AN: So someone asked about whether anyone would be suspicious about Lucy and Natsu's knowledge about everything that is going on. I have been very careful to make sure that everything unfolds without too much interference from them. The guild will question Natsu on his huge power up (soon) its not something that he can hide. People have noticed that the power up is unusual so I'm not gonna ignore it forever. I just wanted to address it when I was ready.
As for Lucy's knowledge – in canon Lucy is very intelligent. She read about Lullaby and was able to tell Erza about the magic flute when they first meet. This means that she does have knowledge about magic that the others don't. It would make sense that she would have researched the stuff that she came across with her team. Lucy is intelligent so I don't think its completely ooc of her to know a lot about magic and history.
A couple of people were surprised that I involved Jose. I didn't just want rewrite the arcs and I really wanted Fairy Tail to face off against Deliora. Its not something that I have ever seen on fanfiction and I had a lot of ideas about how I could play out this fight. The reason I used Jose was because the only way Deliora would come back was with some major magic.
Also the revenge angle using Jose isn't very farfetched. We don't see him again but we can assume that he was imprisoned. I believe if he had any knowledge on anything that could cause the downfall of Fairy Tail he would have played the card. The situation just needed to be desperate enough. In canon by the time Jose was taken down he didn't have any cards left to play.
We know the wizard saints have access to a lot of dangerous information. Jellal knew a lot of stuff from his time in the council. It isn't impossible to assume that Jose might have known about Deliora. Besides I don't think that Jose would have quietly just disappeared if he had the information.
By bringing the phantom lord arc in earlier I was able to make it sensible that he would be able to interfere with the Galuna island arc. You can't seriously think that the magic council just lost a demon and didn't do anything about it.
Blood sacrifices are kind of dark since a lot people are now dead. I didn't have any other ideas on how to bring Deliora back to life and its not something Lyon would do. I don't wanna ruin his future character by dropping him that low. I also wanted to involve Trinity Raven. I have essentially destroyed the Tower of Heaven arc so I wanted to involve them since Ikaruga was an important enemy for Erza to face.
Chapter 21 – Galuna Island Part 3
Lucy froze and as soon as the roar stopped they heard what sounded like stone crumbling. Happy picked up Juvia and Lucy flew into the air. The two women stared in the direction of the temple. It was crumbling and out of the shadow of the crumbling temple something was walking out. Something that almost seemed to be growing larger as it moved.
"Gray-sama." Cried Juvia and Lucy turned sharply to the woman next to her. She had tears in her eyes and Lucy could feel her own heart beating fast as panic began to take over her mind.
Gray was still in that crumbling temple. He and Lyon would have been fighting inside that bloody temple when Deliora had been freed from the ice. It was highly possible that Gray and Lyon would be crushed by falling debris or Deliora himself. They needed to get there and find them both. Lucy started heading in the direction of the temple with Happy and Juvia close behind her.
The creature seemed to be moving slowly but it was so large that every step it took shook the floor. Each movement it made destroyed something even though it wasn't even really doing anything yet. Lucy couldn't help but think it was still waking up. It had been trapped for so long that it wasn't really doing anything yet but walking around and getting its bearings.
Lucy bit her lip. It wouldn't be that out of it for much longer. In a few minutes it would do something however she wasn't sure how much intelligence this demon had. It was called the demon of destruction. It was highly likely that all it was capable off was senseless destruction however this island wouldn't provide it much entertainment. There was nothing around here but trees and the ocean unless it swam towards Hargeon.
Deliora moved away from the temple heading towards the ocean and honestly Lucy didn't have any idea or any plan to use on this demon. She let him go. It would probably take the demon at least ten minutes to reach the shore. It moved extremely slowly and still seemed disorientated. They would have to come up with some sort of plan for the monster after they found Gray.
The two women landed on the ground and immediately started searching through the ruins of the temple, calling for Gray. Lucy found a piece of his discarded shirt and nearly screamed in frustration. This never happened before, Deliora was never supposed to come back from the brink of death. Ur had given her life to stop that creature and now some idiot had undone all her hard work.
Lucy knew that she was starting to lose control. Her heart was in her throat and fear clogged her brain. She couldn't think straight, all she could see was a blood red sky, smell the fires and death and for a moment she was back in the middle of a war. The one where Zeref and his assholes were picking off their family one by one and they couldn't do anything to stop them.
Gray was her big brother, her family and she couldn't find him. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. He would have gotten a little roughed up by Lyon and then he would have kicked some sanity back into him and they would have been friends again. She wasn't supposed to looking amongst ruins praying that she would find him alive.
Her mind was spinning in too many different directions. She couldn't think or move all she could feel was terror. It nailed her feet to the ground and then Juvia was there next to her, saying something that she couldn't hear. Lucy couldn't hear anything other than the blood pounding in her ears. Natsu- she needed Natsu to grab her hand and tell her everything was going to be alright.
Juvia's grip tightened on her arms and she spoke and then her eyes narrowed on the blonde woman. Lucy could barely feel her grip bruise her arms but Juvia couldn't help but frown. What the hell was wrong with Lucy now? She needed the blonde woman's strength right now. She needed her to pull herself together and come up with a plan. They needed her on her A-game. Where the hell was the woman who held back the Jupiter canon? All she could see right now was a terrified little girl.
"Lucy, can you hear me? What the hell are you so afraid of? Juvia is here with you right now. Your nakama is here. Pull yourself together already!" cried Juvia and Lucy finally came to her senses.
"Sorry, I'm sorry Juvia. I just got so scared. Where is Gray? Where is my brother?"
Juvia's mouth pulled into a straight line. For some reason she didn't believe that was the whole truth. Lucy was lost in her own head to Juvia it seemed like Lucy was reliving something which had terrified her. Lucy was one of the bravest people she knew and she couldn't help but worry over what was strong enough to terrify her.
Juvia shook her head and gathered her thoughts. She needed to answer Lucy and deal with the situation in front of her. She would speak to Lucy privately another time, "Juvia doesn't know but Juvia is not leaving without Gray-sama."
There was a shift in the rock and Gray stood there in the middle of the ruins with a frown on his face, "Could one of you help me with him?"
When the demon started roaring, Gray pulled Lyon onto his back and headed for the stairs. He couldn't head down into the cave. He could already feel the stairs underneath him shaking and losing strength. The demon had jumped upwards as soon as the ice melted. It crashed onto the first floor of the temple bringing the entire building down around it. The debris didn't even register the monster.
Its tail had already destroyed whatever was beyond the staircase that they used to get to the roof. Gray knew that without a doubt that the caves which had Deliora trapped in before was now filled with rubble. The entire temple seemed to be sinking into the caves below.
Then the walls gave way and the ceiling crumbled so Gray did the only thing he could do. He created a sphere of ice and trapped Lyon and himself inside the sphere. He could feel the ice crack as the debris fell all around him and then there was the shaking of the ground as the demon started walking further away. Gray almost wanted to curl into a ball and stay inside his little prison because he didn't want to face that monster ever again.
There was a voice inside his head that sounded a lot like his younger self saying, 'it's not fair' and he could almost hear Ur roll her eyes at him. She probably would have said something along the lines of, "Life's not fair. Now get up because we have work to do."
Ur taught him that there was freedom in his maker magic. She taught him that while life was never fair you had to appreciate what you had. She taught him how to survive in a cruel world that just kept taking from him even when he had nothing left to give. That monster would not get away with what he had done. Gray had once set out to destroy the demon and this time he was going to succeed even if it cost him his life.
Then he heard Lucy, calling for her brother and he heard Juvia who refused to abandon him. He hung his head in shame. They would never let him die. They would claw their way into hell if he tried and drag him out by his hair. Gray grit his teeth and fought his way to the light. He was going home with his family after taking down that demon. They were all going back home.
It would be easy to lay down and die but Fairy Tail doesn't give up. A Fairy always gets back up. He remembered Lucy saying it when they were training to fight as a team. Deliora would not take his family from him a third time. He reached for them and he found them. He couldn't help but snark at them as they stared at him in shock. Honestly at this point if he didn't use sarcasm he would break down in tears.
Juvia didn't give Gray much of a chance to do or say anything else. She crushed his head into her boobs crying in relief. Lucy noticed that the poor man went red in the face and he might have gotten a little nose bleed. Juvia however was too busy updating Gray on the fact that she saved the village took care of Lyons friends to notice his reaction.
Lucy sighed in relief and let Juvia have her moment with Gray. She had done very well until now, better than Lucy herself who nearly had a panic attack. Juvia concentrated on her part of the job without getting distracted by Gray and her fantasies of him.
She was able to pull Lucy back to her senses and with the new closeness that they had going on currently it seemed like she may have given Gray a kick in the ass as well. She went over to the unconscious form of Lyon and noticed that he was still breathing.
Gray turned to Lucy and she could see the fear in his eyes, "What do we do now? We can't just leave Deliora to rampage."
Lucy bit her lip because she couldn't come up with anything. She never thought that she would need to face Deliora at full power. She could already feel the demon's growing presence which meant that he was gathering his power. Lucy knew that Deliora could fire high powered beams which would cause a lot of damage however she didn't know anything else about his powers.
The Demon was known for his large size and incredible strength. It was able to rampage across an entire continent without taking any damage which meant that its body was extremely durable. Its weakness was obviously its low intelligence and speed but she never thought that they would need to take down this demon.
Her mind was flying through as many facts as she could think off. She vaguely remembered some research from another lifetime however none of it spoke of any sort of magic that had actually managed to injure the demon. If Lucy remembered correctly the Magic Council had put up a huge bounty on the demon because they couldn't solve the problem.
They had allowed Deliora to rampage the East of Fiore because there climate there was mostly snowstorms in that region. The population there wasn't very high even though there were several cities in the area. They couldn't stop him or use any of his known weaknesses against him so they stopped trying and hoped he went away.
They isolated him in the least populated part of the country and sent random mages to go out and try to defeat him. The council offered a huge reward to anyone willing to go and try to defeat it. Ur had come along and finally trapped the demon which was the closest thing they had to a permanent solution.
Lucy wanted to close her eyes and pretend this wasn't happening. Then the land beneath her feet started trembling. She couldn't ignore it. She couldn't turn a blind eye and hope it went away. They had to defeat it. If Lucy didn't come with a plan then Gray would do something stupid and there was no way she was dealing with whatever crazy plan he was thinking off currently.
"We need to find Natsu and Erza and come up with a plan. If it continues in that direction then its heading towards Hargeon." Said Lucy.
Gray frowned in her direction and Lucy shook her head, "We need a lot of fire power to take it down. We need to regroup. Its possible that the other group here might know something about Deliora that we can use against him. If they don't know anything we still need Erza and Natsu. The three of us don't have enough power to take it down."
Juvia turned towards the demon, "Does Lucy believe that Deliora can cross the ocean?" Asked Juvia as she pointed in the general direction of the demon, who was making a bee-line for the seashore.
Lucy shrugged, "We don't know anything about its powers except for the fact that it can fire high powered beams of something that destroys everything it touches. We have to assume that everything is a possibility."
Gray winced as he moved. He wasn't out of the game entirely but he was low on magic and he was badly bruised. He didn't come out of his battle with Lyon unscathed and he took on some damage while falling from the top of the temple.
"Where are Erza and Natsu?" asked Gray.
Lucy shrugged, "They went to look for the other group of people that we thought were on the island. Did Lyon say anything about the blood sacrifices?"
Gray shook his head, "He wanted Deliora free so that he could defeat the demon and surpass Ur. He thought that if he defeated the demon that she couldn't then he would finally be more powerful than her. I don't think he knew anything about blood sacrifices."
Lyon groaned from his position on the ground, "What blood sacrifices?"
Lucy stared at him, wondering what kind of crazy he was even. She couldn't understand why he never investigated the other magic circle that seemed to appear out of the blue. Then again nothing that Lyon did around this time made any sense.
Lucy couldn't imagine being so obsessed with a goal that you ignored something that was happening literally under your nose. She made a mental note to tell Natsu that if she ever got that obsessed to dump her in the river or something.
"The blood red magic circle that was powered by people we haven't been able to find yet. They were literally people sacrificing their lives to give that demon its life back." Explained Lucy and Lyon frowned, "We never saw anyone. I never investigated the other magic circle. What do you mean when you said 'give Deliora his life back?' What don't I know?"
Juvia frowned in his direction, "Why did you not investigate? If it was so important for you to be the one to free Deliora so that you could defeat it then why didn't you investigate something that could have derailed your plans?"
Lyon couldn't even lift his head to look at Juvia but he still answered her, "I believed it was another stage of the moon drip ritual. When we first started the ritual the magic circle was white. As time passed and the ice began to melt it turned to blue and finally purple. I believed the red magic circle was just another phase of the ritual. Now answer my question."
Lucy knew that this temple was used by the people of this island to purify the body and for fertility rituals. That meant when they first started the ritual they called upon the pure white magic of the temple. If the magic circle turned blue then the magic was probably being tainted by the blood sacrifices and the fact that they were freeing a demon. This was another piece of information that she hadn't known about this ritual.
She frowned in Lyons direction but decided to answer him anyway. He needed to know the truth, "Iced shell may turn the body to ice however being trapped within Ur's ice for so long drained its power. Ur had stolen its life for as long as she kept him in imprisoned. Someone knew that Deliora would not be freed with his full power and ensured that when the ice melted he would be able to recover."
Lyon looked horrified as he realized that Ur had won against Deliora. Someone had interfered with not only his plans but everything that Ur had managed to accomplish. Fury burned in his veins until tears came to his eyes. He had no idea what to say or do anymore. Lyon was looking down the road he had walked and he wondered what Ur would have to say about the decisions he made.
Before anyone else could say anything to what they learned thanks to Lyon there was a loud screeching sound which reminded Lucy of an owl. The group looked upwards and Lucy couldn't help but feel her eyes widen at the weird looking person hovering in front of them.
It had a mans body, with an owl head and a jetpack strapped to his back. He had also screeched something about justice and punishing the evildoers on the island. Gray shot Lucy a deadpan look which was basically screaming, 'What the fuck is this?'
Honestly Lucy didn't know how to respond to him. This guy looked familiar like she should know him then again she had met some strange looking people in the other time line. She wasn't sure who the hell this was or what he wanted from them or how he could possibly be related to this mess. Another part of her couldn't help but think that they had bigger problems to deal with than this freak.
Before she could reply however the owl-man had enough of being ignored. He swooped down, opening his mouth and shouted out, "Capture."
He swallowed Gray whole. That was the only thought going through Lucy's mind at that moment. He ate her brother and before Lucy could even bring herself to get over the shock and get angry because he ATE her brother, Juvia lost her shit.
It started to rain and as the rain poured Lucy couldn't help but step back because everything in her mind was telling her to run the fuck away. Juvia was pissed. Lucy could see the hell fire burning in her eyes and she shouted, "Give Gray-sama back."
The owl-man dodged her water whips and took to the air screeching again, "In ten minutes he will be completely digested and I will have his full power."
The owl-man slammed his hands together and Juvia had to jump over the ice hammer that nearly flattened her into the ground. The rain that soaked the ground started to move upwards and Juvia started to moving, with the water. She became the rain itself. The water rose in a whirlpool trapping the owl-man. However before she could completely imprison him the owl-man flew upward and out of the whirlpool of water.
Juvia followed him and Lucy turned to Happy, "Take Lyon back to the village. It may be destroyed but its safer than being here."
Happy grabbed Lyon who was passed out again and took off in the direction of the village. Lucy chased after Juvia who was chasing after an owl-man who had eaten Gray. If they didn't get him back soon then he would get digested and Lucy didn't even want to know what would happen then.
There was some part of her brain that was wondering, 'what the fuck is wrong with her life' as she ran through the forest. Lucy had dealt with demons, dragons, dragon slayers who turned into dragons (Irene and Acnologia) time travel, ghosts (Mavis), evil crybabies (Zeref) and then more time travel. All in all she liked to think that she was a pretty adaptable person.
Demon shows up no problem, dragons sure why not, time travel been there done that however she did not have any plans for someone eating her nakama. Cannibals were not something that she expected to deal with on this island. Prior to a few moments ago Lucy was pretty sure that she would never need to deal with a cannibal.
Lucy sped into a clearing and saw the owl-man standing next to a pink haired woman and a guy that she unfortunately recognized. Natsu and Erza were holding Juvia back even though she seemed to be giving them both a hard time.
"Lucy what happened? I can't understand a word Juvia is saying." Cried Erza.
Natsu and Erza were gearing up for a fight between the two assassins. They both knew that they couldn't leave Deliora to rampage the island which meant that they would have to do something about him later. First they needed to take these guys down because they didn't look like they were going to just let Natsu and Erza walk away without a fight.
However before anyone could start the fight an owl-man that Natsu recognized landed in the clearing. Juvia followed on his heels and she immediately tried to attack him. Owl-man on other hand seemed more interested in conversing with his nakama. The guitar player sent his hair to attack Juvia who allowed his hair to pass through her water body without doing any damage.
Erza and Natsu got a hold of Juvia to try and make some sort of sense of what was about to happen. The rocker was standing in front of the other two assassins and they seemed to be immersed in their conversation. Since neither Erza nor Natsu could understand Juvia and they didn't know why she was so desperate to attack the owl-guy who was being protected, Lucy showing up was perfect timing.
"The owl-man ate Gray." Explained Lucy and she couldn't help but pat her back at the fact that her voice came out strong instead of hysterical.
Ikaruga scoffed, "His name is Fukuro. The one holding the guitar is Vidaldus Taka and I am Ikaruga."
Lucy remembered the rocker who fought against her and Juvia in one lifetime. They only beat him due to a unison raid. Erza had a hard time facing off Ikaruga and Lucy honestly didn't know what happened to Fukuro. She didn't know who defeated him.
Natsu almost wanted to laugh but he remembered getting eaten and it was not fun. He roared at Fukuro and demanded that he give Gray back. Before anyone could say anything else the island started shaking again. Lucy had no idea what was happening but it was probably something that Deliora was cooking up. They didn't have time for this right now.
Lucy glowed gold, turned into her Taurus star dress and sucker punched Fukuro before anyone could move. He coughed up Gray who seemed a little traumatized and extremely pissed. Fukuro moved his arms upwards getting ready to do something when Gray turned him into an icicle and sent the icicle flying to roads untraveled.
Ikaruga drew her sword and dived towards Lucy who turned just in time to find Erza in front of her deflecting the shot. Vidaldus had his hair move almost unconsciously towards Juvia who sliced through his hair with her water. He strummed something and turned her into his succubus. Gray lost his shit and unleashed a fury of attacks at him while ignoring the fact that Juvia was heading towards Lucy.
Natsu caught Juvia in a sleepers hold and left her on the ground unconscious and out of the mad mans control. Erza frowned as the ground trembled again and she steadied her stance, "Natsu Lucy go after Deliora. See if you guys can do something about him. We'll join you once we deal with this."
Erza knew that Lucy and Natsu were the ones without damage. She had not fought anyone either but the woman in front of her was dangerous. She would not be a good opponent for Natsu or Lucy to fight. Besides Deliora would be able to take a lot of punishment and Natsu's fire based magic would do more damage than her weapons.
She didn't honestly think that Lucy and Natsu could take down the demon together. She hoped that Natsu would be able to damage the demon and that Lucy would be able to gather enough information to provide them with a plan of attack. Hopefully the entire team would be enough to kill the demon.
Before she could think on the matter anymore Ikaruga unleashed a flurry of attacks which destroyed the armor that she wore. Erza back flipped out of the way of another flurry of invisible sword attacks and requipped into her Heavens Wheel Armor. She attacked Ikaruga with circle sword who managed to deflect and shatter every blade sent towards her.
The pink haired woman spun in a slow circle and her sword was set alight, "Garuda Flame."
Erza requipped into her Flame Empress Armor and was able to deflect most of the attack however Ikaruga sent another flurry of sword attacks which once more destroyed her armor.
Erza struggled to her feet and took a moment to breathe. She wore her armor not because she believed she was strong. She wore the armor so that it could protect her weak crying heart. All her life she cried as the people around her struggled to live and to survive. In the Tower when Grandpa Rob gave his life for hers, she cried. When Jellal lost his mind, she cried. She sat alone because the crowds scared her and cried in the dark where no one could see her.
She wore the armor and it gave her the courage to pretend to be strong. However Fairy Tail gave her family and Jellal dug his way out of his madness and came back to her. He went back to the tower and set everyone free. Her friends were out there seeing the world. She didn't have to cry anymore. Her friends didn't need her to be strong for them. They were strong enough to protect her.
Erza requipped into her Clear Heart Clothing, red plants with yellow flames on the bottom with bindings on her chest. She called two swords to her hands and then she moved. Erza nearly smiled as she did so, never before had she moved so freely. There was no weight of the armor holding her down, the swords in her hands never felt so strong. One of her swords may have broken but she felt Ikaruga fall.
Gray on the other hand was busy freezing parts of Vidaldus's hair as the crazy rocker melted into the ground and reappeared in different places. That thrice damned guitar of his kept blaring music which sent out invisible hits towards him that was making him frustrated.
Gray couldn't figure out what type of attack he would use next. His ears were ringing with the screeching of the guitar and it was making him disorientated. Gray wasn't moving as fast as could have been if he hadn't been in a fight and nearly crushed to death by the debris of a crumbling temple.
This guy was a pain in the ass and Gray finally had enough of him. Gray waited for him to reappear out of the ground and hit him with ice cannon. Once he lid through the dirt he froze the guitar and then shattered the ice. He couldn't help the grin of victory when the guitar was smashed to pieces. He knocked out the rocker with a round house kick to the head.
Juvia seemed to be less injured than Gray however she was completely pissed off that the rocker managed to control her. Gray on the other hand had taken on a lot of damage and Erza really didn't believe that he would be able to up against Deliora in that condition. Erza took a moment to check on her own injuries and couldn't help the sigh of relief that left her lips. She had a couple of bruises and some of her armors were wrecked but she had more than enough magic power to go a couple more rounds with a dangerous opponent.
"We should head to Natsu and Lucy." Said Juvia and Erza nodded her head, "The island is quiet. It shouldn't be this quiet here with a demon of that size wandering around."
Juvia wrapped her arm around Gray's waist and helped him walk in the general direction that they believed Deliora had gone. The group of three stumbled onto the shore only to find Lucy standing there with a strange look on her face. There were too many emotions passing through her eyes to determine what she was feeling currently.
"Where's Natsu and Deliora?" asked Gray.
Gray had all but collapsed onto the ground to get in a few moments of rest. Lucy just pointed towards the sky without a word. Erza felt her own eyes widen as she noticed the flames in the sky. Natsu was using his flames to fly however she had no idea what he was doing so far out. To her it looked like he was halfway towards Hargeon.
"What's going on Lucy?" asked Juvia and Lucy rubbed the palms of her hands into her eyes in frustration, "By the time we got here Deliora was already in the water."
Erza, Juvia and Gray all turned towards the ocean and searched the surface of the water. Erza felt her eyes widen as she saw it. Deliora was walking towards Hargeon. He had entered the water, reached the sea floor and continued to walk even though the pressure of the sea should have crushed him.
Deliora didn't even seem to notice the pressure of water as he moved steadily through the water. All they could see was the tip of his horns which surfaced with every step he took. Deliora wasn't moving fast but his steps were huge and he was covering a lot of distance. Natsu seemed to be racing him towards the town.
"Natsu is trying to evacuate the town." Said Lucy.
Juvia and Gray stared as the sun began to rise, "He isn't going to make it. We won't be able to reach there in time either. Lucy why didn't you fly towards Hargeon?"
Lucy bit her lip, "Even at my top speed I won't make there in time. Natsu is going as fast as he can but even he is barely managing to stay ahead of him. Someone needed to stay here and tell you guys what was happening here."
Erza nodded her head, "Do you have a plan Lucy?"
Lucy shook her head, "Hit him until you a soft spot and then keep hitting it. Natsu attacked him with fire but his skin is strong. His scales are like armor. There has to be a weakness somewhere but it will take time to find that spot. If Deliora starts to fire those beams, Hargeon won't be the only town it will take out."
Erza didn't like the plan but she knew that Lucy was struggling with this plan. She didn't know what else to do but hit the demon until something gave. There was no other plan here. She knew that Lucy wasn't happy with the idea of allowing Deliora to reach the town but they didn't know what else to do. It was already more than half way there.
Before anyone could say anything else because they still needed to find a way to reach the demon when Gray got up and ran towards the ocean. As he raced across the ocean he froze the water underneath him, "Common, we don't have a lot of time. The ice won't last forever."
Juvia raced past Erza and Lucy. She grabbed Gray's hand and started controlling the water around her. Erza and Lucy shared a smile and they raced behind Gray and Juvia. The two of them together were creating a bridge of ice for them to cross the ocean as Juvia kept the waves from breaking the ice. It was amazing and extremely taxing. Lucy wasn't sure how much longer either of them would be able to keep something of this scale up.
Gray glanced down at the hand in his own. He couldn't help the blush started creeping up his cheeks. It had been a long time since someone had held his hand but this was different. He could feel her magic moving in synch with his and never before had he ever felt this close to someone. It had never felt more right for someone to be standing by his side and shit if it didn't scare the crap out of him.
It didn't take them very long to reach the port. Just as the group of mages reached the port fishermen were already running for their lives. Gray turned and once more he came face to face with the demon from his nightmares. Deliora was now visible in the ocean from about the waist upwards. Natsu landed on the port and saw that the people in the town were already running for their lives.
Gray grabbed Juvia, "We need to hold him in place while Natsu and Erza find a weak spot."
Juvia took a deep breath and they synched their magic once more. A magic circle of pale blue opened around Deliora and the water that engulfed him turned to ice. Deliora tried moving through the ice when Juvia hit him with a wave of water. The two mages held him but it was obviously straining them to do so. They were both already tired from everything that they had already done.
Deliora roared and Natsu was already in the air hitting him with as much fire as he could. Erza kept requipping, striking in different places with different weapons trying to find a soft spot. Lucy bit her lip and got ready to cast Urano Metria. It was her most powerful offensive spell and hopefully it would do some damage against the creature.
Deliora opened his mouth and roared. Deliora seemed to grow tired of fighting against the ice that kept his legs imprisoned. He grabbed Erza and threw her towards Natsu. They both crashed into the ocean. Lucy could hear the crowds cry out in horror when they both went down. Lucy didn't have time to let herself feel any sort of terror for her friends. A hit like that would never keep her husband or the queen of fairies down.
She donned her Sagittarius and sent out a star shot. One of the beams hit inside Deliora's mouth and the demon roared in pain. Lucy smiled, she found it. She got ready to hit him with another shot when her eyes widened. There was a glow coming the Deliora's mouth. Lucy realized that it was going to fire that beam. She felt fear grip her heart.
Lucy didn't know anything about the capabilities of that beam or how long Deliora could keep the attack up. Her shield wouldn't last forever. It was meant to up a defense but only for a few minutes. She couldn't keep that spell up for long.
I seek the guardians of the Heavens
As the Ruler of the Stars
Hear my voice, heed my call
I beckon you to my side
Open six gates
Zodiac
Erza fought against the ocean as she swam to the surface. She managed to reach the surface just as Lucy hit Deliora with Star shot and she grinned as well. She saw it too. Natsu swam towards her and called her name, "We're not finding a weak spot."
Erza shook her head, "Your wife just found it."
They both turned back to look at Lucy. They paled when they saw Deliora getting ready to use that beam. If it fired on the town Deliora would destroy the entire town. Erza felt a large amount of magic being called upon. She turned to warn Lucy and noticed her glowing gold and muttering a spell.
Six golden beams of energy appeared in different places throughout Hargeon. Loke, Aquarius, Capricorn, Virgo, Gemini and Taurus all of whom were glowing gold reached out their hands and the gold energy started to cover the entire town.
"Celestial cage." Cried Lucy.
Erza swam towards Lucy who already had beads of sweat covering her forehead, "Lucy what is this?"
"A more powerful shield but I can't hold six spirits here forever. This spell will last for as long as I have the magic to power it. Erza hurry, I won't be able to hold this."
"We found the weak spot. Just give us a little more time." Replied Erza.
Erza requipped two swords to her hands when Deliora fired the first beam. It hit Lucy's shield head on and Lucy screamed. Several citizens screamed as well however they all paused when they noticed the golden shield didn't break under the pressure of the beam. They cheered but Erza noticed Lucy biting her lip so hard it bled. She wouldn't be able to take multiple hits using this shield either.
Erza and Natsu were getting ready to hit it again when the ice cracked. Deliora roared as it was freed from the ice that imprisoned it. Gray and Juvia hit the floor unconscious. They couldn't hold him any longer and they both passed out from the strain. Deliora advanced on the city and the only thing standing between him and Hargeon was Lucy and her spirits. Oh, and the Titania, Queen of the Fairies and the Salamander.
Natsu smiled as he realized that they weren't getting anywhere holding back. For the first time since coming to this time period Natsu stopped masking his magic. He felt his entire being engulfed in his flames as he made a running start towards Deliora.
He was finally able to go all out on someone and that demon was heading straight for his wife. Anyone who hurt Lucy would have to answer to him and Deliora had been hanging around for too long now. It was time to end this once and for all.