"Exactly. They won't keep fighting without their boss."
"And how do you intend to do that?" Titania asked.
"A direct attack. It might catch you off guard," he replied.
"Sounds like a good plan."
"There's only one thing bothering me," he said seriously and in a worried tone.
"And what would it be?".
"We're shooting down a lot of his people, and he's always calm. I don't like it when that happens. There's something wrong with that," Ryker said thoughtfully.
"What do you want me to do?", Erza asked.
"I'm going to need you to get their attention," he replied and explosions erupted around them. "Shit! This is getting intense," Ryker exclaimed, shielding himself.
"Go Ryker! I had an idea". Erza said hurriedly, she used her magic and donned the Flame Empress Armor.
Ryker looked at her and smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "As always, her armor makes her cute. Erza and her cosplay mania", he thought and smiled to himself.
Erza, in turn, manipulated the fire making it spread all around, making way for Ryker. He looked deeply at Karan, who returned his gaze with the same intensity.
"If I could kill, it would make things easier. But since I'm in Fairy Tail, let's go their way", Ryker said to himself and in a split second he disappeared, appearing in front of Karan, who looked at him scared, taken by surprise. Ivan was just as scared and surprised.
"How fast!", Natsu and the others said shocked by Ryker's speed. He tried to hit Karan's side, hitting him in the ribs on his left side. However, Karan teleported a few meters back without being hit.
"Space magic!" Ryker noted.
Ivan launched himself at Ryker, his energy swords in hand. He tried to slash it, but Ryker was skilled at dodging the attacks, leaping forward. Ivan pursued him relentlessly, throwing daggers and slashing and lunging at the mage.
Ryker drew his knives and fended off enemy advances. He blocked and dodged most attacks, but one of the daggers caught his left shoulder, making him groan in pain. Karan seized the moment and held Ryker from behind, leaving him immobilized, Ivan rushed to deliver the final attack. Ryker used his legs and propelled himself backwards, knocking Karan off balance and kicking Ivan in the face, who fell backwards to the ground.
Turning around, Ryker grabbed Karan's arm, in one swift movement he was thrown to the ground. Ryker held his arm straight up and he was about to violently stomp Karan's head, however, Karan was faster and teleported away. Ivan tried to cut off Ryker's head, who was distracted. However, Ryker was quick enough to dodge at the last second, leaving only a cut on his left cheek.
He turned to Ivan and fired a blast of energy, which was defended by placing the swords in front of his body as a shield, but even so the power was so much that his defense broke and he ended up being hit, causing injuries and bleeding. Karan seized the moment and created a bubble of air, which he caused to expand, in seconds, in Ryker's belly, creating a small but localized explosion, strong enough to make him double over in pain and spit blood out of his mouth.
"Did you think it would be that easy? Really!?", Karan said smiling sarcastically at Ryker, kneeling in front of him.
"Actually, I did. Especially with a short guy like you," Ryker scoffed. A second later he shifted his torso inches to the left, dodging Ivan's blow. "And you thought I wasn't keeping an eye on your boyfriend, didn't you?" Ryker created a sphere of energy in his hand and caused it to explode, hitting Ivan and Karan, who were knocked away with the power of the attack.
"He's very strong," Ivan commented, holding up an injured arm. "And those eyes... He's no ordinary mage," you could hear the apprehension in his voice.
"Let's attack him together", Karan said and Ivan nodded.
They rushed in and surrounded Ryker. Ivan threw daggers while constantly hitting him with his swords. Karan created small spheres of air that expanded upon touch, and threw them at the target. Ryker was managing to defend himself well against the two using dodges and his own energy to nullify enemy attacks.
A was taking longer than anticipated, so Ryker decided to expel a powerful energy from his body, throwing them away. Karan and Ivan looked at him with fear for the strength he had, but there was no other way but to continue with the attack, they returned to attack him with everything, they could not show weakness before his men. Ryker dodged the enemy's onslaught with ease, with an elbow into the cheese he knocked Ivan down, with a spinning motion Ryker hit Karan in the face with his elbow.
"Where's your confidence now?" Ryker asked superiorly.
"All over the place," Karan replied smiling.
Ryker frowned and noticed hundreds of wizards pointing in his direction. They fired, Karan walked away and Ivan followed. The attack hit him squarely, the combined energy of all of them was huge and caused a gigantic explosion.
"Ryker!", Mira shouted looking scared and scared, anger consumed her and she turned into Sitri to help her beloved, but a horde of enemies surrounded her and stopped her from proceeding. "Get out of my way if you want to stay alive," she said coldly.
"You don't think you can against all of us, do you?", one of them smiled sarcastically, but before anything else he was brutally beaten by Mirajane, who looked at everyone in a cold and angry, almost demonic way. A violent fight erupted, with Sitri and dozens of other dark mages, who didn't stand a chance against her.
"Ryker and Mira look alike," Happy commented, startled to see the mage tear apart the opponents who dared get between her and her boyfriend.
"I have to agree with you, male cat," Carla said, similarly startled.
At the top of the cliff, Ryker was slowly getting to his feet, bleeding from countless cuts. "If I hadn't used 'Enhance' in time, I'd be dead," he thought.
"You're pretty tough," Karan said, smiling calmly. "But enough of this bullshit, I have things to do", he stretched out his hand and teleported him to the battlefield.
"We could have killed him. He was vulnerable," Ivan questioned his master.
"He will die with the others, as we planned. Besides, I'm not sure the two of us could handle him alone," Karan explained, turning serious and thoughtful. Ivan looked at him, sighed and agreed with his post.
"Ryker! Love!" Mira ran to him and helped him up.
"Those bastards…they have it all figured out," Ryker looked up angrily.
"We're going to get them, but first we need to put an end to it," she said and the two began to be surrounded by enemies.
Ryker looked back and got into a fighting stance, but he felt his shoulder and the bruises that had just been inflicted. Mira supports and consoles him. "Rest, I'll take care of them", she says looking seriously at the enemies.
"No! Let's fight together. We're better this way," he said and took her hand. Mira looks at him and smiles sweetly, even though she's in Sitri. She takes his hand and they go into battle together.
Natsu...
At another point, Natsu was facing his own horde of enemies.
" Fire Dragon's Roar !", he hit some with flames coming out of his mouth. Without realizing it another group approached and hit him from several sides, retreating after the attack.
"You cowards! Why don't you fight right!?" he raged.
"Moron! We want the end of you, not a fair fight," they said, with sarcastic smiles.
That irritated Natsu, who got up and shot fire all around. He ran towards his opponents and started hitting them one by one with Fire Dragon's Iron Fist . The fight was intense, with both sides hitting each other intensely.
Both sides were evenly matched, there was no visible difference between Natsu and his opponents. They tried to distract the fire mage to hit him, but his keener senses prevailed and he was able to defend himself.
Natsu hit numerous dark mages using Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist, knocking them down and destroying a large area in the process. After the blow, the Dragon Slayer drew a large amount of air into his lungs and breathed heavily, feeling the fatigue of hours of battle, he looked up to the sky and realized that the day was nearing its end, with the Sun lowering on the horizon. .
"Natsuu!" shouted Happy. "It's all right?".
"It is clear. I can go on with this all day. They're strong, I'm getting more and more excited. I haven't had this fun in a long time, HAHAHA!", he laughed satisfyingly, even tired from the fight.
"It's not over yet," the mages began to rise, wounded and exhausted. They positioned themselves and attacked the Dragon Slayer, who grinned in amusement. Both sides used magic in their attack. The combined blow of the dark mages matched Natsu's and the shock was intense, resulting in a gigantic explosion.
Natsu struggled to his feet, feeling sore and weak, but his opponents were lying motionless on the ground. He sighed and sat cross-legged. "I'm exhausted! They were a lot of work," he sighed and smiled victoriously.
Gajeel...
From the back, the Iron Dragon Slayer received a kick, from his right a punch to the face and then a knee to the stomach, which made him bend over in pain.
Phanter Lily slashed at some black mages with his sword and looked at her friend, struggling. He forced his way through the mages, striking one after the other, until he reached Gajeel.
"Is everything alright Gajeel?" Lily asked worriedly.
Gajeel stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Of course, it is. I won't lose to a bunch of idiots like them," he roared. " Iron Dragon's Roar !".
The mages created a barrier with magic, prevented from being hit by the Dragon Slayer's attack. The force of Gajeel's attack was tremendous and the mages were using tremendous force to contain the blow. The confrontation of the two sides progressed for a few minutes, until the barrier gave way, and the attack hit them hard.
"Gihihihi", Gajeel laughed seeing his enemies stretched out on the ground. What he didn't see was one hitting him by surprise, he came over the top, slamming him violently to the point of cracking the ground. In one swift movement, this same mage kicked Lily away.
"The sacrifice of some for the victory of another", he said, stepping on Gajeel's head and rubbing his foot. "You don't seem as intimidating as they say, Black Steel Gajeel. Wasn't that your nickname in Phantom?" he scoffed.
Gajeel glares at him from the ground. His body begins to wrap itself in metal and shadows, taking on a terrifying look. He forced himself to stand up, pushing his enemy's foot away, who looked at him in surprise at the strength that Dragon Slayer still had.
The iron mage rises and glares at the opponent in front of him, who trembles at his presence. "I'll show you what terror is, you piece of shit!" The fight between the two goes on for a long time, the Fairy Tail mage was worn out from the hours of fighting so the fight was balanced, with neither showing a clear advantage over the other.
At a certain point, Gajeel needed to end that fight. In a second of distraction, he attacked. " Iron Shadow Dragon's Roar ", Gajeel gathered and released a large amount of iron and shadows from his mouth, generating a large, powerful and destructive explosion, which definitely knocked the enemy down. He sighed in victory and was supported by Lily, now he was normal.
"How are you? Looks like your strength is gone," Phanter asked.
"That's exactly it, all my strength has been drained. I think I'll get some rest now," he lay on the floor exhausted.
Lisanna and Lucy...
"How much longer, Lucy?" Lisanna asked.
"A little, please hold on a little longer," she pleaded.
Lucy was getting ready to use Uranus Metria, meanwhile Lisanna was protecting her, fighting everyone around them. The Take Over Animal Soul mage was in her Nine-Tailed Fox form and slammed her tails into the ground creating an impact powerful enough to knock enemies down.
However, on her own, she was not strong enough to hold back so many enemies for a long time. Some of them were already threatening the duo and some of their attacks were already hitting Lisanna, who was putting herself in front of Lucy to protect her.
In one of the attacks Lisanna bled on impact. "Lisana! Are you okay?" Lucy asked, startled.
Strauss rose in pain and looked determinedly at the Celestial mage. "Focus on your hit! I'll take care of the rest, Lucy", she said and attacked the dark mages, in the form of a cat.
She faced off against several opponents, distracting them from Lucy long enough for her to complete the spell.
"Lisanna!", Lucy shouted, she looked at her and moved out of the way of the attack that would be launched. "Uranus Metria!" shouted the Celestial mage and a beam of light cleared the entire surrounding area, rendering the enemies useless.
"Lucy!" Lisanna ran to her. "You did it," she said satisfied.
"Yes. How are the others?" she asked.
Lisanna looked around. "They are having difficulties, but they are winning. It won't be long before we put an end to it," she smiled.
"Good thing," Lucy sighed in relief.
Gray and Juvia...
"GRAY-SAMAAA!", Juvia screamed in terror.
The ice mage hit him squarely in the chest and roared in pain on impact. Dozens of dark mages surrounded him and attacked him at the same time, giving him no chance of defense.
Juvia looked in shock at the brutality they were attacking the love of her life. She stood there watching the being hit over and over again, unresponsive. She was motionless, not wanting to believe what she was seeing, tears streaming down her face, that's when a heat welled up inside her and, coming out of the dazed state she was in, Juvia was furious. The only thing she saw was red and she felt angry at the men attacking her Gray.
She has completely lost her lucidity. "How dare you hurt my precious Gray?" she said in a frightening voice.
The dark mages stopped attacking the ice mage, feeling a hostility and a magical power that scared them. They look at her scared, even Gray was scared of that dark and scary version of Juvia - she even spoke in first person! Juvia had a terrifying face, eyes cold and fixed on her prey, like a predator looking at a wounded animal.
"Ju... Juvia, wait!", asked Gray, but she didn't listen to him.
"What do you think you can do to all of us young lady?" one of the mages scoffed. "Although it will be a shame we have to get rid of something as beautiful as you."
"Maybe we can have fun with her before then," another said sadistically.
Juvia glared at them even more, and looked at Gray, who was bleeding. She raged and with a torrent of boiling water pushed everyone out of the way, freeing her dear boyfriend.
Gray was impressed by her strength and courage in defending him. "Juvia won't let anyone hurt you, Gray-sama." She ran and fought them all, taking a clear advantage over them all.
"Water Nebula! Water Slicer! Water Cyclone!", Juvia launched a series of attacks against the mages, leaving them incapacitated, in a way that even Gray had not been able to. To finish off the water mage created a gigantic waterspout that swept everyone away.
Gray was stunned watching her girlfriend's fury and determination and strength to protect him. "You are amazing, Juvia! I never saw you like this", he said impressed.
Juvia looked at him and smiled, giving him her hand. "We're not done yet, Gray-sama."
He understood and took her hand. Gray stood up and the two positioned themselves together. "Ice Wave!" they shouted in unison. The blow hit a multitude of enemies, who were instantly frozen.
The couple sighed after the attack and they looked at each other passionately. Gray impressed and proud of his Juvia. Juvia looked at him with hearts in her eyes and jumped on his neck hugging him happy and happy as always.
"Say Juvia is awesome again, Gray-samaaa!" she asked exaggeratedly passionately. Gray put his hand behind his head but smiled at her. Juvia had gone back to being Juvia, his Juvia.
Wendy...
"You brat!" shouted one of the mages and then was kicked in the face that knocked him unconscious.
"I won't let them hurt my friends anymore", Wendy said looking seriously at her enemies.
"Who are you to say anything!?", the mages shouted and went towards the girl. Wendy, with her air magic can dodge attacks, flying between attackers and attacking them with kicks and punches.
Carla helped her, fighting whoever she could and distracting their attention so that Wendy would hit them when they were distracted. The girl duo was running like a Swiss clock.
" Sky Dragon's Roar !", the young Dragon Slayer fired her magic at the enemy mages. Some were hit, some moved out of the way, and some were strong enough to block the attack.
"It won't be so easy, girl," one of them said. "We know all your tricks. We can handle it."
As the fight continued, Wendy and Carla faced off against several enemies. She knew she needed to finish fighting soon, otherwise she would run out of energy to continue. Carla was at her limit and couldn't go on any longer.
Wendy used her internal energy and added it to her magic, just like Ryker. She would use everything she had in one powerful attack.
"Carla, can you distract them a little?", she asked her friend.
"I'll try," she said. Carla took over the fight while Wendy prepared. Carla couldn't fight any longer and her transformation ended and she went back to being a cat, but it was enough time for the little Dragon Slayer to get ready.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack !" she yelled, coming from behind the mages. Her blow was more powerful than she had calculated generating a powerful explosion that swept across the surrounding area and knocked out everyone around.
"Oops!" she said, seeing what she did.
"Wendy..." Ryker called out to her. "I think you better not wear this so soon. It needs more practice to control," he said and walked past her.
"Yes, I think you're right, onii-san," she made a silly expression.
Erza and Jellal...
Erza was fighting multiple enemies at once, she was wielding her Thousand Arms Armor, and the four additional arms made it easier to fight multiple opponents. Jellal, like Erza, was facing many at once.
Erza and Jellal protected each other's backs in successive attacks. He was skilled in all types of magic, which gave him an advantage against his opponents, attacking them with various spells, from melee to ranged.
The redhead was more focused on close-quarters combat. She brandished her swords and slashed and slashed hard at her enemies. Erza was getting the upper hand, keeping the dark mages at bay and wary of attacking, until she heard a scream of pain behind her. The red-haired mage turned and saw Jellal lying there with blood running down his arm.
Immediately, she attacked the mage who wounded Jellal and went to his rescue. "Are you okay, Jellal?" she asked worriedly. He didn't respond, quickly reaching out and launching a blast of flames at an enemy that jumped to hit Erza from behind.
"I'm fine, Erza, but we can't lose our attention. They're going to take every chance they get," he said.
"Well scored. We have to attack them together, like before," suggested Erza.
"This could take some time," he said.
"I'll lure them to the center and you trigger the Abyss Break," she said.
Jellal looked at her, startled. "Are you sure!?".
"We have no other choice, Jellal. It's either that or the end," she said seriously. Erza ran towards the enemies fighting bravely against all of them. In that time Jellal gathered energy to create his powerful attack.
Erza was guiding the opponents to concentrate in a single area and ended up being surrounded.
"I think your plan didn't work out. You were surrounded, Titania Erza", smiled one of them.
Erza smiled back and she changed her armor to the Adamantine Armor. "You're the ones who got caught," she said and shielded herself with the shield of her armor. "Now Jellal!" she yelled.
The dark mages looked back and shivered when they saw the magic circle above them.
"Stay well, Erza," Jellal pleaded. "Abyss Break!", and a black bolt shot out of the magic circle creating a huge explosion, which shook the entire area, producing a small earthquake throughout Annaheim.
"Erza!", Jellal ran to the center of the explosion, after the dust had dissipated, looking for the redhead.
"Je… Jellal," he heard a faint voice call him. He ran towards her and cleared some debris from above, revealing Titania, her armor shattered but alive.
"Good thing..." Jellal sighed in relief helping her to her feet.
Mirajane and Ryker...
"What absurd power is that!?" Ryker was surprised to feel Jellal's Abyss Break.
"It's one of the forbidden spells. I've never seen it before", Mirajane was also surprised by his attack.
"Well, whatever. We have our own problems to solve," he said, positioning himself in combat.
Mira stood beside him on Halphas and looked at him confidently. "Anytime you want," she said.
"When you make that face, there's no question. You want to have fun, don't you?" Ryker looked at her and smiled knowing his girlfriend. "We will. I take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right", he said and the two went on the attack.
Mirajane licked her lips looking at her opponents and Ryker looked bloodthirsty eyes into his. The dark mages could feel the pressure emanating from the couple, making them tremble at what lay ahead.
Mirajane flew towards the mages she would face and wasting no time, she fired a powerful blast, exploding everything in front of her.
"She's not kidding around," he thought watching her struggle. "Guess I better get tough with these idiots, too." Ryker released a hail of blasts that exploded when they hit the target. He didn't give the dark mages a chance to recover from the explosions, hitting them with punches and kicks, before they could understand what was happening.
Mira engaged in hand-to-hand combat with her opponents, throwing kicks, knees, and punches at them. Despite being heavily injured, the fight dragged on for a long time. The excess of enemies ensured that some of them rested before returning to the battle, besides that, one against many is not a trivial combat.
Ryker was having the same problem. Despite his clear superiority over the dark mages, a fight against multiple opponents posed challenges that were difficult to circumvent, even more so when his energy was decaying with the hours of combat. He felt like he needed to get it over with soon and Mira noticed.
They came together and turned their backs to each other, facing their opponents. "Ready to get this over with, My Princess?" asked Ryker.
"As always, Love," Mira replied, smiling in knowledge.
They gathered energy in their hands and fired these blasts, one to each side. There was no defense against them and the power was brutal. The resulting explosion was equivalent, if not greater, than what Jellal produced. Everyone was impressed by the strength of what was called the strongest couple in Fairy Tail.
"Fantastic as always, Baby," Ryker said, looking passionately at Mira.
"You silly!", Mira replied, blushing slightly.
Erza looked at Karan, all the subordinates he sent against Fairy Tail were defeated, leaving only a few guards and Ivan. She was confident they had won.
"Surrender!" Erza shouted. "You can't against us, we won everything you sent against us. It will be better for you if you come with us peacefully."
"Ivan, how naive can they be?", Karan asked looking down at the Fairy Tail mages. Karan stood still without saying a word, just watching them calmly and without reaction.
"What he is doing? He lost. Why don't you give up?", Lucy said looking at the man over the cliff.
"What does that idiot think he can do? Those guards aren't strong enough to defeat us. What does he want?", Gajeel was irritated by Karan's lack of action.
"I'm not enjoying this," Lily said.
Erza looked at Karan deeply, but couldn't understand his actions. "What does he want. Does he think he can try some trick or what?" she wondered.
"Something's wrong, Erza," Jellal said suspiciously.
Ryker and Mira were tired and he was supporting his girlfriend. The stalemate bothered him, he knew Karan was smart, but without soldiers for war there is nothing he could do. He lifted his face and looked at Karan and saw his calm and tranquility. At that instant Ryker broke out in a cold sweat and shivered, eyes wide with fear.
"Ryker! Are you okay, Love?" Mira asked worriedly. She knew him and from the way he looked, she knew something was terribly wrong with him.
"How did I not notice!?", he thought looking scared at Karan. "How could I be such an idiot!?" Ryker looked at his guildmates, after so long fighting like that they were out of strength, he and Mira included, who looked at him worriedly. "He was wearing us down, weakening us to deliver the final blow. Damn it! I should have noticed, I already used that strategy," he cursed himself.
"RUN!", Ryker shouted, everyone in Fairy Tail looked at him without understanding anything.
"Ivan... Send the rest", Karan said with a calm and victorious smile, but at the same time sadistic.
Ivan smiled and made a gesture with his hand and hundreds of mages, more powerful than the previous ones appeared from nowhere and fell on Fairy Tail.
"More of them!", Fairy Tail yelled.
There was no fight, the guild mages didn't have enough strength to fight them and they were being overpowered easily. The blows were to kill, hitting sensitive and vital points. Ryker pushed Mira aside so she wouldn't take the hit. The blow was hard, knocking him away. Mirajane glared at the man who hit her boyfriend and in rage she attacked him, a fight ensued but she didn't have the strength to go beyond Satan Soul.
Ryker struggled to his feet after the attack and looked at his friends being attacked, with little chance of defending themselves. He saw Wendy being attacked and unable to defend herself, he saw Lisanna and Lucy suffering from the blows, he saw Erza and Jellal struggling, Gajeel and Natsu too, he saw Mira being attacked and not much chance to counterattack.
"What do I do? What do I do?" Ryker despaired, hope draining from him. "SHIT! If only I had my full power," he wailed. "But since I arrived in this world I'm only at 50% of my strength. That portal must have sucked the rest up somehow."
"Now we have no way to defend ourselves. Without energy we're easy prey." Ryker punched the ground in rage and looked at Karan with a smirk. "That was always his plan. If we pull back and regain our strength... No, it won't take long, he's smart. He must have a tracker with him to find us. Besides those mages from above will stop us", he looked at all the mages on top of the cliffs. "Maybe I can…" Ryker surveyed the entire terrain. "I can use that. It's the only way".
Ryker sighed heavily, anguish gripped his heart and fear hit him without him knowing where it came from. He looked at Mira and then at Wendy then took a deep breath, calming himself, trying to know if he'd made the right decision. He saw his friends falling to the ground, getting hurt, he saw Wendy fighting as best she could, but still she was getting hurt, Mira couldn't stand against her opponent, he saw her get hit several times. He understood that he had no choice. Karan won, they would die unless he did something.
"Erza! I have a plan, get everyone together!" he yelled. Erza heard him and gathered everyone in a corner.
Ryker made hand seals and a magic circle appeared in the sky, pouring a shower of explosive orbs across the land, distracting enemies and giving Fairy Tail mages a chance to join in. He ran towards his team mates, they were injured from the last attacks and didn't have much agility.
"What's the plan?", Erza asked.
"Strategic escape!" he said. "When I give the signal, follow me."
"What? Let's run away!?", Natsu said angrily.
"We don't have time for this! If you want to stay and die, stay, it's your choice," Ryker said seriously. The fire mage fell silent, annoyed.
Ryker made another sequence of hand seals and a multitude of blue spheres began to appear around them. "It won't even scratch them, but it will serve as a distraction," he said and pulled them all down creating endless explosions, which covered visibility with the dust that was kicked up. Some spheres also hit the top of the cliffs, interfering with the mages who were on guard.
"What is that!? What are they doing?" shouted Ivan.
Karan looked irritated, he couldn't see them. "Shoot!" he suddenly ordered. Everyone on top of the cliffs fires their spells at the same time, creating more explosions and more dust. "Someone clean up all this dust!" Karan ordered.
"What is all this, Karan?" asked Ivan.
"That Ryker… Damn! He's smarter than I thought," he said.
When the mages finished dispersing the dust, everyone from Fairy Tail was gone. Karan seethed with hatred and looked at Ivan in a way that startled him.
"Find them," he ordered, his tone deadly.