Upon the Grimoire Heart ship, Hades walks around the corridor of his ship as he had a smirk on him.
"three deceased...two bested in combat...and two traitors. Makarov's brats truly deserve praise. I've never expected to lose all of my Kin, not in this short amount of time." Said Hades as he continued walking. "You've raised some truly admirable brats, Makarov. I hope you do not hold a grudge against me if I answer their stubbornness with equal strength. I have no other choice here."
Hades entered the main room of the ship, the entrance already opened and ready to take its guests. The elder smirked even wider and walked up to the edge of the ship, immediately looking down. His eyes laid on Fairy Tail's assault group that consists of Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy.
"Fairy Tail's Third Generation." greeted them Hades while clapping. "You have my praise. You've managed to crawl through my forces and come all the way here, only to perish, just like Makarov did."
"you think we gonna lose to you?!" exclaimed Gray with an angry look.
"Very well. You are hereby welcome to come on board of my ship. Death awaits you." Said Hades as he turns and walks back into his ship.
When he was gone from sight, Erza turns to the others.
"let's do this" said Erza as Gray and the others nodded.
Meanwhile in the ship's bottom deck, a ventilation shaft opened as Charla with Lily entered in as the two Exceeds are infiltrating the ship and are now travelling inside its air shaft to find the control room. they've yet to find anything even remotely resembling such a room, instead finding lots of chambers and barracks for soldiers, who kept lurking around the ship.
"I'm starting to fear this ship has no control room after all." said Charla. "We've already checked all obvious spots, we're running out of room to cover."
"Impossible." replied Lily. "Even if it's not a whole control room, this ship must have a power source. As long as we eliminate that, we will be successful."
"I hope you're right. It's been a while since we've come in here." Said Charla with a sigh
They both continued to travel in silence for few more minutes, before Lily spotted something with the corner of his eye. Curious, he gently lifted the check and jumped down, much to Charla's dismay.
"Wai- What are you doing?!" she called out after him.
Lily landed on the floor and quickly looked around, before running up to the nearby door, with Charla flying right behind him. They both sneaked inside and gently closed the door, making as less noise as possible.
"Why did you-" started Charla, only to drop her jaw in horror, with disturbed Lily standing right beside her.
In front of them was a giant container filled with green, dirty fluid in which floated a massive, dark-red heart, its beating loud and aggressive. The container was connected to many consoles filled with buttons through pipes and thick cables, that were very poorly organised and muddled up.
"What the hell is this?" asked quietly Charla. Lily simply shook his head, but quickly regained his composure.
"I doubt it's the power source, but it looks too important to be left alone." he said and shifted into his battle form. He walked up to one of the consoles and examined it. "It might not be what we came here for, but let's try to disable it. I have a bad feeling about leaving it all by itself."
Suddenly, both Exceeds heard steps outside of the room. Lily walked up to the door and placed his ear against it.
"Someone is in that room! Check it out!"
Cursing under his nose, Lily jumped away from the door. "No matter what happens, keep trying to destroy this thing. Push the buttons, cut the cables. Don't stop working. I'll handle this!"
As soon as he said that. the door was blown up with countless men storming inside the room, all of them armed. Lily quickly grabbed one of the men by the wrist and punched him, successfully disarming him and taking away his sword. As soon as he grabbed it, the blade grew in size, much to his surprise.
"I see...This blade changes size according to its wielder's. Just like my old blade, Buster Mam." Said Lily before he gripped the sword's handle and grins at his opponents. "alright, this is now my weapon!"
Back to the ship's main deck area, Gray went flying in the air before he crashed to the floor as Hades had just blasted him away with a magic blast.
Erza came dashing in as she wielded two swords in both her hands and started slashing them at Hades who dodged them before repelling Erza away with a magic blast right at her stomach.
"Gaah!" Erza gasped in pain as she went flying before crashing to the floor while rolling on its surface.
It had only been 20 minutes when Erza and the others raid Grimoire Heart's Ship as to defeat Hades and be rid of him of their sacred island but just moments when they arrived, they are getting their self handed them down with such ease.
"Wendy!" Lucy called out to the young girl as she summoned Scorpio from his key.
"yes!" exclaimed Wendy as she took in a deep breath, her cheeks expanding.
"Sand Buster!" "Tenryu no Hoko!"
"A Unison Raid?" said Hades in surprise as he sees the two attacks combining into one and barrages him. Hades went crashing to a wall as wood and metal flew out with dust smoke covering the area.
"did that do it?" asked Gray while getting up and to his answer Hades blew up the debris and wood that surrounded him, shocking Fairy Tail as well. They could spot his figure standing up in the dust, his shadow walking towards them.
"It is believed..." he said in a loud, echoing voice. "That mistakes made by people sooner or later turn into experience. A naive thought, in my opinion."
"even a Unison Raid can't give this old man a scratch?" said Gray while gritting his teeth.
Hades took off his helmet and threw it to the ground followed by his cloak as well.
"A true mistake is the one that leaves you with no experience to be gained whatsoever. A mistake you have made as soon as you stepped inside my ship." Declared Hades as he sends a powerful stare at the group. "A true mistake is the one that leaves you with no room for experience to be gained. Making the mistake of taking me as an opponent leaves you with no future at all, Fairy Tail. You are about to find that out."
It took less than a second. In just an instant, the entire hall grew black, gravity raised immensely. Wendy and Lucy immediately crashed to their knees, unable to breathe, as Hades unleashed his magic power on them. Pieces of wood started to be ripped out of the floor and slowly rise up in the air, as they continued to be crushed in the air more and more until nothing, but splinters remained.
Gray clutched his chest as he started sweating in fear while taking a step back, Erza held her ground but her legs were shaking form the intense magic pressure.
'So this is the power of someone who can best Master Makarov...This man stands above anyone and anything I have ever faced in my entire life. The difference is simply too great…' Erza looks at Hades as she had never felt such raw magic power from anyone before. 'There is no backing out of this now. We all came prepared; we all knew what we'd face here. None of us regrets this!'
"do you believe you can defeat me, Fairy Tail?" boomed out Hades as his voice sounded heavy and dreadful.
Erza tried to take a step forward but the feeling of the magic pressure from Hades is pushing her fear to the limits while causing her to not take a step against the monster. The thunder above the cloudly sky started to rang as lightning bolts illuminate the dark sky before lightning strikes down Grimoire Heart Ship.
Hades and everyone else watch as the lightning bolt hits because someone has arrived to help Fairy Tail.
"I came for a visit at the First Master's Grave and all" said a voice as the figure in lightning stood up and revealed to be Laxus who is coated with electrical static. "but when I get here, I find some jerk messing up with Fairy Tail"
"Laxus!?" said Erza, Gray, and Lucy in surprise to see the Lightning Mage.
Hades looks at Laxus and saw a young Makarov beside him that made him surprised.
"Boy?!" said Hades before he got a lightning coated punch to the face by Laxus.
"stand up!" shouted Laxus as he glared at Erza and the others. "is this the Fairy Tail that I was once from!? Get moving and beat this old relic!"
Erza and the others looks at Laxus before they smile and started moving towards the battle, then they started sprinting.
"let's go!" shouted Gray as everyone roared in unison.
At the Fairy Tail Base camp, Levy and the others are all situated there as they have been sitting by while Erza and the others face off Hades while Freed and Bickslow went to get Gildarts to the camp.
"you guys think Erza and the others can win?" asked Lisanna to the others as they turn to look at her. "I mean, this master of Grimoire Heart. He could beat someone like Master himself and Master is someone who is entitled as a Wizard Saint too"
"yeah, I'm kinda worried too" said Cana as she frowns a bit. "the last time we fought someone who could best Master was Jose and that was with Natsu's help. Without him…"
"just where could he had gone to at such an important time?" asked Levy before thunder rang loudly and then more thunder came ringing harder than before.
"what is with today's weather?!" said Cana, annoyed by the ringing thunder before she looks at Lisanna and Levy who has wide eyes and jaws dropped. Confused, she asked. "what's wrong with you guys?"
"C-C-Cana..b-b-b-behind you.." stuttered Levy while pointing a finger above Cana's head.
Cana looks confused before she turns to look at what Levy was pointing and when she sets her sight behind her, her eyes widen as saucers and her jaws dropped. Standing behind her is a black demonic monster whose body is covered in black skeletal armor, pale white skin that has black line markings running all over the body, and long waving black hair.
Cana gawked as she couldn't even form any words because of seeing the demonic monster who stood behind her. The demonic monster stared down at them all with glowing blackish red eyes as thunder rang and lightning illuminates the monster's shadow.
The three women didn't spoke a single word as their heart is overcome with intense fear and shock from encountering the demonic monster whose presence just put the fear of god inside them.
After a few seconds passed, another lightning bolt strikes down near the camp and a loud thunder rang hard, causing Cana and the others to close their eyes and ears for the sound was so loud that it could break someone's eardrum and blind one's eyes.
Cana and the others wait for the sound to subside as, after a minute or two, they opened their eyes and ears then sees a burning tree while no sight of the demonic monster who was standing nearby.
"w-w-what was…that thing?" asked Lisanna in a stutter as she has no idea how to describe how horrifying their encounter with the demonic monster was.
"I'm p-praying…that w-wasn't an enemy…" said Levy, not wanting to face the demonic monster again.
"m-me….too" agreed Cana with a nod.
At Grimoire Heart ship, Erza and the others battled Hades with the help of Laxus in full power but their efforts are proved futile when Hades revealed his trump card which is the Devil's Eye.
"In order to reach the very center of magic, one must throw themselves into the depths of darkness." said Hades. "At the bottom of those depths one shall find the source of magic - the One Magic."
'the One Magic?...that phrase….i heard it from where?" Lucy thought of Hades' words as she felt like she knew of it before.
"Although I am the closest human being to ever reach this depth, I am also still very far away. Even if I lived for a dozen of lifetimes I would never be able to reach it. That is why Grand Magic World must happen! Only this world, Zeref's world, can dig it out and let me attain it!" said Hades and spread his arms. "You, who have followed Makarov's teachings for years are not yet ready to step into this ultimate world. You shall perish tonight, and upon your ashes a new world will be born. You have my gratitude for entertaining and educating me, Fairy Tail. It is time to close your eyes now."
Everyone never moved as they felt pure terror and fear in their hearts as the feeling of evil became overwhelming to themselves.
Erza tried to get up but her legs were trembling far too much. That was the case for everyone else - even Laxus tried to use the pain of his leg to break through this thick wall of fear but to no avail.
Before anything could happen, another evil presence coming into the atmosphere as the feeling is at an equal level with Hades who had activated his Devil Eye.
'w-what is this feeling!?...it feels just like..' thought Gray as he saw an image of Deliora in his mind.
'who could have….such a terrifying power?!" Erza mustered up all her strength to turn her eyes back as to see who was coming into the scene. Gray and the others had the same thought as they slowly turn their head back and their eyes widen when they see the demonic monster appearing on the ship's front deck where it just stood there before a lightning bolt strikes the earth, illuminating the monster's shadow from behind.
"another one of Makarov's brats?" asked Hades as the demonic monster stares at everyone with glowing blackish red eyes that just put fear to those who laid eyes on it.
"i-i-it couldn't be!" stuttered Erza as the demonic monster is Natsu himself, the man having transformed into the monstrous form, but this form is something that is rather terrifying than the one before.
Natsu set his sight on Hades as his glowing eyes glows even more before a monstrous growl is heard, the mouth of the demonic mask opening to reveal sharp bone teeth with a mouth filled with black vaporing steam.
"i-is that….Natsu?!" said Laxus, seeing the salmon haired mage in such monster like form.
"it doesn't matter how many of you come and challenge me" said Hades with a scoff. "none can hope to defeat me!"
Natsu spreads his fingers on both hands as they shake because of black bone shards that are growing on each of the demonic man's fingers and became sharp and long black claws. A growl escaped Natsu's monster mouth as so did some black steam.
A passing second later, Natsu bolted right at Hades and swipes his right claw at the man but the man had dodged with a bleeding cut to his left cheek.
"such speed!" said Hades with surprise before his face got a kick by Natsu's leg as this sends the dark mage crashing to the hull behind. Natsu growls as his claws glows red before he swiped them to the side, unleashing an X shaped energy slash right at Hades who was getting up from his crash, only to get hit by the attack that inflicts an X shaped bleeding cut on his chest while causing blood to escape his mouth.
Natsu continued swinging his claws around as dozens amount of energy slashes came flying at Hades and the area around him that causes explosion all around. Erza and the others looks at the scene as they see Natsu pushing back Hades who they had a hard time trying to handle.
Smoke flew everywhere around Hades before a black magic blast went flying straight out of the smoke as it hits Natsu right at his face.
"Natsu!" exclaimed Erza as the others watch the man getting hit right on the face before seeing Hades coming out of the rubble, the dark mage covered in some of his blood while having cuts all over his body which were bleeding.
A growl is heard around the smoke covering Natsu's head before a blackish red glow followed as it revealed Natsu who came right out the smoke and is growling at Hades.
Natsu opened his monstrous jaw before he let out a powerful roar as red and black static started to charge around the demonic man's horn and started to form a black and red energy sphere that became larger by the second while having electrical static forming around it.
"a powerful charged magic attack? Like I let you!" exclaimed Hades before he swung a hand forward, firing a magic chain that wrapped around Natsu's neck and pulls it hard, causing the demonic man to stagger forward. Natsu grips his claws at the magic chain as he grips it hard before causing the chains to break into pieces. "w-what?!"
The charging energy sphere became bigger by the second as it became blacker and redder, then electrical static started to fly around everywhere. Natsu roared before the energy sphere fired a powerful red and black beam right at Hades who is wide eyes and got engulfed in the attack.
BOOM!
The attack causes a powerful explosion upon Grimoire Heart before blowing off the entire roof then cause a large cloud of smoke. The power of the explosion caused a huge gust to blow out smoke everywhere as it nearly blew away Erza and the others.
'what power!...this is like in the Tower of Heaven…no! like during Nirvana! But….10x more powerful!' Erza holds onto the floor as the power of the explosion was powerful like an Etherion blast that is directly near them.
The ship is now unrecognizable as the attack that Natsu unleashed caused the ship to fall to the sandy beach where it remains on as it is a miracle that the attack only destroyed the top part of its hull.
Lucy who is holding Wendy because she caught her when they were getting blown away from the powerful gust of the explosion. The blonde mage looks at the result of Natsu's attack as they see what the true example of pure destruction could be.
Natsu stood in his place as his monstrous mouth opened and lets out black steam while his horns were steaming from unleashing the attack. The demonic man looks at Hades who is covered in rubble that is resulted by Natsu's attack destroying nearly the entire top part of the ship.
"i-is it….over?" asked Gray, thinking no one could have survived such an attack from the demonic man.
"i-I think so" replied Erza, not knowing how anyone could have survived the attack.
"how utterly terrifying" said a voice as everyone's eyes widen in surprise to hear it because it is Hades. "For the first time in my life...I felt fear. I did not expect to get out of this alive. "You managed to break through my strongest defense spells. A truly formidable feat."
Hades stood out of the rubble as he has steam and blood coming off his body, his own clothes in shreds because of receiving Natsu's attack head on.
"Impossible..." choked out Lucy in despair. "Was it not enough?!"
"Is there a spell this bastard doesn't know?!" growled Laxus.
"I do not feel hatred nor anger towards you, Dragon Slayer." stated Hades and cracked his neck, a short sigh of relief escaping his lips. "If anything, it is gratitude. I never expected to learn something new at this old age of mine. I feel more complete as both a person and a mage than ever before."
Natsu growls before the demonic man fell to one knee and black blood started dripping out of his mouth. Erza saw this and her eyes widen in surprise.
"could it be….that attack costs lots of taxes to Natsu's body?!" thought Erza in surprise as she thought that it was strange that Natsu could come after being unconscious for a while. "then…if this form of his is incomplete unlike when he is with Chitetsu…..does this mean without Chitetsu, Natsu can't unleash his full power!?"
"it is time to sleep, Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Hades as he got his hands into a stance where black magic started to rise to the limits.
Everyone watch as Hades is about to unleash a powerful and deadly magic that would spell their defeat but just before Hades could unleash it, the dark mage's face twisted in a painful grimace. His eyes widened drastically as he staggered in his place. He quickly raised his hand to his right eye and touched it, magic oozing out of his body at rapid rate.
'Could this be...No, that's impossible! They couldn't have!' thought Hades in shock.
At the ship's bottom deck, Charla is smiling and Lily is smirking where they started to walk away, leaving the destruction.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions rang out as the room they were leaving was coming down because of them destroying it all together. The Devil's heart, Hades's own heart was beating yet weakly as the glass it was in is cracked and shattered, exposing itself out in the world.
'my Heart!' Hades clenched his eyes as he buckled over in pain, pained grunts escaping his mouth. Erza and the others watch in confusion as they aren't sure on what is happening to him.
"Is he...in pain? Did Natsu's attack dealt something?" asked Lucy seeing Hades' action.
"if it wasn't something like that…" said Gray as Wendy lifted her face up with a happy smile.
"Charla and Lily! They did it!" exclaimed Wendy.
"let's….go" muttered a dark voice as everyone's attention is to Natsu who is slowly rising up on his feet. "let's….go…..and….defeat….him"
Hades snapped his head upwards and pierced them with his glare directed at all of Fairy Tail members on his ship.
"The secret to my immense magic and longevity may have been destroyed...but I am still perfectly capable of disposing of all of you." he whispered menacingly and aimed his right hand at them. "Your end will not avoid you, Fairy Tail."
"let's…go.." said Natsu before he stood on his feet and his eyes turned to his normal onyx one. "everyone! Let's go!"
"RIGHT!" Erza and the others exclaimed before they all bolted right at Hades who got up and fired an endless rain of magic bullets at the group.
Natsu and everyone went to attack him as they poured all their strength for one last attack
"open the gate of the goat, Capricorn!" Lucy summons Capricorn who is now wearing a butler's suit
"you summon me, my lady?" said Capricorn
"you!?" Hades exclaimed before getting multiple punches to the face by Capricorn
"my name is not Zoldeo! I am Lucy-sama's spirit!" Capricorn then lands an upper cut that sends Hades flying to the air. "Capricorn!"
Gray then appeared as he creates two giant ice swords
"ICE BRINGER!" He slashed them at Hades who got send falling to the floor only to met Erza in her Heaven Wheel armor.
"Pentagram Sword!" A pentagram magic slash got sent towards Hades before seeing Wendy behind him.
"Tenryuu no Yokugeki!" She swings her hands as a gust of devastating wind blow him away high in the air, Hades soon crashed to the ground as he landed a bit safely where he is now facing against Natsu who is charging crimson flames inside his monstrous jaws.
"Karyu no Guren Hoko!" Natsu let out a roar attack as the attack sends a stream of crimson flames that barrages hades.
"Gaaaah!" Hades roared in pain before his body fell to the ground twitching, his eyes void of pupils.
Lucy hugged Wendy so hard the girl thought she was going to pass out. Gray and Laxus smirked at each other.
Natsu growls and glares down at Hades before he slowly falls back as he slowly touched the ground but Erza caught his back and sat him down. The black skeletal armor around his body and the color of his pale white skin started to turn back to normal as Natsu reverts to his normal form.
"you did great, Natsu" Erza told Natsu who glance at her. "I feel proud having you in our guild and as our family"
Natsu's lips slowly formed a smile before he nodded to her, but his eyes soon started to close, the man's consciousness fading into the darkness.
But just before anyone could take a breather, they soon hear a herd coming as they turn to see Charla and Lily running towards them while being chased by a herd of Grimoire Heart goons.
"you are kidding, right?" said Gray while looking annoyed as he stands back up.
"there still small fried left?" said Laxus
"hold it right there!" The sound of Makarov's voice boomed out as the herd stopped
Makarov appeared as everyone who is at base camp came to everyone's rescue. The goons ran away scared as they retreated for Hades is defeated.
Everyone cheered for their allies victory against Hades as they are slowly bringing them back to the camp to get them rested up.
"Finish me." Makarov's eyes narrowed as he gently turned to face Hades, who was now on his back, staring at the sky. "Finish me, Makarov."
"You of all people should know I will not do that." said Makarov. "I am granting you an escape from this island. Gather your people and leave. Do not stand on our path ever again."
"You are repeating the very same mistake that brought my downfall." Said Hades with a chuckle "If you let me go, I will come back. I will destroy your guild."
"No, you will not." cut him off the Master. "Even if you come back after I am long gone, you will be stopped. Even if I have long stopped going forward, my kids will not. One day they will become powerful, as well as kind enough to stop you in my stead. Their wings have yet to fully spread. As long as they are around, Fairy Tail will always prevail. Even if you destroy our guild, kill our members...as long as the guild's ideology lives on, there will always be someone to stop you. This is yet another lesson I was taught by you."
With that said, Makarov walked away. Hades simply stared into the sky, before closing his eyes. The sky above is clear of dark clouds, only revealing the shining sun above
On Tenroujima however, by the area where Chitetsu remains. The cursed katana is still in his place before its demonic skeletal shadow appeared upon its blade and is laughing and cackling.
"the tale of the Devil's heart ends now, but the tale of the Chaos encounter has just begun" said Chitetsu as his demonic skeletal shadow formed the shadow of a black monstrous shadow of a beast.
That's a wrap!
Bye bye
