Chapter 39: Dragons, Gods, and Explosions
"We better join the battle!" Elfman said. "A real man doesn't hide from a fight!"
"All the same we can't leave him unsupervised!" Evergreen said pointing to Zeref.
The black wizard made sure to keep at least twenty feet away from them for fear of the Predatory death occurring and accidentally killing them.
"Me, Lisanna, and Happy will stay with him!" Natsu said. "Wendy, you go with them! They'll need your healing and support magic!"
"Right!" Wendy said. "But… be careful big brother."
She, Carla, Evergreen, and Elfman all ran off to join their comrades in battle. That left Natsu with Lisanna, Happy, and Zeref.
Natsu looked at Lisanna. "Hey Happy, if things get too intense I want you to grab Lisanna and get her someplace safe!"
"Aye Sir!" Happy said.
"Natsu! I can take care of myself," Lisanna said. "And I can fly by myself!"
"Oh yeah! But we don't know who we're up against here."
"I do. They call themselves Grimoire Heart," Zeref said.
"Grimoire Heart? Man they're from the Baram Alliance!" Natsu said.
"What's more, members of the Tartarus Guild are coming as well. They are demons I myself created. Failures though they are normal humans won't stand a chance against them," Zeref said.
"Grimoire Heart… and Tartarus?" Lisanna now shook.
"Okay, this is too much for you!" Natsu said. "Happy, as soon as trouble arrives get her out of here!"
"No, I'm staying!" Lisanna objected. "No way I'm letting you face them alone!"
"You missed out on two years of magic training. You don't stand a chance right now… not against a pair of dark guilds like this!" Natsu argued.
"I may not have been able to practice my Takeover Magic in Edolas but I did learn some other ways to fight! Requip: Beast Saber!"
The saber with the white tiger striped hilt she'd taken as part of her reward from Beast Fencer Ben appeared in her grasp. She'd managed to learn a little requip magic in addition to some new takeovers during her intensive training in preparation for the S-class trials. Now was a good time to use it. She just needed to stick it in the ground and it would release a wave to control animals.
Lisanna stuck the saber in the ground, with it she could call nearby animals and control them. Some of piglike animals and several Tenrou squirrels came from the jungle around them. Lisanna didn't like the idea of endangering the lives of animals but given the circumstances they needed all the help they could get right now. And trouble was coming their way.
…
Two wild looking mages made their way in that direction, a platoon of over three dozen Grimoire Heart masked soldiers followed.
"You sure Zeref is in this direction dog-face?" Zancrow asked as he followed just a few feet behind.
"The names Jackal!" The animal like one with yellow fur said. "And yes!"
"Great!" Zancrow cackled. "We'll have Zeref first!"
Jackal growled in annoyance. He wanted to just use his bomb curse to send all these guys to oblivion! But was now the time? No. He'd wait just a little while. See what was in the way, then he'd dispose of them once they were of no further use to him.
Zeref's presence that Jackal had sensed the moment they were on the island was getting stronger! And Jackal saw him… along with a pink haired young man in a vest with a scarf around his neck and a white haired in a light yellow shirt with a sword in hand. Around them were several island animals and a flying blue cat.
"Well well! We finally found him!" Zancrow shouted with glee. "Get them!"
At his command the Grimoire Heart soldiers ran forward. The guy with the scarf immediately began pummeling them with his fists while the girl took on a new form. Her shirt vanished and she now wore a bikini with a tiger like design and cat eyes, along with paws with sharp claws. She came upon them, moving fast as the cat she looked like! Her saber cut the soldiers down. One soldier managed to block her sword on his magic staff, only for her to scratch him with her free hand.
"This kitten has an extra long claw in one hand, and a shorter one for when you get close! Reow!" she said.
The animals of the island were fighting too, swarming the soldiers. The squirrels were a good distraction as they climbed on top of the men, allowing the large pig like creatures to trample them. One of the soldiers sent a fireball at the guy with the scarf, and Jackal thought it was over. But to his amazement, the scarfed man with pink hair was unarmed and seemed to be absorbing the fire into his mouth!
"Oh yeah now I got a fire in my belly!" he said before unleashing a strong ball of fire on many of the soldiers.
"He ate the fire! He must be the Salamander guy!" another soldier said.
"He's one of the S-class wizards!" another said.
Zancrow grinned. "Not bad! I think I should have some fun with this one! You guys have fun with the girl! I'll handle him!"
"Thanks Zancrow!" his soldiers said as they focused all their efforts toward the white haired girl now.
The soldiers began to run toward the girl, and Jackal grinned.
…
Lisanna did well at first but then the psychotic looking blond man with red eyes ordered his goons to go after her while he dealt with Natsu. Now she had her hands full as they all went after, blasts of magic came at her… so many she struggled to dodge them all.
"Takeover: Bird Soul!"
She turned from a cat to a humanoid bird, substituting her arms for a pair of wings. Her saber clattered to the ground as she could no longer hold it without hands. She'd have to go back for it when she had the chance! For now she had to flap her wings and rise up! It worked! The soldiers on the ground were no longer swarming her and she could pick them off from the air!
Or so she thought.
An explosion hit the place where she'd been just moments ago! Many of the soldiers screamed as they were hit, but helpless as they and some of the animals Lisanna had commanded were instantly wasted. Her heart stopped at the cruel sight.
"What the- what are you doing?" the wild blonde man asked, looking up at his companion.
"You humans are so pathetic!" the man with yellow fur grinned evilly. "And annoying!"
"Hey, we're supposed to be working together here Dog-face! I mean Jackal!"
"We were never going planning to work with you lowly humans!" Jackal said. "We only intended to use you as soon as you contacted us for help finding Zeref!"
Lisanna looked around for Zeref… but the black wizard was gone! He'd fled!
The wild blonde snarled. "No one uses Grimoire Heart! We are the top of the Baram Alliance not you Tartarus demons! Well now I'll show you! Prefer to taste the flames of Zancrow the God Slayer!"
He was suddenly surrounded by black flames to the surprise of Natsu, Lisanna and Happy.
"God slayer?" Natsu repeated. "Hey you! Did you say you were a god slayer?"
Zancrow looked at him with an evil grin. "That's right. I've heard of you, you're a dragon hunter right? Well we are pretty similar you and I! I saw how you ate those flames. Not bad, I have the same ability, but I bet you can't eat my divine flames! Ha!"
He shot a blast of the black fire at Natsu who opened his mouth, only for the flames to refuse to go in! He was knocked back by the fire.
"Natsu!" Lisanna screamed down at him.
"You okay?" Happy asked.
"Yeah!" he called, getting up. "You guys get out of here this is gonna be tough!"
"I don't think so!" Jackal said as he took aim at Lisanna.
An explosion shot at her. She screamed as her takeover wore off and she fell!
"Lisanna!" Natsu shouted in concern.
"I got her!" Happy said as he flew over and caught Lisanna before she could hit the ground.
She'd been knocked unconscious though. Natsu snarled, fire emanated from him as his fury lit up inside. He was usually trigged into this state by Wendy getting hurt, the other Fairy Tail Wizards called it his Berserk Brother Mode. But now it was for Lisanna as well.
"No one hurts Lisanna!" he shouted. "Get her out of here Happy!"
"Aye sir!" Happy said as he flew away with the other person who'd hatched him.
With a roar he charged at Jackal. The dog like demon shot another explosion curse at his foe, only for Natsu to devour it like he had the earlier fire!
"Thanks for that!" Natsu said. "Now I don't feel the pain from those black flames! Fire Dragon Roar!"
Jackal leapt to the side and dodged the attack.
"Hey don't forget about me you lowly dragon hunter!" Zancrow shouted as he held a scythe made of his black flames. "Flame God Scythe!"
A three-way firefight erupted between them! Both slayers attacking with orange or black flames, and the dog-like demon with his explosions. Jackal sent one at Zancrow who opened his mouth! He ingested it like Natsu had. Jackal growled, he was up against two people that could render his attacks useless.
"Looks like your tricks are useless against me Dog-face!" Zancrow taunted as he charged.
He let began punching and kicking the demon with flame clad blows. Jackal fell back and looked up with a grin as he watched the two slayers now fighting each other. He was about to bring one of them down, and they'd managed to get several good blows on him.
"This shouldn't take too much longer! Just deal with you now Dragon Hunter!" Zancrow grinned.
"You're the one about to go down you so called God Slayer!" Jackal said. "Or should I say God of Getting Himself Slain?"
"Huh? What you talking about Dog-Face?" Zancrow asked.
"When someone touches me they get blown up!" Jackal said.
Zancrow looked down at his knuckles and left lower leg where he'd managed to hit the demon. Small glowing yellow lights were there, and they were flashing like a timer!
An explosion sounded on Zancrow, with enough force to send Natsu back as well. The God Slayer collapsed, beaten badly by the surprise attack before he could eat it. Jackal got up.
"Now… you!" he said to Natsu.
The dragon slayer and the demon looked at each other. And charged. Natsu managed to land a good punch on Jackal's cheek.
"Now you're gonna get the same thing that God Slayer got!" he said.
Natsu looked at his fist where he'd saw the spark of the explosion forming.
"Not gonna fall for that! You had him by surprise but I saw how it works!"
And he ate the explosion as it appeared, taking no damage.
"Now its my turn! This is for Lisanna! Fire Dragon Brilliant Flames!"
Putting both hands together he unleashed his most powerful attack on the demon. Jackal screamed as he fell, defeated.
Well, that's two dark mages down already! Hope you guys enjoyed this. I liked the idea of having Natsu face both Jackal and Zancrow. Those two are very much alike as they are both ruthless and willing to harm their comrades if they are upset or even simply annoyed at them. In this version Jackal is the one to waste the men who get burned by Zancrow. I kinda felt bad for Jackal a little bit as I thought of him going up against two people that his curse magic is useless against, but it works when he can catch them off guard. But where did Zeref run off to? Find out next week Tuesday or Wednesday which tend to be the days I usually update this fanfic. This shouldn't take much more than ten more chapters.
With that sad I think its time I reveal my plan for the ending. I used this in one of my other fanfics where there are two optional endings for the readers themselves to choose from. I will likely be making two endings here as well. One in which Natsu chooses Lucy, and another in which he chooses Lisanna. I have to be honest, if I were to choose one over the other it would be Lisanna. I like Lucy and all but Lisanna really gets the short end of the stick as I mentioned in the beginning. This way my readers can choose which ending they want, and while I'm pleased that most of my reviews on who he should end up with were in favor of Lisanna I don't wanna disappoint those that prefer Lucy.