The Muggle among Mages

by PhantomGalaxy13

What happens when a young man suddenly finds himself in the land of Fiore where danger lurks around every corner? Why overcome all odds with the power of friendship! …Yeah-no. That kid is going to be deader than his own ancestors.

39. Chapter 39

*Furious tapping noises* Huh? I-I did it! I finally got into Elite Smash! Whooooo! And it only took me like…

*looks at calendar* ...Three wee—fudge.

*notices he hasn't typed anything in the past month* Oh that's going to be a problem.

*looks at story notes and sees this is going to be one of his longer chapters* And that's just adding salt into the wound.

---

Before Nirvana was revived, before he called them all to a meeting, Brain, the powerful and masterful leader of Oracion Seis, was leaning on a tree hidden from all, barely able to stand and coughing spit and blood.

After his coughing fit, he could only look at his hands in disdain. "It's never gotten," He gasped and wiped his mouth. "This bad before."

It was then that he felt a presence and he turned around to see, "Jellal, I thought I put barriers even Cobra and Midnight couldn't sense."

"I did sense them, but I didn't know they were yours." Brain wasn't expecting a look of surprise and… was that concern on the Wizard Saint's face? "I wasn't aware you were ill."

"I intend to keep it that way." Brain stepped away from the tree, the second he did, he started to cough with enough force to cough blood along with spit. He lost his balance, but was momentarily surprised to feel something supporting him.

"You really are different ever since Fairy Tail defeated you." Brain managed to comment as he opened his eyes to see the blue haired man preventing him from falling.

"The same can be said for you." Jellal returned with a soft voice.

Brain's reaction to that was to only laugh that sounded more like one of acceptance than joy. "Look at us, two men who once had everything, but lost it all. I suppose defeat is one of life's greatest teachers." The leader Of Oracion Seis sat down on a nearby root and tried to clean himself with magic.

Jellal was curious at the mention of that. "You were defeated? From what I recall," Some of his memory still blurred here and there, "There was a gap between when I sent you Hot Eye, and when you found me some time ago, but I don't remember you ever getting into a magic battle. What defeat are you talking about?"

Brain's body language showed him stopping in such a way as if he had just seen the reaper. "What do you remember about the Magic Council?"

Jellal thought about it. "What specifically do you mean?"

Brain's face looked dead serious. "The weapons' vault."

The ex councilman tried to think back. It was still blurry, but he could make out the memories because there was a feeling that came with them. That feeling was a sense of how small he was in the universe.

"All I know was that there were ten levels. Even as both a Wizard Saint and a member of the Magic Council member, I could only get access to the Eight level." And even then, it took a lot of effort to steal that elvish blade from level 8.

"Huh, of course they upped the security, I'm the reason why it's almost impossible to reach even the fifth level." Brain scoffed before sighing. "Before I quit, while I was still building Oracion Seis, I was approached by Crawford Seam, the now retired Magic Council Chairman." There was a smirk that escaped Brain's solemn state with that last sentence.

Jellal may not have recalled that man, but his emotions seemed to be revealing a large amount of disgust towards the name.

Brain continued on, "He was an idiot, but just like you and I, he was ambitious, but he was and is utterly incompetent. It took him a while, but he finally had access to Level 0 of the Weapons Vault."

The former magic council member could only widen his eyes. "Level 0? By the numbers, I assumed level 1 was the highest area to reach."

"The number themselves hide that fact well. A secret that the fat, hairy bastard found on pure luck. He wanted me to see if it was possible to harness the one item in sealed in that level."

Brain suddenly stopped talking, his hands started to tremble, and he was sweating profusely. After a few coughs, Brain stood back up from the root. "Not only him, but I underestimated what was in there. This illness you see is one of the side effects of trying to tamper with it."

They say curiosity killed the cat, but Jellal couldn't stop wondering. Brain was true to his name and spotted the wonder on his face. "If you want to ask what I saw, I physically am unable to do so." Jellal looked at Brain as he explained. "Level 0 clearance Memory Proofs you the moment you enter. The memories you make in that hidden room, stay in that hidden room. All I recall is stepping in that room… and the next moment face away from the entrance, on the ground, coughing blood with Crawford confused as to why he was sweating to the point that his paid-by-tax-payer-money clothes looked like they were drenched from being in the rain too long. I found out that there's some kind of foreign magic in me that's… impressively, eating my soul. I've tried everything, but nothing is stoping it. I was able to find a special loophole to slow it down, but at this rate, I'm not going to see the end of next year."

All of this information caused Jellal to be confused, a hundred question roamed in his mind, but one rose above to his voice first. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Brain looked at Jellal in the eye. He smirked to brake eye contact. "I have my reasons for telling you this. Now come, we must hurry. I believe our head start against the Alliance has ended."

Jellal could only stare at the man called Brain. He was different than what his supposed memories told him. Compared to the man in his memories, there was something new in Brain's eyes that he didn't see before: compassion.

---

Brain could only laugh with all the force of a madman as he could feel the energies of ancient magic overwhelm and make everyone in radius' skin crawl.

His distraction weakened the hold over Wendy and Carla, the latter of whom activated her wings and flew Wendy out of there as the cave started to collapse in on itself. As the two left, the robotic Guardian followed after them, flying by some unknown means as Brain continued to laugh.

As the three got out, Wendy and Carla looked up to the sky in horror. The infamous Nirvana was floating high up in the sky: fog slowly fell of the isle as buildings long locked in darkness were exposed to the sunset of the day. Most noticeable was this massive, tower-castle super structure with some dim, green glow that could be seen even from below. A long forgotten city on a floating ruin with a giant ring of magic, it would have been beautiful if everyone didn't know how dangerous it was.

The small girl remembered something during the skirmish and looked towards the Guardian. "C-Can you reseal it!?"

In response, the robot only stared emptily back at Wendy, its inaction speaking more than any possible form of communication.

At that moment, the ground burst and an orb of dark flame shot up towards the flying ruins, signaling that Brain was on his way towards the floating ruins.

Wendy recalled her communication link and activated it. "H-Help! Nirvana's been awakened I-I couldn't stop Brain from re-opening it! I'm sorry!"

Her voice was heard, yet by then, battles were once more raging across WorthWood Sea, each one as vicious as the last.

---

There was a scream that filled the air as Ren of Blue Pegasus clutched his head when the burst of murky black light exploded towards the sky.

"Ren!" Natsu screamed before he was distracted towards his right where he avoided the ground rising up and attempted to swallow him whole. The Dragon Slayer jumped away to the air, only to get blasted by a familiar and very annoying blast of wind magic.

"You're not going to escape this time, Salamander!" Erigor then made a mad cackle, his eyes were bloodshot, almost like one would have from a drug overdose.

Even Natsu could tell Erigor must have taken even more of those Rhodonite drugs, he was actually starting to overpower him. Though his moves were become far easier to predict, Hot Eye made it hard for him to move.

Hot Eye shouted something about money, before earth behind him shot up to form into a hammer the size of a house with full intent to turn Natsu into a pink headed nail. The hammer was brought down, but mid flight, there was a blur that ran right through the muddy construct, revealing it to be Genji from Phantom Lord, kicking right through it with impressive force. Genji landed near Hot Eye, who pointed his hand out at the same time as Genji pushed out a glowing white palm.

"Pig-skin stop screaming!" The Orc known as the Butcher lariat Ren while he was still clutching his head in pain. Natsu enflamed his fist, and launched himself towards the green humanoid. The punch flew, but the Orc had much longer arms as his fist raced past Natsu and hit him in the cheek first. The pink haired Dragon Slayer flew before landing on his feet and skidding to a stop.

"Natsu!" Happy, who was hiding behind some trees, cried out with worry. But didn't see any chance to swoop in to help his friend.

It was at that moment that the burst of light turned into an Isle, making everyone still conscious in that battlefield witness Nirvana in all it's former glory.

"Amazing! Nirvana looks more amazing than I ever imagined!" Hot Eye gave a booming laughter witnessing the ancient spectacle. The man with square like features turned towards the remaining members of that Alliance group. "How unfortunate for you that we will gain all the money we could ever need! Yes yes!"

Wind blew hard on Natsu's face, forcing him to look up at the blood shot face of Erigor,"Who c-cares about money!? I-I want revenge!" With that cry, he flew right for Natsu with a devastating burst of wind magic that blasted around in an impressive radius, a radius that also included Hot Eye and Butcher, the Orc.

Hot Eye raised a barrier around him before letting it down and looking towards his ally. "Watch what you're doing, convict!" He was visibly upset from being pulled out of his good mood, but then, he—and everyone else noticed something off: why did it feel like there were two storm winds?

There was a spike of magic as the fighters all looked over towards Ren from Blue Pegasus who had gotten up and a tornado of wind was surrounding him in counter clock spin to that of Erigor. However, his gales were ebony black like that of a raven's feathers.

"You bastards," Ren gasped as the gales grew like wild fire. "You killed Eve!" His eyes, bloodshot and his aura becoming as black as the gales. "YOU'LL ALL PAY!" With that battle roar, he unleashed a powerful burst of wind that everyone but The Butcher avoided. The orc was slammed into a some distance away while everyone else seemed surprised at the show of power.

"Hey, watch it Ren, you almost hit us!" Natsu shouted towards his ally.

Ren's gaze, and anger turned towards Natsu. "YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT EVE IS DEAD!" The cry of anger was followed by a blast of wind much like that of Erigor's level. However, Natsu was caught off guard by the cry in a moment, which was enough for the blast to close the distance between them.

It was to the Dragonslayer's favor that Genji slid over to Natsu with a battle stance between him and the incoming black wind with his fist reclined and glowing. With a step forward that had enough force to crack the ground, Genji punched forward, nullifying the impact of the dark wind meant for the Salamander.

"I don't believe the comlinks were as effective as we thought. Ren seems to be affected by Nirvana's passive magic." Genji of Phantom Lord spoke as Natsu stood back up.

"Hey! He's my prey!" Erigor shouted before attacking Ren with his own empowered wind. Ren shouted another angry threat of murder before engaging in the opposing wind mage.

Memories of before came to Natsu's mind. Ren was suffering beforehand—he didn't need this! "We gotta stop him somehow! Is there a way to get him back to normal?"

Seeing Ren and Erigor battle allowed Genji some time to plan with Hot Eye and their other opponent slightly incapacitated. "Nirvana is the source of this problem. We may be too far, but at the same time, I do know a spell that could knock Ren out until we stop Nirvana." The monk themed mage looked over to the dragon slayer. "I need you to take on Erigor and whatever interference for it to work though."

A smile appeared on Natsu's face. "Wait, all I gotta do is fight those guys except Ren? Well why didn't you say that first!" With a speedy jump, Natsu flew in and decked Erigor in the cheek, shouting that it was time for round two.

Ren seemed to get pissed after seeing Natsu one more time, but Genji acted quick, making both of his fists glow and got behind him—no a blast of wind warded the Phantom Lord mage back before he could get sliced like paper.

"You! I don't know how, but you're also at fault for killing Eve!"

Genji slowly lifted his fists into open, glowing palms as his stance shifted. "This brainwashing magic isn't refined. Perhaps that means we have some hope to stop it yet." He spoke out before Ren tried to attack him a second time.

Natsu himself avoided an annoying blast of wind meant to throw him like dust in the wind. "Yeesh, Emma, you're really starting to get on my nerves!"

"It's Erigor, you pink-cactus-haired, punk!" The crazed man yelled.

At that moment, now Natsu was getting tired of battling this punk. However, as he tried to end him, his sense of touch felt a shift on the earth and he backflipped before muddy spikes shot out of the ground where he was from.

"Yes yes! Soon, the alliance will fall, then the magic Council, and we will gain all the money in the country!" Hot Eye cried out before continuing his attack. Natsu made an effort to avoid the ground by jumping, only for him to get hit head on by an air attack from Erigor.

Earth and wind were now being used in tandem against the dragon slayer. Natsu couldn't make a move on one without the other attacking his blind side. In one instant, when the pink haired mage was knocked down, the two opposing mages both attacked with the intent to crush and slice up the Fairy Tail mage.

Their attacks hit nothing but each other as something flew at the last second and got him out of the fight.

"Thanks, buddy!" Natsu shook himself before he looked up to Happy. "Great timing."

Happy didn't have a chance to respond as he noticed Erigor flying after them. The spike of magical power coming out from him was skyrocketing at that moment.

"This is for ruining my life, fly!" Erigor cried out as the winds around him started to form. The turbulence twisted that into a large scythe made of fast rotating wind that Ergior motioned to wing behind him.

"Aah!" Happy cried out as Natsu felt the air around them shift. "That Scythe is manipulating the wind around us, I can't fly forward!"

Natsu looked back, "Then don't fly forward, get me back to him!"

"Does thou hear the whispers of the winds?" Erigor started to chant, as his pupils started to dilate, his hands started to shiver, but his mind was still focused on one thing: revenge against Fairy Tail. No one, not even him could tell if he really knew a lost spell, or the magic itself seemed to react to him at his induced state. "They are not soft nothingness, but muted wails of darker whims!"

"Happy, let me go! I'm gonna need to be free for this one!" Natsu heard the chanting as he primed his fist. His friend let go and launched Natsu towards Erigor who started to swing his wind scythe.

"Hell Fire Art..." Natsu started as he lit up his fist with white fire. At the same time, Erigor was unleashing a large amount of magical energy.

"Beholden that which chained in blight, Beholden your last—"

"HELL SPEAR!" "WIND SYTCHE!"

White flames and wind clashed with unstable force in the air. As the force of the two clashing powers made contact, the impact force of that clash caused the ground bound fighters to be knocked off their feet.

Hot Eye, Genji, Ren, and a slowly recovering Butcher, all got blasted away into the air from the clash. Genji, noticed Happy was also caught in the clash and saw the small cat falling down unconscious. The Phantom Lord mage with pink hair flipped mid air, used his magic to propel his trajectory towards Ren, who was previously blasted parallel to him. In a grand movement, Genji slammed a golden palm into Ren's face, then used his magic to touch the air—kick off, and capture Happy, then finished by landing on the ground with a slid, carrying both of his teammates and looking back up to the sky.

"Natsu! I have both of them!" Genji screamed out loud.

With his dragon hearing, Natsu could hear Genji's scream over the clashing magic. "Thanks, Genji! Now to finally put this annoyance down!" Natsu put in more force into his attack, powering through Erigor's spell and the flame around his fist started to shape like that of a spearhead. With one great cry, Natsu broke through the massive scythe of winds, fell, and struck like a meteor onto Erigor, crashing into the ground with a deafening boom much like any falling space rock.

Out of the dirt and smoke, Natsu jumped out and held his right fist with a grunt of pain. "Ow! Man, Atlas Flame's spells are way more complicated than Igneel's! And they use way too much energy!" He could still use his fist, but it was unreasonably sore trying to use a different type of fire dragon spell.

As the smoke died down, Erigor was seen out cold. Rohdonite drugs may have the ability to nullify pain, but the body sends out messages of pain naturally because it means that the body can't handle damage. Getting rid of pain didn't mean their bodies were immune to breaking.

However, the ground beneath Natsu moved when he let his guard down and a muddy coffin entrapped the dragon slayer on his entire body except his head. Natsu struggled to get out, but found it very hard to do so.

"You are indeed very powerful, Dragon slayer! Yes yes!" Hot Eye proclaimed as he walked up to Natsu with a hand pointed out. For a moment there, Natsu forgot this guy—huh?

"And you there!" Hot eye pointed over to Genji who was still carrying his two allies. "Make any move and I'll crush your ally in an instant! Same goes for you, pinky, I can crush you faster than you can activate your magic at this rate! In the end, Money is everything!"

The situation looked pretty dire for this group of the alliance, but Natsu seemed more confused as he sniffed the air several times. "Hey, Hot Potato!"

Hot Eye didn't seem very bothered at the wrong name as he gave a hearty laugh. "It's Hot Eye, truly a powerful name for the rich and wealthy! Yes yes!"

"You smell really familiar. Have we met before?" Natsu was distracted by this smell coming off from Hot Eye now that this mud mage was up close.

"I'm starting to see why that man was so angry at you beforehand if your memory span is the size of a goldfish." Hot Eye seemed more empathetic than haughty with that comment. "We met a while today when you and that armored monster fought, remember?"

But the Oracion Seis member misunderstood. Natsu swore he had the same feeling like he got from Wendy—wait no. Wendy's felt familiar in a way that he thought he knew her before. Hot Eye's scent was similar to another scent he felt. But which one could that blocky bastard—wait, block?

"That's not what I'm talking about. By any chance do you know Wally Buchanan?" The pink haired dragon slayer asked as he finally recalled why this scent felt familiar but different.

Hot Eye's happy go luck facade instantly faded and a look of utter shock was written on his face after hearing that name.

"H-How do you know that name? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!?" Hot Eye first started soft, as if he himself couldn't believe it. However, the second time he repeated it, there was far more desperation and urgency in his voice.

Natsu was wondering why his instincts pointed him to this smell. It seemed like there was a reason for them after all. So he followed his instincts again when it told him to be honest about that name. "He's a friend of mine. I wanted to ask because you have a really similar smell to that guy. How do you know him?"

After hearing those words, something happened that no one could have expected: Hot Eye, a man who only cared about money and talked about nothing but that, fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face like waterfalls, and crying out with the purest forms of relief and hope.

Natsu was freed, the spell holding him no longer had any power to it. This was the prefect chance to counter attack, if he wasn't so confused as to why Hot Eye was reacting like that.

"You said," It was honestly an impressive feat that Hot Eye was able to string coherent words despite sobbing so much in between pauses. "You said all of that in present tense! W-Wally's alive! He's alive after all! Oh thank god! Thank all the gods!" Hot Eye cried out more after managing to squeak out that sentence.

Natsu just stared in confusion before seeing Genji walk up to him with an obvious confused look on his face.

The dragon slayer shrugged his shoulders. If Kain or Lucy where here, they could probably explain what's going on. Unknown to the dragon slayer, Kain and Lucy were, at the moment, attempting to out run a speedster, so all things considered, he was in one of the good situations.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm just," Hot Eye gasped. "I'm so glad that I've finally found a proper clue to where my brother is, and that he's alive!"

Memories of the Vacation in Sun Village came back to Natsu, Wally had mentioned a few times that before Erza, he had—

The Dragon Slayer pointed to Hot Eye in disbelief then, with his usual tact and grace, said, "No way! You're Richard!?"

Hot Eye got up and, faster than anyone could expect, put his hands on Natsu' shoulders with wide eyes and—a smile of hope? "You know my name?! It is Wallace! Please, I will give you any amount of money if you tell me where you last saw him!"

"As nice as it is not being under attack," Genji's voice made Hot Eye and Natsu look over to him. "May I please have some context as to what is happening?" The magenta haired monk from Phantom Lord was surprisingly mild mannered about all of this.

Happy soon woke up, but Ren didn't. After a brief note from Genji that he used a sleeping spell on Ren that would last eight hours, and a further note that he uses it on himself when his bunkmate and dear friend, Kara snores (every night), Natsu briefly caught up that apparently Hot Eye is actually Richard Buchanan, the long lost older brother of a friend he met not too long ago.

"Yes yes!" Hot Eye, or Richard agreed before turning to Natsu. "I was so desperate for money because I needed it to find my brother! I was raised in the underworld, and so I imagined that with all the money, which equates to power there, I would be finally able to find and reunite with my brother!" The Oracion Seis member turned back to Natsu. "You simply must tell me where he is!"

"He went out traveling looking for you, dummy!" Natsu folded his arms. "The last time I saw him was in Sun Village like two months back."

"He-He's also looking for me?" Hot Eye was obviously struggling to break down crying a second time. "But Sun Village, that's all the way south from here..."

Natsu blinked before two gears in his head started to crank together. "Hey wait a second, if you're Wally's real brother, why are you teaming up with Jellal?"

Hot Eye seemed obviously confused at the question, so Natsu continued. "Jellal crippled Wally! Heck, he's probably the reason why you couldn't find him before two months!"

The Oracion Seis member's eyes narrowed dangerously at that. "He did what!? I'll kill him!"

Happy tilted his head and raised his paw. "Isn't he your teammate?"

"He hurt my brother!" Hot Eye hissed. "I don't care if we're on the same team, no one hurts my little brother and gets away with it! I'm not even letting Brain tell me to stop!"

Anger soon passed but Hot Eye now looked more frustrated. "Damn, I want to beat him up, but I know he's stronger than me."

"No he isn't." Natsu's voice was low and calm. Happy knew instantly that his friend was dead serious. "Jellal only beat me because he was using a cheap weapon, but now that it's gone, I can beat him up for sure!"

"Can you really?" Hot Eye looked on with disbelief.

"I still owe that jerk a knuckle sandwich for making Erza cry and almost killing Kain! And even now," Natsu was gripping his fist. Happy knew that ever since they had learned Jellal was with Oracion Sies, Erza had been more distracted than usual. She thought she was hiding it, but all her friends noticed it, but were too focused with planning their next move. "That jerk is still haunting her. I want a piece of him too!"

Hot Eye stared at Natsu with an unreadable look on his face before he gave one noticeable nod. "Alright, with Nirvana now revealed, Brain was expecting us to beat all of you and head to Nirvana to rendezvous. I have an idea that'll allow me to bring you all up there without being blasted."

"Are you really going to betray your team for us?" It was all sounding far too good for them. Genji had to ask that question now or else they might fall for an elaborate trap.

The Oracion Seis member stilled. There was tension in the air as whatever happened next came down to the choice of Hot Eye, or Richard Buchanan. He closed his eyes and then, "My brother was my world before Oracion Sies and still is. I-I have some reservations, I admit. But if you help me find my brother, I will betray my guild—just don't kill any of them."

The two pink haired mages shared a look. "Do we tell the others about this?" Genji inquired.

"No," Natsu responded fast, his mind replaying Erza crying back in the tower of Hell. "We can do it on our own. Besides, I trust the others, they can beat anyone who comes their way!"

---

"There's no way we can beat that thing!" Doranbolt screamed as he teleported away seconds before the area exploded in flames.

He reappeared behind a boulder near a dirty Hibiki who was frantically using his archive magic on images of the undead, robotic, sword master. "Of all our rotten luck, we had to face both Jellal and the Machina King!"

Farther away from the boulder magic humming was heard as bolts of light and solid boulders rose up to clash. Hibiki spoke out while still typing. "It's not completely bad. Jura is taking on Jellal as we speak, but that still leaves us with that monster." There was a dark growl coming from Hibiki before he shook his head. "I can feel Nirvana already messing with my emotions. These comlinks aren't doing very well."

"They're working well for me," Doranbolt then realized that their side of the battle was strangely silent. "You should hurry up with finding a potential weakness—Hey, where's Ichiya?"

As soon as the man from the Rune Knights asked this, a pillar of ice shot out not to far from behind the boulder.

The two peeked back from the boulder to see Ichiya staring down the imposing metal titan. Doranbolt was about to move to get him out of there, but something stopped him just as fast. The air around Ichiya felt amazingly different, like the air had somehow got thicker.

"Deus Bellator Rex," Ichiya gave a signature finger point poise, but this time there were no sparkles behind him, there was no sense of flirtation to him but rather like a gunman to a criminal. "History dictates you as an unstoppable warrior rivaled only by the first Wizard Saint. However, you have murdered one of my dear, precious wards,"

With that, the small man took out a tube and removed the cork, it's fragrance flowing into the nose of the Blue Pegasus Ace. "And you're going to wish you stayed dead."

If Kain was there, he would have used the phrase, 'Hulking out', because that is what Ichiya did, forcing his body to grow around the same size as the onyx titan with muscles that exuded with power by how his shirt exploded in pieces.

"This is for my cute student, Eve!" Ichiya never had the best of first impressions, but one could almost forget all his faults as he stepped forward with enough force to cracked the ground beneath his feet and threw a punch so powerful that it made the steel titan fly like a bullet, forcing it to flip mid air and used it's powered blades to slow the momentum after a dozen feet of skidding and torn earth.

With a mighty flex and a menacing aura, Ichiya motioned the fearsome robotic corpse to come at him. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Leader is amazing, isn't he?" Hibiki commented while Doranbolt was in awe witnessing a far more powerful side to the silly man.

Despite that, the Griever rose back, standing just as tall as a while ago.

"Since you're made of metal," Ichiya flexed before reaching for his pocket to bring out another vial for him to sniff. "I'm about to show you something shocking!" As he emphasized that last word, his fists started to cackle with electricity.

"Spark Parfume~!" Ichiya yelled as he blasted off with the intent to turn the king of machines into the king of broken toasters.

Yet the Bellator stabbed his black ice blade in the ground in front of him, creating a wall of ice for Ichiya's empowered fist to strike and shatter. Only, the second it shattered, there was no sign of the massive black titan of steel behind the ice.

In that instant, Doranbolt teleported right above and behind Ichiya with a look of desperation on his face as he slammed his palm into Ichiya's left shoulder and an instant later, the two vanished before the area Ichiya was in turned into a blast zone of the Griever crashing into the ground with the weight of a skyscraper.

Not too far, Doranbolt and Ichiya slid away from the wind, but mostly unscathed from the impact.

"Thank you for your stylish help," The enhanced mage proclaimed before taking another perfume bottle. "It seems like I need to stop holding back." As soon as he sniffed this second vial, Doranbolt blinked and no longer saw the massive man beside him. His brain then registered the sound of a clash and looked back towards the fight where Ichiya punched with so much force, a shockwave was seen past his extended arm where the ground and some trees where toppled over. However, the Griever was nowhere near the brunt of that attack.

Doranbolt watched and watched. His impression of Ichiya changed, he was indeed an honorable person who deeply cared for those around him.

However, his opponent was not.

Ichiya's strength was not to be denied, yet The Griever took on the hits with little trouble. The speed in which Ichiya moved would have made any man swear it was trying to see wind, yet The Griever tagged movements that shouldn't have been possible. When looking at Ichiya, it could almost inspire confidence, hope—yet as the Griever towered over the enhanced man, human concepts were as empty as it's eyes.

Ichiya was a true man; however, he was fighting a legend.

"Master!"

And Legends sometimes need things beyond mankind.

Doranbolt panicked when he saw The Griever bend his body in a way he never expected a humanoid to do so to dodge another punch and launched his claw like leg to vice grip right into Ichiya's neck. Just like that, the ace of Blue Pegasus had his assault stopped like a crushed rat—was even lifted up by one leg as if he was a rat.

Doranbolt shouted, "Hibiki, find the weakness you said you'd find!" Not even half a second after that last word, The Rune Knight vanished. He blinked right behind the Griever's back with his right hand tagging his back. However, Doranbolt panicked as he saw the arms of the black titan turn towards him and tried to skewer him, but fighting his fear, the black haired rune knight vanished along with the steel king, but without the blades that flew threw the air where Doranbolt's head was.

Doranbolt and the Griever reappeared. The metallic creature moved like lightning to grab Doranbolt, who at the last second blinked away from the metallic claw hands of the Machina king. When the machine king's grab missed, bright lights from its left and right side caught his attention before he was caught in between avalanche of boulders and a stream of light based spears that exploded on contact.

Hibiki, while still frantically looking over all history facts for some kind of clue as to how the first Wizard Saint beat the monster, looked up and gripped his fist. "Good move! Sending it between Jura and Jellal's attacks!"

As the dust cloud encompassed the area, Jura jumped out and regrouped with the other two, looking worse for wear, but still and focused. Doranbolt appeared next to him as the four members of the alliance looked towards the cloud.

A figure from the clouds put the four of them back in to defensive positions soon, Jellal stepped out, his clothes looking singed, but looking less injured than Jura. And, to their great misfortune, a larger figure was appearing behind Jellal, showing the Machine King was only made dusty from the attack of two clashing wizard Saints.

"A fearsome pair indeed." Jura spoke as he slowly raised his hand. "We may need another strategy, especially since Nirvana has been reawakened."

"Guys!" Hibiki popped out of his cover. "I finally found something! Some experts believe the First Wizard Saint defeated the Machina King by shattering his torso and crushing his mech-heart!" He pointed over towards the torso of the machine warrior. "The color tones around his torso seem off in one area—it's not properly fixed!"

Jellal instantly heard that and shot a hand out to fire out a blast of light towards Hibiki. However, he was too late with this reaction as a stone boulder rose up to take the blast of light.

"So the monstrous machine has a weak spot?" Doranbolt loosened up as his eyes set towards a rather paler black spot in the Machina King's torso.

"Thank you, Hibiki, your hard work will pay off this instant!" Ichiya himself seemed to grow even more muscular hear such a fact.

Jura's stance strengthened as well. "At last, we have a chance to turn this around."

They could do this, with a weakness exposed, they could take out the Machina King and even Jellal couldn't take on all four of—

"You looked so desperately for a weakness," The Former Wizard's Saint's calm voice raised goosebumps on the group's skin. "Were you paying attention to the strength the Machina King used to battle evenly with the First Wizard Saint's magic?"

Hibiki's stunned silence seemed to be an answer to everyone.

Jellal raised his hands and with a simple snap of his fingers… The Machina King gave off a sound that was nothing like a machine, but of steel roaring like that of an unknown creature.

They all watched as the two blades of ice and flame flew back to the hand claws of the Griever. However, his claws hand separated into that of four more extra limbs, and with each limb, a new sword appeared. Four black blades with a different colored tint: Purple, Green, Yellow, and Gray.

"Aranea Mode." Jellal whispered before the Griever made his attack on the four members of the Alliance.

Jura was the first to act, shooting boulders off the ground to attack the incoming steel king. However, the attack did little to slow down their attacker as the six swords were used in tandem to make incoming boulders that would thrice crush houses, feel like nothing but rain on a tree. The Machina King Closed the distance between him and Jura—the latter who made a motion—only to freeze as he felt a strong force strike him from the back of ribcage. Jellal had used Meteor and during the offensive of the Machine king, circled behind the group and kicked Jura with enough force to stagger the Wizard Saint before backing off. The instant he did, the yellow-black blade of the Griever glowed—thunder struck down on Jura, who screamed as the volts entered into his nervous system and was kneed in the same spot Jellal struck by the Griever.

Everyone in the Alliance heard the sound of bone being crushed as Jura was sent flying right through another rock. The Wizard Saint gasped, twitched, and then he fell unconscious.

"Jura!" Hibiki yelled as horror now gripped his heart, a far cry from the hope he was feeling just moments ago.

The Griever gave them no time of mercy as he stabbed his green-black blade into the ground. Wild Vines exploded from the ground and attempted to ensnare the remaining three. Doranbolt teleported out while Ichiya powered through his bounds.

Hibiki was unlucky as he struggled to escape his bounds that were slowly tightening around him with the intent to crush him like a twig. He saw a light before Jellal's blast hit him head on, freeing him of the binds and letting his body lay there, unmoving.

"NO!" Ichiya screamed before Doranbolt made his move. He was going to use another teleport move, but his mind caught something looking at the Machina King: why did he only have five of his swords? Where was the green one?

The sound of wind behind him made Doranbolt's heart stop. He looked back, only to see a massive whirlwind form behind that threw him off balance and prevented him from being able to aim his teleports.

Something had stopped his wild flailing by a vice grip around his neck. Doranbolt noticed that Jellal had him by the neck and before he could attempt to escape, Jellal used his speed of Meteor to slam Doranbolt into the ground, knocking him unconscious as well.

Which only left...

"Villains! You will not win! Eve shall be avenged by my hand!" Ichiya cried out as he reached for another vial, only to find it hard to move his hand above his waist.

The Blue Pegasus Ace looked up to see the Griever raising his purple-black sword into the air. As it glowed, his arms, his entire body grew heavier and heavier.

"A-A Gravity Blade?!" Ichiya gasped before the force of pressure increased, forcing him to fall face first into the floor and dropping the vial.

"N-No! I must avenge—" And then The Griever increased the power of his gravity blade, causing a massive crater to appear before him with Ichiya in the dead center.

The pressure ceased and all was quiet. This group containing Jura of the Wizard Saints and Blue Pegasus' Ace was defeated by Jellal and The Griever.

The Griever raised his gray sword and the stones around the area gathered above each individual member until they formed massive spears ready to end their lives then and there.

"Stop!" Jellal barked, at his voice the machine stopped and undid his blade magic. "That's enough. If Nirvana works, these will be allies, not enem..." Jellal trailed off from his explanation and sighed. "Right, Brain gave me compete control over you. I don't need to explain anything to a dead corpse, even if you aren't human."

Jellal couldn't figure out what Brain was up to. Why did Brain put a strange amount of trust in him? Granted, he was the only one who seemed to 'welcome' him in after the white and red dragon, but he couldn't help but feel that he was part of a secret plan Brain had in store beneath the obvious one.

Worse still, he was still distracted by her. So many thoughts ran through his head, but he barely could even look at her direction for more than two seconds. So many conflicted feelings, how could he express them?

Deep down, he knew something was wrong about all of this. But what could he do? Betray those that welcomed him in and potentially be put to the death penalty? He was damned if he succeeded with Oracion Seis, damned if he failed with them. At that, Jellal gave a small laugh. Perhaps this was punishment of some kind, of the 'person' he was when he saw—when he thought he saw Zeref. His memory could look back on his worst moment, when something came up to him in his weakest, and… twist his mind against his will. Back then, he thought he was seeing the truth, but in reality, he could now feel the influence over his mind when compared to that of when he had his free will as a child.

The white and red dragon had seemed to steal a piece of his soul, the one tainted with that dark influence, and with that gone, nothing but shame and guilt overcame Jellal as he realized what he had just done to his friends—to her—for the past decade.

"No," Jellal whispered, his hands gripping his fist. "Cowardice and weakness was what made my heart tainted in the first place. I must right my wrongs."

He turned back, looking up towards Nirvana with a look of a man who knew his mission. However, a small frown came back to his lips. "I'm sorry, Brain. You also seemed to be a changed man."

---

"I feel all kinds of conflicted right now." Jason Dracoblood commented as he looked between that of Lyon and Gray, who were now half naked, facing down Angel of Oracion Seis, who was wearing one of the most impractical feathered half dress he had ever seen.

Beside her, where some of the other high level Criminals to watch out for such as Prisca Dorance, the mage who can enhance his strength at will and Brown Beard, the feared pirate mage of the southern isles who was immune to scurvy. They too were wearing clothes that exposed their muscular midriffs.

Jason felt insecure for some reason. At least Lahar was normally dressed.

"Aww, isn't that cute?" Angel purred while the Alliance tensed. "You think two ice mages, a nerd, and some scraggly haired knight can stop me?"

Gray smirked at that. "You're forgetting we have someone else in our group." At that mention something landed behind the four Alliance Mages, revealing it to be Ignis the crimson Wyvern who unleashed a powerful roar towards his opponents. The followers of Brown beard seemed to flinch at the voice of the massive creature.

Jason was very glad that Kain had allowed Ignis to follow them instead.

"Well, Wyvern Scales are quite the rarity to sell off!" Brown Beard unhooked his flint pistol and pointed it towards the pseudo dragon. "We skin that beast and we all live like kings!"

Those words were all it took for the fear that Ignis inspired on their enemies to be turned into lust and greed for money, and the willingness to do anything to get it.

Lyon stepped forward, "Where is the Machina King? I have no time for small fry like you."

"Aww what? Sad that you lost your girlfriend? I mean, I've killed a bunch of girlfriends, wives, husbands, and whatever before, so don't feel too bad." Her tone was mocking as she placed a finger on her cheek and tilted her head lightly.

The temperature around the area dropped significantly. It didn't take much to figure out why. "I have no time for this!" Lyon went into a stance and then fired out a large ice Manticore with the intent to maul the Oracion Seis member while the others got out of the way to engage in other fights.

There was a blur before the ground shot out and this large mud golem caught the manticore by the jaw and wrestled it closed.

The other student of Ur recognized that magic, but logic—a fresh grave—told him that magic was impossible!

"Oh! Lyon!" For the first time in a very long time, the Ice mage felt a shiver down his spine, but not because of the temperature. "You're so great! … So why didn't you protect me?"

'Sherry Blendy' stood behind the earth golem, just as she was before—

"Lyon! That's not her, she's gotta be a shift shaper!" Gray's voice from fighting against Prisca snapped Lyon out of his stupor before rage came across Lyon's face.

"Ice make: Claymore!" Lyon shouted out as a large sword appeared above the Ice Manticore, who then used it's scorpion tail to grab onto the handle and stab the tool right into the head of the mud golem.

"You bitch!" The temperature around Lyon dropped drastically as his eyes tunneled towards the one looking like his now dead ally.

"Oooh? Was that a sore spot?" 'Shelly' made a mocking tone before she twirled, now turning into Lyon himself. "How about this? I am Lyon, the Cold Emperor, the greatest failure in this side of Fiore." Soon, Fake Lyon had this horrid and mocking laugh. "Oh my god, you asked your Teacher to see you as her dead daughter?! And here I thought I had issues!"

"I will throw your frozen blood into the sewers!" Lyon forced the Ice Manticore to rush for the one who was making a complete mockery of him. However, the fake Lyon raised his arm and the incoming Manticore stopped.

"Lovely isn't it?" The fake Lyon made a flourish with his hand, only to remember that she currently didn't have any long hair and hit nothing but empty air. "Oops. But I do love this special form of Shift Stealing, I can copy someone's memories and magic with this handy power. I can even use it on people I've seen only once."

With another twirl and a puff of smoke, Angel turned into Eve. "It's one of the reasons why I'm the best infiltrator in Oracion Seis. I didn't really have a chance to use this magic earlier simply because I thought the others would beat you easy, and then Jellal came in with the Griever before I could back stab you all, so in a sense, you should be thanking him."

"I'll kill you and him!" Lyon shouted as he slammed his palms into the ground. The area around him froze into the shape of a magical circle. Behind him, a giant hand burst out and grabbed into the floor, revealing a large ice golem similar a previous rock golem that Sherry once used. It made a powerful roar before stepping forward with the intent to pummel her into nothingness.

"Don't you learn?" Angel turned from Eve of Blue Pegasus into Lyon of Lamia Scale and raised the transformed hand out, to freeze the Ice Golem. "I have your magic as well, which means I can control your constructs!"

"Are you sure about that?" Angel snapped her eyes towards her opponent, who seemed much calmer than a second ago. "You just told me you can copy people's magic and memories by just looking at them. If you had such a great power: why haven't you copied any the four strongest Wizards here?" Lyon pointed and for the first time between their back and forth, Angel lost her cool at that question. "Makarov, Goldmine, Jellal, and Jura. All of them are Wizard Saints, or at the very least have enough power of one, yet you made no sign of even changing into them, nor do you give off the air that you're the strongest of the Oracion Seis." Lyon gave a smirk, glad to have a word advantage over her. "That's your caveat, it takes energy to transform, and doubly so when using your target's magic. Copying Jura's magic would drain your stamina too fast because of how much out put he naturally gives off, even more so the others."

Lyon pointed his hand out and the Golem started to tremble. Angel panicked as she pushed forward, but slowly the Golem was moving once more. "Which means, You can copy my magic, but you have no stamina to keep it up!"

Angel struggled as the Ice Golem moved faster and faster before it roared, free of the Fake Lyon's hold and forcing Angel to go back into her real form. The Oracion Seis member looked up in fear when a large shadow was cast over her, meaning that Lyon's Ice Golem was now over her.

"This is for making a mockery of Sherry!" Lyon cried as he raised his fist back, with the golem doing the same. However, a stray bullet hit that reclined arm, forcing Lyon to stop his attack and step backward, which made the golem copy his movements.

Lyon glanced at the direction of the bullet, only to have his eyes widen in alarm to see Lahar of the Rune Knights pointing one of his two specialized long pistols at him.

Gray, after slamming Prisca into several trees with an Ice Hammer, saw the event and cried out, "What the Hell is your problem!?"

"That's not me!" A different shout caused both Ice Mages to see another Lahar hiding behind a rock and barrier. As soon as he shouted that cry, Brown Beard and his men turned all their guns towards Lahar and fired, forcing the Rune Knight to run for cover further away from the fight.

"W-What's going on!?" Some distance away, while kicking away one of the pirates of Brown Beard, Jason was just as confused as everyone else to see two Lahars.

There was a hum of magic that made Lyon look back towards Angel, only to be blasted by a sand storm. Angel was in a different armor dress with steel plating over her limbs and... a steel scorpion tail?

"Thank you, Gemi and Mini."

The new Lahar vanished in a puff of smoke and two small, humanoid creatures were seen dancing in the air.

"Yay! We helped, Mini!" "That we did, Gemi!"

"Celestial Spirits?" Lyon gasped as he slowly got back up and grasped his arm. Gray was shocked to hear and see Celestial Spirits outside of Lucy's.

"Their powers are quite helpful." Angel answered him as she raised a hand and a dust storm formed and condensed into that of a sandstorm in the shape of a spear. "And with the Spirit Armor ability, it's like I can use two spirits and two magics at the same time!" She threw the spear shaped sand storm at the down Ice mage, only for an ice wolf of a different color to swoop in and tackle Lyon out of the spear that was meant for his face.

Angel turned and scowled as she looked over to Gray with his hands stretched out. "Another ice user?"

"I don't like Lyon, but what you did was low!" The half naked Ice mage spoke out as he prepared for—

"Gray, my beloved!"

Like Lyon before, Gray felt a chill down his spine as he heard that voice. He looked past Angel and behind her was—

"Juvia!? What are you doing here!?" The only response Gray received was a blast of water that slammed him into a tree. After being washed up, Gray also shook his head. "How the hell?! Juvia never appeared here, so how do you have her form!?"

The Fake Juvia walked forward. "Gemi and Mini have stronger magic, we can see memories of other people we copy and copy them based on their memories." To prove their point, the two shifted again, this time taking on a form that both Lyon and Gray knew far too well.

"You two brats are a hundred years too early to call yourselves ice mages." Gray instantly knew how Natsu felt when he saw the Phantom Version of his father back in the Isle of the dead. His emotions clashed with his mind, no matter how much he wanted to be happy, facts and logic tried to explain that the form in front of him was not Ur, no matter how much of his emotions were recognizing that confident smile.

"You bitch!" Lyon forced himself up, the anger returning from awhile ago. "You're going to pay for messing with us!" Gray found himself in agreement, this chick was playing dirty.

"Oh ho?" It was then that the two ice mages realized that Angel was back towards Lyon's frozen golem in his form, touching the massive leg of the creature. "Since Gemi and Mini are out, my shift stealing abilities are much easier to use. It's easier to use another person's magic and I also can copy things from people's memories without directly meeting them. And boy did I find something very interesting in both of your memories."

As she said this Lyon's ice golem started to change, it grew in size and it's form started to become more demonic. Lyon and Gray could only pause in fear as the golem in honor of Sherry was twisted and malformed into an ice version of Deliora, the demon that changed both of their lives forever.

"How poetic! Deliora will destroy both of you once more!" Angel in Lyon's voice cried out as the massive ice golem roared—wait a second. Why did Deliora's roar sound like Ignis?

"AAAHHH!?" A Wyvern Roar and a somewhat scared scream flew through the air. Jason Dracoblood of Phantom Lord, ridding on top of Ignis had flown right into the head of Deliora with enough force to topple it over.

"What!?" Angel cried out as the construct she stole was turned into pieces.

"Whoo! That was awesome! I can see why Fairy Tail likes you so much!" Jason cried out from an Adrenaline rush before his smile turned into a frown of realization when he saw an angry looking shape shifter that was looking directly towards him.

Angel, while still taking Lyon's form, slammed her hands down. And soon the shattered ice formed a sphere that soon trapped both Jason and Ignis. The Giant Sphere seemed to wobble, but had no signs of breaking soon.

Gray and Lyon saw this chance and attacked those who were closest to them. Gray with the Ur Fake and Lyon with Angel disguised as himself. However, despite not using magic, the two shift shapers weaved around their magical attacks and pummeled both ice mages with little trouble.

"It's true I can't copy more powerful wizards, like that girl teacher of yours even with Gemini's help," Angel with Lyon's voice said as she held Lyon in a choke hold. "But I have enough surface memories of both of your fighting styles, and the ticks you both needed to work on." She kicked Lyon off, sending him to the ground and stomping hard on the hand that was shot. "It's not quite like mind reading, or hearing thoughts, but it does a wonderful job."

"Lyon!" Gray cried out before he was punched by the fake Ur for losing focus in his fight. As he tried to get back up Gemini's Foot was quickly planted on Gray's neck, forcing the half naked ice mage to choke and struggle to get out of her grip.

Angel's form also turned to that of Ur, but with a dark smile on her face that both students knew their teacher would never give. "Now then, it's time to reunite a teacher with her students!" She and Gemini raised their hands as spikes of ice levitated above the two downed students with the intent to turn them both into pincushions.

However, at that instant, all of the ice shards were destroyed by a rain of bullets. Angel and her spirit looked to see Lahar, his glasses cracked on one side, his Rune Knight uniform torn, shot through, torn, and with some blood on it, and some of his pistols looking grimy.

As the Rune Knight viewed the sight before him, he sighed and pointed his guns froward. "Are you, guild mages that inept? Brown Beard, his men, and a reawakened Prisca all went after me and I defeated them all. Yet none of you could defeat a single mage?"

"Huh, big talk coming from you Rune Knight," Angel spat darkly before returning to her original form. "Nowadays, you guys are mostly there for clean up. The people we liberated were obviously bigger pushovers than we thought if a pencil pusher like you could take them on."

There was a sudden scream as both Gemi and Mini separated and returned to their original form. The writhed in pain while specialized symbols were formed around them.

Angel was surprised by this as she made a move, bronze caught her eyes and she noticed out of all the shattered ice spikes, bullets were lodged in and started to glow out symbols in them. Soon a massive barrier field surrounded the area that instantly made Angel unable to access her magic and a large amount of pain preventing her from moving.

"Justsu Shiki is a very tedious form of magic that requires hours—even months of preparation." Lahar began walking towards Angel. While doing so, the ice sphere shattered, revealing Ignis was able to break through and Jason was alright. As the Rune Knight reached the now weakened and pained Angel, he continued. "But the results are always satisfactory even if they are temporary." He raised his hand with a pistol, flipped it and pistol whipped Angel hard in the face, the blow was strong enough to knock the woman out unconscious due to her battle with the others and her spent magic stamina.

As soon as Angel was knocked out, the Celestial Spirit Twins vanished, obviously returning from where they came from. Lahar took something from underneath his robe, revealing handcuffs and put them on Angel.

"And with that, we finally have captured one of the Oracion Seis." Lahar spoke out as he pushed up his glasses.

However, there was a spike of magic as several ice vultures were summoned near a furious Lyon, walking over to an unconscious Angel. "Time for payback!"

To the surprise of many, Lahar moved first in between him and his new captive. "Desist! We're keeping this member of the Oracion Seis alive.

Lyon seemed to be fuming. However, a hand on his shoulder made Lyon snap back to a serious looking Gray. They both stared at each other with tension as thick as an iceberg, then after the longest two seconds, Lyon moved his shoulder out of Gray's grasp and glared towards Lahar. "I'm surprised you aren't killing her like some of the other criminals before."

Lahar relaxed as Lyon would at least stop if he couldn't reign his anger. "I received orders that while Lethal force was allowed for the escapees, The Oracion Seis were ordered to be captured alive, Brain especially."

"Why the heck do you guys need Brain specifically?" Gray repeated.

"I do not question my orders." Lahar stated before looking up towards the sky. "Besides, we have more pressing matters at hand."

Everyone looked up to Nirvana, floating in the sky where it looked like the magic around it was starting to distort the air. No sooner than they looked at it, they received another call from a certain mage from Cait Shelter.

---

"It doesn't matter what you do," Cobra of Oracion Seis laughed as he stood atop a cliff over looking Riana, Alexandra, and Erza. "I can hear your voices!"

"I wasn't there in the initial assault, what was his magic?" Raina asked as she prepared a blade much like the other two women in her group.

"What he claims; he says he hears voices, but I noticed he seemed to dodge others' moves as if he knew we'd make them, which might imply some form of mind reading?" Erza spoke out.

"Look at them down there Cubellios, even after telling them, they still won't listen." Cobra felt something off as he notice Cubellios moving closer to him, but further away from…

Cobra leered, "I may hear everything, but it's getting real annoying when others don't listen, Doc."

There was a chilling laughter coming from her mask that made Cobra almost wish he didn't have good hearing. "Are you aware that some senses become sharper when others dull, Cobra?" Beliere Val Belbala began. "It seems despite your excellent hearing, a very specific sense of your seems to be lacking if you have not noticed that on your… friend." The plague doctor's masked moved to look at the snake hissingly angrily at her.

Cobra threw his hand between Cubellios' head, trying to protect his friend. "Watch it, doctor. Brain gave us access to your collars, and he made sure to leave the kill switch if you don't obey us."

Back down below, the three knight woman looked up in surprise.

Erza seemed wary when she saw Cobra seemingly confrontational with his own ally. "Who is that next to Cobra?"

Her answer came from Riana who prepared her blade and glared at cloaked figure. "I read the files: Dr. Beliere Val Belbala, a very twisted monster. A potion master that caused over a dozen magically enhanced deadly disease on small towns." She gripped her blade tighter. "In her interrogation, she was quoted for aiming for towns with large children populations."

That last bit of information chilled the blood of both Erza and Alexandra before steeling their resolve to stop that dangerous criminal along with Cobra of Oracion Seis.

Alexandra then took out a metal item that unfolded into a javelin before she threw it, launching it at impressive speeds towards their enemies.

Cobra acted fast, hearing the wind carried in the air. He and the doctor both dodged the spear however, it suddenly turned mid air aiming for the doctor. The fast moving metal javelin pierced through the torso of the doctor. However, a second later they saw the javelin seemingly melting from some kind of blue acidic goo.

"Alas, Theordora, this spike that pierces my flesh pales to the arrow of love that has shattered my soul—a very lovely quote from one of my favorite books." The Plague Doctor began before jumping behind a tree, but her voice echoed around the area as Cobra jumped down with an obvious smile on his face.

Cobra sidestepped as something from his own shadow shot out to stab him in the back of his head, revealing Raina with her sword pointed and missed attack.

"That's some dangerous magic you got there, Captain of the White Tiger Division." Cobra was only half mocking in his tone, there was a small edge that made him tense, meaning her magic really was dangerous to him.

HIs eyes widened as he sidestepped. The reason for this was because even though she was a good two meters away, Raina made a slanted swing motion with her blade. The moment she did, her hand wielding her blade turned into shadows, and stretched exponentially like a whip that cut Cobra's area much wider and faster than a normal slash.

"Impressive," Erza looked as Raina's shadowy limb recoiled back into that a normal hand. "Are you a shadow mage?"

"Not strictly, I call it Shadow Flash magic. Basically, I turn into shadows more than control them." Raina went into a blade position as did Erza. Alexandra then threw her blade over them that curved and hit several potions falling down on the other two swordswomen. This caused them to back off as an orange mist separated the two opposing sides.

Dr. Belbala landed no to far from Cobra, "You know, I'm surprised you're not eating my poison."

Cobra clicked his tongue while continuing to glare at his ally. "To trap a bear, slather a trap with honey."

The phrase was obscure, but it also had a double meaning that the plague doctor recognized. "Oh come now, Cobra, we're on the same side." Dr. Belbala made no effort to make that sound sincere, but at the same time what she said was a fact.

With disdain and hesitance, Cobra, to the surprise of the three alliance members, inhaled the obviously toxic fumes. Erza's eyes widened as she couldn't help but feel a familiar magic in the air whenever a certain pink haired mage reacted towards fire.

Erza felt this familiar feeling exemplified when Cobra finished inhaling all the poison and gasping in relief. "I really want to hate you, but that's the most exquisite poison I've had!"

The cloaked plague doctor made a bow in a grandiose fashion. "You flatter me, poison dragon slayer."

"He's a dragon slayer?!" Raina cried out before Cobra rushed in with increased speed and punched the commander of the White Tigers in the cheek. The impact sent her flying before she recovered mid air and landed some distance away.

"I'm rejuvenated!" Cobra laughed victoriously before turning quickly and blocking Erza's sword with the back of his hand. In that moment of the clash, Erza noticed that there were scales above Cobra's hand skin, similar to the description Kain had for Gajeel and Natsu's Dragon Force mode. "I can hear your voice, Titania! A surprise attack won't work on me!"

A few seconds later, a round shield came at amazing speeds and knocked the side of Cobra's head, which allowed Erza to push through and unleash a slash that made Cobra fly somewhat until his snake caught him mid air by unleashing it's wings.

Cobra shook his head as he noticed the round shield fly back into the hands of Alexandra. However, it wasn't the action that made Cobra angry. It was the fact he could hear everyone's voice, except that of Alexandra from Phantom Lord.

"W-What?!" Cubellios started to move as Erza turned into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She sent a flurry of blades against them that Cobra could easily detect. Suddenly, Cubellios screamed in pain and Cobra noticed some blades now pierced through one of his friend's wings! Cobra thought that was impossible! He would have heard Erza planning to aim for one of the wings, but she was aiming for him! However, he further noticed a black glow coming from the blades that pierced the wing and realized it was the same glow of the shield that hit him.

Cobra's eyes, while falling, trailed to Alexandra who had her hand out towards the blades. Cobra was furious as he inhaled and unleashed a devastating poison roar that warded the three swordswomen back. However, he was fuming as he raced to his injured pet for falling.

That finally clued him in. He was sure his magic was working, so—

Cobra glared towards Alexandra then pointed to her. "Why can't I hear your voice!?"

Alexandra blinked her red eyes. The green haired and red eyed gladiator seemed to have a look of realization on her face before looking towards Erza… and then making hand signs!?

Erza seemed to have her eyes widen after looking hand signs. "It really isn't mind reading! His other magic is to hear our thoughts physically somehow, but you've been mute your entire life!"

Cobra definitely heard that fact. "Alexandra is mute!?" His exceptional hearing magic, the one that could at times pick up Brain's thoughts when he was careless, they didn't work on someone who was born mute!

Raina raised her blade and stepped forward. "Which means that Ms. Raphael is our best chance at beating Cobra! You lead point! Ms. Scarlet and I will support and defend you!"

Cobra cursed under his breath. He wasn't expecting a mute mage to be among his opponents! These three were definitely a cut above the regular mages, he had a chance of beating them all if he could read whatever they could throw at him, but with all of them working together adding on the fact he couldn't read the thoughts of an S-class mage? His greatest advantage was turned moot point.

"Belbala! Help out already!" Cobra screamed before he realized something, or rather a lack of something: the plague doctor was nowhere to be seen, or even heard with his super hearing.

"This should be far enough." Cobra's enhanced hearing caught Dr. Belbala's voice… practically a mile away from where he was. "In case you can hear me, Cobra, I just want to thank you for giving me the chance to escape. Brain had me by the leash, but I was able to learn that your self destruct magics have a range limit. Luckily for me, all I had to do was make you too focused on your own pet to hear my plans of escape. Do take care in whatever hole they lock you up."

Cobra was seething. Brain had warned him about Belbala, but he wasn't expecting this!

At that moment, all three women, with enormous magical pressure coming from them, charged at Cobra and a weakened Cubellios. The second generation dragon slayer stood his ground but heard the whimper of pain coming from his snake.

Time slowed down; Cobra could hear Erza and Raina's plan to encircle him, to prevent him from avoiding through the right or left side. But Alexandra was the wild card, he couldn't bypass Erza or Raina fast enough for Alexandra to perform whatever move she planned. His mind moved back to Cubellios. Whatever happens, Cubellious would be hit from all sides with no way of escape! Cobra could handle their attacks, but could Cubellios handle it?

Cobra gritted his teeth and quickly turned to his friend. "I'm sorry." With his dragon might, Cobra kicked Cubellios high into the sky and away from him. The snake cried out in pain mid air, but saw the poison dragon slayer leave its sight, if one saw the look on the face of the winged snake, they would almost see it as a human reaction of fear and shock.

The Alliance mages didn't even hesitate as Raina and Erza reached two opposite sides of Cobra to prevent his escape while two small metal sheets shot out of Alexandra's cuffs and quickly caught and bounded Cobra's wrists together. Cobra struggled for a split second before another pair of metal sheets circled and clamped together his legs, leaving him unable to move.

The Oracion Seis member opened his mouth, only for a third metal sheet to come in and muffle around his mouth like a gag.

With those three threats suppressed, and him being bound up, Cobra lost balance and fell to the ground and all three females raised their magical energy.

Sensing the three about to unleash finishing blows on him, The second generation dragon slayer tried to power through the metal circlets, but his strength, while impressive, was breaking the bounds too slowly. He wouldn't escape in time.

At that realization, Cobra looked back to the sky where Cubellios was launched.

{I don't believe what the others say! I think you do have a voice, Cubellios! And one day I'll listen to it!}

(Damn,) He thought to himself as he closed his eyes while his hearing could only detect the rising hum of their magics. (This is a pathetic way to go.)

All three mages unleashed a powerful blast that made a three way collision blast. As it died down, Cobra was seen, completely out cold.

"Well done," Raina began as she walked up with anti-magical cuffs in hand. "We've captured and defeated one of the Oracion Seis members." The Fiore Knight looked over to Alexandra. "But I am surprised, you were mute this entire time?"

Alexandra nodded only once, but seemed apologetic.

Erza seemed to add something in. "I learned of Alexandra's handicap not too long after our fight with Phantom Lord. Still, it does nothing to diminish your skill, it's one of the best I've ever seen."

Before more could be said, Erza looked up towards the sky. "But what are we going to do with Nirvana?"

At that moment, they received a cry for help from the youngest of their group through the comlinks.

---

"GAH!" William Tovar screamed as he was knocked away from an unseen power. He looked up, barely able to open his eyes before he fainted.

There was a yawn as Midnight trekked the broken battlefield, with the bodies of his enemies, Kara of Phantom Lord, The Rune Knight William Tovar, and that of Tarsus Steel Soul.

"Your group lost the moment the big guy was taken down." Midnight spoke with all the vigor of a sloth. "I'd kill you all right now, but Father did want allies and thanks to Nirvana… wait, why am I talking to myself? I'll just go up there and take a nap while Father does the rest."

---

I've always thought of Super Speed as a pretty cool power. Plus, the amount of things I would do with it could make my life so much easier.

But amazingly enough, now that I have it, it sucks in the places where I need it most.

Like for example: finding out someone is faster than me, and is my current opponent.

"This is payback for that embarrassment from earlier today!" Adding to the fact he has a personal vendetta against me when I was blinded by rage to the point where all my fears took a vacation, and that I was nowhere near returning to that potentially convenient state, at this point I wonder why I even bothered hoping for something like this not to happen.

He hit fast and with the likeness of a locomotive, but thankfully I had air superiority—which was just a fancy way of saying that I'm basically a cat stuck in a tree because a dog is barking at me down below.

"Get down here!" Racer waved his fist angrily at me.

"No! You'll beat me up if I do!" Wow, scratch the cat and dog metaphor, I now sound like bratty kid. That's somehow worse.

"Kain!" Lucy screamed over as she just caught up from me making a mad dash away from Racer. At that moment I saw Racer turn and face Lucy—oh shit!

Racer ran for Lucy and put her in a choke hold, I tried to catch up, but I was too slow in keeping up with him.

"Alright then," Racer spoke over Lucy struggling to get Racer's arm off her neck. "You power down, and I won't hurt this girly over here."

It was a dang Hostage Situation, how the heck did I not expect one of these to come up in my adventures here?! I was struggling to think of something until Lucy started to say something.

"Get you hands off me!" She managed to mutter out.

Racer just laughed at her command. "Oh? And who's going to stop me?"

"That would be me."

A new voice came out a second before a blast of familiar magic knocked Racer away from Lucy. I turned over to see Loke, in the same snazzy suit he wore when he saved me from Pierre.

"Kain," He saluted cooly before walking towards us as if he was in a park. "Good to see you again."

I could feel a smile coming up my lips. "Loke! Man can I just say it's great to see back up!" There was a shine coming from Lucy's direction, a little later, I saw Lucy in her new star dress which was a match to Leo's.

"You've done well, Lucy, I knew it was only a matter of time until you mastered both summoning and star dress at the same time." Loke spoke to his contracted master with a hint of flirtation.

There was a grunt that made all three of us look to Racer getting up from an attack we really should have taken advantage off earlier.

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are, you can't even touch me, the fastest man alive!" There was much anger in Racer's voice as he slowly moved into a running position.

Still, that line he just said made me think of the Flash—wait a dang second. I am a comic book fan, and I've seen many of the complicated ways villains fight against the Flash! I remember one of them!

"Move back!" I yelled before stepping forward and punching the ground in such a way a boulder flipped up and I punched it towards Racer who swerved away from the incoming rock.

But that little detour was enough time for me to grab Lucy by her hip and lift her up in the air. "Loke! I need you to buy us at least a minute or two!"

"Sure thing mister tactician!" I could feel the teasing tone in his voice with having a bueatiful girl in my arms, but this was not the time for that.

Lucy was obviously confused as I tried to get away. Racer made a move towards the two of us, but a blast from Loke warded him back.

"Kain, we need to go back and help Loke!" Lucy seemed surprised.

"I just asked him to buy some time," I responded quickly before landing and letting her down. "Look, I think I know a weakness to super speed, but I'm going to need your help to do it."

The blonde, former heiress put a hand over her chest in disbelief. "Me?"

"Lucy, between the two of us, you have the better chance of beating him. Now listen closely..."

…

If I haven't expressed how much I hate this world yet, I would like to do so now. If I have done previously before, then I still would like to do it again.

Seriously!? Why is it that I'm the one doing the dangerous parts of my own plans!? Every! Time! You'd think I'd be able to make plans where I'm in the safer area for once, but nooooo! Since I don't actually have any magic, all I'm ever good for is being the distraction in an active firing range! This dang armor basically makes me a walking target sign!

Despite my inner ranting, I spotted Loke getting beaten up like a rag doll by Racer. I knew racer was fast, but for some reason, Loke seemed to move more sluggish than usual. It was then that Racer, after dealing a heavy punch to Loke's cheek, he jumped up with the intent to send a flying kick with enough force to knock out our member/Lucy's Spirit.

It's just too bad he wasn't aware of me being able to flying kick him mid air before he could do something like that. For a speedster, he isn't very aware of his surroundings, which hopefully means this plan of mine might actually work.

"Loke!" I cried out to the beaten up spirit of the lion. "Thanks for holding him off! Tag out and head for Lucy! I got this next part!"

"Right!" It speaks volumes that apparently the leader of the golden Celestial Spirit Keys trusts my word without hesitation. I don't even have half of that trust to myself! "Good luck, Kain!"

"I was never lucky the moment I stepped foot here!" I shouted back before watching Racer looking even angrier than before.

The enemy speedster got up and even though his goggles were a little dirty, I could feel his glare behind them. "What the hell are you planning?"

I disengaged my wings and landed on the ground with a tap. "No plans, just a battle of speed." At that moment, I brought out one of my red construct blades, and I brought out the weapon of Horus and turned it into a shield.

Racer scoffed but took a step forward. "Well I don't know, you have weapons and I don't? How about we even the odds?"

I heard the sound of something familiar echoing around me. I readied my shield, ready for whatever Racer was about to pull off—what. The. No, not even the f bomb can't express this.

"Behold! One of my favorite magics! Dead Grand Prix!" Racer laughed as he brought in—and I still can't believe it considering what I've seen so far—an army of motorized bikes. Yes, he uses magic, to summon motor bikes.

"Is that the look of fear behind that helm of yours?" Racer folded his arms as he looked down on me from the slightly elevated land he was on. "You should be scared, these things are super fast just like—"

"Why?"

I could feel racer blink and look over to me with my slackened position. "I don't get it:

you are a speed mage, but for some reason, you choose to put time, effort, and energy into a spell that allows you to summon an army of-of that!?" I made a motion to his spell that would make a motor nerd fall instantly in love with Racer.

"I don't see what point you're trying to make here."

I just noticed that I had my sword hand near my head in an attempt to scratch it from confusion. Instead, I just exhaled and just asked. "I'm just going to ask: why did you even bother making this spell when you have super speed?"

"I mean," Racer began as he took a brief look back at the vehicles before looking back at my direction. "It's cool, isn't it?"

… "Yeah, it is cool." At that point I should have just given up logic and coherency altogether.

"It'll be much cooler when I send these bikes against you!" Racer returned full swing as the speed mage sent out a magic motorcycle army to kill me—there is no way I could come up with any of that shit even when I'm high.

As stupid as it sounded, it was even more stupid to find out these things really were fast! I was barely dodging some trying to turn me into roadkill! It was then I heard a more powerful roar and I spotted a red magic motorbike with Racer on it. He moved faster than the other bikes, obviously with the intent to run me over. Luckily, like a certain famous Italian plumber, I leapt over him to avoid his frontal assault.

Wait—GAH! Did one of those bikes just use a tree root as a ramp to hit me?!

I need to change tactics, at this rate, the plan wont work! As I landed, I rolled and readied my blade with a horizontal sword beam that destroy three bikes heading my way. There was a slight difference in Racer's motor than with the others, because I heard it coming up to me.

"Hey! These things aren't cheap, even for me punk!" He cried out as he moved faster. I then slammed my shield into the ground and because of it's unique, ancient magic, it formed into a physical object I needed the most: a ramp.

"S-Shit!" I heard Racer try to pull off the breaks, but he was far too close to react as he ended up flying over my head and being forced to jump out of the way before his speeding bike crashed into one of the huge trees that surrounded the area.

Racer rolled to stop and practically growled in my direction. "You bastard that was my favorite bike!"

It was at that moment, something shot up into the air, a familiar laser beam that looked like a fire works.

That was the break I need.

"Hey, Racer!" I cried out as my cape turned back into wyvern wings. "Bet you can't catch me!" And with that I launched myself out of there as fast as the armor could take me.

"That's a fool's bet!" I heard the last of his voice before there was a popping sound of him racing after me. He was faster than me, but I had the flight advantage as I did my best to weave around trees and roots.

Racer moved faster, each time almost tagging me. I had to keep moving fast for this to work though. There! I spotted Lucy in an open area waving over to me.

With everything I could muster, I blasted forward and stopped nearby Lucy in her Virgo outfit. We both looked back to see Racer jumping over a root and speeding towards the both of us in this open field.

Crash!

"AAAGGH!?" Racer cried out because as soon as he stepped into the open field, his foot sunk in a pot hole and he fell forward—at his break neck speeds. The ground beneath collapsed, revealing the area riddled with varying trap holes that caused Racer to tumble towards Lucy and I like a giant tumbleweed, just more bloody and noisy.

"Now!" I yelled as Lucy switched back to her Leo dress and had her leg glowing with Loke's light. As Racer came tumbling towards us, I unleashed a powerful punch while Lucy shout out a Regulus Kick. The two attack connected straight into Racer's face before he was blasted in the opposite direction at the same speed he came in. Racer flew and flew, even crashing through like a dozen trees, before one final impact exploded.

"We," I turned to Lucy who seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "We did it! I can't sense his amazing magic anymore!"

A little past her, the ground burst open, revealing Virgo bowing down. "Princess, did I do well?"

"You did a great job, Virgo!" Lucy said to her before looking to me. "Kain, you were right! All I had to do was make pit fall traps for him to trip on and then we'd win!"

I could only end up half laughing and sighing in relief. "Thank goodness it worked!" It really was a simple plan. I've heard of stories of people breaking their legs by losing their footing on a normal run. For Racer, he must have had good footing to move so fast in any area. But, if there was a small pit fall that made him lose his footing, he would trip at the same speed he was going, meaning that he'd be hurting himself with his won speed!

Lucy and Virgo were the key, I had them find an area where they could make as many shallow pit fall traps as possible. When they were ready, I was to lead Racer there at his highest possible speed and then let gravity do the rest as soon as he lost his footing for a second.

"I couldn't have done this without you girls." I told them both.

"There's no way I would have came up with a counter to his powerful magic like that! I am so glad you're on our team." Aww, Lucy, you're making me blush.

"Hello!?" A voice near my ear made me realize we still had the comlinks on. "Please, Brain is already up at Nirvana, and I don't know what to do next!"

Lucy and I looked at each other before Lucy activated the device in her ear. "Wendy, this is Lucy and Kain! We've defeated Racer, where are you?!"

"You both defeated Racer!? Stupendous! I knew you two would be able to do it!" We were relieved to hear Erza in one of our ends. "Alexandra, Riana, and I have subdued Cobra, we're on our way to reconvene with anyone else. We should meet where Wendy is."

"As great as it is to hear this," Gray's voice entered into the comlink. "And to add on in the fact our group has Angel detained, we have a problem. Lahar says he can't contact Tarsus' team or Jura's team."

"What!? But those two groups practically had our big guns!" I responded as the news of the two teams with some of our more powerful members have gone dark.

"And I haven't heard from Natsu's group too. Knowing him, he should have been bragging how his enemies were harder or something by now." What Gray said made me look to Lucy with worry. Natsu was one of our best front liners, did he lose too? I couldn't imagine him losing unless he met with...

"We must postpone talk about the others." Riana's voice entered into the com. "Ms. Marvel, your comlink has a ping option. Press it and our devices will show us a map of where you are. There, we can plan about Nirvana and hope the others follow us later."

"R-Right!" Wendy spoke up before a second later, a radar screen appeared over my right eye showing me that Wendy was towards our right and not to far from us. "I-Is it working?!"

"It is," Lahar began. "Ms. Roxen is correct. Nirvana is priority. Our… We must stop Brain from having control over Nirvana!"

With that, I looked to Lucy. We were both worried for Natsu and the rest, but with the threat of Nirvana literally over us…

All we could do was hope for the best, and prepare for the obvious worst that was about to come.

---

{Author Notes}

I would like to apologize for the lateness in this one. This new year has been—well, it's not boring to say the least. My family is currently in a bit of an economic problem, and I decided to work more to help relieve some of it. Adding to my own duties and new chores and new responsibilities, adding to the previous fact that during December and Early January, I was and still addicted to—

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS ULTIMATE!

Erhm! Yes. It's been well, I'd say I hope things get better soon.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know the Midnight part is extremely lackluster, but I just was so burned out making everyone else's and at the same time, I have something else planned for him.

Next time, we finally get to see this version of Nirvana. With half of the Oracion Seis and Alliance down, it's a race to the finish with each side fighting inch by bloody inch.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a good day.