Good morning people (or good 'your local time of the day')! Despite Mashima-sensei continues to turn his characters to emo-kids (read 334), I'm here with my new chapter. Thanks everyone who left the review, I'm glad to know reader's opinion.
About my other story: Yeah, I know that I had to update 'Blessing of the scarlet dragon' three days ago, but I have some kind of author's block with that story, I'm trying to resolve the situation though.
Answers for the reviewers:
FanFictionHunter: Natsu's house is a three-story detached house. And no, because Erza isn't a 2nd generation dragon slayer – just read the chapter =)
That One Guy: Can't say I really understood what you meant…
Guest №1: Thanks for the support.
Guest №2: Man are you kidding me? Like the most of the OC's which are planned for this story Haru is a 'Rave Master' character, adopted for FT universe.
Guest №3: Many thanks for your support.
Mira-san: Of course. For example, I'm going to forfeit Loki's ark since it has almost nothing to do with Natsu and Erza. Instead, we'll join the slayers in their search for the new sword for Erza, since Natsu destroyed her 'Crimson Sakura'
Everyone: Thanks for the reviews people, now let's proceed, shall we? I'm pretty proud with this chapter, I hope it will be enough compensation for the previous one, which was a bit boring. I wish you a happy reading =)
One more thing: Yeah, I know that enemies seem a bit weak comparing to Natsu and Erza, but in canon strong enemies started to appeared only during Phantom Lord ark and after, so just wait a little =)
Chapter updated 2/12/2016
Chapter X – The Heritage of the Dragon
…
July 15, Year X784, 7:05, Island of Galuna, local village.
"We're sleeping Lucy, go away…" Natsu mumbled sleepily as he embraced his sleeping, scarlet haired fairy tightly, "It's too early, let us sleep."
"Give it up Lucy, they already woke up early yesterday, no way they are going to do the same today," Sin said to Lucy. "If you continue to bother them, you'll only get your ass kicked."
"He's right Lucy, it's too damn early," Gray agreed with Sin. "So, if you do not want to sleep – go take a walk or something," The ice-mage closed his eyes.
Two hours later
"Without that odd moon this island looks quite nice…" Erza noted as she and her team stood outside the village. Both Erza and her beloved god slayer seemed well-rested and ready for work.
"What's with this look, Lucy?" Gray asked when he noticed that she's looking gloomy and tired.
"I didn't s…s…" she yawned "…sleep well," The blonde replied as she took a silver key from her belt and called, "Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation! Hororogiumu!" Out of the magic seal came a giant grandfather clock with arms, legs and a dial-like face... "The time is 9:28 A.M.," The Clock spirit announced.
"Okay people, first we're going to explore the temple. Maybe there we will be able to find something. Though, I'd prefer to find someone, who we could interrogate," Natsu explained his plan.
"Let's try to avoid confrontation. We don't know what's out there… she says calmly," Horologium (with Lucy riding inside) translated.
"Uhh, are you sure you're using your celestial spirits properly?" Gray asked, looking back at her and Sin, who was now riding on top of the clock.
"Somehow this habit of hers is getting on my nerves…" Erza said to Natsu and he nodded in agreement.
"Don't forget we're dealing with a curse, we don't know what else is affected… she says," Lucy said to the others as Horologium translated to the outside as team continued onwards, toward the pyramid.
Natsu ignored Lucy completely, as he addressed Erza. "If it's really the curse or an enchantment, I can't localize its source. Also, I don't feel anything in the air so I can't say how exactly it interacts with its victims…"
Erza didn't reply, she was thinking about Natsu's words when she suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. "What the hell… This smell is awful…" She said as they continued walking. A few moments later, they were able to hear the loud sound of something big, which drew their attention and made them turn around. Natsu, Gray, and Erza turned their attention to the source of the sound, Gray asking in a concerned tone, "What is it?"
Few moments later the source of the sound appeared from the forest, and its appearance caused ambiguous reactions among Natsu's team members.
"Are you serious…?!" Erza exclaimed.
"It's huge!" Gray realized.
"Oh, come on, is this for real?" Natsu asked himself in disbelief, as if he was doubting his heavenly eyes.
"Beat it up, you guys… she says in a commanding tone," Horologium translated.
Weird creature made a deep breath, seemingly preparing to unleash some sort of a breath attack. Gray placed his left hand over his right palm, mist emanating from around it as a light blue magic circle appeared beneath his feet. "Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo!" [Ice Make: Shield] He cast a spell, conjuring a large shield made of Ice, to protect Natsu, Erza, Sin, and Lucy.
However, instead of a direct attack, the creature emitted a cloud of foul-smelling gas, which easily passed around and over the shield, engulfing the entire glade and drawing disgusted coughs from the three outside mages. Inside of Horologium, Lucy was wondering what was happening outside, as she couldn't see what's going on, exactly.
"Hey what's going on," …she's asking in confusion," Horologium translated for Lucy. But then Horologium covered his mouth from the smell as his time was up and he disappeared, leaving Lucy out in a cloud of gas. She fell down on the ground and screamed, smelling the foul odor, "Stinky!"
As the gas cloud dissipated, Lucy was able to see what attacked them, "A rat!" She cried. Indeed, it was a giant turquoise colored rat and, judging by how it was dressed, it appeared to be a female. She wore a black corset top with pink edges and black lace in a criss-cross design across the front. A white, lace headband and a red ribbon was tied across her chest.
While Gray and Natsu were still on their feet, Erza was out cold from the smell. Gray called, "Hey Erza! Stop lying around!"
"I'm afraid she can't. That's the drawback from having a superhuman sense of smell…" Sin pointed at lying dragon slayer. "At times like this, I have no regrets about impossibility to smell…"
As the rat bared its teeth, Lucy got up and screamed, "Run!"
"Run? From a stinky rat?" Natsu asked with cold voice, dusting off his coat with one hand and holding Lucy by collar with another, thus preventing her from running. "We got a job to do, this idiotic thing won't stop me," God slayer declared as he released Lucy and slammed his fists together, summoning his destructive powers:
"When you brought destruction to the west...
And you brought destruction to the east...
Scavengers will have their feast…"
"Senjin no Ukyogun!" [War God's Raven Flock]
Natsu created a large energy cluster, which contained a hundred of crimson essences, each taking the shape of a raven. "I'll teach you a lesson about what happens with those who tries to humiliate my fiancée," The god slayer said coldly and launched his spell into the rat. Natsu's raven flock created multiple explosions over the rat's body, ravaging it and throwing the rat into the air, also knocking the monster out completely.
"Nice shot," Gray said as rat fell on the ground.
"Hey guys," Lucy pointed out, pointing to something that looked like a pyramid, "That looks like the entrance to the temple!" She looked to them adding, "Let's get inside while we can!"
"It's knocked out Lucy, no need to be hasty…" Erza mumbled as he slowly stood up, still holding to her poor nose.
"I saw a lot of different creatures, and this one is among the most preposterous of those I've ever seen," Natsu noted as he examined the monster closer, "Anyway, don't mind this thing, let's go inside the temple."
July 15, Year X784, 9:15, Island of Galuna, Temple of the Moon.
The group inspected the inside of the Temple of the Moon; like any old temple it was dusty and broken with stone debris littering the ground.
"Wow! This place is big!" Lucy said amazed.
"It's all busted up," Sin commented.
"Just how old is this place?" Gray asked, examining the ceiling and walls.
"Judging by the degree of degradation, it looks a few hundred years old, give or take," Erza observed, picking up a piece of the temple.
"What a tasteless decoration…" Natsu noted, looking at something on the walls. There appeared to be red moons on the walls, just as aged as the temple itself. On top was a crescent moon with many full moons scattered all over the wall they were facing.
"They're moons," Gray realized, eyeing the moons on the wall along with the rest. The ice-mage read something off the wall for them to hear: "This place was originally called 'Island of the Moon'."
Lucy started to ponder, her left hand to her chin, "A moon island, a moon curse, and moon emblems… There's something fishy about these ruins."
"Thanks, cap!" Sin exclaimed sarcastically.
"Man, this place is falling apart. Watch your steps people, this floor does not seem safe…" Erza warned her team as she examined the floor closer, holding to the column. However, while the others were staring at the walls, the columns appeared to be unsafe too as it started to fall, probably knight-mage put too much of her weight on it. The column fell on the floor and it started to crumble, making the others scream as they fell down with Erza screaming "I'm sorry!" above everyone else.
From outside the temple, a loud BOOM was heard as the group crashed into the ground, covered in the rubble of the floor, which was now the ceiling to a whole new room.
Natsu somehow appeared standing atop of mound of rubble, "Hey! Are you people all right there?!" He called out for his team, looking beneath himself as his heavenly eyes could see living souls even through the stone debris.
'No! Thanks to your goofy girlfriend!' Lucy mentally yelled at him, yet she dared not to say it aloud.
Natsu helped Erza get out from the rubble and embraced her tightly, whispering with a smile, "Don't worry, I still love you…"
Once everyone was on their feet again, the group looked up to the ceiling, at the hole they fell from. "Sin, can you fly us all up?" Lucy suggested to the only member who could fly.
"Probably, with Natsu's help," Little skeletal creature nodded.
"But we don't need to fly out of here for now," Erza said, dusting off her skirt and shirt.
"We're beneath the ruins…" Gray confirmed to the party.
"Yes, it seems like some sort of a secret cave, and since we're here, let's do some exploring," The God slayer suggested as he headed to an opening, holding Erza's hand. The team followed the Crimson Cardinal and Titania through the opening.
They walked for about 80 yards, as passage ended inside of an even bigger cave, and that one wasn't empty…
"Now this is something…" The god slayer noted about what he was now looking at.
Lucy, Sin, and Gray caught up with the Slayers, finally exiting the opening to see what was going on.
"Natsu?" Blonde asked curiously.
"What's wrong?" Gray wondered.
"What the hell is this?" Erza asked, staring at something with wide, unbelieving eyes.
"Living magic…" Natsu replied, clenching his mutilated arm as his left eye flashed with dark blue flame. Once Gray, Sin, and Lucy stood next to the ice, they understood their teammate's reactions.
Gray couldn't believe what he was looking at, out of shock rather than fear; why was this here? Lucy was terrified by the sight. It was a demon, Incased in an ice shell. It was large, probably bigger than an average building; its appearance well-built like a demon should be with dark blue skin. Gray confirmed what this demon was, eyes still wide in shock, "Deliora…?!"
He stepped forward. "That can't be, what is Deliora doing here?! It's impossible, he can't be here!" His voice shook with anger, fists clenched. "It's… It's…!" Gray stammered, trying to find the right words to describe the situation.
"Gray, calm down," Lucy said solemnly, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"If Gray is right, then this thing is called Akuma no Hakai, Deriora. [Demon of Destruction]," Natsu pointed at imprisoned demon.
Gray took in a sharp breath between clenched teeth before looking back up at the frozen demon. "Yes, it is him…" the ice mage confirmed. "Deliora… The demon of destruction…"
"He was also called Hai no Zankeki [Scourge of the North]," Natsu noted. "And from the familiar feeling in my arm I can tell that this demon is just another page from the book of Zeref… It gives me almost the same feeling as Lullaby," The god slayer added.
"What?!" Gray asked angrily, mentally comparing the two demons. The god slayer just nodded silently as Erza grabbed Natsu's left arm. Gray stared at the iced demon, eyes still narrowed in anger. "So, Zeref… and Deliora… Damn… He looks exactly the same as then…"
"I've heard about this thing a few times, during my journeys, before I joined Fairy Tail. Seemingly, a few years ago that so-called 'demon' caused troubles of a certain scale," Crimson Cardinal explained. "But it was never mentioned in any ancient legend or story, which is not surprising, because, after all, even by this region's standards, this one is just a small-time demon."
"Sm… Small-time demon?!" Lucy's eyes widened, "Then… what is a big-time demon then?!"
"You really want to know that, Lucy?" Sin asked sarcastically.
But Lucy couldn't think about the answer as Erza shushed at her team, "Silence! Someone's coming, take cover, quickly!"
The team turned toward the sound of approaching footsteps. The footsteps were getting louder, meaning someone or something was coming into the cave, where they were hiding in.
Two young men entered the room, one with some animalistic features. The one on the left was a lean-built, mildly muscular young man of average height with distinctive animalistic features. The individual on his right was a short, slim young man distinguished by his extremely bushy, squared, black eyebrows. Their names were Toby Horhorta and Yuka Suzuki.
"This is where the voices were coming from," Yuka sneered, looking around for the source of the voices.
Toby growled slightly. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, and Sin have hidden themselves behind some rocks, seeing the two enter where they once stood. The team saw them coming closer, the shorter of the two complaining, "It's daylight. I'm sleepy…" Toby growled again as they passed by the Fairy Tail's team, unaware that they were there. "Toby," Yuka addressed his comrade, "Have you been soaking in the moon drip? You have ears and stuff."
"No! These are decorations! Get it through your head!" He snapped while Yuka smiled.
"I was only teasing you, idiot," Yuka assured him.
Toby groaned sadly at the remark, "You're so mean."
"Moon Drip? Could that be the curse?" Lucy wondered, looking past the rock she was hiding behind to hear their conversation. The stellar mage gasped as another person entered the cave.
The third person to enter the cave was a young woman – sixteen in appearance – who had blue eyes, magenta-colored hair and a curvaceous body. Her hair was tied back in pigtails with bangs on either side of her face, a ribbon was tied around her neck as a choker, a purple and pink dress with laced spaghetti string and light pink trimmings, black leggings, and thigh-length boots. Her dress appeared to have two long and thin wings at the back. This girl's name was Sherry Blendy.
Sherry walked into the cave, announcing her presence to Toby and the tired Yuka. "Toby, Yuka, I have bad news," She said sadly.
"Sherry," Yuka said simply.
Toby greeted the pink haired girl with a happy growl and wave.
"Someone beat up Angelica," She informed with sad look on her face.
"See? Thanks to your thirst for violence these weirdos now know about us!" Lucy whispered accusingly.
"Doesn't matter," Natsu waved her off.
"It's just a dumb rat! Don't give it a deluxe name!" Toby shouted.
"She is not a rat!" Sherry retorted, "Angelica is a hunter that races through the darkness… and…" She paused, "Love."
'What's she talking about?' Lucy thought, already thinking that, among those three, the girl was the weirdest one. "Talk about a serious weirdo. Especially that last thing she said," She whispered with wide eyes.
"They're not from this island. Their smell is different," Erza said, giving the three a sniff with her nose.
"And their souls are the souls of pitiful people…" Natsu added as he examined the group.
"And they don't seem cursed, either," Sin interjected.
"Intruders, huh?" Yuka spoke, getting the four mages back to listening in.
"Just when the moon's light is nearly gathered, too. So sad," Sherry spoke sorrowfully. She looked to her comrades, adding, "Let us get rid of the intruders before the Sub-Zero Emperor hears of this." She paused, Yuka smirked as Toby's lips draw back from his teeth to show sharp tips of his canines as Sherry added, "Yes, before the moon shows itself…"
"Yeah," Yuka nodded. Toby growled in agreement. Sherry continued on, "Now that they've seen Deliora, we cannot let them leave alive. We will give the intruders eternal sleep…" she paused, then added "…In other words, love."
"You mean 'death'," Toby corrected her as a sweatdrop went down the back of his head while Yuka kept smiling.
"Okay, I've heard enough of this idiotic babbling," Natsu said as his eyes flashed with crimson light and he dashed toward the enemy group with immense speed. Within a fraction of a second, he appeared about two meters away from them and Gladius Terminus flashed in his hand, "Senmei Saikō: Shinyōbu!" [Sure-kill Shot: Mystic Dance]
"Wha…"
"Who…"
"Hey…"
All three enemy mages were smashed into the opposite wall, which became painted with several spots of fresh blood as all three fell on the floor, unconsciousness.
"Alright, that was unexpected…" Natsu noted, "That was the weakest Senmei Saikō in my arsenal…" The three appeared to be much weaker than he thought. Their wounds weren't serious but still all three were bleeding and knocked out cold. Now questioning them was not possible for some time.
"Don't you think that using words 'Senmei Saikō' and 'weak' in one sentence is silly by itself?" Sin asked, floating near Natsu.
"Don't worry, I still love you…" Erza quoted Natsu's own words, looking at him with gentle smile. Then she summoned first-aid kit from her magical space and gave it to Lucy, so blonde could treat those three 'cultists' wounds.
"Ah, who cares?" Natsu shrugged, "Sooner or later someone will come to look for these three, so I'll just catch and question them…"
Gray, in the meantime, seemed unconcerned with those three's condition. "Why did they bring Deliora here…?!" Gray shouted angrily, "How did they find where he was sealed, anyway?!"
"It's just my guess, but maybe they knew where it was sealed in the first place," Natsu speculated, stepping on Sherry's butt. "They are some sort of cultists, as they seem to me. Anyway, Lucy, use the first aid kit, please. They may be of some use to us while they're still alive…"
"Natsu, stop that," Erza cut him off before turning to Gray, "Where he was sealed?" Knight-mage asked for a clarification.
"This thing was sealed in an iceberg, in a north-eastern part of the continent," Gray answered, his mind flashing back to what the demon was, "It's an immortal demon that ravaged the land of Isvan ten years ago… My master, Ur, the one who taught me magic, risked her life to seal it away!" He looked to the iced demon, hands clenched in anger. "Dunno what it has to do with the island's curse, but it doesn't belong here!" His hand began to charge with Ice magic and now emitting a mist. "Sub-Zero Emperor… Who are you?!"
There was anger in Gray's eyes that not even Natsu or Erza had ever seen before; it was a side of Gray they had never witness until that moment. It did not just feel like anger, but another feeling… a feeling of darkness.
"You'll have hell to pay if you try to tarnish Ur's name!" Ice mage gritted his teeth.
"Gray…" Lucy said quietly.
Gray kept his eyes on the iced demon, uttering the name once more, "Deliora…"
"It was sealed by your master?" Sin asked.
"Yes," Gray replied, his back still facing his friends and his gaze set on Deliora.
"And you're saying this was brought here from the north-eastern part of this continent?" Natsu inquired.
"Could this demon be the cause of the island's curse?!" Lucy wondered.
"It's definitely possible," Gray said. "This demon is still alive and all…"
"And creating a demon that can put a curse upon innocent people is definitely in Zeref's style…" Natsu added, remembering the Lullaby, death curse wielder. Erza's face expression, however, remained skeptical.
"My master, Ur, cast a spell called Zettai Tōketsu: Aisu no Sheru [The Absolute Freezing: Iced Shell] on this demon." Gray explained, "It's an unmeltable ice. Not even the most powerful explosive flame spells can melt it. Why would they carry this off if they knew that?" He asked.
"Maybe they don't know," Lucy answered. "Maybe they're trying to melt it somehow."
"For what, though?!" Gray snapped, scaring the Celestial mage.
"I-I don't know…" She replied nervously.
"This is too much," Gray sighed. "Who would bring Deliora here, and why?"
"We have to ask these idiots, but I'm afraid we'll have to wait some time before we can do that…" Natsu suggested. "They seem bent to releasing it, and they will tell us why, that I can promise. By the way, we need to tie them up…" He added as Erza summoned a bunch of ropes from her magical space, Lucy just finished treating 'cultists' wounds.
"Yeah," Gray agreed, still facing Deliora, "We'll wait here, there is another reason for waiting."
"What is it?" Sin asked curiously.
"We have to wait for the moon to come out," He replied to the skeletal dragon's question.
"The moon? But it's still morning," Lucy said, folding her arms. "We have to wait that long?"
"Yes," Gray and Natsu replied at the same time. The ice mage about the moon and the god slayer about the enemies to regain consciousness.
"What is this about, Gray?" Erza asked.
"They said something about 'moonlight being fully gathered soon'." Gray replied with his hands still balled into fists, "I get the strange feeling that the island's curse and Deliora have something to do with the moon."
"Unlikely…" Erza whispered into Natsu's ear. God slayer nodded in sign that he heard her, but he actually didn't seem concerned about neither curse nor demon, his thoughts seemingly were somewhere else.
"Oh, right," Lucy too remembered, thinking back to the ones called Toby, Yuka, and Sherry and their conversation they had. "I am curious to know what's happening and what they're up to…"
"All right then – Gray, Lucy – you two and Sin will remain here. Watch over these three…" Natsu finished with the ropes and enemies. "This case is becoming complicated and we can't waste time, as such, Erza and I are going to search the temple for information about the lacrima," He grabbed his fiancée's hand.
"Okay…" Gray nodded. He had no reasons to ask them to stay.
"Wait, if you're going up there to the temple then someone can spot you!" Lucy warned.
"If they spot us, they'll just share these three's fate, but that doesn't matter, Lucy, we are not going up – we are going deeper into the temple," Natsu replied, pointing downwards.
"What? Where?" Erza asked in surprise.
"Here is another secret passage, there, behind the demon," Natsu pointed behind Deliora. "It's hidden by magic but I know it's there. Watch the prisoners and stay on alert," The god slayer added as he headed toward the secret passage, pulling his beloved along.
"Ok… Okay…" Lucy replied before she set her eyes on Gray, who sat alone on a rock. He seemed to be deep in thought, it wasn't like him not to be settled with them. What was on the raven-haired mage's mind?
'Ur…' Gray thought as memories were conjured up in his mind about the one called Ur.
July 15, Year X784, 10:45, Galuna Island, Temple of the Moon.
(With Natsu and Erza)
"Can you feel it?" Natsu asked as he and Erza went closer to the secret passage that the god slayer spotted.
"Amazing… How did you manage to notice it from that distance?" Erza asked as she looked at her beloved with a mixture of respect and adoration.
"Hey, I always was good at spotting hidden magic," Natsu smiled and kissed his bride. "Actually, I paid for it once… but still, skill is skill and magic are one of the four domains of my mother…" He added, referring to the case when he got his arm mutilated.
As they came closer Natsu examined the passage door. "I can't believe it, these idiots were hanging around here for months, maybe even years, yet none of them was able to notice this passage?" Natsu noted as he determined that no one used this hidden door for several years.
"I don't think they've ever thought about it, they have their own business here," Erza replied with reason.
"Yeah, maybe… what a shallow-minded bunch…" Natsu said as he used his telekinetic power to open the heavy stone door, masked as the common rock. At the beginning of the passage were several torches. Natsu and Erza each took one, then she-dragon breathed on the torches to ignite them.
As Natsu watched his fiancée breathing out flame, he realized something. Since the grimoire and the lacrima actually have nothing to do with one another, that means that lacrima actually was in half-dormant state all this time. In turn, that means that Erza actually was advancing her dragon slayer's magic using the book only (even more, lacrima actually was hindering her, making spells to consume more magical power than they should have). And still, Erza made a huge progress during such a short time… The word 'astonishing' wouldn't be enough to properly describe such a learning speed. Yes, Natsu was well aware that Erza is an immensely talented wizard, but that… Is she have some natural compatibility with dragon slayer magic? Natsu never heard of something like that… Well, that's an interesting question, but right now wasn't the time for thinking about this.
"C'mon, c'mon! The ancient power may lie at the end of this cave, waiting for us!" Natsu urged his fiancée, and his voice wasn't emotionless as usual, it was rather cheerful, as his eyes were glowing with excitement. Erza could not help but giggle as a certain warm feeling bloomed in her heart. It was always like this with him: just mention an ancient legend or treasure and he'd forget about everything else and she loved that about his character. But most importantly, only with her alone Natsu could drop that impenetrable mask and show his true emotions.
"Okay, let's go!" She smiled, grabbing Natsu's hand as they both ran forward. They passed about one thousand feet deeper into the cave and rounded a corner, taking notice that the cave started to turn into an artificial corridor.
"It's a good sign…" Natsu noted. Artificial corridors in caves usually mean something interesting.
"And this is not too good of a sign…" Erza noticed several skeletons lying on the path ahead. They made several steps forward and both were forced to leap forth, barely dodging the set of spears that shot out from the floor.
"That was close…" Natsu said as he stood up.
"Looks like we found the reason why these skeletons are here…" Erza speculated. Those people obviously have not been fast enough.
"Yeah… I remember those cultists sent several dozens of their followers here, though their task has never been mentioned. None of them have returned…" Natsu nodded with strange smile. Danger only makes things more interesting for him. Erza did not share his excitement about that, but there was no way back for her, anyway.
They continued their way forward, watching their steps carefully this time…
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
Flashback
It was snowing from what Gray remembered and he was just around eight years old. He stood in the snow, freezing, shivering, and another boy standing behind him as he faced the back of Ur. Ur was a woman of average height with a slim, curvaceous figure. She had short dark purple hair that was kept at a shoulder length. Her clothes were light despite being in the snow, consisted of a grey jacket, jeans and a red tank top.
"Can you keep up, Gray," Ur asked upon seeing the shivering young boy, before turning around with a smile, "My training is tough, you know."
Gray, dressed in a tan coat with a blue shirt underneath, breathed heavily, his body feeling cold. But he looked up at her with determination in his eyes. "Yeah! I'll do whatever I have to!"
End of flashback
Gray had his hands together near his face, the fingers laced tightly, still thinking about the past. Lucy sat nearby, bored, putting her book on her lap and sighing loudly.
"I know I agreed to wait, but this is boring…" Lucy whined.
"Yeah…" Sin agreed.
(With Natsu and Erza)
Natsu and Erza have already managed to avoid five sets of traps, including huge rolling stones and crumbling floors. "Damn, I can't believe I let myself be dragged into another 'adventure' of yours…" Erza complained as her enthusiasm disappeared quite a while ago. In the end they had absolutely no warranties that there was really something valuable at the end of this trap-filled corridor.
"Don't be a downer…" Natsu carelessly waved her off. He, on the other hand, was becoming more and more excited with each trap – in his opinion, the more traps that were on the path, the more valuable items will be at the end. "Hey, look! There is a room there!" The god slayer exclaimed excitedly, pointing forward.
'Oh… Looks like the experience with his arm actually did not teach him anything…' Erza thought as she rolled her eyes. 'There are so many normal boys around, why did I have to fall in love with this maniac…' She asked herself, smiling, as reasons for her love started to pop up in her head, so many reasons…
"Erza! Quit daydreaming – we are about to find a legendary treasure!" Natsu called for her impatiently.
'I guess I'm the complete fool... but I am the happiest fool in the world…' Erza smiled as she ran toward her fiancé.
"Why are you smiling?" Natsu wondered.
"No reason," She replied and kissed his cheek. "Okay, c'mon. Let's see it through."
They walked forward and entered a square room with walls about twelve meters in length and a stone pedestal in the middle of the room. A stone door at the opposite side of the room was closed. Near the door was a slot with a sign: 'Drop the coin here'. On the pedestal were two bowls, covered with lids – one made of gold and one of silver. Also, the floor was littered with crushed bones…
"I don't like the looks of this…" Erza noted. "Okay, now what?"
"I think this is a conundrum…" Natsu replied as he came closer to the opposite door and examined the slot. "This slot is intended for a huge coin…" He concluded.
"And where will we get it?" The knight-mage wondered.
"No idea," Natsu replied as he started to examine the pedestal and the bowls. "Here are some symbols… Looks like an ancient language…"
"Can you read it?" Erza asked.
"Yes, I think I can... This one is similar to the divine language, symbols look a bit different but I see the resemblance…" Natsu said as he started to wipe off the dust from the symbols. As soon as the god slayer touched the pedestal, the door behind them closed.
"What the?!" Erza exclaimed as she dashed to the door and tried to open it, but with no success. "Great, now what? I don't think we can use magic to open it – this whole cave may collapse on us…"
"Calm down, please, we are not going back anyway…" Natsu mumbled as he continued to stare at the symbols. "Strange… I think these two words, 'bellum' and 'immutáre', they mean 'war' and 'change', respectively." He pointed at two words between the bowls. "This one, 'véritas', means 'truth'…" He pointed at the word under the gold bowl. "And this one, 'fictus', it means 'false'," The god slayer pointed at the silver bowl.
"What's inside this bowls?" Erza asked as she reached out to take the lids from the bowls, her lack of experience as a treasure hunter was clearly noticeable now.
"No, wait!" Natsu exclaimed but it was too late – Erza removed the lids from both bowls only to see that they were empty. "This is exactly how I lost my arm, I too took what I should not have…" Natsu said sternly.
"Natsu, it's just two bowls," Erza replied. "Besides, three of our nakama are up there with three prisoners, did you forget about them? We should deal with this puzzle quickly."
"I know, but acting like that is too risky," Natsu retorted. "Since when did you became so impulsive?"
"We are in a locked stone room, Natsu. As if it could get any worse…" Erza said but was cut off mid-sentence as the ceiling started to come down.
"What did you say?" Natsu asked sarcastically.
"Oops… My bad…" Erza admitted.
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
"I know!" the Celestial mage exclaimed, clapping her hands together with delight. Sin looked at her with his claw ready to make facepalm as she pulled out one of her silver keys, one of them having a harp as a picture. Lucy then announced, "Open! Gate of the Harp Constellation! Lyra!" As a blue magic circle appeared from the key, pink smoke and yellow stars appeared, revealing another spirit in Lucy's possession who look excited to see her, her left hand waving quite fast.
She appeared to be a young girl with waist length strawberry blonde hair that curled at the ends who wore a pink bonnet on top of her head. Her cheeks were marked with round blush marks and she wore a long dress with hearts printed by her waist and leather shoes as well. She had small white wings and a large harp on her back.
"Long time no see, Lucy!" She greeted her master happily. Sin facepalmed…
"Hi Lyra!" Lucy greeted back smiling as the Harp spirit stood up to Lucy with a pout.
"Sheesh! You hardly ever call me!" She turned sideways from Lucy, still smiling, "I want to help lots more! You're such a meanie!"
"Meanie?" Lucy repeated, arms crossed, "I'm only allowed to call you like three times per month."
Lyra turned quickly to her while Sin's eye sockets were empty as he was sitting on Lucy's shoulder, "Huh? Really?!"
"Another weirdo…" Lil skeletal creature commented.
"So, what should I sing for you today?!" Lyra asked excitedly…
(With Natsu and Erza)
Natsu dashed back to the pedestal and closed both bowls with their respective lids, but, as he expected, nothing changed – the ceiling continued to descend.
"Kongō no Yoroi: Za Naito!" [The Knight: Adamantine Armor] Erza shouted, equipping a bulky, darkly colored armor. As she summoned her maximum defense armor, the knight-mage raised her arms and created a light blue/green magic seal above her head. The ceiling's descending slowed down but did not stop. "Natsu, whatever you're trying of doing – do it quick," She shouted, holding the ceiling with great efforts.
"Rushing brought us into this mess in the first place!" Natsu replied as he tried to focus on the puzzle.
"Natsu!" Erza urged him again as her knees began to bend.
"Hold on, I think I've got it! 'War' and 'Change'… 'War changes'… but my mother was always telling me: Non est nisi una véritas - nunquam permanenti bellum… [There is only one truth – 'war never changes'] Then saying 'war changes' is 'false' and I should open this bowl!" Natsu decided as he removed the lid from the silver bowl. The ceiling stopped as Natsu found a large platinum coin inside the silver bowl.
Erza fell on her knees, panting, as ceiling began to ascend, regaining its normal height. "It's good… that you listened… to your mother…" She said, ex-quipping to her casual wear.
"Promise me to never do such a thing again!" Natsu demanded, wiping the sweat off from his forehead.
"Promise me to never again put me into the room with a descending ceiling!" Erza retorted with her own condition. She knew that she screwed up with the bowls but her stubbornness did not let her admit it.
"I can't promise it, this is a treasure hunt…" Natsu replied reasonably.
"Then I won't make any promises either!" Erza said boldly and got a harsh slap on her ass.
"Nasty girl…" Natsu mumbled. 'Damn, there are lots of quiet and appeasable girls around, why did I have to fall in love with this oddball?" He asked himself. Though, reasons for his love started to pop up in his head; there were so many of them… 'But I guess this is what I've actually got used to… a woman with character… even if she's quite exotic… I guess I'm really overinfluenced by Okā-sama... but, probably, it can't be helped, right? ' Natsu thought as he embraced his beautiful fiancée. "Okay, that was fun. C'mon, let's get out of here," They came to the door with the slot nearby and Natsu dropped the coin into the slot. A few moments later the door opened, allowing them to continue their adventure.
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
"Anything. I'll let you decide!" Lucy replied when Lyra asked what she should play for the next song.
"Okay! Then I'll just sing whatever! Yay!" Lyra responded happily, holding thumbs up with Lucy explaining to Sin, "Lyra's a really good singer!"
Lyra placed her hands to her blue harp, and began to strum a melody from the strings, letting out a calming sound, which Sin actually did not like. Lucy fell asleep with a smile on her face as Gray too could hear Lyra's song.
'Some words are born…
Some words fade away...
Some words live on inside you…
When it seems you're about to come to a stop…
…they transform into courage…'
(With Natsu and Erza)
After several more minutes of walking Natsu and Erza came to the large, no, huge cave. Here was an underground lake with a large island (more than half a mile in diameter) in the middle of it. Several shafts to the surface were made in the ceiling, and rays of sunlight were coming through them into the cave. All rays converged in the middle of the island, lighting up a shrine with the pedestal… A pedestal with a large book on it!
"Look! There!" Natsu shouted excitedly as he saw the book. "C'mon!" He dashed forward, pulling Erza along. A dark blue power seal appeared at his left arm as he started to freeze the lake's surface so he and Erza could walk to the underground island. "Strange… We're just supposed to take the book like this? Don't you think that our way here was too easy?" He asked for Erza's opinion.
"Easy?!" Erza exclaimed in slight shock. "You're saying that was easy?! We found a secret door, hidden by magic; we had to pass through half a dozen of deadly traps and the only reason we haven't been squashed is because we have my Adamantine Armor and your knowledge of divine language; and you are saying that was easy?!"
"Comparing to the value of a chance to inherit a primordial bloodline – yes, it was quite easy," Natsu gently kissed the tip of her nose. Though she was a powerful sorceress and a senior mage, Erza was still a newbie treasure hunter. "Okay, c'mon, let's take a look at the book…" Natsu said as he took several steps forward but he was interrupted when he felt a raise of magic energy inside the cave. Suddenly, a shrine with the pedestal and grimoire became surrounded with circle of violet flame. The same wall of violet flames surrounded the entire island, preventing the Fairy Tail mages from leaving it. "Okay… It looks like I rushed a little with the conclusion…"
"I hope we survive this because I want to kill you myself…" Erza growled as she and Natsu watched a cloud of violet mist began to gather near the center of the island. Several moments later the cloud started to shape into a large violet magic seal right under the ceiling of the cave. Actually, both Natsu and Erza already saw a similar seal, just a few days ago, in Clover town.
Natsu clenched his left palm, "Living magic…" Three seconds later the mist cloud disappeared with a flash of light and turned into a huge monster with the body of a lion and human-like head – a sphinx. The monster was at least a hundred feet in length and about fifty feet in height. His pelage was gray-colored and his eyes were glowing with a red light.
"Now you are satisfied?" Erza asked with some desperate irony.
"SO… ANOTHER HUMAN CAME TO SEEK FOR A HERITAGE OF THE DEAD…" The monster said in a loud, growling voice. "IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE SOMEONE MANAGED TO COME THIS FAR…" The sphinx stepped forward.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Natsu asked, examining the demon.
"YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME? YOU'RE A BRAVE ONE…" The demon looked at Natsu before shooting two laser-like beams from his eyes into the god slayer, but Natsu used his sword to reflect the beams aside. "AND STRONG… GOOD, I'LL ENJOY CONSUMING YOUR SOULS. I AM THE GREAT BEAST ZANAPHAR, 400 YEARS AGO I WAS CREATED BY THE LORD ZEREF. SEVERAL YEARS AFTER, ANOTHER MAGE FOUND ME AND BOUND ME TO THIS PLACE WITH AN ORDER TO PREVENT ANYONE FROM ACQUIRING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS…"
"If that's the case, your owner will be disappointed… Knowledge is power, and power belongs to me," Natsu said as his indifferent demeanor returned. "No tattered cat can stop me from taking this book. Prepare to meet your maker, Zana… whoever you are," Natsu said emotionlessly, causing the demon to growl angrily.
"Do you really have to make him angry?" Erza asked, looking at the beast worriedly.
"C'mon, you really think that there was a slightest chance to avoid battle?" Natsu replied with sarcasm, though his eyes were focused on the monster, who was angered yet a bit surprised by the very fact that a mage of this era wasn't afraid of him. It was the first time after his binding to this cave when he has seen a human who was not afraid of him. "Let battle rejoice!" Natsu declared as his eyes blazed with crimson light.
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
Now, walk forth…
Because you have grown stronger since then…
Don't feel lost anymore…
Have faith in those words from then…
Gray remained still as Lyra sang, the anger he was feeling starting to soften a bit. He started to stifle as tears starting to form in his eyes when his thoughts returned to Ur.
(With Natsu and Erza)
The sphinx pounced at the two mages, causing them to spread out. Erza leaped aside as Natsu managed to slip under the demon's belly. "Senjin no Saiken!" [War God's Crushing Fist] Natsu slammed his energy-covered fist right into the monster's abdomen, causing the huge beast to roar in pain.
"Hishō no Yoroi: Za Naito!" [The Knight: Flight Armor] Erza ex-quipped into her flight armor and dashed toward the demon. "Sonikku Kurou!" [Sonic Claw] The knight-mage quickly rushed along the beast's body, slashing him from every direction. The demon wailed with pain and slammed his claw into the ground, trying to hit Erza and causing a local earthquake.
"Sentō Chūkaku!" [Combat Core] Natsu shouted as his body was cloaked in an aura of crimson light. With greatly increased speed the god slayer dashed to the demon's paw and used it to climb up to his back.
"GET OFF ME!" The demon bellowed. Zanaphar jumped, trying to shake off the god slayer from his back but Natsu just used that impulse to jump in the air.
"Senjin no Sōken!" [War God's Twin Blades] God slayer cast a spell and demon wailed once more as Natsu hit the back of his head with his twin blades.
"Raitei no Yoroi: Za Naito!" [The Knight: Lightning Empress Armor] Erza ex-quipped to her golden and light bluish armor as her appearance now resembled that of an armored Greek goddess of sort. Her head was adorned by a band with two ribbons on it and her hair styled in a long braid. She raised a long spear with a very large blade and a decorated circle resembling a shield attaching it to the shaft, which was adorned by a large ribbon. "Raitoningu Bīmu!" [Lightning Beam] Erza shouted, creating a light blue magic seal as a beam of lightning the same color of the seal was shot towards the beast from the tip of the spear.
However, this time the demon deflected Erza's attack. "GET OFF!" The beast howled and swung quickly at Erza with his claw. She used her spear to block the attack but it was not enough – the power of the beast's blow sent her flying to the opposite side of the island. She crashed into the ground and rolled head over heels.
As Erza's body's stopped rolling, two laser-like beams were shot from demon's eyes at her, causing an explosion. "Erza!" Natsu called. Apparently, he underestimated the amount of magic power that she spent, holding the ceiling in the room with the puzzle. "Senjin no Shōkya!" [War God's Shock Kick] Natsu slammed his leg into the demon's back and jumped down with intentions on helping Erza but the beast recovered from his attack pretty quickly and hit Natsu with his claw from above, pressing the god slayer to the ground.
"IT'S USELESS TO CALL HER, SHE IS NO MORE. AND SOON YOU'LL JOIN HER IN DEATH!" The enraged demon yelled, pressing his claw to the ground harder, with intentions to crush Natsu.
"No more? Are you kidding me?" Natsu asked as he started to slowly lift up demon's claw by his bare hands, surprising the beast with his strength. "She's withstood much harsher beatings," Natsu added as he slowly stood up and threw the shocked demon's claw away. "Senjin no Sentsui!" [War God's Warhammer] Huge crimson energy hammer appeared in his hand and Natsu slammed it right into beast's face, forcing him to fall on his side.
"Erza, how long are you intending to lay there? Come here and help me!" Natsu called for his fiancée.
"Yeah, I'm all right… thanks for asking…" She replied resentfully, standing up and checking that all of her limbs are at their proper places.
"YOU! YOU ARE NOT HUMAN! YOU'RE WIELDING THE POWER OF THE ANCIENTS! WHO ARE YOU?!" The demon wailed. He clearly did not expect such strength from a human.
"Well, you told us who you were so I guess I should return the favor. I am Natsu Bloodfallen, son of Supreme war goddess Morrigan, and mage of a guild named Fairy Tail," Natsu said with unmasked pride as he raised his hands into the air. He has no problem with disclosing his origins, because, in particular, no one here knows who Morrigan actually is. "Now, it's time to end this…" Natsu declared.
The demon growled, shaking the entire cave and pounced on Natsu as the god slayer cast his spell: "Metsujin Ōgi: Ketsusei Manjinyō!" [God Slayer's Secret Art: Blood Star: Ten Thousand Blades Dance]. He created multiple crimson energy blades which began to swirl around the demon, ripping off his flesh. Several seconds later all of the blades exploded, ravaging the beast's body and throwing it into the air. Natsu raised his sword, once again Gladius Terminus began to shine with bright, crimson light.
As soon as demon fell back on the ground, Natsu swung his sword, "Senmei Saikō: Chiretsusan!" [Sure-kill Shot: Ground Deathblow] Natsu sent forth a torrent of destructive energy, that ruptured the ground, making a deep scar, and torn the demon in half, literally. As demon's remains disappeared with horrible wail, in the middle of a deep, smoldering scar, appeared a small, gray book, called 'Zanaphar'. Natsu came closer to it, raised his katana and plunged it through the book, which immediately turned to dust and disappeared.
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
Gray started to cry silently. This caught everyone's attention as the music stopped. The blonde girl asked in a very concerned way, "Wha…? Gray?"
"Yeah? What?" He replied rudely.
"You were crying…" Sin pointed out.
"Lyra is good at singing about what people are feeling, but…" Lucy said.
Gray's face was back to the dark, angry expression it was before, his teeth clenched once more as he spat darkly, "I was not!"
Lucy looked at Lyra, deciding to break the tension with, "Couldn't you sing something happier, Lyra?"
"Huh?!" The harp spirit questioned, "You should have said so!"
"Now that I think about it, be quiet!" Gray retorted harshly. "What if someone shows up?!"
"I'll go check the prisoners," Sin announced.
(With Natsu and Erza)
With the demon gone, the violet flames around the shrine in the middle of the island vanished, as well as flames around the island's border. "Damn… stupid demon… look what he has done to my coat," Natsu complained to his beloved, showing to her the torn-off left sleeve.
"Oh, he tore-off your sleeve…" Erza replied with false compassion, "...too bad he did not tear off your head! Look what he has done to me!" Erza growled angrily, she was quite worn out and got several bruises and scratches. And instead of compassion, what she got from Natsu's were complains about his clothes…
"Relax sweetheart, I'm sure it was worth it," Natsu carelessly waved her off.
"It'd better be, Natsu…" She replied as they began to carefully approach to the shrine where the pedestal with the book was standing.
"Wait a second… I feel some strange magic from this book…" Natsu said but Erza did not stop. "Erza?" Natsu called for her but she ignored him and continued to walk forward. "Hey Erza, wait!" Natsu exclaimed as he caught up with her. He looked into her face only to see a pupil-less eyes. She looked like she was in some sort of a trance. "Erza stop, this may be dangerous!" Natsu tried to stop her but she pushed him away and placed her palm on the book. Immediately, book emitted a shockwave that threw both mages away for several meters.
"Huh?" Erza said as she looked around in a daze, seemingly she came back to her senses.
"Erza?! What you have done?!" Natsu asked with widened eyes.
"I… I'm… I'm sorry, Natsu… I could not control my body… I just felt an immense desire to touch the book…" Erza explained, she herself was confused and shocked, too. "Oh no…"
The book started to glow with a bright, white-blue light, that was becoming brighter with each second. At last, the bright light faded, revealing an apparition of an enormous size… Natsu and Erza gasped as they realized what exactly they were staring at.
It was a huge, no, gigantic dragon, whose bodily majority was covered with platinum, shining scales. His lower body, specifically his belly, the inner portions of his long tail, and legs, were covered with gold scales. His back has numerous golden spikes, reaching down from the back to the end of his tail. The dragon also had a triangular head with four pairs of platinum horns (those closest to the face were largest), a pair of large, round eyes, which were glowing with white light. The dragon also sported very sharp canine teeth, and had claws with long, sharp, golden claws. The dragon's large bony wings resemble a bat's, with rippled tips and smooth edges and sharp claws at the end of each wing. Additionally, dragon had four hind legs.
Both mages were looking at a dragon in awe. For Erza, it was probably the most majestic and beautiful creature that she has ever seen in her entire life. "Wha… What is it…?" She stuttered, instinctively nestling closer to Natsu.
"Easy, easy my dear – this one's not alive, it is just a spirit," Natsu calmed down his fiancée. "A big one…" He added. Natsu has read many local legends about dragons and some of them had quite precise descriptions of dragons' dimensions, so Natsu could estimate the average dragon's size (in this region). This one definitely was much larger than 'average', much, much larger. "Can this be… a primordial dragon? From the outide?" Natsu wondered in disbelief, that was something he definitely didn't expect to find in such a remote place.
"GREETINGS, YOUNG PEOPLE," The dragon spoke with a loud, low, but definitely female's voice. "DON'T BE AFRAID, I SHALL NOT HARM YOU. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR A LONG TIME…"
"You've been waiting for us?" Natsu asked, "Why?"
"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE ONE WHO IS SMART ENOUGH TO FIND HIS WAY HERE, STRONG ENOUGH TO DEFEAT THAT DISGUSTING FIEND… AND FOR THE ONE WHO IS CARRYING THE PART OF MY OWN SOUL INSIDE HIS, OR HER, HEART," Dragon said as she looked at Erza. "MY NAME IS ANDROMEDA, AND YES, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU…"
Natsu's eyes widened as he heard dragon's name, "Wait, you said Andromeda?! The one from the Ruler's Reincarnation ode?!"
"You… You know about her?" Erza stuttered a little.
"Are you kidding? Though I don't like the ending, it is still one of my favorite legends, the Ruler's Reincarnation ode! She's called Andromeda the Starbinder – the star dragon! The legendary Golden Dragon Queen!" Natsu explained in rapture, "She's not one of local maggots but a real one, the primordial dragon! This is just incredible, Erza!"
"YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS ADMIRABLE, YOUNG MAN… HMM, ACTUALLY, IT IS REALLY FLATTERING THAT I'M STILL REMEMBERED… BUT MY TIME IS SHORT, SO PLEASE, LISTEN TO ME. 400 YEARS AGO I WAS KILLED. AN EVIL BEAST, WITH THE HELP OF HIS ACCURSED UNDERLINGS, DEFEATED ME IN BATTLE AND USURPED THE TITLE OF THE DRAGON LORD. BUT I CAN'T REST IN PEACE WHILE HE LIVES, I CAN'T SLEEP WHILE SUCH A BEAST EXISTS. AS SUCH, I WAS WAITING FOR THE ONE TO WHOM I CAN ENTRUST MY KNOWLEDGE AND MY REMAINING POWERS, FOR THE ONE WHO WILL FINISH WHAT I'VE STARTED. YOUR SOUL IS BRAVE AND YOU ALREADY ARE CARRYING A PART OF MY HERITAGE INSIDE OF YOUR HEART… CAN YOU FINISH THIS 400 YEAR LONG BATTLE AND LET ME REST IN PEACE AT LAST, ERZA SCARLET?" Andromeda asked, looking into Erza's face.
"Yes, I can and I shall!" Erza answered immediately, her voice completely determined.
Natsu's eyes widened in surprise as he heard the answer of his fiancée. "Erza?" He looked into her eyes, which were pupilless once more – she again seemed entranced somehow. "Wait a moment, Dragon-sama, let me talk with her a little!" Natsu addressed the dragon before turning to Titania. "Darling, do you understand what exactly she wants you to do? She wants you to defeat a dragon that she was unable to defeat herself! And if the legend is correct – she wants you to defeat an opponent, that really can be counted among the top-tier powerhouses of this world! Erza?!" Natsu called desperately but his reasoning fell on deaf ears.
"I know, Natsu, but I hear her voice… not the voice of this spirit but the voice of her very soul that resides inside the lacrima, that resides inside of my own heart now. Her wish to vanquish the unjust is so strong and so sincere that I just can't refuse…" Erza looked straight into god slayer's eyes. "Please, Natsu, allow me to do this…"
'What have I done…' Natsu thought as he sighed deeply… Clearly, Erza's mind right now is affected by the lacrima inside of her. Will his refusal actually mean anything in this situation? And, more importantly, should he refuse? Fate is one of his mother's domains… Maybe they were destined to come here… Moreover, knowledge and power are the very reasons they came to this place and now a legendary dragon queen is offering them her heritage… If that's not the real power, then what is? In the end, he nodded to Erza. 'Okā-sama, I'm going to trust fate…' He thought.
"Thank you…" Titania whispered and kissed his lips before addressing the dragon, "I'll do it!"
"I THANK YOU… BUT BEFORE WE PROCEED, I HAVE TO ASK FOR ONE MORE FAVOR. THERE ARE MORE ENEMIES IN THIS WORLD AND YOU WILL NEED SOMEONE TO PROTECT YOU…" Andromeda shifted her gaze from Erza to Natsu "…SO, I'M ASKING YOU, NATSU BLOODFALLEN, SON OF MORRIGAN, WILL YOU PROTECT THIS KIND AND NOBLE GIRL?"
"There is no need to ask me that, I've already made an oath. I'm not going to pretend that I'm a saint, that I want to make everyone in this world happy… But I've made an oath that – no matter what happens or who comes against us – human, demon, divine beast or god – I will protect this girl until my last breath," Natsu declared, pressing Erza to himself.
"THEN I'M LEAVING THE REST TO YOU TWO," The dragon said as her image started to turn into mist. Suddenly, Erza's body started to glow as it was lifted into the air and streams of glowing mist rushed into her body. Light engulfed her as it was becoming brighter each second. Finally, when the light disappeared with a bright flash, Erza was on her knees, with a huge book in her hands.
"Auuu!" Erza cried and dropped the book on the ground as she grabbed her head with her hands.
"What's wrong?" Natsu asked worriedly.
"It's… ouch… information… to many of it… it feels like…" Erza moaned through the pain, she still wore her Lightning Empress armor.
"…like someone gave you the knowledge of a thousand books and also hit your head with every of those books," Natsu finished her phrase.
"Yes… something like that…" The knight-mage confirmed with a pained expression.
"Well, at least now you know how I felt when I acquired my Kuroi Geijutsu [Black Arts]…" Natsu smiled as he took up the grimoire and started to read it, because he had been through this and he knew that he can't help Erza right now – she just need to endure that flow of information.
It took about twenty minutes for the knight-mage to process the information. "Oh my lord… what have I done?!" Erza asked herself in slight panic. It seems that her mind finally became clear and now she completely realized what exactly happened. She agreed to accept the dragon queen's heritage, so the latter's soul now sleeps inside of her, also, Erza herself just made an… exigeánt promise, to say the least.
"I warned you…" Natsu shrugged.
"You! It is all your doings – 'let's implant the lacrima into your body', 'I'll make you a dragon slayer', 'let's go to the cursed island to find an ancient heritage'. I hope you're satisfied now!" Erza growled as she came closer to Natsu.
"Hey, easy with that. You asked for my approval just a few minutes ago! I agreed and now you're displeased? What shall I do to make you happy?" Natsu asked with false resent.
"Seiryū no Shōgeki!" [Star Dragon's Shock Blow] Erza shouted and slammed her magic-covered fist right between Natsu's eyes, sending him flying head over heels for about thirty feet. "Let me punch you in the face!" She announced as now she really actually felt herself much better.
"Okay… maybe I did deserve this…" Natsu admitted as he slowly stood up, rubbing his forehead, it's good that Erza couldn't hit him with full force yet… or she just didn't try to. "But tell me… how did you managed to use your new magic without even looking into the book?"
"Andromeda-sama gave me some of her knowledge," Erza answered simply. "Now I know dragon's language and I have access to four basic spells, despite I'm not yet understand how exactly those spells work. I think I'll be able to recover more of her memories in the future… And, by the way, I'm still angry at you," She added with narrowed eyes. "What did you find?" She asked since Natsu stared into the book for twenty minutes instead of trying to comfort his fiancée.
"Well, Andromeda was a Seiryū [Star Dragon], which means that hereby you are Sei no Metsuryū Madōshi [Star Dragon Slayer]. Now I can see the reason why you chocked each time when you tried to consume flames – it was just too cold for you…" As he explained that, Erza recalled her feelings. It really felt like she was trying to eat an ice cream with soup spoon. "According to okā-sama, the temperature of a star's surface is at least four times higher than temperature of common flames, and there are much hotter stars, too. Stars composed of the substance that is called 'thermal plasma', usually with 100% ionization degree…" Natsu noticed that Erza can't understand him, so he gave simpler explanation, "Your spells will utilize the incinerating light of stars!" Natsu finished his explanation and embraced his beloved.
"Okay… but I'm still angry," Erza said, making Natsu to kiss her earlobe. "Still angry…" She continued to be capricious as Natsu's lips traveled along her neck to her mouth until their lips merged in an extremely passionate kiss.
Then Natsu noticed that some paper dropped out the book. "Huh? What's this?" He broke the kiss and picked up the piece of paper, making Erza to sigh deeply.
'He's incorrigible… Just live with that…' Erza's inner voice spoke out.
Natsu's eyes widened in rapture when he read the paper to the end, it was not the page from the book. "Erza, look! This is about another relic from the past!"
"Not again…" She moaned but Natsu ignored her lack of enthusiasm.
"It seems that when Andromeda-sama has been slain, a great ancient artificer, who was a loyal comrade of a dragon queen, recovered her body. He not only arranged a proper burial but also gathered her remaining blood and one of her teeth. Then he used that stuff to make a sword! Its hilt was made from the dragon queen's tooth and its adamantine blade has imbibed her blood! The sword is called 'Astrum Eclipsis' [Star Eclipse] and its treasure rank should be on par with my 'Gladius Terminus'! Erza, we have to find it – this is the perfect replacement to the sword that I destroyed nine month ago, during our battle! No, to hell with that – that's the perfect and only possible replacement for all of your trashy swords combined!"
"No way! I won't let you drag me into another suicidal adventure!" Erza exclaimed indignantly, despite knowing perfectly that her words won't change anything. He will go to find this relic and she can't let him to go alone.
"We're going to find this sword as soon as we'll finish here," Natsu declared as he ignored Erza's words.
"Dragon queen… Star Binder… Please, preserve me…" Erza pleaded, pressing the book to herself as Natsu picked her up bride-style and headed towards the cave's exit.
July 15, Year X784, 16:00, Galuna Island, Temple of the Moon.
(With Gray, Lucy and Sin)
Gray was still sitting on the rock, wandering the depths of his memories, Lucy slept nearby and Sin was talking to Lyra. The door to the secret passage opened and Natsu and Erza appeared from the hidden cave.
"What happened to you two?" Sin asked as he examined the pair and noticed their worn-out look.
"Nothing special, we just fought with another one of Zeref's demons down there," Natsu replied casually, shocking both Gray and Sin.
"What!? Another one of Zeref's demons!?" Gray growled as he moved his gaze from Natsu to Deliora.
"What's wrong with this island?" Sin wondered.
"Don't worry Gray, that demon had no connection with Deliora at all, except for their maker," Erza assured him.
"By the way, we found what we were looking for…" Natsu added but Gray showed no interest in it.
"Good for you…" He grumbled and turned back to Deliora.
Erza wanted to say something but Natsu shook his head, asking her to just leave him alone. "How are our prisoners?" Natsu asked, looking at Sin.
"Still out, or maybe they are just sleeping now. Shall I try to wake them up?" Sin replied.
"Later. We need some rest, too. Also, Gray may be right after all – maybe first we have to wait for the night and watch what will happen when the moon comes out," Natsu decided as he and Erza sat near sleeping Lucy and started to examine their newfound grimoire.
"As you wish," Sin shrugged and returned to stellar spirit.
July 15, Year X784, 22:40, Galuna Island, Temple of the Moon.
"Damn, I've never seen such complex formulas…" Erza noted as she flipped through the book's pages and read some of the spell descriptions. She ex-quipped to her casual clothes and joined Natsu in examining the book. "They are much more complex than that of Flame Dragon spells…"
"Yeah, these spells are almost as complex as my own War God slayer's spells. It is because of the dual nature of your element – you need to control flows of plasma via magnetic fields, sustaining its hydrostatic equilibrium," Natsu explained. "You have to generate and control very unstable substance via element of different nature, all at once… but there is a good side, too – there is almost no protection from such complex attacks," Natsu outlined his opinion. "Besides, you already know four spells, do you not?"
"Yes, but this is the most basic spells. Besides, I know what I should do to use them, but I have no idea why I should do it… I'm kind of doing them by using my spinal cord instead of brain… Learning this magic properly will require some time…" Erza noted as she tried to plot a plan for her further training.
"Don't worry, you already know the basic rules of Metsuryū Mahō [Dragon Slayer Magic], so we do not have to start from the very beginning. Moreover, you should be able to recover more of Andromeda's memories as you continue to accept her heritage. And besides…" Natsu again looked into the book "…some of these spells strongly resembles my own, so I'll be able to help you with them."
"My new magic resembles your own?" Erza wondered.
"Not the magic itself, but spells structure. I think it's because my spells have a similar dual-layered structure," Natsu speculated.
"Wait, haven't you told me that this crimson energy, which your spells utilizes, is an essence of aggression," Erza replied.
"No, listen carefully, I'll explain again," Natsu asked for attention. "The essence of aggression is like a philosophy of okā-sama's magic that I've inherited, but this is not the element. It's just like with the guns – to shoot you must pull the trigger, but it's the bullet what kills, and gunpowder's combustion is what propels the bullet. My spells are a warp field manipulation to control the antimatter, both of which I am able to generate by channeling powerful emotions. The source of magic is ethernano, as always, the attunement method is 'aggression' and the elementary representation are 'force fields' and 'antimatter', which are derivatives of wind and metal basic elements, respectively," Natsu explained. "As such, when I control the trans-warp force field, I can direct…" He was unable to continue his speech as Erza closed his mouth with her palm.
"Natsu, I already feel myself like a complete fool, so please, focus on the book," She said, smiling gently. Natsu apparently forgot that, despite Erza being as talented as he is, she did not have a goddess-mother to teach her the quantum physics and complex magical theories.
"Sorry..." Natsu kissed her cheek. "Nonetheless, I found two formulas in this book that I can use to improve my own spells and even improve these formulas using my own knowledge, as soon as we manage to study them properly… And, by the way, as I think of it now, that new magic perfectly fits your inborn elemental aptitude…"
"Why?" She looked at him questioningly.
"You have a pretty rare elemental attribute – quicksilver – a mix of fire and metal. More to that, yours are balanced almost perfectly, without one being dominant and other one – recessive. That's the blessing and curse at the same time. On one hand – your chance to learn magic, that would've been opposite to your elements, was twice as much. On the other hand – chance to learn a matching magic also has been doubled. You've got lucky, your Za Naito benefited greatly from your metal aptitude, for example. But, as I see it now, with this new Sei no Metsuryū Mahō, you've won a magical jack pot! This magic can benefit from both fire and metal aptitudes. Metal will help you to generate heavier ions, thus increasing the strength of attack. And fire will help you control very hot substance, increasing plasma's stability, thus increasing spell's range and reducing its cost!" All of that Natsu proclaimed in one breath.
Really, the potentially troublesome situation with lacrima has been resolved, and the outcome surpassed Natsu's most daring hopes. Erza not just learnt a magic that perfectly fits her natural capabilities, the being itself appeared to be a primordial dragon, no less. Now Natsu could forget about all of his worries that the essence, sealed inside of lacrima, could've belonged to some extremely weird creature. Seriously – that was a great relief.
And, probably, that relief reflected on Natsu's face, and that seemed so apparent that Erza actually got suspicious. "Natsu, what is going on? You don't want to tell anything?" She inquired with narrowed eyes.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Natsu asked as he quickly recomposed himself and put an impenetrable mask on his face, as if he has everything under control. Of course, that didn't work with his fiancée…
"Natsu!" Erza made a deep breath, definitely with intention to question and scold her fiancé, but he was saved at the last moment.
"What is That?!" Gray asked as the sound of rumbling was coming from above.
Lucy yawned, rubbing her eyes as the stellar mage woke up, "What's that sound?"
"It is already night?" Natsu asked, he has lost the track of time while he and Erza were studying the grimoire. God slayer quickly stood up and went away from his fiancée, observing the situation.
"Humph!" Erza snorted, but now it was obvious that here are more pressing concerns then questioning Natsu.
Gray looked around as a purple magic seal appeared from the ceiling, lightening up the cave with shining light as it started to grow brighter, causing a unison reaction from Natsu, Erza, and Lucy. "There's light…" Were the girls' words as Natsu finished their phrase with, "…coming from the ceiling… now that is something interesting…"
"Purple light… Is it the moonlight?!" Gray asked. Sin was floating near him with a confused expression.
"What is this? What's going on?" The skeletal dragon wasn't sure about light's nature.
Light started to pour over the ice on Deliora, making even the ice glow purple from just the light that the magic circle was emitting.
"It's shining on Deliora!" Gray realized.
"All right, it hardly can be called a coincidence…" Natsu admitted.
"Let's go! Let's find the source of the light!" Erza ordered to the group. She glanced at Natsu suspiciously for the last time, but then regained her wits pretty quickly.
"Wait, what about the prisoners?" Sin asked.
"Leave them, I do not think we need them anymore…" Gray replied as he dashed to the cave's exit from where their enemies came in.
A few minutes later they were back in the temple's top floor to find a large magic circle, right below the temple's roof as Gray commented, "There is a magic circle in the middle of the ruins?!"
"Higher up!" Natsu ordered as he and his team took off to get to the top of the temple to see what was going on. Hurrying up more stairs, the group finally exited the temple and was now outside. They looked to the middle of pyramid's top platform, only to find a group of hooded people all forming in a circle, chanting as the moonlight shined down to the ground. The five got closer as Lucy asked, "What is that?!"
From their viewpoint, they were chanting and it seems they were concentrating the moonlight to the two magic circles they found below. What was their angle, what was their involvement with the light found in the cave? As they chanted on, more magic circles appeared over one another like layers as it reached to the sky, channeling the moon light onto the ground.
"The moon…" Gray realized.
"These guys really are collecting the moon's light?" Sin asked.
"And they're shining it on Deliora…" Lucy added. "But what for?!"
"It's a spell in Belianese… The Moon Drip!" A girl's voice answered from beside them. Lucy panicked looking at her right, but found Lyra kneeling down together with them.
"You're still here?!" Lucy asked, surprised the harp spirit didn't return to the Celestial spirit world already. Lyra had her eyes fixed on the ceremony that was taking place.
"Ah. So that's what's going on," Lyra said, gaining attention from the whole team.
"What? What do you mean?" Lucy asked with widened eyes.
"These guys are trying to use Moon Drip to free that underground demon!" Lyra explained.
"Is that even possible?" Sin wondered.
Gray responded, his dark eyes flared with anger, "That's impossible! Iced Shell is unmeltable!"
"Wrong," Natsu replied shortly, "But can it be done with the moon light? That I cannot say…"
"Moon Drip can melt it," The harp spirit replied with Lucy looking at her. "Focused moon energy can break almost any spell."
"I think the Moon Drip is the cause of the phenomenon the islanders believe is a curse," Lucy suggested. "Concentrated moon energy can contaminate people's bodies too. That's how powerful this magic is."
Erza just silently shook his head in disagreement.
"Why they are doing this?!" Gray gritted his teeth in anger. "They have no idea how horrific Deliora is!"
"I don't think so, Gray," Erza replied, looking at the group of chanters with narrowed eyes, "They seem like they're well know what they're doing."
"I agree," Natsu nodded, "I think they're perfectly aware of how 'horrific' Deliora is…"
"A week ago, we've defeated a mage who tried to unleash a similar demon to cause a chaos and steal everything that she could laid her hands on, while demon would be rampaging," Erza reminded.
"Wait, you think they want to release a demon to let it roam freely, wreaking havoc?!" Lucy's eyes widened.
"Towns are easier to loot when all of their defenders have been annihilated by a demon," Natsu replied. "They want to get money and resources, putting other people's lives into misery. Humans never changes…" He added with his signature emotionless voice, but his left eye blazed with dark blue light, "They are not cultists – they are terrorists."
When the meaning of Natsu's words reached his mind, Gray was pissed off more than ever in his entire life. "Then let's stop these punks!" He exclaimed in fury, preparing to engage, but…
"Wait!" Lucy called, "Someone else's coming!"
Stepping into the area was an unknown man of average height with a muscular and toned body; he wore a metal boots, blue-toned clothes and an ornamental helmet obscuring most of his face.
The strange person started to walk to the ceremony of moonlight being gathered directly above Deliora. The young man's metal boots were clanging as he walked. He came closer to the group of hooded people and simply stood like this for about two minutes, until another person appeared at the top of the pyramid. A silver-haired boy, about eighteen years old, with dark grayish blue-purple eyes, dressed in white pants, black, gold trimmed vest and brown boots, with white scarf, decorated with scale-like patterns, around his neck. He was toting three tied-up bodies behind himself.
"What happened?" The masked guy asked with slight concern in his voice.
"No idea," The silver-haired boy replied, "But judging by their looks I can say that someone kicked their asses, pretty badly…" His tone made it clear that he had little respect for the three or the masked guy.
"Reitei-sama [Sub-zero emperor], please, untie us…" Toby whined piteously.
"Could you at least untie them?" 'Reitei' asked indignantly as he pulled out the knife and sliced the ropes that bound his subordinates. "What happened to you three? Who did this?"
"Well…"
"We…"
"It's sad, Reitei-sama… I cannot express my love like this…"
"I guess that someone knocked them out so fast that they did not even understand what happened," The silver-haired guy said with a smirk.
"We have intruders?" Reitei asked.
"So, he is the Reitei…" Gray mumbled
"Looks like it, but I wonder why he's called that?" Erza asked curiously.
"He sure looks high and mighty, especially with that weird mask!" Lucy observed eyeing the unknown man's appearance as little boney dragon pointed at the silver-haired boy.
"And who is this guy? They do not seem too friendly toward each other to me…" Sin noted.
The Reitei came closer to the spot where team Natsu was hiding, so they could hear him better. As he spoke, his tone appeared to be fitting his appearance, "Is Deliora's revival still incomplete?" He asked Sherry.
"From the looks of it, it will be today or tomorrow…" Sherry replied.
"At long last…" Said the Reitei, causing Gray to gasp in shock at the sound of that voice, "As for the intruders… I've come too far to be interfered with now. "
"That voice… No… It can't be…!" Gray stuttered in shock.
"Yes. The only people on this island are in the village in the outskirts," Sherry replied to him.
"You are a foolish girl Sherry," The silver-haired boy said, causing her to growl in anger. "I've studied those villagers pretty well, none of them can use magic. As for our intruders' intentions you can ask them yourself – they are hiding right behind that cobblestone," He pointed at the large stone where Natsu's team were hiding. Furthering the hide-and-seek game was useless, so Natsu stood up, as did Erza. "Sorry guys, but I overheard your voices," The silver-haired boy winked to them.
"He! It is he who attacked us earlier, Reitei-sama!" Sherry screamed, pointing at Natsu.
"You are too screechy…" Natsu said, covering his ears.
'No kidding,' Haru mentally agreed.
"Oh no…" Lucy muttered desperately.
"What should I do? Sing?" Lyra asked excitedly.
"You can go back," Lucy replied with vein throbbing on her forehead.
"Aww, you're no fun!" Lyra said still smiling happy as she disappears with a cloud of pink smoke.
"Those emblems! They're from Fairy Tail!" Sherry realized as she noticed Natsu and Erza's emblems.
"I see, so the people from the village requested a guild to save them," Yuka said.
Suddenly Gray ran pass the slayers, his eyes was focused on the masked man. With his hand charged with ice magic, Gray demanded furiously, "Stop your stupid ceremony or whatever this instant!" And he slammed his hands to the ground, creating a geyser of ice that sent the three Reitei's subordinates back, but the masked emperor jumped into the air as did the silver-haired boy. The masked Emperor then formed a light blue magic circle in his hand as many ice spikes appeared on the ground. Two flows of ice clashed to form an even bigger geyser of ice. As the ice shattered, Lucy gasped as she realized, "He uses ice too?!"
Gray stared at the masked emperor with his teeth clenched in anger as the emperor stared back at him, the aftermath of his last attack blowing away. Gray stepped back and growled in anger, "Lyon!"
Erza and even Natsu looked at Gray in surprise, as well as Haru who looked in surprise at a man, apparently named Lyon… How did Gray know who he was? Lucy was shocked a bit, "Lyon?" She repeated.
"You bastard… What the hell are you trying to do here?!" Gray growled in anger.
The Reitei, or Lyon as Gray has called him, chuckled, "How long has it been, Gray?"
"What is the meaning of this?!" Gray demanded an answer.
"To think that you were one of the mages the villagers called here…" Lyon replied coolly, "Did you come here knowingly? Or it is just a coincidence?" He added before continuing on, "Not that it makes any difference…"
"So, I guess you two know each other…" Haru mumbled.
"Do not interfere, I'll deal with him myself!" Lyon ordered.
"Never had such intentions," Haru replied. "I'm more interested in these two. Karyū no Hōkō!" [Fire Dragon's Roar] A stream of orange flames bursted out from Haru's mouth toward Natsu and Erza, creating a huge fireball.
"Seiryū no Hōkō!" [Star Dragon's Roar] Erza released her own roar in the form of concentrated, destructive blast of plasma. The two spells clashed, creating a powerful shockwave that shook the entire pyramid. [A/N: Erza's roar is similar to Laxus's thunder dragon roar]
"Haru!" A blue winged cat appeared from the above, "What happened?!"
"Happy?! Did you see it?! The girl's spell, it was the same type as mine!" Haru said with wide eyes. "She is a Metsuryū Madōshi too!"
"Did you notice his spell, Natsu?" Erza asked, she too was slightly concerned.
"Yes, but let's discuss it later, can you handle him for now? I'm sick and tired of this stupid ritual," Natsu asked his bride as he looked at the hooded people who were performing the moon drip ceremony.
"You can't stop the ritual!" Lyon said as he heard Natsu's voice.
"Senjin no Dogō!" [War God's Howl] Natsu breathed out a massive crimson energy stream towards the rite performers in the form of a large vortex. The spell landed right into the middle of the circle of hooded people and produced a massive explosion, knocking most of them out. The magic circles disappeared and a beam of moonlight faded away. "Can't stop the ritual, you say?" Natsu asked with his signature emotionless voice, "But it seems I did just that…"
"Another one?!" Haru gasped in shock as he saw Natsu breathing out magic from his mouth too.
"Erza, c'mon, let's get it over. The only two that present a real danger are this one here and a fellow, who's hiding behind those columns," Natsu spoke up, first pointing at Haru and then somewhere at the other side of the pyramid. "If we'll manage to neutralize them now – this case is closed."
"Haru! They want to interrupt the ritual, get rid of them!" Lyon yelled angrily as he saw his ritual performers were blown away. Besides, Natsu really pissed him off as he didn't count him among priority threats.
"Happy!" Haru shouted as the blue winged cat grabbed him and lifted him in the air as the silver haired boy began to cast a spell:
"With a flame on the right hand...
and a flame on the left hand...
When you combine the flames together...
Karyū no Kōen! [Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame]"
Haru hurled a huge fireball at Natsu and Erza, but they were ready to defend themselves.
"Kongō no Yoroi: Za Naito!" Once again Erza equipped her adamantine armor and shouted, "Kongō no Shōheki!" [Adamantine Barrier] She combined her two shields, creating a large, aqua-green magic barrier to protect Natsu and herself from Haru's spell. The fireball collided with the barrier, which withstood the power of the spell as Natsu prepared to counter attack, raising his sword, Gladius Terminus. But suddenly, the floor beneath Natsu and Erza's feet begun to crumble without any noticeable reason. Deprived from the reliance under her feet Erza became unable to support her defensive spell and both she and Natsu were thrown off from the pyramid by the blastwave from Haru's huge fireball and both quickly disappeared from sight.
"Okay, now get rid of the girl, too," Lyon pointed at Lucy as he continued his struggle with Gray.
"Fuck off, Lyon!" Haru replied, surprising Gray, Lucy and Sin. "I'm not your subordinate and I don't care about your orders. Happy, we're going home!" He said to his companion.
"Aye!" The winged blue cat replied as he turned around, carrying Haru somewhere into the jungle.
"You, damn insolent whelp…" Lyon growled as he turned to his subordinates. "Sherry, Yuka, Toby – go and eradicate the village, now!"
"What!? Why!? The villagers have nothing to do with this this!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Those who stand in the way… They're the enemies. You're here because of them!" Reitei shouted angrily.
"Yes sir!" Said the three subordinates as they took to the task Lyon requested them to do.
"Sin! Take Lucy out of here!" Gray ordered.
"Got it!" Sin understood Gray's reason as he took hold of Lucy's blouse and they soared into the air.
"Wait…!" Lucy called to skeletal dragon.
Back on the ground, Gray sent out ice shards at his former friend. Lyon held his right hand out, conjuring a shield in front of him. Unlike the one Gray makes, it was different and looked more like how a shield should look like. The shield stopped Gray's attack, much to the Fairy Tail's Ice mage's dislike.
Up in the air as they headed back to the village, Lucy asked, "Sin! You're going to abandon Gray?!"
"Gray can handle it, but he wants us to protect the village!" Sin explained.
Lucy gasped, understanding what Sin was saying. Natsu and Erza's location is unknown and if Gray's battle against Lyon drags on for a long time, then no one would stop his subordinates from harming the village. It was up to them to protect everyone in there.
"Okay, I got it, let's go!" Lucy replied.
"So you created an opening for that blonde girl and this weird thing to escape…" Lyon smiled adding, "You're pretty clever, after all… Nevertheless, it does not matter. I doubt those two can stop Sherry and the others."
"I wouldn't underestimate the Fairy Tail mages if I were you!" Gray said angrily, now facing Lyon all alone. "And could you quit acting like you're my senior, Lyon?!" The Ice mage added, taking one step forward, "You're not Ur's student anymore!"
"Same goes for you, Gray," Lyon replied before reaching for his mask to remove it, revealing his face. He revealed bluish silver hair, most of which was spiked to jut upwards on top of his head, except for some that was kept pointing down and partially covering the upper left part of his face. Lyon's eyes were slanted, with dark round pupils and surrounded by similarly dark lines. He has small, linear, dark eyebrows. On his left ear he donned a small, light-colored earring, which takes the shape of a stylized snowflake, "Because Ur is no longer in this world."
"She sacrificed her life to seal Deliora away!" Gray yelled at the former pupil of Ur. "You're trying to defile her legacy!"
"Don't fool your own memory…" Lyon replied coldly, "You killed Ur."
Gray was shocked by Lyon's harsh words. He thinks… he killed Ur? No, that wasn't true, he didn't kill her. Lyon continued on, his eyes narrowed, "I'm amazed you have the nerve to live, Gray."
(With Natsu and Erza, underneath the temple)
"What happened? Have you noticed any other spells being used?" Natsu asked his fiancée as he turned back to the temple where the moon drip ceremony was taking place and the battle between the two ice mages was commencing. The floor crumbled beneath their feet apparently with no reason.
Erza, however, had other concerns on her mind, "Natsu, look!" She pointed into the sky. She-dragon noticed Sin who was carrying Lucy toward the village. "Something's going on! Why is he carrying her away?"
"No idea, we have to return to the top of the pyramid, I think Gray's still there, we have to learn what's happening," Natsu suggested, facing the moon temple.
"Okay, c'mon!" Erza agreed and they ran to building's entrance.
July 15, Year X784, 23:50, Galuna Island, Shack in the jungle.
On the other side of the island (not too far from the village, actually) a small shack was hidden in the trees. A young Ka no Metsuryū Madōshi [Fire Dragon Slayer] lived here, far from the moon temple and Lyon's lackeys. "Haru, why did you decide to return here? Aren't you afraid that those mages may really spoil the ritual?" The blue cat asked, looking at his partner, who seemed a bit distracted.
"Hmm? Sorry Happy, I'm a little distracted… I can't forget about those two… Happy, their magic was just like mine – I saw them both breathing magic from their mouths! I have to speak with them… or at least one of them…" Haru spoke out, rubbing his forehead.
"You think they would want to speak to you?" Happy asked.
"Yeah, you right, we are the enemies right now… And they are not weaklings – I doubt I'll be able to deal with both of them at once to force them into conversation… Damn, I have to find a way…" Haru mumbled to himself.
Spell List:
Sentō Chūkaku – Combat Core
Senjin no Ukyogun – War God's Raven Flock
Senjin no Sōken – War God's Twin Blades
Senjin no Saiken – War God's Crushing Fist
Senjin no Dogō – War God's Howl
Senjin no Shōkya – War God's Shock Kick
Senjin no Sentsui – War God's Warhammer
Metsujin Ōgi: Ketsusei Manjinyō – God Slayer's Secret Art: Blood Star: Ten Thousand Blades Dance
Senmei Saikō: Shinyōbu – Sure-kill Shot: Mystic Dance
Senmei Saikō: Chiretsusan – Sure-kill Shot: Ground Deathblow
Kuroi Geijutsu – Black Arts
Seiryū no Shōgeki – Star Dragon's Shock Blow
Seiryū no Hōkō – Star Dragon's Roar
Kongō no Yoroi: Za Naito – The Knight: Adamantine Armor
Kongō no Shōheki – Adamantine Barrier
Hishō no Yoroi: Za Naito – The Knight: Flight Armor
Sonikku Kurou – Sonic Claw
Raitei no Yoroi: Za Naito – The Knight: Lightning Empress Armor
Raitoningu Bīmu – Lightning Beam
Karyū no Hōkō – Fire Dragon's Roar
Karyū no Kōen – Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame (Lit. – Gleaming Flame)
Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo – Ice Make: Shield
Zettai Tōketsu: Aisu no Sheru – The Absolute Freezing: Iced Shell
Well, that's it people. Chapter ten has been completed. I hope it was enjoyable. Do not forget to leave a REVIEW! See you in the next chapter – Violence Solves Everything, Part I.