Laxus Dreyar was currently under mind control.
That simple sentence above couldn't describe how truly bad the situation that Kain Reynolds and a very weaken and beaten Freed Justine were currently in.
"You were betraying me!" The Guildmaster cried out as he started to generate more electricity than a power plant back in Kain's world. "I'll kill you, Kain!"
The red armored boy sighed while carrying Freed over his shoulder. "Of course even under the evil influence, he still hates me!" And with that sarcastic comment out of the way, Kain made his armor's cape turn into wyvern wings and flew away from the attacking S-Class mage at the speed of 'Aww Hell NAW' with him carrying Freed by his arms.
Freed seemed to realize this and managed to shout out, "Kain, don't go in Magnolia!"
The armored man couldn't even ask why because he was trying to avoid being struck by lightning and thunder. But he did take a hard right to avoid flying back towards the main gates of Magnolia.
However, Laxus was still hot on the young man's trail. No matter how fast the armor was, Laxus seemed to have no trouble catching up to Kain multiple times. It was the reason why Kain had to fly low, he had a bad feeling if he went even above a normal building level, he would have been more susceptible to an electrical attack being out in the open up there. He ssssoooo didn't want to see if electric types were really effective against flying types.
"Have you figured out how to snap him out of it!?" The red plated man could only try and shout over the explosions and the booming thunder chasing after them.
"M-My sword! I tried to put an enchantment that should have snapped him out of it momentarily, but I couldn't hit him with it!" The young man looked towards the blade on Freed's side that had a dim purple glow.
"Do you have to be the one to do it, or can I just use the blade?" Kain started asking.
Freed looked back to Laxus seemingly have no trouble keeping up with them despite the two being a little higher in the air. "It has to be me or it won't work."
The way Freed suddenly winced when Kain made another sharp turn to avoid getting hurt was an obvious clue that the chance of him hitting Laxus with a spell to snap him out was low.
"Freed, get ready for a rough landing!" The armored young man told the green haired mage. Freed looked up in surprise, but considering how desperate their situation was, there was no room to be picky. The weakened mage nodded at the young man, hopeful that whatever what he was about to do would work, not aware that Kain was also hoping what little plan he could perform would work.
Kain slowed down and dropped Freed, causing the man to tumble down a grassy hill before two fast speeds passed over him.
The red armored rider flew faster, but Laxus still was able to catch up with the young man. A little further, the young man landed and slid on the ground, preparing himself in a battle stance with one hand behind his back.
"I really, really wish I would stop fighting people stronger than me. That's Natsu's thing! Not mine!" The boy complained as he nervously got ready.
Laxus was quick to follow and rushed for the armored boy with the intent to turn him into red scrap metal. Yet Kain moved, bringing out his hand behind his back while he moved the rest of his body to protect his face. The reason for this was because in his first hand, there was a Cracker Sphere that was revealed in his open palm and it was already primed to explode.
It let loose a dangerous blast of light while Laxus was close to it, causing the guild master to cry out in pain and cover his eyes with his hands. Kain didn't let up and quickly reached for his other gear. He instantly threw gum that exploded and ensnared Laxus' face with his hands still clamped into his face. Kain slammed his elbow into Laxus, causing the large man to buckle forward, and the armored boy judo threw him into the ground. When that was done, he threw more of the gum on to his feet to pin him down. He just hoped it would hold long enough.
When Laxus started struggling, Kain jumped on him and made sure he was pinned on the ground, but even then Laxus was trashing around with electricity gathering around him.
"Freed!" Kain looked up to Freed, trying his best to make his way towards the two of them.
Yet it was hard to not notice the magic circle that appeared right where Kain and Laxus were. The armored young man acted fast and grabbed Freed out of there before a large blast of thunder struck Laxus.
The result was the area turned into a scorched, smoking crater with Laxus now free of his restraints.
Kain was first to get up and tried to reach for his back. However, his world suddenly blurred and he felt pain around his neck. It took him a second to realize that both he and Freed were being held up in the air by their necks.
"You bastards will pay for betraying me! I am the guild master of Fairy Tail!" The crazed S-Class mage cried out as he started to put pressure into both of the men's necks.
Even though his was armored, Kain felt worse as he felt all of his oxygen suddenly cut off. He tried to reach for his make shift item bag, but Laxus saw this and slammed the boy into the ground while still clamping to his neck.
However, while Laxus did try to stop the boy, the impact of being thrown into the ground caused a pouch to fall out and roll towards Laxus. As it did, it opened up, revealing Kain's Nausea Marbles.
As they got out of their special bag, the marbles activated instantly, causing both Laxus and Freed feel dizzy. Laxus let go of the two, causing them both to start gasping for air. But Kain noticed that Laxus looked especially sick. He even was starting to look green.
He put that aside and quickly scooped up the bag and marbles before he let loose a punch right into the neck of Laxus. This caused Laxus to gasp and buckle forward to fall on his knees. Kain didn't hesitate to back flip over him and put the larger man into a nelson hold in that position. He then cried out to Freed, "Again!"
The green haired mage saw that and how Laxus was slowly regaining strength. He grabbed his blade and lunged forward with it. "Release!" He cried out as the blade made contact with Laxus' skin. A flash of purple light filled the area but died down as fast as it appeared.
When the light show was over, Kain found out that Laxus was no longer struggling in his hold.
"My head…" Laxus gasped before seemingly knocking out cold.
Kain dropped the guy and looked to Freed, who was also barely standing. "Can you move?"
"N-Not well in this state," The right hand man of Laxus gasped as he seemed to be using his sword to prop himself to stand. "We need to find a shelter. Fast! They… they might have seen that light…"
Kain didn't know what he meant, but finding a safe spot would be a good idea. "We are technically near Natsu's house. I'll bring both of you there." The young man activated his wings, and in a flash of red, all three were gone from the area.
No sooner than he did, several others appeared where their battle took place.
"Sorry about the place, Natsu never keeps it clean ever since both Lucy and I found out about this place." Kain said as he opened the door with the spare key.
Messy was too weak of a word to describe it. Natsu's home was a complete pigsty. But Freed wouldn't complain, or more likely he was too weak to. The armored boy carefully let Laxus into the couch before finding a seat for the leader of the Thunder Legion.
"So," Kain began. "can you tell me what the heck happened to the guild?"
Freed closed his eyes. "It happened so fast. But I'll tell you as much as I can."
The guild was… as you left it. One side was overly zealous while the other was… let's just say dispirited. However, something was off today. The group that Master Laxus brought in, they were being rowdier than usual.
I and the Thunder Legion decided to keep watch in case things started to digress in to the previous state, but looking back, all we did was watch.
Elpton had ordered a drink… sorry. I must ask you to remain calm considering what happened next both escalated and stopped the situation.
Mirajane went over towards the group, but Elpton, in his obvious drunken state… excuse my expression, but he slapped her in the ass.
…
I knew you would be more restrained, even when hearing about your friend. It's not an insult, but I can respect self restraint.
… Yes… you were right in that statement just now, Kain. "Fairy Tail and self restraint never go together." Now that I think of it, you basically are the guild's entire self restraint.
… I was joking, but as it stands, it may as well be the truth.
I will continue then.
As you can imagine, Elfman was first to act, attacking Elpton for the honor of his sister. Even Evergreen felt disgusted about the sexual harassment, but I held her back, I didn't know why but I did. Elpton didn't even show signs that he knew Elfman was even there, even though he was holding his fist back with ease. Elpton then moved his free hand to flick Elfman in the head and knock him back into the side he came from.
That was enough to get everyone to charge up their magics, we were about to step in and subdue it all before we started, but the guild was then silenced with the entrance of the clown.
He strode in and for some reason, he was off. He walked straight towards Elpton, who seemed to sober up instantly at his presence and then seemed to just stare at him.
They must have communicated in someway because Elpton started laughing loudly. The others asked the clown what he was doing and where Macao was since they traveled together.
Wait, you knew? … How? Very well, I will continue again. To the surprise of everyone in the guild except those under Elpton, Pierre unbelievably expressed attempting to kill Macao and cursing Mystogan! He expressed attempted murder as if he was having a polite conversation!
At first, many had trouble believing, some even telling him to stop joking around. But he kept repeating it and repeating it…
That's when they realized he was telling the truth.
Elpton laughed and laughed, patting the clown's shoulder and telling him that he did good in stopping Mystogan. He said they were ready for the next phase.
We didn't know what they were talking about but then Natsu charged in head first with obvious intent to kill, if not maim the clown where he stood. But he was knocked back the same way Elfman was.
Finally, Laxus came out of the office and demanded to know what was going on. That is when things started to pick up quickly. Laxus jumped off, and everyone on the other side tried to explain what was going on and that Pierre should be arrested for what he did. However, Laxus seemed to be getting angry at your friends rather than the actual criminals.
People in Elpton's group were laughing and sniggering and that finally clued me in that they had some kind of mental influence over Laxus and that he was currently seeing the original group as enemies, claiming that they were trying a coup when it was so clearly looking like Elpton's work.
As soon as he said this, he started to attack your friends. None were able to stand up to Laxus, and in the confusion, some attempted to escape, only to… they were trapped… by… by…
One of those bastards, they stole my magical barriers I put around the guild!
Yes, my Jutsu Shiki, there was a barrier around the guild I made. I will tell you the reason for that another day, but know that somehow, the barrier I created with rules was now completely rewritten and served to trap everyone in the guild to fight against Laxus.
One of your friends, the former criminal and shadow mage was quick to try and de spell it. Seeing Master Laxus go out of control, we entered the fray. I went to help the ex-criminal undo the barrier, but things got hard as Elpton's group started attack both he and I to undo the barrier. Erza bought us time, but she was overwhelmed the second before we could undo the barrier and so little of us not unconscious could escape.
Laxus howled with anger and gathered a dangerous amount of magical power that would even kill those nearby who were unconscious, seeing how desperate the situation was, I used forbidden magic to power myself up and get Master Laxus out of there. Our fight was taken air borne, but no matter what I did, I stood no chance.
Our fight dragged on even though I don't know what happened to the others. Eventually, you came in after he subdued me, and without you we may both not be here.
"Did they say anything on why they were doing all this?" The brunette asked seriously.
"From what they implied, they wanted Laxus to kill the old guild members so the Magic Council will appoint Elpton to be leader, and they could become the new strongest guild in Fiore. They underestimated us completely and now they've put the town in lockdown with my barriers."
Freed could obviously read how Kain wanted to ask about those barriers that were supposed to be used to help Laxus take over Fairy Tail before his promotion. But unlike most other people he met, Kain was far more respectful and focused because of what he chose to ask next, "I have to admit, they have a good plan. They planned this really well. And if there are more barriers, that means everyone else in Magnolia is trapped without anyway out."
Freed was silent, but that did confirm for the young man that there were more barriers and more than likely meant they were all stolen as well.
"Okay, town is under lockdown, potentially even Erza's down, Mystogan is cursed and unable to get back here in time, Laxus and you are weakened greatly, and the rebels have control of the city and the Thunder Palace." Kain sighed and put a hand on his head. "And there's our crisis of the week everyone!"
"What is our next plan, Kain?" Freed asked before he noticed the look on Kain's face that just looked as lost as him.
"Right, I'm the plan guy," The boy sighed again. "Well, first let me make a cal—"
"Someone's on their way here." Laxus suddenly said as he leaned up from Natsu's bed and looked towards the direction of the door, or more likely, trying to see beyond the door. "I sense half a dozen making their way here."
Kain got up and powered up in his armor. He drew a blade before he looked back to see both Laxus and Freed getting ready, both were still weakened, but it seemed like they were ready to fight as well.
Kain stalked towards the door, even he could hear the foot steps heading their way, he went close to one of the windows and tried to peek—
"Wait, what?" Freed and Laxus were surprised when Kain turned his blade back into air and opened the door carelessly.
Behind the door were people that no one was expecting to be there at that very moment.
"I knew I smelled your armor nearby," Gajeel of Phantom Lord and Dragon slayer of Steel grunted as he stood in front Monsieur Sol, Totomaru, and Amanda Peaks. The black haired man pointed a thumb back towards the bulk of the town with the Thunder Legion up. "Can you please explain what the hell is going on and why Fairy Tail put the town under Martial Law?"
"Basically, a coup." Leave it to Kain to put their entire situation in two words. "Mind helping us? I can get you to battle with Natsu later." Kain would never call it 'throwing his friend under the bus' if he knew Natsu would actually enjoy it more.
"Ahh why not? If those punks harmed Juvia, I was going to kick their a—" Gajeel stopped cracking his knuckles and looked down towards Amanda hugging her monster bear. "I was going to kick their butts. But this time I get rewarded for beating things up? Is it Christmas already?"
Having Phantom Lord as Allies? Even if Kain already knew by the rules of anime that enemies turned allies suddenly become much weaker than the current big bad, he was still happy to have back up. Yet, he did notice something with this group, "I'm going to guess the rest of the Element Four and the Captains aren't coming yet?"
"They said they would visit Juvia tomorrow at the Fantasia Parade because of a problem in our southern branches. Master Voyu needed the rest while we came here ahead to meet with Juvia." Totomaru answered.
Better some than none, even if all all they had was the worst of the best from Phantom Lord.
"What did you just say!?" Gajeel pointed angrily at Kain.
"Oh, did I say that out loud?" Kain almost made the fastest record of making and losing allies if not for Laxus saying something else at that moment.
"Hey, quit it! Those guys aren't the only magic presence I sense!"
As soon as he said this, Gajeel turned around and there were a dozen or so mages from Elpton's group all walking towards us.
"Just give us the blonde oaf and the guy with girly hair and no one gets hurt." The one in front of them stated plainly.
Gajeel and Kain shared a look before a kind of understanding went between them. "See," Gajeel started as he gave a vicious grin and walked forward with Kain not to far from him. "That's where we differ. When you guys want something, you're willing to let people not involved go away… I don't."
Then both Gajeel and Kain both jumped towards their opponents with their fist reclined back.
"So that's where those bastards are." Elpton looked at the holo map inside the Cathedral. In one of the outer corners of Magnolia, his group was battling with more mages than the weakened guild master and his loyal dog. "It seems like they got help."
"The maggots always swarm together in their filth," The nun with gray colored hair said this while praying in one of the benches. "It is the destiny of the chosen to purge them."
"Venlia, I thought you left." Elpton looked towards the woman.
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Three large objects fell from above and crashed nearby her. There were three large crosses that had Laki, Max, and Cana trapped in them with all three looking beat up and barely able to move their bodies. "I came back just as quickly. Who else needs my guidance?"
Elpton looked back at the map and smiled when he saw someone. "Near the Magnolia Toy Store, Mirajane is with her oaf brother and that other serving wench. You can get them."
She stood up and smiled. As the light of the windows from above shown on her, she gave an almost delirious smile. "They shall soon see the beauty of our lord, Ankhseram."
BAM!
As Kain was thrown through Natsu's house, his mind wondered how the Fire Dragon Slayer would react to having his own house demolished.
Oh and more importantly, he wondered how the hell were the mages Laxus brought in this strong!?
"When I get out of here, I'm gonna crush your skull!" Kain got back up and remembered what had happened. He was trying to free Gajeel from some kind of green goo that he couldn't break out of.
"IRON DRAGON'S—" Gajeel was headlined by a lariat by a mage with leopard get up that interrupted his spell.
The description was horribly underplayed. The man was thin, but tall. He wore nothing but shorts and wore the flayed of skin of leopard over his back and face. The man was deceptively strong, even able to go toe to toe with Gajeel before his ally, a mage with wild hair, swirl glasses, and currently cackling like a mad man as he threw what he liked to call 'Superior Alchemy' towards us, came in and trapped the iron dragon slayer with a strange substance that could even suppress the strength of a dragon. It was obvious he had other concoctions in his arsenal as some seemed to be melting through Amanda's doll monsters and they were supposed to tank a lot of magical and physical punishment.
The third one among their ranks was a great sword mage, and Kain says great sword sparingly. The thing was like bigger and wider than the displaced young man, but the red and black spike-armored knight moved it around like a dang butter knife. The obviously magic great sword cleaved through fire like nothing and gave Totomaru problems.
Monsieur Sol was having horrible trouble against a girl wearing thick winter clothes, boots, had her hair tied up in a long braid, and had winged boots. Emphasis on winged. Her boots allowed her to actually run on the air and fire on the Earth mage from any angle she wished.
And then there was the mage that Kain was currently fighting. KLANG! Or rather, who was currently kicking his tin can ass all over Natsu's house. This guy was fully robed in a blue cloak—almost reminded him of a blue version of the black cloaks from Kingdom Hearts but with a cape. This guy was a teleporter with a wind rapier.
These guys were tough and were no push overs.
Kain hurried back up to his feet and noticed his opponent vanish in an instant.
"Teleportation is really different from Portals." Kain suddenly jerked back and threw a punch at super speed behind him. The result was his empowered and fast moving fist landed right into the chin of the teleporter and made the man fly like a shooting star and knock into the mad alchemist in the sky who was using a jet pack.
"Erza was right. Opponents do have patterns; that one just kept attacking above or behind me." Kain drew his blade and fired a quick succession of sword blasts that cut the goo surrounding Gajeel and freed him.
"Now we're talking!" The steel dragon slayer didn't hesitate and screamed as he unleashed an extended fist that slammed right into the jaw of the leopard mage. He closed the gap and returned his favor by turning his arm into steel and performing his own lariat into the neck of the leopard mage and slamming him into the ground with such force dirt exploded upward.
Kain spun his blade and then threw one of them right for the red and black swordsman. The swordsman acted fast and used his great sword to block the thrown blade. This distraction was enough for Totomaru to deck the other knight into the ground where a magic circle lit up before exploding in a rainbow of flames.
The gunner girl saw her her allies were going down and tried to flee, but when she turned, Gajeel was already flying at her with an empowered leg and round house kicked her towards Kain who punched her into the ground.
Everyone looked around. "Okay, these guys were tougher than they looked." Kain mentioned out loud.
"They weren't so tough, I could have taken them all on."
The wyvern rider looked towards the dragon slayer. "Is this a dragon pride thing where you just battle whatever looks stronger than you and lie through the grit of your teeth when you face problems you can't solve by yourself?"
"What was that?! You want a go!?" And from then on, Kain forever thought of Gajeel as Phantom Lord's Natsu. "Just because you've gotten a bit stronger means nothing! I'll still kick your ass!"
"Can we please focus?" The wyvern rider began and pointed towards the city, more specifically the direction of the Thunder Palace. "We need to save the city. I know the controls of the Thunder Palace and I can switch it off. I'm just expecting Elpton and the others to be there and if we had trouble with just these guys, I hate to see how strong Elpton really is."
"However, strong he is," Everyone turned around. "He is no match for me." Laxus Dreyar gripped his fist as it cackled with electricity.
"Are you sure about this?"
Laxus looked back to Kain. "I've recovered enough so I can knock some sense into that bastard. You just worry about the Thunder Palace. I just got the damn guild, and I ain't losing it a month in!"
For Kain, that would do for now. He turned his head towards Freed who was still cradling his arm. "You can't fight yet, right?"
The leader of the Thunder Legion shook his head. "No, but I can make sure that these mages we defeated will stay down the rest of this fight."
"Alright, I'll leave it too you." Kain then depowered himself. "Now before I give out my plan, I need to make a phone call."
He learned to make that call faster, especially when he saw a piece of Magnolia blow up even from far where he was.
The Magnolia Toy store was set into flames. Burnt and crushed toys amongst the debris looked more like demons from hell than the colorful and vibrant items meant to stimulate the imagination and joys of kids.
"You may flee, heathens,"Venlia began as she held a large, golden long sword that seemed styled like a cross with one hand and a circular golden shield in the other hand. "But you cannot escape the light of my lord! Surrender and let the light of my god cleanse your impurity off the face of this world." As she said this, her heels crushed what little remained of the toys that once filled the store.
Some distance away from the zealous nun, Elfman was holding up a metal shelf that looked to be in bad condition over Éclair, Happy, Momon, and Mirajane.
"It's a good thing no one else was in here when it blew up." Momon was then shushed by his friend, signaling that they had to be quiet or else Venlia would hear them.
"You girls get out of here," Elfman whispered to the surprise of Mirajane. "I'll hold her off for as long as I can."
"Elfman, don't! She was the one who subdued Erza!" Mirajane whispered in horror. The image that the strongest woman of Fairy Tail falling to that crazed witch was still fresh in Mirajane's mind… the blinding light that felt like looking at the sun… and the smile that could make even demons unnerved as she overpowered the weakened armor knight.
"I don't care! You guys have to get out of here! Get Kain, he'll know what to do!" Before Mirajane could even argue, Elfman lifted the cover he was holding and hurled it right for Venlia.
The result was that Venlia was pushed out of the store, but caught then cut the shelf in half. A second later, Elfman in a Full Body Take Over form like he did in Phantom Lord and rushed for the deadly sister.
Elfman threw a punch at the nun, only for her to side step and stab her blade right into Elfman's side hip. Elfman's form wailed in pain as he was surprised how easily that blade pierced his hardened skin.
"Sing to our lord, our god, and you shall be liberated!" Venlia removed the blade in one motion, causing blood to rip out from Elfman's body. "Deny him and eternal pain awaits you."
As Elfman tried to slow the bleeding, Venlia slammed her shield into the face of the empowered beast that knocked him into the ground. Elfman looked back up, only to see Venlia holding her blade barely touching his neck and her heels seemingly digging into his chest.
"Repent, and swear to serve, Lord Ankhseram for the rest of your days, sinner."
Elfman was wondering why his body felt like he was burning from the inside. It seemed like that blade of hers had a secondary ability. He looked up to see this look on the mage's face that looked like they were looking through him."I guess I was right. I real man doesn't hit a lady, but there's no way your a real lady! You're a monsterGAAHH?!" Elfman screamed when the blade moved and stabbed stabbed him in the chest.
There was a low tone as Venlia stabbed the blade further, making Elfman scream as he did. "The words of a heretic are to never be listened to. Alas, I was asked to keep you alive by Brother Elpton, but it appears that your sins are too horrible for this world and must be purged this instant."
"Get away from him!" The gray colored mage in a nun costume looked up to see Mirajane standing before them with a look of mixed horror and anger.
"B-Big sis… run!" Elfman knew the state his sister was in. At one point she may have been far stronger than him, but now she wasn't and staying here longer would get her killed!
Venlia removed her blade, causing Elfman to gasp before she stabbed it into his shoulder. Mirajane watched with horror in her eyes after hearing her brother in pain. "I grow weary of this, return from whence you crawled from demon." She pulled out her blade and raised it over towards Elfman's head.
Suddenly, time slowed down greatly for barmaid of Fairy Tail. Mirjane watched the blade—watched helplessly as an out of control Elfman stalked towards a faithful Lissana—closed the distance. Her heart beat faster, faster, putting the speed of seconds to shame—the repeats of Lissana dying over and over, repeating those words, "I love you" repeated faster than even her heartbeat —but then, she finally realized she could not lose another sibling.
Mirajane's pupils shrank. She let loose a pained scream—
Then the dark magic flowed like water breaking through a dam.
Elpton looked at the Holo map that was starting to fizz out and blink in and out of static.
"So the rose those have thorns." He smiled in amusement.
In the Fairy Tail guild, Pierre looked up through one of the main holes in the ceiling and then went back to his work.
"Is that… Mirajane?" Laxus looked towards the energy gathering in one corner of the city.
Kain looked towards the guild master. "Wait what? That's Mirajane?!"
Venlia was at one second, trying to kill a demon, then it took her another second to realize she was looking at the sky. It took another second for her body to register pain, but in that same second the memory of another demon returned.
"Die!" Mirjane's Satan Soul form cried out as she let loose a punch going in near hypersonic speeds—that was instantly stopped by a golden shield.
Mirajane blinked. Her blow was stopped dead in it's tracks by Venlia's shield. It was then that Mirajane quickly drew her fist back screaming. She looked at her fist in surprise and saw that her fingers… they were being burnt off when she punched the shield?
"Hail Ankhseram, full of splendor," Mirajane's sharpened hearing picked up that whisper and quickly looked back at her opponent.
She soon found this as a mistake as a burst of light filled the sky.
Meanwhile, down below... "Sooo, is that also Mirajane?" Kain looked towards Laxus, but seemed to get his answer when the larger guild master only looked baffled when glancing at the sky.
"Mira uses dark magic. Whoever she's battling… she's a light magic user. It must have been that nun chick, Venlia Koraka. I guess I should have expected that type of magic form her motif." Laxus turned around and started walking. "Let's go, Mira's a lost cause."
Kain was surprised but when after Laxus, "What? I thought that massive power from before was her?"
Back up in the sky, Mirajane watched as white wings sprout out of Venlia's back. Mirajane would not let the battle flow back into her opponent's favor and held out an open palm that opened up a dark magic circle.
"Darkness Strife!" More than a dozen black tendrils moved at the speed of missiles towards the nun, but her glade started to glow.
Back down below, Laxus continued his conversation with Kain. "Dark magic maybe forbidden and powerful, but pure Light Magic is far more rare and especially designed to counter dark magic users."
In one slash, Venlia cut through Mira's entire attack with a golden slash that burned right through Mira's spell as if it was paper to the flames.
"It doesn't matter how powerful your dark magic is, if you fight a skilled pure light mage, your chances of winning drop dramatically," Laxus continued talking while the eldest Strauss sibling did battle. "But light magic comes with a rather specific price, it takes away bits of your sanity the more powerful spells you use. It's why light magic is so rare."
Mira moved fast and avoided the attack, but a small piece of her wing was caught and she could feel the very tip being burned off.
"You are the only lord," Venlia continued to speak, and soon her arms started to change. "Blessed be your blades that decimate your enemies, your followers that kiss the ground you walk on!" Her skin started to fall off, and beneath it was some kind of white, golden skin. Even her face rotted off, revealing some kind of green eyes creature without a mouth, nose, or ears.
Her wings turned gold as well and her heels became part of her new humanoid body.
She looked like an angel.
"Powerful Lord, who gave birth to all, purge all sinners, now and till the end of time." She continued to pray out loud as she then began attacking Mirajane. The Take over mage found something immediately wrong, she felt sluggish, and just looking at her opponent hurt her.
Then Venlia started to repeat those two phrases over and over. Instantly, Mirajane figured out that was a chant and prayer that was sapping her strength and making Venlia stronger.
The S-class take over mage acted fast, unleashing a powerful burst of dark magic and physical feats to fight her opponent. The sky filled with black and white dots that danced around like shooting stars. However, despite her best efforts to end it quickly, Mirajane was losing strength fast.
She tried to punch Venlia, but the metamorph angel tilted her head, quickly grabbed Mirjane's fist and spun her around. She threw the Take Over mage into the ground like a tennis player smashing a slow moving ball.
The former S-class mage started to get worried. Her magic, while amazing, was completely countered by Venlia. The fake angel sapped a lot of her strength, and the wounds inflicted by her light didn't only prevent her from re-healing, but burned the longer she had them.
"Hail Ankhseram, full of splendor!" Venlia cried out as she held her cross blade with two hands.
"SHUT UP!" Mirajane roared as she gathered a large amount of magic energy to blast Venlia, but the angel zealot cut through her blast like nothing.
Things were looking worse every second. Mirajane could feel her returned form slipping, while Venlia didn't even seem to break a sweat. She put a lot in that blast, but her opponent's magic was just obviously designed to destroy dark based magic. Not to mention, she wasted too much time and magic trying to end it quickly that she couldn't access her other forms if she wanted to.
Venlia, still repeating the prayer, stalked towards Mira with her blade up.
"Fine, if darkness magic doesn't work..." Mira pointed a hand near river she landed, a large vortex of water shot up in the air and spiraled all towards Venlia. The enemy angel pointed her shield towards the incoming water and a barrier of light surrounded her and absorbed the impact of the torrent of water thrown at her.
Out of the water, something flew out and stabbed into Mira's shoulder, Venlia's blade. Mira screamed in pain as the blade sapped her strength faster than before and caused her pain unlike before. She didn't know how she kept her demon form, but she did buckle forward and fell to her knees. As she tried to move the blade to get it off, her hands burned from just touching it.
Velia started walking up to her, making the sign of an inverted cross as she did. "Glory to Ankhersam, may all beholden his splendor."
In one instant, Venlia grabbed the blade back, causing Mirajane to scream again. The false angel raised her blade with glowing light above the weakened Take Over mage. Mirajane looked up, but found herself unable to move.
Was… was this it?
"Ögun, mandushu!" "Èlum barak!"
Mira didn't know what happened. At one moment, she was staring at the light in front of her, then suddenly, Venlia's shadow jumped out and like a blanket, snared around her face, and didn't let go. The false angel tried to remove the shadow, but her light wasn't burning through it as fast as Mira's darkness.
Suddenly, she felt yanked, and saw her own shadow picking her up and flying away.
Mira noticed where, or who specifically her shadow was bringing her too and her demon eyes widened at who it was that saved her.
"N-NAB!?"
Nab Lasaro, who was kneeling down and holding on to a specific skull glowing black in his skull necklace he was wearing, waved to Mirajane. "Mira, it's good to see you again."
"W-What are you doing here?"
"Kain called us in to help you all out. Laxus may have kicked us out, but Fairy Tail still needed us." The tall man with black hair said as he stood back up.
"Kain?! Wait, We!?" Mira repeated those words but then was distracted by the pain in her shoulder.
The shadow next to Mira started to take form, and it turned into that of a spider.
"Digdao măol, Anasi." " Digdao măol, Nabi." The shadowy spider bowed and then turned into a formless shadow that flew back into the skull Nab was holding on to.
There was a scream as the two looked back to Venlia, finally freed form the shadows that suffocated her.
"You!" Venlia pointed her blade at Nab. "What dark magic did you cast that my light couldn't pierce!?"
"Spirit Magic is far different from human magic." Nab began as he took something out of a small sack. A long, thick, totem pole staff with animals on top of it was taken out and slammed onto the ground. "In the rules of spirits, light casts shadows, never purifies them."
"Spirits?" Venlia then started to tremble and her magic flared as she pointed towards Nab. "HERETIC! YOU ARE A SHAMAN!"
For one second, Nab frowned. "I'm not a shaman." He said rather bitterly then slammed his totem staff into the ground again. "Ïlianom! Barszoum, Nyame!"
A dove totem among the staff had it's runes and eyes glowing white. And out of a different skull in Nab's necklace, a white light shone out and a small dove came out and landed on Nab's shoulder.
"Ïlianom! Barszoum, Nabi." The dove seemed to speak.
"FALSE IDOLS! YOU DARE PRESENCE YOURSELF BEFORE ME!?" Venlia cried out and was ready to attack both Nab and Mirajane right where they both stood.
"Selndukú biar." "Vonx darim!" The dove suddenly flew ahead and then shined in a powerful light in front of Venlia.
To the surprise of Mira, she was amazed to see the small dove was now draining the light off Venlia as she had originally sapped strength from her.
"Nyame is a light spirit." Nab explained as Mirajane looked towards him. "She can steal light from other people or things and add it to her own. In this case, she can steal light magic form light mages."
"Nab… I never knew you made pacts with spirits." Mirajane spoke out. "I mean… you use magic." From all knowledge she knew about shamans, they greatly looked down on the concept of magic from one's self rather than the powers they gain from the earth around them.
But Nab was a mage. She had heard that spirits do not bond with mages, only shaman. So how could Nab have shaman spirits and use magic?
"I'm not a shaman." Nab sharply said. "I… I'm not a shaman. Just a mage who can use spirits in his spells."
Mira wanted to ask so much more about the side of Nab she had never even considered before, but the light dove stopped stealing Venlia's magic and flew back to Nab.
"Blazi, darum, Nabi." "Blazi, darum, Nyame." And the dove vanished into the same skull it came out off while the totem of the dove stopped glowing.
"H-Heathens..." This time, Venlia fell to her knees, almost in a state even weaker than Mirajane as she even dropped her blade and shield, unable to pick them up. "What have you done to me?"
"I asked Nyame to sap your strength, but it seems she went a bit overboard. That's the problem with spirits, they do their own thing sometimes." Nab then looked to Mirajane. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Mirajane looked to Venlia who was turning back human. At first, she kind of felt sorry for how weak the fake nun looked right now.
Then she recalled that witch almost killed Elfman.
SLAM!
Mira, even in her weakened state, punched Venlia down into the ground with enough strength to break her jaw and put her unconscious.
Seing her enemy down, Mira powered down and looked to Nab. "Nab, thank you for helping me, but really, how are you here? And what did you mean by Kain and others?"
Nab put his totem staff back into the small sack, and then took out a small crystal orb. "I think it's best if Kain explains himself."
All throughout Magnolia, Elpton's men that were searching for straggling Fairy Tail members were surprised and ambushed by none other than returning Fairy Tail members.
A wyvern that looked a lot like Ignis roared and then dispersed into a puff of smoke. Reedus Jonah looked back at his painting and sighed. "I haven't seen Ignis in a while, but his near copy worked well." Reedus nodded. "I gotta find the others." As he left, the groans of Elptons men could be heard after the being trampled by the pict-magic Wyvern.
On another side of town…
"GAH!" Another one of Elpton's man with alligator themed motif fell to the ground.
Vijeeter Ecor turned towards an injured Warren Rocko. "You alright?"
"Vijeeter! Boy am I glad to see you!"
"Good to see you to. Kain said finding you was top priority." The jumpsuit wearing man began.
"Wait, Kain!? He's here?!" That was both a huge surprise and also a huge relief to hear Fairy Tail's lawyer already working to save their butts. It took him a moment to realize something else. "Wait, I was top priority?"
"Link us all up, Warren."
"Alright everyone, listen up! We're taking back Magnolia and our guild!" Kain noticed how so many voices were so relieved and surprised to hear him. "I'm glad to hear you guys, too but let's save our reunion after we kick out these bastards! Warren, you and Vijeeter meet with Gajeel Redfox and try to take out more of Elpton's men. And yes, we are partnering up with some Phantom Lord members. Do not attack them! Even with our older members returning, they still outnumber us and are spread out throughout the city with Freed's trapped turned against us. We need all the help we can get!"
Laxus looked at the boy as the two of them were heading towards the cathedral. He was aware of the link, and by the sound of everyone, they almost sounded like they looked up to Kain. It was baffling, that someone without magic, even with a powerful magic armor, had gained adoration and loyalty from so many people who were easily stronger than him. How? It made no sense! He wasn't strong!
Wait the kid was never once afraid of him. Time and time he stood up to him, and even was able to get under his skin without power. And even now, while he was supposed to stay away, he came back for all of the instant he heard they were all in trouble.
He couldn't help but think back to his grandfather. The kid basically represented what he loathed and what his grandfather stood for: unity for all to be strong together. It shouldn't have been like that, yet here he was, organizing weaker, outnumbered, and disadvantaged group of mages against a superior force and winning—or at least putting up a damn better fight than he could imagine.
"Tch!" Laxus let a sound escape his lips as a piece of his mind might have realized his grandfather was right after all.
"As soon as your done, Nab, meet up with Elfman and Éclair."
"It's really good to hear you again, Kain."
"It's good to be back, Mira. But I'll repeat, save for after we kick these punks out of town."
"Kain! Natsu and the others!" Happy's voice seemed to be breaking up, as if he was crying in both sadness and joy at the same time. "They're all captured in the guild!"
"We'll save them, without a doubt! But deactivating the Thunder Palace is a priority. Help Elfman and the others to safety, can you do that for me, Happy?"
"AYE!"
Kain dropped the link and looked up. "We're here."
Laxus followed the boy's sight and indeed, they were in front of the cathedral, and at least thirty other mages all starting to activate their magic against the two.
For the first time, the guild master stepped forward and smiled. "Leave this to me, I need something to hit hard."
Kain sighed. "At least try to avoid hitting the Cathedral, we are still paying for it's repairs from the Phantom Lord War."
Laxus frowned. He did recall that they did use some of their winnings to restore the damages to the old building. "Fine, I can do that."
Elpton turned when he heard the doors of the Cathedral opening slowly.
He was greeted with the sight of around thirty of his man piled on top of each other unconscious with Laxus standing on top of all of them. "Kohl Elpton!"
The other muscular man smiled. "Ah, guild master Laxus. I hope you enjoyed my welcoming committee." It was obvious by his language he knew they were there from the start and didn't bother to try and help his underlings.
Laxus leered and looked down. "Brat, go and do what you have to do."
Kain, in his armor started walking through the door. Then he sped up towards Laki, Cana, and Max. His helm looked towards Elpton who only scoffed and sighed. Kain was silent and picked them up and headed past the man towards the control of the Thunder Palace.
"Giving up?" Laxus jumped down and walked towards Elpton.
"There's no point in keeping up with your merry little band now." Elpton picked up his helmet on a nearby benched and put it on his head. "I'm just going to cut my losses and find some other place where I can build up from the ground up."
Laxus snarled and electricity started to dance around him. "And what makes you think I'm just going to let you go after pulling a stunt like that?"
Elpton's helmet tilted, "Someone is powerful enough to stop me? Who?"
And that was cue for Kain to hurry it up with the disabling controls while keeping an eye on the three he found here.
Laxus had his eyes widened and gripped his fist that danced with electricity. "Fine, your 'committee' wasn't even a proper warm up! I'm going to enjoy denting your armor in!"
Elpton laughed before his eye beneath his helm started to glow red. "Consider my interest piqued. I have yet to meet anyone even scratching me."
And then the two clashed.
"Uuuhhh..." Natsu slowly blinked his eyes, trying to refocus his sight only to see the guild… it was broken, roughed up, but… why was he looking at it from above?
It took him a moment to realize he was trapped. Parts of the guild had sprouted on the second floor and served as some kind of trap that prevented him from escaping, powering through, or accessing his magic.
Natsu then looked around and saw the rest of Team Valiant and some of the others trapped in similar block restraints all looking down towards the first floor.
The Dragon Slayer looked down and then his memories, and anger returned as he shouted. "Get up here so I can deck you, asshole! You'll pay for hurting Macao!"
Down on the first floor, Pierre seemed to either ignore or didn't hear Natsu, since the latter was impossible, the former was more likely.
However, all Pierre seemed to keep doing was writing down something on the floor. Just writing, and humming…
It was strange, but Natsu wondered what the hell was the clown doing?
{Author Notes}
Okay yeah, now we have Elpton Versus Laxus! I'm a little excited about the next chapter, but Imma save it for later.
For now, I introduce a new retcon: Nab Larso! I can't even begin to explain what I changed with this character. When Team Valiant was in Sun Village, I opened up the world of this story by introducing Shaman as the true mystics compared to that of the mages we're all familiar with. Adding on to that, I've completely re-wrote (Or arguably created) a new back story for Nab of all people. I am so proud of it that in the later future, you guys have no idea what I just put to motion.
Yeah, I went where no Fairy Tail writer went ever before: I made Nab have a back story that might actually be fun to read!
It's not just him. I've been also working on a different back story to Bisca, but that's also down the lane.
I think it's worth repeating since I once said this: I usually have no need for New Ocs in this story besides Kain, Ignis, and Villains that give proper challenges. The side characters that Fairy Tail already have already are good enough to be explored and experimented on, and I am fully prepared to do so with a majority of them.
I'm actually super excited to show you guys the new backstories of some of the side characters, but the sad thing is that they'll be happening in quite a while. When they come close, I'll be sure to tell you guys. Trust me, I'm super excited for them, and I hope you guys will be too when they come.
Thanks for reading, see ya all soon.