Does anyone remember how in media, there are these things that have timers and if you don't deactivate them in time, they explode? Well in Kain Obadiah Reynold's case, things are exploding already and he was not even done with deactivating the Thunder Palace.
"Laxus, I said to get out of the cathedral! We are going to be paying for these damages!" The young man managed to shout while still working on the controls of the Thunder Palace. Did those bastards change the code and settings?
Laxus, hearing this, was able to tackle Elpton out of the doors and punch him hard enough to launch him out of the city. While that in itself, is an impressive feat of power, the fact that Elpton simply stood up and shook off dirt form his armor showed that he too was capable of feats even beyond super human.
"You know, I have to admit, I do like you, Laxus." Elpton began as Laxus landed in after him.
"What the hell did you mean by that?"
"It was one of the reasons why I said yes to your guild in the first place. The strong make all the rules, and the weak either obey or get destroyed." He made a motion with his hands thrown out before sighing. "Unfortunately, I had weaker underlings. But what can you do?"
Now that was debatable, all of the mages he recruited with Elpton were all powerful mages in their own right. Laxus even saw some of them overpower mages from Phantom Lord's top ten, but then…
Then Kain started to fight to help the others. He started working together with his allies.
It didn't just happen there.
When Fairy Tail was united back with it's original members, they suddenly fought so much harder than they would alone. It was enough that Elpton's group filled with powerful mages actually failed to stop them.
BAM!
Laxus flinched before back flipping mid air and skidding on the ground. He got back up and snarled at his opponent.
"I don't know why you were distracted right there, but hey, never underestimate a good o'l cheap shot."
The blonde guild master spit out some blood and wiped his chin. "Do you ever shut up?"
"And who's going to make me?" One would have to be beyond stupid to not notice the mocking tone in that taunt just now. Elpton raised his hand and motioned Laxus to come closer.
And Laxus did. He moved like lightning and struck like thunder. The explosion that came from the impact of the punch copied the sound and power of a natural storm as Elpton was seen flying through a good amount of trees and shrubs.
However, as fast he crashed, something shot out of the explosion and decked Laxus with equal amounts of speed and force.
"Whoo! I actually felt that sting!" Elpton moved his hand to where his jaw was behind his helmet. "That was pretty impressive. I might actually have fun with this!"
On the other side, Laxus actually took some noticeable damage form the blow, not only that, Elpton was obviously holding back still! To be honest, Elpton didn't give off a lot of magical energy, but then what was his magic that could allow him such amazing physical feats?
*Sigh* Laxus, your magic is strong, but don't get cocky. Each magic has it's own sets of advantages and disadvantages. There will come a time where you face an opponent with magic you have no experience dealing with, what is your first course of action?"
Test the waters. Laxus threw his hand out as a bolt of thunder rushed right for Elpton head on. The man wearing the armor stood still and raised his hand out. The thunderbolt hit Elpton dead on, even traced around his armor, but the opponent of the guild master showed no signs of even being tickled by the powerful spell.
(The only thing that fits is some kind of invulnerability spell, but this one doesn't have the usual draws backs of having no offensive capabilities. It seems to active passively, even when he's striking.) Laxus then frowned.
It was one thing that he did find a truly powerful mage to represent the guild, it was a completely different thing when that same mage ended up trying to do a coup around the time he was originally planning a coup on his grandfather, and it was another damn thing the bastard was strong enough that Laxus actually had to recall his grandfather's lessons to stand an actual chance.
Perhaps if Kain was here, he would say something along the lines, "If Gajeel was here, he could literally eat the irony of this situation because it's just that thick."
"Dragon slayer magic doesn't work like that!" Imaginary Natsu exclaimed.
"I'm trying to prove a point, Imaginary Natsu!" Imaginary Kain then turned back to Laxus, "You're also zoning out again."
Laxus blinked and barley avoided a large boulder that was attempting to crush him. It didn't stop Laxus from utterly loathing himself for being so off his game.
"It's obvious your mind is elsewhere." Even Elpton could see that Laxus had a lot on his plate. "It's a shame. I was actually having some fun."
(God damn it, look at what that brat and those weaklings are making me do! It pisses me so off that I wish I could be taking it out on this asshole. Tch! Thing is though, he's got a pretty powerful magic if it lets him have great offensive and defensive capabilities at the same time, maybe even passively. Still if I can just find some weak spot in it…) Laxus then started speeding around the area, circling fast around Elpton and unleashing powerful bolts of thunder at the armored man.
"Ahahha! Stop! That tickles—" Elpton then heard the sound of humming beneath him and looked down to see a dozen electrical orbs, floating right beneath his eyes sight.
"What the—" The orbs exploded in a bright flash-bang, and made Elpton screamed as he moved his hands to his eyes.
Laxus was right in front of Elpton not even an instant later with a magic circle primed in front of his fist.
He launched a hard punch into Elpton's stomach that dented his armor inward, and as soon as it made contact, a large blast of thunder that could be seen on the opposite side of Magnolia was unleashed.
(Well what do ya know? Guess the brat and Elpton were right, cheap shots are pretty damn effective.)
It was then that Laxus' instincts screamed at him as he got out of the vicinity he was in as fast as he could. This was good because a fair amount of the area Laxus was just standing in was suddenly hit by red light and scorched the place into nothing but a burnt stain in the forest area.
"What the hell?" Laxus then felt something coming at him, but then was decked in the face so hard that for a second he though his grandfather returned.
After an explosive landing, Laxus felt a shadow cast over him and looked up. Elpton was now floating in the air with his eyes glowing red and a ruined cape fluttering in the wind.
"That… now that made me mad." It seemed like Elpton was no longer playing around.
(On second thought, the brat is going to pay for influencing me to do that move a while ago.)
"Why the heck does it feel like someone is belittling me?" Kain wondered out loud as he tried to re program the Thunder Palace. "And why do I feel as if that was unfair?"
"K-Kain?" The armored rider didn't look, but he was starting to hear Cana slowly regain consciousness. "Is that you?"
"Yep, I'm totally not some weird hangover dream you have." Kain then was distracted by something. "What the heck did these guys do?! The controls are all over the place, I don't recognize any of the old settings Master Makarov showed me! Don't tell me I've got to reboot the entire thing!" Although he sounded reluctant, he started to do so.
"Kain, watch out!" Cana's voice snapped the young man out of his stupor as he suddenly turned with a blade and shot a slash wave right behind him. The result was Kain's attack clashing with a spell that would have hit him.
The armored wyvern rider looked through the vanishing smoke to see that the men that Laxus had knocked out… were all getting back up!
Kain took a step forward—
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
But then he instantly turned around and looked back at the controls of the Thunder Palace. "Oh you've got to be kidding me! The reboot has to be manually inputted or else the Thunder Palace will randomly attack!?"
Kain quickly went back to the floating controls, but then he looked back to see Elpton's remaining mages slowly walking towards him.
"Warren, I need back up in the cathedral now! Can you spare anyone!?"
"Sorry, Kain, we're all busy! These traps Freed put are wearing us fast! I doubt even if we could, they wouldn't get to you in time!"
"But I can't stop rebooting the Thunder Palace or else it will attack Magnolia!"
"Then don't stop." Kain turned around to see Cana, Max, and Laki slowly getting back up.
"You man those controls. We'll take on these guys." Max Alors gasped as he tried to summon sand around him.
"But all three of you are hurt!" The wyvern rider tried to argue, but still was inputting commands.
"So are they, but unlike them, we can take it!" Laki exhaled and ended up forcing herself to stand upright properly.
Cana gasped as well but slammed her fists together and smiled. "You're one of the smartest people in the guild, so we'll leave the brainy stuff to you. Leave the punching and violence to us."
Kain wanted to argue, but the reboot demanded his attention. "Just… just try to drag the fight out of the cathedral! Any more damage is coming out of your reward money!" He warned them before working on the Thunder Palace.
"Well damn, those are the best motivational pre-fighting words I've ever heard! Come on guys! There's no way these bastards are taking our hard earned jewels!" Cana screamed out as she, Max, and Laki rushed for Elpton's mages.
Kain trusted them. However, suddenly a version of the holo map popped up near him and he saw something located out side the city. The map was reacting to two massive power spikes and the only other time he saw something like that was when Makarov and Jose were fight—oh no.
Reality checks are without a doubt some of the hardest slap on the face ever. Laxus Dreyar's were also coming in the form of punches that he was pretty sure cracked his jaw several times over with one blow.
Elpton had unleashed a flurry of fists, kicks, and eye laser blasts with likeness of the sun up close all on the thunder mage that he was forced to use some of his Dragon Slaying arts. But even an edge in tapping into raw dragon magic still barely seemed to dent the guy with his passive invulnerability.
Laxus was damn sick and tired of this asshole kicking his butt. "What kind of magic do you damn have?!" He shouted after seeing even a dragon's roar did little to phase is opponent.
"It's impressive isn't it? I found it by complete accident: Krypton Magic. It basically turns me into a super… guy of sorts. But there was no way I was sharing this magic with anyone else, so I burned the book that taught me this amazing magic." Elpton flourished his hands out in a grandiose manner. Unfortunately for Laxus, he really had little way of hurting the man, and considering his arsenal that could potentially hurt him… that would leave him up open for a few seconds, and he could barely avoid Elpton's attacks at his best.
"Laxus!" What the hell? The lightning dragon slayer thought he was done imagining his underlings. "Can you hear me? I asked Warren to set me up a solo link with you!"
Oh, so that was real. "What is it brat, I'm in the middle of something?"
"So the holo map here in the cathedral can zoom, and did you just use a lightning version of a Dragon Slayer roar?"
"You called me up for questions?!" Laxus blasted Elpton with another thunderbolt who only inhaled and actually froze the bolt with his breath. That shocked Laxus long enough for Elpton to punch back the frozen thunder bolt that nailed the Guild Master through boulders this time. "I have no time for that!"
"No, I needed to confirm that! Look, I can tell by the map that Elpton is overpowering you—"
"The hell he is!" Laxus mentally shouted back while pushing rubble off him and glaring back at Elpton.
At that moment, Laxus swore he could feel the boy roll his eyes at the other end of the link. "Ignoring that; I have a plan to get you more powerful in an instant, seeing your magic."
"No."
"This is no time for your stupid pride, Laxus!"
"I'm not getting help from a weak, no magic fool like you!"
Laxus was expecting Kain to argue more. He was not expecting the link to suddenly grow silent.
Even though it was a few seconds, the lightning dragon slayer could have sworn it felt like hours instead.
"Why?"
That was just one word. It wasn't condescending, or sarcastic. It wasn't questioning, or said in anger. It sounded honest.
"WHY!?" Laxus linked back as he went in with full power on a slug fight with Elpton. "You weaklings in Fairy Tail, in Magnolia have stained the name of the guild! The old geezer made the guild a shadow of what it once was! We were the best of the best, and it changed! I won't accept help from a weakling! I won't accept help from you or anyone else!"
"What did we ever do to make you hate us so much?" Again, Kain's simple questions snuffed out Laxus' anger faster than water poured on fire.
"You..." Laxus was punched in the cheek, kicked in the stomach, and forced into an unfavorable headbutt with Elpton. "You…!"
However, it seemed like Laxus was feeling more pain from the mental battle he was having with Kain.
"Damn it! Get out of my head!" Laxus shouted a war cry as he went back to fight against Elpton.
For a moment there was silence, but with the same honesty as before, Kain said, "Laxus… I asked Yajima about your father."
If he was angry before, the mention of that topic was like ripping Pandora's Box in half with explosives. "Brat, keep talking, and as soon as I'm done with this asshole, I'm coming after you!"
It seemed like the brat believed Laxus could in no way pull of his threat right now and kept talking. "I'm sorry about him. About how he treated you, but out of everyone in your life, he shouldn't have been the one you should have looked up to."
"How dare you! It's thanks to him that I'm this strong! Stronger than all of you put together!"
"OPEN YOUR EYES, LAXUS! LOOK AROUND YOU! THIS IS WHAT YOUR FATHER'S IDEALS HAVE DONE TO YOU—TO ALL OF US! WE'RE FIGHTING TO THE DEATH HERE WITH HUNDREDS OF INNOCENTS AT STAKE! IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF BEING STRONG!?"
Kain was no longer being calm about this. His anger came out in such a way that it caught Laxus off guard and maybe even—and he would later hate this to his very core—scare him. It also came as a heavy blow that put even Elpton's strength to shame.
Laxus briefly looked around, the explosions in Magnolia, the scared earth, and in some places, people running away scared and frightened.
There was this amazing hate that came out of Laxus. No matter how much he tried to deny it, the facts were staring him at the face. All of this destruction, this pain, this fear… it was all because of him.
"You wanted to show up Master Makarov, your grandfather, and make a better guild? Then do it Laxus, be better, but also make him proud of you turning the guild better, not worse."
Laxus was hit back into the ground by Elpton. Instead of feeling the pain, there was stinging sensation in his eyes that made the Guild Master put his hand over his face and snarl angrily. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"Well you lasted pretty long, but too bad for you..." Elpton raised his brow when he looked over at the guild master.
Laxus stood up, beaten up, injured, bloody, and gasping fro breath. But his eyes looked like they were looking right through Elpton.
"Brat… what is your plan?"
Kain smiled as he continued to work on the Thunder Palace controls. "Remember how Natsu gets a power boost depending on how much flames he eats?"
Laxus looked back at Magnolia with obvious stunned silence and surprise. It looked like he already knew what the crazed kid was planning. "You're kidding, right?"
"Look, I'm the only guy in the guild that makes plans—that doesn't automatically mean all of them are going to be good. It's the only thing that can give you a proper power boost."
"God damn it. Fine, let's try it. I need something to beat into a bloody pulp right now." Laxus at that moment was glaring a lot at Elpton.
"In that case, Master Laxus, as a legendary band in my world once said, You've been Thunderstruck!" All the way in the Cathedral, Kain activated the Thunder Palace, and everyone in Magnolia was surprised to see the robs activating and blasting a huge amount of concentrated electricity out of town.
Elpton saw this but then saw Laxus inhale deeply, and absorb all of the power of the Thunder Palace in one breath.
After inhaling it all, a massive spike in power exploded form Laxus that even caused Elpton to shield himself.
The skies around Magnolia suddenly turned dark, with black clouds with rumbling thunder inside them that chocked out all the sunlight in the city. Elpton was startled. One of the few downsides to this magic was that it needed sunlight to remain strong and powerful with little effort. Now that the sun's light was cut off from him, he now had to keep up his powers with his own magic, but this now meant the longer he fought, the higher chance of him losing his magic. Elpton would have to—
That thought would have to finish after he landed from being punched with enough force to make him bleed and create a large crater from where they were fighting.
Laxus, with golden aura around him and thunder from the skies blasting nearby him, stepped forward with a look on his eyes that actually seemed impressed with the feat he had just done himself.
"That was without a doubt the most satisfying feeling I've felt in years!" The Guild master of Fairy Tail laughed before rushing for his opponent with far more sucess than before.
For the first time, in how long, Elpton was actually taking damage. The power boost and the cut off from sunlight allowed Laxus to actually put heavy blows onto the large man.
"Damn you!" Elpton cried out, no longer calm that he was in control of the situation.
"What's the matter? Where's all that talk from a while ago?" Well this was a high that just kept rising. It was cathartic to really beat up someone taunting you from awhile ago.
However, Laxus looked in confusion when Elpton's eyes started glowing a brighter red than before.
Laxus prepared for everything—okay he wasn't expecting Elpton to actually explode with an aura that looked as bright as the sun and his eyes glowing to the point that they both looked like miniature suns.
By the way that even Laxus in his powered up state suddenly felt like a ping pong ball, being smashed back and forth at fast speed by heavy blows, it was safe to say that Elpton had a last resort spell that ended up giving him a power boost to his already stupid levels of physicality.
(God damn it! I really can't overpower this guy! Fine, we'll go with plan B after all.)
As he regained himself mid air, Laxus suddenly planted a magic circle on the ground, then avoided being hit with a force that was enough to break the very area he was standing as if a miniature earthquake went through there.
He did this several more times before stopping and facing the power increased Elpton.
There was one advantage in this madness that Elpton seemed to be more into a berserk state by now. Overpowering him might be null and void, but…
"AAAHHHHHH!" Elpton roared as he charged for the guild master of Fairy Tail.
Laxus sighed and snapped his fingers. In less than a millisecond after, all dozen magic circles around the area lit up and all shot magical, golden chains that ensnared the raging Elpton. Amazingly, the chains held, but the more Elpton started to struggle, he seemed to be breaking through them although much slowly than all the other things he has destroyed so far.
"I really hated my old geezer," Laxus began as he looked at a struggling Elpton. "I hated what he stood for, what he was doing to the guild, and a whole bunch of other stuff."
He sighed deeply. "But damn it, he was a good teacher. I actually had to remember his lessons in order to beat you."
Elpton screamed as he pulled even harder on the magical chains binding him.
"Huh. That's impressive, you can break those bonds. But I know you can't break it fast enough to stop me from doing this."
Laxus started concentrating a lot of his magical power and took a stance that Makarov once took not too long ago.
Seeing the massive spike of magic, Elpton struggled harder, cracking and pulling through one of the chains, then another, then another.
(I once thought about using this spell to getting rid off everyone in Magnolia.) Laxus mentally reflected as he continued the motions. (Who the hell would have expected me using this spell to save it?)
(Bah. I can comment on fate's sense of humor later.)
"FAIRY LAW!" Laxus screamed out the Guild's strongest spell and a bright light covered all of Magnolia.
Pierre saw the light coming his way and tilted his head. "Hmm..."
After the light died down, Kain looked behind him to see all of Elpton's mages out cold and looked as if they were burned by the sun. Wait… that was a bit much, they all were charred, but not burned, yet they were all drained and out cold.
"What kind of spell was that?" The boy from a displaced dimension asked as he looked towards the others.
"I… I think that was Master Makarov's Fairy Law." Cana gasped. "I didn't know Laxus knew that spell."
Kain looked down and lightly kicked one of Elpton's mages. "Okay, why didn't he use this spell earlier then?" He paused and then used his link. "Warren, did all our enemies suddenly drop… unconscious?"
"Y-Yeah! After that light, they all dropped like flies!"
That was Kain's cue to switch to Laxus' link. "Great job, Master Laxus, but why didn't you use that spell earlier?"
"Shut up brat." Even through the link, it sounded like Laxus was beyond exhausted. "I meant what I said, you're next when I get my hands on you."
"I'll be long out of town before you regain your strength." Kain half joked.
"Really? And to think I was going to offer you your job back."
That made the boy blink in surprise inside his armor. "Wait what? Really? You're giving me my job back?"
"Brat, I'm not going to lie to you, there ain't no way I can handle the upcoming paper work after all this bullshit. Just take your damn job back."
Kain smiled. On the surface, it sounded like Laxus was still being stubborn and egotistic, which he was. But Kain was more observant to notice how tired the big lug sounded, and how this was the very closest to him begging Kain to come back to the guild.
"I want a thirty percent raise."
"What!? Hell no! … Five percent."
"Alright, ten percent, but I want more vacation days."
"Damn it… fine."
And that was Kain's cue to message everyone. "Hey guys, great news! I'm back as your lawyer!" He was met with mixes of shock, relief, and joy. However, time soon passed after and it was time to get to business. "Alright, alright. Let's get these guys cleaned up, and get the town out of martial law, shall we?"
"Kain?"
Everyone was silent at that voice in the main link.
"Natsu!" Happy and others screamed out the name in joy.
"AAAAHHHH!?" Their shouts of joy were killed faster than a criminal in an execution block when Natsu mentally screamed in pain in the link.
"What the hell?" Max heard max say before Natsu screamed again.
"S-Screw you!" Natsu's mental voice shouted after the pained screams and pant for air. "Guys! D-Damn it, there's still someone up!"
"That's impossible!" Laxus' voice shouted in Kain's link. "I casted Fairy Law over the damn city! There's no way someone should have been able to protect themselves from that spell!"
"Kain… it's Pierre. I don't know what that bastard did, but he somehow avoided that light attack just now… he's… damn it I won't! … No! NO! You get away from Lucy, bastard! … BASTARD! I'll KILL YOU!"
Kain's mind moved a mile per minute, with how Natsu was getting louder over the link, and with that conversation, the young man speculated that Pierre must have figured out about Warren's link and that the telepath would connect to everyone who was an ally. Pierre must be using Natsu to talk to all of us, and with that last burst, he was threatening Lucy to have Natsu deliver the message. "Natsu! Natsu! I'm right here! Breathe! Tell me what's going on!"
"He stabbed Lucy! She's bleeding to death!" That was far worse than he imagined, he didn't threaten Lucy, he was down right torturing her in front of him.
"That monster won't get away with that!" Elfman shouted in the link. "Let's all go and kick his ass!"
"Damn it no!" Everyone was shocked to hear Natsu say that in the link. They became increasingly worried when Natsu's defiant words become softer and sounded more like he was giving up. "No… no… Kain..."
Kain inhaled, a thought in his mind forming in a way he didn't like at all. "Natsu, what is?"
"He… the bastard wants you and only you to reenter into the guild. If anyone else comes, he'll slit Lucy's throat then and there."
Everyone was silent, the wyvern rider could feel everyone around looking in his direction even though all weren't currently in sight.
"Kain, you can't go!" Max looked worried and told the armored man.
"Max," Kain turned around to the sand mage. "You're going to need to elaborate that since I know you care about Lucy's well being too."
"It's obviously a trap! I saw that guy fight: it was uncanny and made no sense! Wakaba tried rushing the guy, but then he suddenly dropped and looked like he was having a nightmare all of a sudden! That guy is scarier than Elpton even!"
"All the more reason to save the others still trapped in the guild." Kain firmly said before activating the link. "Natsu, tell him not to harm Lucy and that I'm on my way."
Many tried to tell Kain that what he was doing was a bad idea, "Everyone, listen to me closely. I don't like this as much as the next guy, but I will go into the guild alone. I want all of you to surround it a safe distance away. We are not letting this last bastard get away with hurting Macao and Lucy."
That calmed down everyone as they all mostly agreed to be at least a half mile around the guild. Kain sped through the city and eventually arrived near the guild.
To the surprise of the young man, Gajeel was already some distance away from the entrance with his arms folded.
"What the hell does this guy want with you?" It was a question that cut straight to the point, it was a question that, of course, Gajeel would ask.
And to be honest? Kain was asking himself as well. "I don't know. But it looks like I'm going to find out." The displaced young man looked down to see runes a few feet in front of the Fairy Tail guild that weren't there before he left. "There's a magical barrier around the guild that's preventing you from going in, isn't there?" That last sentence was more of an observation than a question.
The Phantom Lord mage scoffed before unfolding his arms, revealing his left fist: it was slightly burned, and the glove was completely ruined.
That spoke volumes. Gajeel obviously tried breaking it down, but the barrier had nasty defenses.
"I should be able to get in with my armor. Though I have no idea what to expect in there."
Gajeel growled at the sentence and pointed towards Kain. "Don't you dare lose, brat! It's bad enough I got beaten by a no magic loser like you! I'll kick your ass if you end up losing to this guy!"
Kain could only let out a laugh at the pseudo threat. "What the heck is with everyone going through roundabout ways to say things like, "I'm sorry" or "Be safe."? No one's going to die for being honest."
Gajeel looked away with a scoff. "I ain't saying that." Unlike before, he didn't deny it as vehemently as he claimed it.
"… Well allow me to misinterpret what you said and say thanks." Kain returned before walking through the barrier and entering back into the guild.
The young man had only stepped forward a few steps until he felt one of his pockets vibrate. He looked towards the crystal orb and answered, "Mystogan, are you there?"
"Macao is under the care of the town doctors and healers. He's hurt but he should be fine," That was one less thing to worry about. "But both of us still have our magic suppressed and I can't be in Magnolia. How are things in your end?"
"It's a work in progress and too long to explain. I'm keeping you on though." Kain then put the orb away and walked through the doors of the guild.
It was surreal to come back to the place he was welcomed and now was on his guard.
The place was destroyed pretty bad, not as bad as the Phantom Lord War where Gajeel and he broke it in the first place, but it was worse than the usual damages the guild faced when fighting each other.
"Kain!" The wyvern rider looked up to the second floor where there was this giant wall of all the remaining and capture Fairy Tail members. The boy's eyes widened when he saw right next to Natsu was Lucy, gasping in pain as a knife was left into her abdomen.
"You are here." Kain turned as he saw Pierre waiting on an untouched bench, just sitting there waiting for a child to come home far past curfew. "I have been waiting a very long time for this."
Kain gripped his fists. That last sentence made no sense to him. He never even interacted with Pierre at all, so why did it seem like Pierre was waiting for him?
"Surrender, Pierre! Elpton and the others are down, and you have no chance of escaping!"
"Of course you won against Elpton. I was against him in the first place." He suddenly snapped his fingers. Kain looked around him, but to his surprise, nothing happened.
Nothing around him, anyway.
"What the hell!?" Kain heard Laxus' link talking to him. "Brat, I just saw runes fly out of Elpton's body! They looked like the ones that was on me not to long ago!"
Soon, more cries from the others saying that other bodies in Elpton's group had runes on them vanishing from their bodies.
"Haven't you wondered why they haven't killed everyone out right?" Pierre began as he stood up form the bench and walked between Kain and his captured friends. "Elpton and the others aren't slouches. And they would have killed all of your friends without a shred of mercy if not for me."
Thoughts went back to the people of Elpton's group. They were indeed powerful, but something came up that now didn't make sense: why were they keeping everyone of their enemies alive? They let Cana, Max, and Laki alive even though they could have been killed off with ease, the same with everyone else here. Did Pierre curse his own allies to save Fairy Tail?!
If that was remotely true, then that only brought up more questions than answers. "Why did you do that?"
No one liked the way Pierre lifted both his hands in an outward way towards Kain. "I did it for you!"
Kain tried his absolute best to ignore the dark chill down his spine and how he could feel his goosebumps rising after hearing the reason. "I hesitate to say this greatly, but can you elaborate?"
"I wanted you to be happy!" He made a flourish with his hands.
"What the hell makes you think torturing my friends would make me happy!?" Kain instantly returned, but saw that Pierre didn't even seem remotely thrown off.
Pierre then started saying something very eerie. "Aren't you though? Isn't it great to be needed again? Especially by people who threw you out in the first place? Wasn't it oh-so satisfying, returning and making everything better when no one else could? What about being a hero to the people you associate yourselves with?"
Kain did mentally admit that it was good to be back, it was good to be needed, especially after being kicked out. He also liked how everyone practically turned to him and their time of need. It really did make him feel like a hero.
"That… that is true," Kain admitted before shaking his head. "But there's no way I can be really happy with everyone in danger like this! I want them to like me for who I am, not because of my actions! Now release everyone, and surrender quietly."
Pierre dropped his hands. "What? You actually care about them? That can't be right, you don't care about them."
Kain raised his hand out and shook his head. "Look, if you're trying to psycho analyze me: that's fine. I don't really know what I'm doing a good majority of the time, and I always question if I didn't go madly insane or die and am currently in a weird limbo/hell thing," His voice got softer as he looked up to Team Valiant. "But I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I do like my friends for being them. I wish Gray and Natsu wouldn't fight so much and break stuff that I have to file to replace and pay for, but they're both fun to be around. I like talking with Lucy on things like money management and how much our teammates can be too much. Erza is always trying to act aloof and responsible, but I find it hilarious how sometimes she can be more immature and petty than both Natsu and Gray. And I can be a hardass when I threaten some of my friends over their paychecks, but they tolerate me too." The brunette sighed. "Basically, I like spending time with them, and that's pretty good enough for me magic or no."
The words coming from the displaced boy were kind and caring, for everyone else still listening through the link, they felt their heart soften at him saying nice things about their friends. However, they were all brought back to reality when Pierre's voice was heard through Kain's link.
"Oh my," Pierre tilted his head. While the act was cute, it was done in a twisted way that didn't look like a good sign at all. "It appears I miscalculated. I might need to kill everyone after all to save you from their influence."
The displaced boy was having this distinct feeling that Pierre thought Kain was the one brainwashed and crazy right now. "Kill everyone?" Kain repeated out loud. Even though the guy was creepy, he doubted he could face everyone outside this guild hall and remain unscratched. No, massive amounts of power was obviously never Pierre's thing, it was something else. Plotting, patience, cunning, Pierre was someone who used his brains along with his magic. That immediately made him one of the most dangerous opponents Kain had ever face because chances are he would be able to out smart all of them.
"Let's play a game, Kain," The sing song tune of the clown made Kain feel tense and stressed. "Let's play pretend. Now, if we were in reverse situations, what would you abuse to make sure everyone dies horribly despite being outnumbered and surrounded?"
"The hell is this guy saying?" "That clown is insane!" "Keep your guard up, Kain, he's up to something!" "He's bluffing, brat, just beat him up and get this over with already!"
Kain half wished the link wasn't up. He also half wished Warren wasn't able to make the link stronger so everyone could hear what Pierre was saying, and he wouldn't need to threaten Lucy again to get his message across. But he then again, he's been in worse situations.
Pierre was obviously insane, but there was obviously enough lucidity in him to pull off cursing everyone around him with almost no one noticing him. Kain would have to play the game. He pretended that the situations were reversed.
Kain held members of Fairy Tail hostage while the rest surrounded the guild. The Thunder Palace would have been a great use in this situation, he would have hidden it better and reveal it right now so he could make his escape…
But Pierre did make no signs of wanting to escape. And it's obvious that he also wasn't interested in the Thunder Palace.
But what else was there? Kain doubted Pierre could, or even wanted to play the hostage card. If Kain was the villain, the most he could do was just take Lucy or someone else hostage and try to escape.
"I'll give you two minutes.~" Pierre sang and started to hum a merry tune. "You don't want to see what happens to one of your blondies if those two minutes pass.~"
"Don't you dare!" Natsu tried to break his bonds, but the magic runes on his clamps glowed and instantly weakened the fire dragon slayer.
No, no. This wasn't right and he was getting nowhere. Pierre didn't care about the hostages at all, he cared about Kain in a creepy Joker-to-Batman way.
(Wait a sec.) The wyvern rider looked between him and Pierre. It… it almost did look like a Joker-loving-Batman relationship. As creepy as it was, the Joker always seemed to push Batman to the very brink, pushing his mental facilities to the very limit. If Pierre was anything like the Joker, and he hopped to god that he wasn't dealing with an insane, mass murdering psychopath, then he wanted to do things in a grand and showy scale.
What else in Magnolia could pull that off? The Thunder Palace was rebooted and the Barriers were easy enough to get around. What else could Pierre take advantage off? Did the town have a second defense system he didn't…
Town… system...
… No… No… it couldn't be…
Kain's helmet looked up. Natsu noticed that Kain seemed horrified by his body language as he looked towards Pierre.
"You didn't."
Pierre started clapping. "You really did figure it out! I'm so proud of you! I'm so impressed that I won't kill the blonde!"
He abruptly stopped clapping and said this next sentence in a deep tone. "I guess I'll just kill everyone else."
"Brat, what the hell did you just figure ou—?!"
"Laxus, order a mass evacuation, now!" Kain's mental scream was like that of a banshee as everyone else in it were surprised by the amount of desperation in his voice. "Pierre tampered with the Gildarts Shift System!"
Those last words made everyone pale in horror. The Gildarts Shift system was specifically designed for Fairy Tail's true strongest guild member, Gildarts Clive. The man, despite being powerful, was so clumsy that he destroyed many houses and buildings every time he returned to the guild. As such, Magnolia had a system in which they would shift the entire city down in two so that Gildarts could reach the guild safely.
And right now? A mad man has just tampered with a system that can literally shift the ground beneath the entire city.
SNAP!
Pierre had brought up his hands and snapped his fingers. No sooner than it did, the ground started to shake worse than an earthquake.
All around Magnolia, houses and buildings shot up to the sky, while some platforms and neighborhood moved at the speed of a race car, shifting through other rising or lower cities… or worse, some fast moving areas crashed into others.
The devastation, destruction, and chaos was almost instantaneous.
"EVERYONE, MOVE AND SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS YOU CAN!" Kain's voice reached everyone like the voice of god and snapped them all out of their stupor. "Monsieur Sol of Phantom Lord, this message is specifically for you and any remaining earth mages! The Shift System is managed by a series of Lacrima posts in Magnolia's underground pathway, you should all see them in the gaps now created! Use Earth magic to slow down the moving buildings, and everyone else should save the civilians, and help break or deactivate those Lacrima! Go!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath Fairy Tail started to shake worse and then Kain fell down as he felt himself being pushed down by a G-force. The Guild was raising to the sky because of Pierre's tampering.
"Do you not hear the screams from up here?" Pierre spoke as the guild came to a stop high above the madness down below. "Do they not sound like music to one's ears—"
The clown didn't get to say any more as Kain punched him hard in the face with enough force to knock his mask off and send him crashing into the stage.
"Undo everything, now! I am not playing anymore games!" Kain roared as he stepped forward and crushed the mask of Pierre.
"Now why would I do that?" Pierre's voice came out of the smoke, no longer filtered by the mask.
Natsu's ears twitched. "Hold on? That can't be right!" The dragon slayer couldn't believe it. He knew that voice!
Kain heard that and briefly looked up before noticing a figure rising from the smoke. "When this is the most fun, I've ever had!"
That time, Kain heard it too. It was hard not to hear it. "What?"
Pierre stepped out of the shadows and Kain and Natsu could only look with astonishment beyond anything they had witnessed yet even in this magical world.
Pierre laughed a horribly familiar laugh. "I also bet..."
The smoke finally died down… revealing Pierre's face at last. Only, it wasn't a face of a stranger. It was that of someone everyone in the guild knew.
Kain could only look in disbelief as he was… staring down his own face!
Kero Pierre looked exactly like Kain Reynolds in face, hair, and voice. "...That you're enjoying this as much as I am, dear soul mate!"
{Author Notes}
First of all: NO SPOILERS IN REVIEWS! I wasn't expecting you guys to actually expose the plot twist back when I made Laxus the guild master, and many of you actually did. The hell guys? Don't ruin it for new readers; that's just plain rude.
Secondly: Boom! There we go! I wonder if anyone guessed that Pierre had the same exact face as Kain? Well no one in the Reviews even mentioned who he could be, so bam! A Surprise twist!
How can Pierre have the same face as Kain? Well if you all are Fairy Tail savvy, you know what Pierre is, or rather, what KAIN is. For everyone else, I'll just give a one word hint: Mystogan.
It's going to be explained further in the next chapter if you still don't get it. But here we go! Watch as we get into the next chapter, and we see the fate of Fairy Tail after this 'civil war' of sorts!
Also, I saw the first two chapters of Eden Zero by the time I posted this. I really thought it was a direct sequel, but in actuality it really is a spin off. But isn't it funny? Mishima made an AU with his own characters. Which means congratulations everyone! Everyone's AU is technically cannon as well! WHOO-wait. OH GOD WHY!?
Well I guess that's that then. I'll see you guys next time.