Magnolia. The blast was so strong, that from behind Warren and Kain, windows from the building they past by were shattering and a wave of power was rushing right for them.
The wyvern rider acted quickly and tackled Warren down and covered him in his cape.
The magical explosion passed over the two, but Kain felt something very, very odd in that magical shockwave.
He quickly got back up and helped Warren as well. "You alright?"
"Yeah… thanks… crap! I don't know what that was but the link is down!" Warren said as he tried to use his magic.
Kain inwardly cursed after hearing something like that. They needed that Link for some semblance of quick communication. "Can you set t back up?"
"Not with everyone so spread out anymore. At best I can only do those in Magnolia; the ones in the Jupiter Cannon are on their own."
At that moment, both Warren and Kain looked back towards the cathedral where there was a glowing black light.
"You think master's alright?" Warren asked nervously towards Kain.
"I…" Before Kain could answer, he felt a burning sensation on his wrist. To both him and the telepathic mage's surprise, Kain's morpher had re appeared only this time it was cackling with black electricity and its jewel eye in the wyvern head was glowing black.
They had never seen that before and seeing as how it only did that when it came from the Cathedral….
"I hope he is." Kain said before shaking his head. "Lucy comes first though. We need to catch up to her and Voyu!"
He picked up Warren and boosted with his high speed. All the while, he hopped this horrible feeling in his gut would go away.
When a large explosion and deafening crashing sound came from the Cathedral, the feeling only grew worse.
"Mirajane Strauss. S-class mage." The way he emphasized that second sentence made it look like he was disappointed. In all fairness, Mira herself was feeling disappointed too, but mostly at herself.
"You kidding? That broad's an S-Class mage?" Gajeel folded his arms as they saw the three girls and one flying bird step back from them.
"I heard… complications… and that she doesn't use her magic anymore." Voyu pointed to Lucy who was standing right beside to Mira. "Come with us Ms. Heartfilia, we're nothing if not punctual in our quest orders."
"I won't come with you!" Lucy claimed as he pointed a golden key at her opponents.
"Jeeze, I can't believe I get the worst damn job out of all the fun here!" Gajeel complained as he stepped forward with his fist crackling, seemingly ignoring Lucy's threats.
However, Voyu raised a hand and suddenly pulled Gajeel back from an invisible blast that crushed the area the Black Steel step forward to.
The three and Momon looked to see Kain and Warren coming out from one of the corners nearby.
As soon as they arrived, Kain looked to the girls. "Girls, are you alright?"
"Kain! What happened to the link!?" Lucy asked with worry.
"Link?" Voyu suddenly repeated out loud. "Oh a telepathic link? You have a telepathic mage with you?" The glasses wearing man turned to Warren. "That's you isn't it? So that explains why you were with Makarov despite your lack of magical presence. You have telepathic and telekinetic magic in your arsenal."
"Huh, well if it ain't little boy red! I've been itching to punch something all day. You'll do nicely." Gajeel smiled at his first sign of something to fight.
"Alright then Gajeel. It seems we have to fight after all—"
"Lucy, move!"
It was an instant but a lot happened in that moment. Before Voyu could even finish his sentence, he suddenly shot an arm out towards the blonde celestial mage. A portal instantly appeared beneath her and she quickly started to fall. However, Warren acted just as fast and used his telekinesis to push Lucy out of falling into the portal even if she did land on her butt as he did.
"So that telekinetic blast was from you after all." Voyu leered towards the psychic mage who only cowered by instinct.
"Warren, set up a link with all Fairy Tail members here." Kain mentally thought out loud before glancing towards Mira and the others. "Mira, get the others out, we'll hold these guys off."
"What!? But Kain, they're some of Phantom Lord's best mages!" Mira looked on with horror towards the younger red knight.
"We aren't here to defeat them, just hold them off long enough for you guys to get to safety." Kain summoned a blade and pointed it to Gajeel. The obviously battle hungry Iron Dragon was all too eager to forget about his main objective and step closer towards Kain's bait. … Much to the young rider's unease since he actually lost to Gajeel the first time.
"Kain, jump! Voyu is opening a portal under you!"
The red knight did so, quickly avoiding a portal tearing up from underneath him. Warren quickly fired a telekinetic blast at the portal mage only for him to open up a portal that seemingly swallowed the attack. The psychic mage's eyes widened as he jumped back to avoid his own blast being fired on him due to a portal opening right above him.
"Hurry up and go!" Kain linked to the three girls before Gajeel rushed for him and ended up clashing blades with the red rider.
However, Kain didn't know Lucy was angrily gripping her fist as she heard all of this. Kain, someone who didn't even have magic, was risking his own life for hers. Everyone… everyone was fighting so hard and yet here she was… just… just… running!? It was maddening! "No! I am tired of everyone fighting for me! I am also a part of Fairy Tail too!"
Kain and Warren looked to Lucy in surprise. Voyu saw his opponent let down his guard and quickly fired a portal to swallow Lucy. The blonde Celestial Mage quickly saw the movement and jumped before a portal appeared behind her and tried to swipe her in. With another pull from Warren, the celestial mage was able to avoid the second portal from reaching her. Then she took out a golden key—
"Lucy, Voyu is just going to try and catch you when your spirit is separated from you. It's a bad match up!" Warren linked to her.
"Alright, in that case!" Lucy threw out her key and cried out to open the gate of Sagittarius However, something was different: instead of her spirit appearing before her a light shined around her body and momentarily blinded everyone else.
Voyu suddenly heard the sound of something flying through the air in the middle of the light. Three portals appeared in front of him and allowed what he felt to be arrows pass through his portals and land right behind him.
"Star Dress: Sagittarius form!" Lucy appeared in a style of clothes similar to Sagittarius and even wielded an elegant bow after the light ended.
Nearly everyone was shock… well except Kain.
"Uhh Lucy? Why do you look like a stripper now?" Despite his intent to respect his friend, it didn't help that his eyes trailed to some rather unshielded areas of her new 'dress'.
"Wait, she isn't a stripper? But she always dresses like one." Momon innocently added in.
The blonde mage was quick to correct her allies. "I am not a stripper! AND I DO NOT ALWAYS DRESS LIKE ONE!"
"Rrrriiiigghhhttt…" Momon didn't look convinced while Éclair had this look on her face like she was trying very hard not to judge.
"You really must dress more appropriately." Voyu of all people noted. "I understand styles of fashion change nowadays but at least have the decency to dress in respect to your own body."
Kain momentarily side stepped away from a confused Gajeel and pointed to Voyu. "See, even our enemy thinks you dress inappropriately!"
"I DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS DAMN IT!" Mira probably shouldn't have been laughing at Lucy's plight since they were still in front of some powerful enemies. "And I can't use my spirits when I'm using the clothes! Virgo told me I didn't have enough mastery to use both the spirits and the dress at the same time yet!"
"Ha!" Warren took this weird timing to blast Voyu if his guard was down. However, all Voyu did was step forward—to fall right into his portal to avoid the attack heading towards him. Gajeel saw this and went straight for an extending iron fist right at Kain who ducked under it as it flew to a nearby wall and smashed it like glass.
Warren looked around, no matter how hard he tried to sense he couldn't find Voyu's thoughts anymore. He was starting to panic; it was epically hard not to when Voyu's last thoughts was figuring out that he had more range than the telepathic mage and assumed he could attack from anywhere outside the mind reader's abilities.
In one instant, over a dozen medium sized portals all appeared around the telepathic mage then…
Just as many punches and kicks came out of them and all hit Warren in exposed areas with enough force to make his eyes roll back in.
"Warren!" Mira and Lucy cried out before the telepathic mage fell.
The celestial mage tried to run for him but a portal opened up, revealing Voyu standing right in front of her.
"A mind reader is tricky to fight. However, he can't read my mind if he doesn't know where I am." Voyu stepped forward to Lucy. "Now Miss Heartifilia, we have an appointment."
"Star Dress: Virgo!" Lucy hurriedly cried out as in a flash of light, her dress changed to that of a maid and she quickly went into the ground. Voyu raised his brow before the ground beneath Warren opened up and swallowed him whole.
The glasses wearing mage remained silent as he then closed his eyes and tuned out the sounds of Gajeel shouting to his opponent to stop running.
Mira had a bad feeling as she saw this and yelled, "Lucy, get out of there!"
However, her cry came too late as Voyu already swung his hand, making a portal appear to his right. There was a scream as Lucy, carrying Warren's unconscious body, fell out of the portal.
"N-No way! He could open a portal even where I was!?" Lucy turned back to the well dressed man walking over to her.
"As I was saying," Voyu opened a hand towards Lucy. Kain, seeing his friend in trouble, tried to rush for Voyu, but he was blindsided and launched through two buildings by a punch from Gajeel. "Come with us, Lucy Heartifilia. You have no one left to protect you."
To the blonde celestial mage, time slowed down. Despite her roar for courage moments ago, she realized that her opponents were just on another level. Natsu and the others were all the way at the Jupiter Cannon, Makarov was battling Jose, Kain and Warren tried to help her, but they weren't strong enough against Phantom Lord's top mages.
However, to everyone's surprise, including Gajeel, there was a mysterious spike of magical power that everyone felt. It was tremendous enough to attract everyone's attention.
Voyu was the only one who didn't turn to the direction of the magical presence but he did close his eyes. "So you did show up." He opened them back up and turned to face the masked stranger that was not there mere seconds ago. Everyone else still conscious saw that standing behind Voyu…
"Mystogan!" Mira cried out as the mysterious mage of Fairy Tail had arrived in the battle and not a moment sooner.
"Finally! Things are getting exciting!" Gajeel smiled as he tightened his fist and jumped. He launched an Iron Dragon Fist right towards the hooded mage—no—his attack was stopped by a magical circle mid-air.
"What the," Before he could even start the third word, the magical circle started to shine brightly and a portal quickly snatched the Iron Dragon Slayer away mere milliseconds before an explosion shaped like a beast tried to swallow him whole.
"Oof!" Gajeel landed with all the grace of a clown slipping on a banana peel and landed on his rump nearby Voyu. The iron dragon slayer looked up at the northern captain. "The hell was that for!?"
"Gajeel," Voyu locked his sights on their new opponent. "I know this is something you might not want to hear, but leave Mystogan to me."
"Bullshit! I can take him!" The Iron Dragon Slayer jumped back up as he did. However, Voyu raised a hand and pointed to Lucy.
The usually calm man turned to Gajeel with his eyes glowing green.
Black Steel Gajeel flinched. He gripped his fist and turned around. "Damn it! Just open up a portal for me back to the rendezvous point when I'm done." He shouted in frustration. Everyone could notice how much powerful Voyu was if even someone like Gajeel was forced to obey him.
However, The Iron Dragon Slayer abruptly froze and jumped back as a red energy slash passed in front of him, and cut through a house. Kain slid back between him and Lucy with his sword pointed towards him.
"Mystogan! None of us stand a chance against Voyu! Can you handle him!?" Kain cried out.
The hooded figure slightly turned to the armored rider before nodding once.
Kain returned the gesture before pointing. "Mira, Lucy, for the love of god, get out of here now! I'll follow right after you!"
"R-Right!" Lucy nervously agreed as she tried to help Warren back up. Mira and Éclair came over to help her and the four including Momon ran away.
Gajeel snarled as he saw his angry looking reflection on the armor's visor. "You're really starting to piss me off, kid! And I sure as hell ain't in a good mood now!"
"I seem to have that affect on every Douche Bag of the Week," Kain retorted, "Now if you'll excuse me: exit stage left!"
Voyu turned and summoned a portal right in front of Kain as he tried to follow after Mira and the others. However, that portal vanished as fast as it appeared and allowed the boy to run after his friends.
"Gajeel, go after them." Voyu said as he turned back towards Mystogan who was with his fingers styled out in an unfamiliar magical stance.
"You're lucky I want to bash that red kid's skull in. That's the only reason why I'm listening to you!" The Iron Dragon Slayer responded before running after his targets.
With him gone, Voyu slowly turned back to Mystogan.
The two remained eerily silent despite all the battles; all the destruction; all the loud sounds and explosions in the distance…
Voyu twitched first and summoned a portal right as he punched forward. A dozen portals appeared over Mystogan and so too, multiple fists attempting to hit him. However, instead of hitting flesh, most of the punches dug into Mystogan and remained trapped in there! Soon, the figure was slowly turning into mud, revealing that it was a decoy.
Mystogan was already behind Voyu and swung his staff filled with magical energy right for the portal mage's head. However, another portal appeared in front of the path of the staff and made the weapon go in and appear through a portal beside the mysterious mage's head and bash him instead.
Voyu pulled his fist out of the portal and the body made of mud as he turned around to see a stuffing coming out of a hooded and beheaded doll with Mystogan's image.
The portal mage silently looked to his left to see Mystogan wielding three staves out of his collection.
Both of them were just sizing up each other. Voyu's spell reaction was impeccable, but Mystogan's magic was completely unpredictable. Both fighters were silently and surely trying find a weakness in their opponent. Truly, this was a high class battle between two S-Class mages.
Voyu placed his hands together and formed a giant O with his hands.
As he did, a larger portal appeared in front of him. Mystogan readied himself as—
He was not expecting a large amount of water to come rushing for him in less than an instant. With great urgency, Mystogan vanished mere seconds before the first droplet could touch him.
(Did he open up a portal in the bottom of the ocean!?) Mystogan realized in his mind as he saw from up the sky the amount of buildings getting crushed by the fast moving water that came out of the portal. To open up a portal there would unleash a torrent of pressurized water that even the toughest of spells would have a hard time overpowering! (Wait, he's no longer behind the portal. Was that a feint!?)
No sooner than he thought this, he felt a shadow cast right above him. A portal opened and something was about to come out. Wasting no time, Mystogan fired a magical blast right for the portal.
However, instead of seeing Voyu, something else came out of the portal. Or rather… things.
(Wait!? Dynamite!?) Mystogan inwardly panicked as he saw a bundle of dynamite fall out as his own blast flied right for it.
The sky above Magnolia gave a loud bang that all could see.
(That was close.) Mystogan appeared on a roof top after forming from smoke. (This opponent is going to be troublesome. He knows how to use his own magic.)
Another portal opened up behind Mystogan as a large, angry Vulcan came charging right for him in blind berserk rage.
Mystogan slid under the punch of the twenty foot tall monkey and fired a blast right into his face. Instantly, the raging creature fell asleep and tilted off the roof… and into a portal.
(He's wearing me down. He's sending obstacle after obstacle against me, trying to find my weakness and/or waiting for a chance to strike. In the mean time, I still can't find him with how long his range is. He could be on the other side of Fiore with no way for me to get to him. This is more troublesome than I thought.)
More portals appeared around Mystogan. Over a dozen lightning bolts came out of them which were all aimed for him.
(He can even open portals under a thunderstorm somewhere else!?) Mystogan moved around, avoiding bolt after bolt and then avoiding more elaborate trap portals like falling bear traps, magical blasts from either somewhere here in the war or who knows where, and angry magical creatures.
(I can't even fire into the portal randomly. I'd just be shooting practically into the dark and Voyu seems smart enough not to hide right behind the portals he opens up. But something isn't right. He's attacking me with such accuracy. How does he know where I am despite where he is?)
A little past Mystogan, there was another smaller portal coming up. However, nothing was actually going out that portal.
This was the portal Voyu was using to spy on Mystogan from high on top of a mountain forest.
(That didn't work either. There is something uncanny about the magic he's using.) Voyu carefully and cautiously observed his opponent before open up a portal beyond him and letting a thunder strike hit the mountain. The blast caused a chain reaction that eventually caused an avalanche.
An avalanche that Voyu did not hesitate to send directly above Mystogan.
With his smaller portal, Voyu watched Mystogan avoid the falling boulders with another unknown spell. His eyes sharpened as he noticed the S-Class mage use his stave to turn the boulder into literal dust. (Those staves he uses. Those must help channel all these spells. Now I have a plan of attack.)
Back in Magnolia, Mystogan was still trying to figure out the secret of his uncanny accuracy. (Wait, since he has such mastery over his portals, he must have one nearby that keeps following me. If I could just spot it…)
Another portal opened up, prompting Mystogan to be ready. Despite what he had seen before, he still wasn't expecting a large swarm of purple bugs to appear heading right for him.
(Are those Venom Wasps!? Just one sting of those is enough to kill a person!) Mystogan acted quickly and moved his staff…
A portal opened up as he tried to point his staff, the air suddenly sucked in the staff Mystogan was about to use away from him.
(Shit!) Mystogan paled as the staff was stolen from him and the swarm was upon him. In a burst of magic, the entire swarm was incinerated but Mystogan was now starting to pant at the large exertion of magical power. (Damn it! He's aiming for my staves! … Wait… He's aiming for my staves…)
(Good, I'm finally making progress.) Voyu thought carefully after making sure to send the stolen staff into a volcano in one of the southern isles of Fiore. (He is a powerful mage that can more than likely defeat me if given the chance. But I will not let him.)
Voyu was now near a desert valley with a sand storm brewing in. Seeing the upcoming storm, he opened up another portal.
Back in Magnolia, both Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord mages were surprised to see a sand storm brew in.
"Max, are you doing this!?" One Fairy Tail mage cried out as the sand storm blew in stronger.
"No! It's definitely not me!" The sand mage cried out as he tried to use his magic to mitigate the incoming storm. But he could only do this for himself.
Mystogan was swallowed by the sand storm. As he struggled to keep his senses sharp, he did hear a faint hum, revealing that another portal nearby was opening up.
Instead of a natural force, like all the others before, what came out was a metal spear thrown and lodging right into Mystogan's shoulder.
The S-Class mage grunted in pain as he tried to use his own magic to remove the spear. However, as he moved his staff, a second portal quickly came moving through the storm and sucked up Mystogan's second staff.
Rather than get worried, Mystogan smirked under his mask.
Voyu sucked in the second staff with the intent of opening it right above another volcano. However, no sooner than he sucked it in, the portal he was using to spy on Mystogan suddenly exploded without warning.
"GAAAHHH!?" Voyu cried as the blast sent him right into a giant tree while he was in a swamp.
He wasn't expecting an attack like that so it hit him when his guard was down. Voyu grunted as he got back up to his feet despite the swamp now starting to burn around him.
"I found the portal you used to spy on me."
Voyu looked back up to see Mystogan standing over him with a bleeding shoulder.
"I saw how you were trying to steal away my staves. A good move, I admit fully, but by my second one? I was able to cast a timed spell on it that would explode and disrupt any magic within a hundred meter radius as soon as it left my hand. I knew that your portals were still connected and exploding one of them would result in all the others becoming unstable and exploding as well. From there, I have magic that specifically closes and opens portals. It was just a matter of finding which portal you used to spy on me, opening and extending it, and walking through."
The Northern captain tried to get up, but the second before he could activate his magic, he saw a magical circle beneath him.
"It's over." Mystogan pointed down as a heavy magical blast fell down and hammered Voyu from on high.
The Northern Captain screamed in pain before he fell into unconsciousness… leaving Mystogan the winner of this fight.
However, Mystogan quickly suppressed the fire around them and then fell to his knees, gasping for breath as he removed his mask to properly breathe oxygen then cradle his stabbed shoulder to lessen the bleeding.
( I spent too much magical power fighting him! I originally planned to attack him with his guard down if he stayed in the north division. If he wasn't called over, I would have been able to sprung my trap and easily take him out of this war. No wonder he was Jose's partner when they were young…)
Mystogan got back up and put his mask back on. While he may have crippled Phantom Lord's back bone by taking down one of their major mages—their second in command no less—he was also weakened from the fight and Fairy Tail's opponent still had at most nine other powerful mages to deal with.
It took the S-Class mage a second to realize that he was far from Magnolia once more. He would have to find the portal he stole from Voyu…
—A thrumming sound of a portal opened up behind Mystogan's head.—
The masked mage turned but only saw darkness as a fist connected to his jaw and sent him flying into a tree.
Slowly, he got back up, only to see Voyu, injured, but standing up from Mystogan's more powerful spells.
(Even that wasn't enough!?) Mystogan showed no sign of emotion despite how bad this situation was.
However, if there was one constellation, it was that Voyu was now heavily injured and his suit was torn up somewhat. He threw off his coat, removed his tie and threw away his sunglasses all while gasping for breath, those two direct hits did affect him, but he was more than strong enough to take those hits.
"I can see," Voyu breathed in between before continuing. "…why you are lauded as one of Fairy Tail's best. Not with raw magical strength but the near unpredictability of your spells could make a wizard saint caution themselves around you."
Mystogan slowly got back up, even though he flinched several times from that heavy blow from awhile ago and his magical fatigue was also factoring in from Voyu's creative assault from awhile ago.
"And you deserve to be titled, Lord of North." Mystogan let him have that. He never faced an opponent that pushed him this far before.
Both men were weakened greatly. Yet they both refused to lose. With most of their resources wasted in trying to defeat the other, they were now caught in a situation where this would be the last phase of their fight.
Whoever won here would decide a major victory for their side.
They both knew this as they stared down their weakened opponent.
Like how their battle first began, they both stood up tall and stared down each other, waiting for the other's first move.
With the fires now dead, only the quiet woodland forest around them remained. Birds were chirping peacefully, a river was running a little away from them, and some small critters skittered around the edge of their clearing, their instincts screaming to them to avoid that clearing with every part of their being even though they couldn't understand why.
It was a peaceful place to finish a hard fought battle.
Suddenly, Mystogan was the first to move. However, instead of using magic, he dashed right for Voyu.
Fearing that Mystogan would just close any portal he would try to open up, Voyu leaned forward and caught Mystogan's left wrist as he tried to punch him. The Northern Captain opened up small portal behind his right leg as he kicked into it. The other end of that portal was the back of Mystogan's knee, and a strong kick there, caused the masked mage to stumble forward. Voyu didn't hesitate as he unleashed his free left hand to uppercut the falling mage.
However, Mystogan used his right hand to swat away the strong uppercut and quickly pushed that same hand forward to touch two fingers into Voyu's stomach.
"Assegai!" The masked mage whispered as a sudden and invisible impact exploded right into Voyu's stomach. The blow of the attack caused Voyu's body to be thrown like a rag doll and crash into the river.
Seconds passed after Voyu fell into the water, but it seemed like there was no sign of him coming back up this time. Mystogan didn't take any chances this time and quickly tied up and momentarily sealed away Voyu's magic.
However, no sooner than he did, he fell back to the ground, weakened greatly from the fight.
(Damn. I'm too weak to even open up that portal I stole form Voyu. Fairy Tail… Erza… I hope you can still win this.)
{Author Notes}
Here we go folks! A completely new take on the Phantom Lord Versus Fairy Tail saga!
We kick things off with the Jupiter Canon VS The Thunder Palace followed up by Mystogan appearing and actually having a tough battle with Phantom Lord's mages!
It's really too bad Mystogan had only a few magic battles. He was awesome! His magic also seems really flexible depending on which staff he's using, and I don't even know what they can fully do!
I hope you enjoyed the battles so far, this arc is chalk full of them!
Wait till you see what I've planned for Jose and Makarov, but that's somewhat for the finale.
Next we follow how Strike Team is storming the Jupiter Cannon.
Thanks for reading!